Mitch McConnell wants to end beefed-up unemployment benefits

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is being accused by Democrats at home and across the country of turning his back on Kentucky at a critical time after he reportedly vowed to put a stop to enhanced unemployment benefits.

McConnell made clear during a conference call with House GOP members on Wednesday how the $600 weekly boost — which was provided to help those who lost their jobs because of the coronavirus — "will not be in the next bill" out of Washington.

A source familiar with the conversation on Thursday told The Courier Journal that McConnell said the Senate was, "going to have to clean up the Democrats' crazy policy that is paying people more to remain unemployed than they would earn if they went back to work."

This statement comes as 47,000 Kentuckians filed initial unemployment claims as of May 16, and more than 246,000 Kentuckians are asking for continued assistance as parts of the state economy begin to reopen.

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the finance committee, told The Courier-Journal in an interview Thursday the numbers he's seen show COVID-19 has hit Kentucky with a "wrecking ball" economically.

"Mitch McConnell's comments indicate he either doesn't care or doesn't understand that unemployment insurance doesn't just protect families who've had misfortune, it's a lifeline for communities," he said.

Wyden said those benefits are more than just wage replacement but also inject demand into the market as a way to stabilize the economy. He is pushing for a bill that would link unemployment benefits to economic conditions and continue the extra $600 until a state's unemployment rate falls below 11%.

Read more:Coronavirus pandemic pushes Mitch McConnell and other Senate candidates to change tactics

Kentucky has seen nearly 800,000 people apply for unemployment benefits since mid-March, when the coronavirus first put a choke hold on the U.S. economy. Since then, the state's jobless rate has surged to a little more than 15% in April.

The Kentucky Democratic Party also pounced on McConnell's hardening position in the context of those statistics, saying it comes as the GOP leader is holding up additional financial aid for states and local governments withstanding massive budget deficits because of the contagion.

“This is what happens when you surround yourself with expensive D.C. consultants who don’t care about Kentucky," Democratic Party spokeswoman Marisa McNee said.

"First, Mitch wanted to let states go bankrupt, leading to layoffs for first responders and public health officials," she added. "Now, he wants to cut unemployment benefits for Kentuckians who are out of work through no fault of their own. Kentucky deserves better.”

Related:More than 40,000 people filed for unemployment last week in Kentucky

McConnell said during a Thursday interview with Fox News that continuing unemployment insurance is important amid the coronavirus crisis but emphasized the extra $600 benefits will end in July.

"We think that in order to create jobs, we need to incentivize people to go back to work, not encourage them to stay home," he said.

Unemployment insurance typically covers up to 45% of lost wages, but Congress took an extraordinary and bipartisan step with the CARES Act to provide 100% of lost wages for many Americans.

The thinking at the time was this was needed in order to keep people safe from the coronavirus while also stabilizing the economy, but McConnell's comments indicate how conservatives are beginning to thaw on the idea.

McConnell's office pointed to an ABC News story on Thursday about how some employers are having a hard time competing with the boosted benefits.

In it, ABC draws attention to a study showing roughly 40% of workers made less in their jobs than they would on the new unemployment, according to national data gathered by Noah Williams at the Center for Research On the Wisconsin Economy.

McConnell has reportedly told President Donald Trump any new legislation must create incentives for people to get back to work. He said previously he wants see how the previous COVID-19 relief bills, which total about $3 trillion, play out before the Senate moves on any new proposals.

Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, said earlier this week how his administration believes it has enough money in its Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund to last through the spring and at least part of the summer.

Kentucky took out a $972 million loan to cover unemployment benefits when it zeroed out its trust fund during the Great Recession of 2008-09. The state finished repaying the federal government in 2015.

But with nearly two in five Kentucky workers out of a job, the governor said he expects the state will have to take out a loan unless the federal government provides more direct assistance.

Asked Thursday if he's worried that unemployment benefits outpacing private sector wages will dampen the reopening, Beshear said he thinks plenty of people are ready to get back to work.

"I'm not for cutting the benefits they are getting at this time," he said.

McConnell has conceded, according to other reports about Wednesday's conference call, how further aid may be necessary in the coming weeks but that it must be more short-term relief.

House Democrats passed the HEROES Act last week with a $3 trillion price tag, but McConnell reportedly told the GOP House members the bill will have to go through serious changes in the Republican-controlled Senate before being considered.

Reach Phillip M. Bailey at pbailey@courier-journal.com or 502-582-4475. Follow him on Twitter at @phillipmbailey.

Breonna Taylor protest: Kentucky High School Teacher of the Year ...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The 2020 Kentucky High School Teacher of the Year was arrested this weekend protesting the death of Breonna Taylor in downtown Louisville.

Matt Kaufmann, who teaches in Jefferson County Public Schools, was booked Sunday night on an unspecified misdemeanor charge, according to the Department of Corrections booking log.

An arrest citation was not immediately available.

"(Kaufmann) was arrested this evening for protesting and standing up for #BreonnaTaylor and for Black Lives in Louisville," local activist Hannah Drake wrote on Facebook.

"No way he was not peaceful," she said. "He is physically okay but a little roughed up."

More:Beshear announces investigation into LMPD, National Guard fatally shooting man on Broadway

Police arrested at least 40 people during Sunday's protests demanding justice after the police shooting that left 26-year-old Taylor, an unarmed black woman, dead in March.

"JCPS supports the right of our employees to peacefully protest," Renee Murphy, a spokeswoman for JCPS, said.

Kaufmann was named Kentucky's top high school teacher last spring for his work teaching English at Marion C. Moore High School.

"Matt exemplifies inclusivity," his then principal, Rob Fulk, said at the time. "I have witnessed firsthand the exceptional environment he creates among his students, one that promotes a strong sense of social justice, togetherness, and uniqueness."

An outspoken advocate for public education, Kaufmann also ran for state Senate in 2018. He lost in the primary.

This story may be updated.

Reach Olivia Krauth at okrauth@courierjournal.com or 502-582-4471, and on Twitter at @oliviakrauth. Support strong local journalism by subscribing: courier-journal.com/subscribe.

Breonna Taylor protests: NFAC plans to hold armed march in ...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Black militia is planning to hold an armed march in Louisville on Saturday to demand justice for Breonna Taylor, according to a video from the leader of the group.

John Fitzgerald "Jay" Johnson, the self-proclaimed grand master and founder of the NFAC, which stands for the Not F***ing Around Coalition, said in a video posted on Sunday that those wishing to march must come in a specific uniform: black boots, black pants, black button-down shirt and black mask. He added that members must come with several types of guns.

"Understand the seriousness of this situation," said Johnson, who goes by the name The Real Grandmaster Jay. "Breonna Taylor was murdered in her home. ... We gotta go in on this one."

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In a video published Monday, Johnson said that the group will meet at noon Saturday at Central High School, 1130 W. Chestnut St. But on Tuesday afternoon, Louisville Metro Police spokeswoman Jessie Halladay said the NFAC will change locations so that it is not on school property.

Unlawful possession of a weapon on school property is a felony in Kentucky. Halladay said she did not have any additional information to share about the rally location.

Johnson met electronically with Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron and Louisville Metro Council President David James on Monday, according to James, who added that he organized the meeting.

Cameron is investigating the killing of Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman who was unarmed in her South End apartment when Louisville police fatally shot her March 13. Cameron spokeswoman Elizabeth Kuhn confirmed the phone call took place.

"The conversation was productive," Kuhn wrote in an email. "Attorney General Cameron discussed his continued commitment to moving forward with our office’s independent and thorough investigation into the death of Ms. Taylor."

The militia made waves July 4 when roughly 1,000 members of the group marched in Stone Mountain, Georgia, where there is a mountainside carving of three Confederate leaders: Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson. Authorities said the event was peaceful, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, but the group's presence caused a stir on social media.

Protesters have taken to the streets of Louisville for 55 days to demand justice for Taylor, who was shot as police served a "no-knock" search warrant as a part of a narcotics investigation. No drugs were found in the apartment.

Court records show that police obtained a warrant with a no-knock provision for Taylor's apartment signed by Circuit Judge Mary Shaw. Even so, officials have said that plainclothes officers knocked and announced their presence before breaking in Taylor’s door with a battering ram.

Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who was also in the apartment, fired one shot in response, hitting Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in the thigh. Mattingly and Officers Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove returned fire, striking Taylor five times.

She died in her hallway.

FACT CHECK: Debunking 7 widely shared rumors in the Breonna Taylor police shooting

More:Breonna Taylor was briefly alive after police shot her. But no one tried to treat her

Like many of the protesters, Johnson, the leader of the NFAC, is demanding that the three officers involved in the shooting be fired by Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and criminally charged by Cameron. One of the officers in the shooting, Hankison, was fired last month and is in the process of appealing the termination.

In a call last week organized by local activist Lebron Seay, Johnson told David James, D-6th District, and Louisville Chief of Community Building Vincent James that 5,000 to 6,000 people from his group will hold an armed march in Louisville if there is not progress made in Taylor's case.

"I would be so remiss not to tell you that there are a lot of people nationwide that are ready to descend on your city to extract justice if you cannot give us some type of guarantee that something is coming soon," Johnson said.

David James said during the call that the investigation has taken so long due to Fischer's "piss-poor leadership," as the city did not turn over the police's investigative to Attorney General Cameron until a few weeks ago.

In an interview with The Courier Journal, David James said he had not spoken with Johnson before and joined the call to "help answer any questions" and to make sure Johnson "was aware of whatever the facts were."

David James also said that the "lack of transparency" of Fischer's administration has led to a distortion of facts and that he was asked to join the call after the Louisville mayor refused to do so.

Jean Porter, a spokeswoman for Fischer, told The Courier Journal on Tuesday that the mayor was not invited to the call with Johnson.

Opinion:Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron can't submit to outside pressure in Taylor case

David James said he is "not a big fan of people carrying weapons while they're protesting or marching through the city, no matter who they are." However, he added that the group consists of "law-abiding citizens following the rules and laws of the state of Kentucky" and that they have the right to protest.

The Metro Council president added that he is more worried about people reacting to the NFAC and that there may "be one person that does one stupid thing, and then we have a problem."

Louisville Metro Police spokesman Dwight Mitchell said the department is aware of Johnson's video announcing the NFAC's intentions to come to Louisville and the department has attempted to reach out to the group's organizers "to understand what their plans are."

"We have had several protests posted over the past several weeks, some of which have occurred and some which have not," Mitchell said. "We will take the appropriate steps to prepare for whatever may occur."

Mitchell declined to comment further on whether the department has successfully reached Johnson and what steps the department is taking to ensure the march is safe.

According to Porter, Louisville police have been in contact with Johnson about tentative plans for the march and "their shared goal for a peaceful event."

When asked during a Tuesday press briefing if the state would send police to the armed march in Louisville, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said his administration has not received a request to get involved.

"Any time a request comes in, we'll have to look at the danger that's out there for life and safety of folks," Behsear said. "But at the time, we have not received any official request for assistance."

Contact Ben Tobin at bjtobin@gannett.com and 502-377-5675 or follow on Twitter @TobinBen. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: subscribe.courier-journal.com.

Serena Williams and Lewis Hamilton join consortium to buy Chelsea ...

(CNN) Twenty-three-time grand slam champion Serena Williams and seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton have joined Martin Broughton's bid to buy Premier League club Chelsea, a source close to the bid told CNN Sport on Thursday.

The source was speaking on the condition of anonymity, and while they would not confirm how much either was investing as part of the consortium, they stated that both were investing as sport business investors.

Broughton's consortium includes World Athletics President Sebastian Coe as well as Josh Harris and David Blitzer, who own sport teams including the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Philadelphia 76ers, the source added.

A second source also confirmed Coe's involvement with Broughton's bid. Broughton is the former Liverpool chairman.

Freud Communications -- Hamilton's communications consultancy -- confirmed the Formula One driver's involvement in Broughton's bid to CNN.

Read More

LIV Golf series: Everything you need to know - CNN

(CNN) It's the hottest topic in the sport of golf : the LIV Golf series is already making waves -- and it's just one day old.

The new golf tour began on Thursday in London, with fans arriving at the Centurion Club to witness some of the sport's biggest names playing in the inaugural event just north of London.

But what is the LIV Golf series, the new venture which threatens to shake the foundations of the sport to its core?

A general view of the LIV Golf logo on the 18th green at the Centurion Club.

What is the LIV Golf series?

It's a new tour organized by LIV Golf Investments which consists of eight events across the world, which began in London on Thursday.

Fronted by former world No. 1 Greg Norman, the team-based series runs from June to October with the aim, it says, to "holistically improve the health of professional golf on a global scale to help unlock the sports' (sic) untapped potential."

It is backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) -- a sovereign wealth fund chaired by Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and the man who a US intelligence report named as responsible for approving the operation that led to the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Bin Salman has denied involvement in Khashoggi's murder.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends a meeting with the US Secretary of State in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on September 18, 2019.

The PIF has pledged to award $250 million in total prize money. Each of the first seven events will have a total prize purse of $25 million, with $20 million split between individual players and the remaining $5 million shared between the top three teams at the end of each week.

Ahead of the first event in London, the 12 teams were announced, as well as their captain. On Tuesday, captains selected the rest of their teams in a draft format akin to the NFL and NBA drafts.

Unlike typical golfing events, London's event is over three days, not four, with the 48-man field beginning with a shotgun start -- all at the same time -- in the hopes of being a more engaging, action-packed style event.

Competing in a traditional stroke play format, the lowest score will be the winner.

Whereas in the first two rounds, the best two scores will count for each team, in the final round, the best three scores will count, with the lowest overall team score after 54 holes being named the team winner.

For the final event -- a team championship -- the format changes to a four-round, match-play knockout tournament.

Greg Norman smiles on the first tee on the first day of the LIV Golf series at the Centurion Club.

Which golfers have signed up?

The eye-watering money on offer has attracted a mix of golfers to sign up for the opening event in London, from all ages, backgrounds and success on the golf course.

Six-time major winner Phil Mickelson and former world No. 1 Dustin Johnson are amongst those to headline the event, while other major winners Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel also participated.

Ryder Cup stalwarts Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood also were part of the first cohort to sign up, and the field includes 18 players ranked in the top 100 in the world.

On the other hand, it also provided a platform for other golfers just making their first strides in the sport, including Thailand's 15-year-old Ratchanon Chantananuwat

2020 US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau was the next blockbuster name to sign up, adding his name on Friday to the ever-growing list of players to join.

And according to multiple reports, 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed will be the next big name to sign up to the breakaway tour.

Johnson attends a press conference ahead of the LIV Golf series event at the Centurion Club.

Why is it so controversial?

The LIV Golf series hasn't come without its question marks.

The source of the money, Saudi Arabia's PIF, has led to queries and criticism aimed at organizers and players about choosing to play for money from the country given its human rights record.

The country has been criticized by human rights groups for years. In March, Saudi Arabia executed 81 men in the biggest mass execution in decades. Rights groups have criticized the country for executing people who were minors at the time of the offenses for which they were convicted.

Another avenue of controversy surrounding the league is the breakaway nature from golf's established tours.

The PGA Tour and the DP World Tour -- formerly the European Tour -- have long been where players have plied their trade across the golfing calendar, outside of the four majors.

But, providing monetary and life balance issues as excuses, the decision from a faction of players who broke away to play in the LIV Golf series has been met with mixed reaction from their fellow tour members.

Members of the HY Flyers GC team (from left) Thailand's TK Chantananuwat, South Africa's Justin Harding, Mickelson and the US' Chase Koepka pose for pictures during a press conference ahead of the LIV Golf series event at the Centurion Club.

What do the players say?

On the eve of the series, the world's most lucrative golf event, the competitors were grilled by journalists in an often-tense press conference in St Albans, England.

Mickelson was the main focus of attention, mainly because he is one of the sport's biggest stars but also because this will be his first competitive event since his controversial comments about the Saudi Arabian-funded events were published earlier this year by his biographer.

The six-time major winner was quoted from a 2021 interview with author Alan Shipnuck for his upcoming book, "Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf's Most Colorful Superstar," as saying that he would consider joining the proposed Super League because it is a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates."

Shipnuck quoted Mickelson as saying disparaging things about Saudi Arabia's human rights record and asserting that the kingdom killed journalist Khashoggi.

In his opening answer in Wednesday's press conference, when asked about the human rights record of the country providing funding for the venture, Mickelson appeared to be remorseful.

"I don't condone human rights violations at all," he repeatedly said.

Mickelson attends a press conference ahead of the LIV Golf series event at the Centurion Club.

Johnson -- the highest-ranked player in the competition at 15 in the world -- resigned his PGA Tour membership and said on Tuesday: "I don't want to play for the rest of my life, this gives me an opportunity to do what I want to do."

Europe's Ryder Cup stalwart Graeme McDowell was also asked about the killing of Khashoggi during his press conference.

"We all agree that was reprehensible. No one's going to argue that fact but we're golfers. We're not politicians.

"If Saudi Arabia want to use the game of golf as a way for them to get to where they want to be, we're proud to help them on that journey, using the game of golf and the abilities we have to help grow the sport."

What about those not taking part?

The first LIV event is taking place at the Centurion Club. That and the PGA Tour's Canadian Open are being held almost simultaneously and is the first head-to-head showdown between the two tours.

The Centurion's $25 million purse almost triples the Canadian Open's $8.7 million. Defending his title in Canada will be Rory McIlroy, the world No. 8.

"Any decision that you make in your life that's purely for money usually doesn't end up going the right way," said McIlroy on Wednesday, as reported by Reuters.

"Obviously, money is a deciding factor in a lot of things in this world, but if it's purely for money, it's not, it never seems to go the way you want it to."

In terms of star power, the Canadian Open will easily trump the Centurion line-up. Among the headliners in Toronto will be world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas.

"People are entitled to choose as they wish," said Thomas. "I don't dislike DJ now. I don't think he's a bad dude. I'm not going to treat him any differently.

"He's entitled to choose as he wishes.

"Now, I'm disappointed and I wish that he and others wouldn't have done it, but that's their decision."

What does it mean for the future of golf?

It is unclear what this will mean for the future of golf, and where players will choose to ply their trade in the future.

Many of the players impacted by the ban -- Mickelson, Westwood and Poulter -- are in the twilights of their careers, perhaps reducing the severity of the suspension.

A few players, including Johnson, Garcia and Kevin Na, resigned their PGA Tour status before play started on Thursday in London.

But for six-time major winner Mickelson, who has already earned lifetime status on the PGA Tour, it throws into question his long-term commitment to the tour. He said in his press conference on Wednesday ahead of the inaugural LIV Golf series event that he didn't want to give up his lifetime membership of the PGA Tour, saying: "I've earned that, and I don't plan on just giving it up."

Johnson and Mickelson walk off the first tee after playing their shots during the first round of the inaugural LIV Golf series event at the Centurion Club.

And for the young talent in the game, the suspension offers a conundrum.

The PGA Tour is the preeminent golf tour in the world at the moment, and therefore seen as the pinnacle. However, the new, big-money tour offers a significant earning opportunity for players around the globe, in particular the up-and-coming talent.

Do younger players decide to commit to the LIV Golf series, thereby ruining their chances at playing on the PGA Tour, or stick to the 'traditional' route and play on the PGA Tour and potentially reduce their earning capabilities?

The DP World Tour -- the sport's current second biggest tour -- has yet to announce any potential sanctions to players. When contacted by CNN, it said it had "no comment to make" on the LIV Golf series.

As for golf's four majors, players' appearances on the LIV Golf series have also thrown their participation in those into disarray.

Although next week's US Open has said players are free to play if they're qualified, next month's Open Championship at St. Andrew's has yet to make a public decision.

Shortly after the announcement, LIV Golf released a strongly worded response, calling the suspension "vindictive."

"Today's announcement by the PGA Tour is vindictive and it deepens the divide between the Tour and its members," it said.

"It's troubling that the Tour, an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for golfers to play the game, is the entity blocking golfers from playing. This certainly is not the last word on this topic. The era of free agency is beginning as we are proud to have a full field of players joining us in London, and beyond."

History: The world's most important event every year since 1920

Angelo Young and John Harrington

24/7 Wall Street

Over the past 100 years, we’ve witnessed some of the most profound changes in human history.

Between a pandemic, wars, technological developments, progress in civil rights, and breakthroughs in science and medicine, the old order has been swept away, sometimes giving way to freer forms of governing and sometimes not.

Centuries-old empires crumbled as new ideologies – from communism to fascism – took root in many parts of the world. Wars in the early part of the 20th century led to the end of the colonial world and gave birth to new nations. These wars also cost millions of lives and trillions of dollars. These are the most expensive wars in U.S. history.

Throughout the past century, technological innovations transformed our lives in ways we never dreamed. Progressive ideas also emerged and changed the world as women, African Americans, and the LGBTQ community demanded, and often won, equal rights – from the ratification of the 19th Amendment in the United States to the legalization of same-sex marriage in many countries around the world. Even so, recent civil rights protests tell us the fight for equality is not over.

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The COVID-19 pandemic that is ravaging the world in 2020 reminds us that for all of our scientific breakthroughs, we’re still vulnerable to deadly viruses that can shut down economies and disrupt society. People are hoping science can save Earth from the devastating changes to the climate that continue to imperil the ecosystems of our planet. In the coming years, natural disasters may have an increasingly impactful role on the course of history. Here are 26 disaster scenarios caused by climate change.

To determine the most important event the year you were born, 24/7 Tempo drew on research materials and media sources to compile its list. Deciding the most important event in a given year is by its nature a subjective exercise. In reaching our decisions, we chose the event that had the most far-reaching impact, even if it was not necessarily the most famous event in a given year.

The world's most important event every year since 1920

1920: Women's Suffrage

• Date: Aug. 26

• Location: Washington D.C.

Though the United States was founded under democratic principles, only a minority of its population – in the beginning only white landowning males over the age of 21 – could actually vote. But after the 19th Amendment of the Constitution was passed, women finally gain a voice and the right to cast their ballots, though the voting rights fight was far from over for many African American women, especially in the South.

1921: Chinese Communists Rise

• Date: July 1

• Location: Beijing

In a prequel to the rise of Mao Zedong and Red China, the Chinese Communist Party is founded and three weeks later it convenes its first National Congress that is attended by Mao. It would take another 28 years before the Republic of China becomes the People's Republic of China.

1922: British Empire Shrinks

• Date: Feb. 28

• Location: London

The British Empire was at its peak toward the end of World War I, commanding a global population estimated to be as many as 570 million people, or about a fourth of the world's population at the time. The empire's size began to shrink in 1920, when Britain declared limited independence for Egypt, which leads to full independence two years later.

1923: Great Kanto Earthquake

• Date: Sept. 1

• Location: Tokyo, Yokohama, Japan

The Great Kanto earthquake, also known as the Tokyo-Yokohama earthquake, strikes the Japanese mainland at noon on Sept. 1, 1923, with a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale. The death toll is estimated at 140,000 people. The force of the temblor destroys hundreds of thousands of homes that either collapse or are engulfed in fire. The quake sets off a tsunami that reaches a height of almost 40 feet at Atami in the Sagami Gulf, killing 60 people there. The most significant outcome of the catastrophe is the rebuilt Tokyo would become a modern metropolis.

1924: From Lenin to Stalin

• Date: Jan. 21

• Location: Moscow

Following the death of Vladimir Lenin on Jan. 21, the new leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, immediately begins a purge of political rivals. Some are simply moved to different positions, while others, like Leon Trotsky, the presumed successor to Lenin, are exiled. Stalin's paranoia grows as he takes control of the nation, and with it the level of violence and killing of anyone perceived to be a threat to his power and control.

1925: Scopes Monkey Trial

• Date: July 10

• Location: Dayton, Tennessee

After teaching the theory of evolution in a Tennessee high school, the state prosecutes science teacher John Thomas Scopes because state law prohibits such teaching as it runs counter to biblical beliefs. The trial pits well-known Christian fundamentalist and former presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan against renowned attorney Clarence Darrow. The jury rules against Scopes, forcing him to pay a fine of $100 (about $1,498 in 2020 dollars). It would take another 43 years before the U.S. Supreme Court would rule that laws punishing people for teaching evolution violate the First Amendment.

1926: U.S. Starts Numbered Highway System

• Date: Nov. 11

• Location: U.S.

In a precursor to the modern interstate highway system, the federal government introduces a national highway numbering system in an effort to standardize roadways, especially local roads and trails with names unfamiliar to outsiders. The U.S. Numbered Highway System makes it easier for the growing number of car owners to figure out how to get from one city or town to the next and opens the way for the great American road-trip tradition.

1927: Lindbergh Nonstop to Paris

• Date: May 21

• Location: New York to Paris

When the monoplane The Spirit of St. Louis touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris on the evening of May 21, Charles Lindbergh becomes the first person to fly over the Atlantic Ocean nonstop, making him one of the heroes of the age. His feat fires the imagination of aspiring aviators about the commercial possibilities of flight. Lindbergh would stay in the news, but for regrettable reasons. A strong advocate for American isolationism in the 1930s, he is criticized for his admiration of Nazi Germany’s aircraft industry. Also, his infant son would be killed during a bungled kidnapping attempt in 1932.

1928: Earhart Crosses Atlantic

• Date: June 17-18

• Location: Wales

Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to pilot a plane across the Atlantic, from Newfoundland to Wales, making her an American national heroine and feminist icon who would go on to set numerous aviation records. She would later set another record as the first person – man or woman – to fly solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland. Earhart and her co-pilot Fred Noonan would vanish over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 during Earhart's attempt to circumnavigate the globe. Recent evidence has emerged indicating Earhart may have sent distress signals after surviving a crash, possibly on the remote Gardner Island in the western Pacific Ocean.

1929: Wall Street Crashes

• Date: Oct. 24-29

• Location: New York City

The "Roaring Twenties" come to a halt on Black Tuesday in October 1929, when stocks take a nosedive, contributing to the Great Depression. Reasons for the worst economic downturn in American history include over-lending by weakly regulated banks, excessive stock price valuation, too many stocks purchased on margin, unrestrained exuberance that sends millions of people to convert their savings into stocks, tightening of the credit by the Federal Reserve, and an agricultural drought.

1930: Ho Chi Minh Rises in Vietnam

• Date: Feb. 2

• Location: Hanoi

In an event that would have repercussions for U.S. foreign policy decades later, Vietnamese independence fighter Ho Chi Minh founds the Communist Party of Vietnam as part of his effort to oust French colonial occupiers. "Uncle Ho," as he was known to his many supporters, was inspired by the Russian Bolsheviks, who oppose the Tsarist autocracy, seeing parallels between that struggle and the fight against the foreign occupiers of his country.

1931: Empire State Building Completed

• Date: May 1

• Location: New York City

U.S. President Herbert Hoover inaugurates the completion of the Empire State Building on May Day. It becomes the tallest building of the iconic Manhattan skyline until the construction of the World Trade Center Towers are completed in 1973. Incredibly, the 86-story office building took only 13 months to build, with construction starting in March of the previous year.

1932: Hitler Becomes German

• Date: Feb. 25

• Location: Germany

Seven years after Adolf Hitler renounces his Austrian citizenship, a fellow member of the Nazi Party gets him a low-level government job, which comes with automatic citizenship. This opens the way for him to run for office. Already a well-known party activist, it takes Hitler only two years from receiving his citizenship status to becoming the leader of Germany.

1933: FDR Elected

• Date: March 12

• Location: Washington D.C.

With the Great Depression sending millions of Americans to soup kitchens and chasing whatever work they can find, newly elected President Franklin Delano Roosevelt begins his weekly "Fireside Chats" as Americans are eager for guidance and solace during those dark times. FDR's first radio talk explains to Americans in plain language why he ordered that banks would close temporarily at different time in different parts of the country. The purpose, he explains, is to curb panic rushes of withdrawals, which has been hurting efforts to stabilize the banking system.

1934: Hitler Consolidates Power

• Date: June 30

• Location: Berlin

Germans, who had been suffering from a disastrous economic depression in 1929-30, begin to embrace the ideas of the Nationalist Socialist Workers Party – the Nazi Party. It becomes the largest party after the 1932 elections. In 1933, Adolf Hitler is appointed chancellor of Germany. After President Paul von Hindenburg dies in 1934, Hitler then purges members of his own party – the bloody Night of the Long Knives – with the help of Nazi storm troopers and becomes the unquestioned leader of Germany.

1935: FDR Launches New Deal

• Date: Aug. 14

• Location: Washington D.C.

President Roosevelt, grappling with the Great Depression, signs into law his signature Social Security Act, a law that creates the country's first retirement security system. Earlier that year, as part of his "New Deal" policy, the president established the Works Progress Administration, a massive economic stimulus program, putting millions of Americans to work building the country's public infrastructure.

1936: Owens Flouts Nazis

• Date: Aug. 3

• Location: Berlin

As the concept of racial purity and superiority dominates Germany in the 1930s, African-American sprinter Jesse Owens of Oakville, Alabama, shows them who is the master racer. During the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, and under the gaze of Adolf Hitler, Owens wins four Olympic gold medals for the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints, the long jump, and the 400-meter relay.

1937: UAW Changes Car Industry

• Date: Feb. 11

• Location: Flint, Michigan

Nearly two years after the establishment of the United Automobile Workers (UAW), the union scores a major victory in Flint, Michigan. Workers at the General Motors Fisher Body Plant Number One lay down their tools and occupy the factory, demanding union representation, a fair minimum wage, safer working conditions, and not to outsource labor to non-union plants. Despite efforts by GM and local police to extricate them from the plant, including shutting off the heat, cutting off food supply, and attacks that leave 16 workers and 11 police officers injured, the strike lasts 44 days. The strike leads to an agreement between GM and the UAW, which includes a 5% pay raise and permission to talk in the lunchroom.

1938: Anti-Semitism Surges

• Date: Nov. 9

• Location: Germany, Austria, Sudetenland

Growing anti-Semitic scapegoating amid Germany's crippling economic conditions culminates in the Kristallnacht, or "Night of Broken Glass," a pogrom sparked by a speech from German propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. Storm troopers and other Nazi groups are ordered to attack and destroy Jewish businesses, homes, and houses of worship. In one night of attacks in Germany, Austria, and the German-speaking area of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, dozens of Jews are killed and tens of thousands are rounded up and sent to concentration camps.

1939: World War II Starts

• Date: Sept. 1

• Location: Westerplatte, Poland

Under the cover of predawn darkness, a German battleship floats quietly into the center of Danzig Harbor and opens fire on a Polish stronghold in Westerplatte, the first shots of World War II. In the following weeks, Nazi forces, including 2,000 tanks and 1,000 aircraft, would shatter Polish defenses and surround Warsaw, which surrenders 26 days after the Danzig Harbor attack.

1940: McDonald's Founded

• Date: May 15

• Location: San Bernardino, California

Brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald open McDonald’s Barbecue Restaurant, offering BBQ ribs, pork sandwiches, and 23 other menu items. Eight years later, they would restructure their popular local business to focus on hamburgers, milkshakes, and fountain sodas, emphasizing speed, a simple menu, and low prices. In the 1950s, businessman Ray Kroc would buy out the brothers and grow McDonald’s into one of the world’s largest restaurant chains.

1941: Pearl Harbor

• Date: Dec. 7

• Location: Oahu, Hawaii

Knowing the U.S. is gearing up to engage them in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, Japan deploys a massive air attack on U.S. Navy ships parked at Pearl Harbor. The surprise assault by 353 Japanese aircraft leads to the deaths of 2,403 people, including 1,177 sailors aboard the ill-fated USS Arizona, one of 19 vessels that were damaged or destroyed in the attack. Nearly 330 aircraft were also damaged or destroyed. The United States declares war on Japan the next day and three days later against Germany and Italy.

1942: GIs Arrive in Europe

• Date: Jan. 26

• Location: Northern Ireland

The first U.S. troops destined to fight in Europe in the world's greatest war arrive in Northern Ireland. It is the beginning of a military buildup that would culminate in the invasion of France more than two years later. Before then, the United States was providing only material support to its ally across the Atlantic, while building up what President Roosevelt called the "Arsenal of Democracy" in anticipation for the inevitable entry of the United States into the war in Europe.

1943: Invention of LSD

• Date: April 19

• Location: Basel, Switzerland

Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman had been studying the potential medicinal value of lysergic compounds when he accidentally exposed himself to LSD-25, which he had created years earlier in his lab. This was the first LSD trip, a quarter-century before the counterculture endorses the hallucinogenic compound. Hoffman describes the "not unpleasant" experience as "uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors." Hoffman takes a second dose and writes a paper about his discovery. The U.S. Army tests the drug on soldiers numerous times from 1955 to 1967, briefly toying with the idea of using LSD as a weapon to disorient enemy soldiers during combat.

1944: D-Day

• Date: June 6

• Location: Normandy France

The plan for the biggest one-day military campaign in history, the invasion of Normandy by Allied forces to push the Nazis out of France, is hatched in extreme secrecy a year earlier. The plan is conceived during the Quebec Conference by Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt. The invasion starts at 6:30 a.m. on five beaches, and over the next 24 hours about 4,900 Allied soldiers are killed, many of them the instant the doors of their Higgins transport boats opened directly into German machine gun fire.

1945: World War II Ends

• Date: Sept. 2

• Location: Multiple

The surrender of Japan marks the end of World War II amid one of the most tumultuous years of the 20th century. Earlier in the year, leaders of three nations – Benito Mussolini, Franklin Roosevelt, and Adolf Hitler – die and Nazi Germany surrenders. Though the surrender of Japan was inevitable, the prospect of a horrific Allied assault on the Japanese mainland convinces the United States to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The atomic bomb attacks, along with the entry of the Soviet Union in the war against Japan, compel the Japanese to surrender.

1946: Baby Boom Starts

• Date: Jan. 1

• Location: U.S.

More American babies are born – 3.4 million – in 1946 than in any year in U.S. history up to then. The number of births grows to 4 million per year from 1954 to 1964, the last year of the baby boomer generation, the biggest generation at that point in history.

1947: India Gains Independence

• Date: Aug. 15

• Location: Washington D.C

The sun sets on the British Empire in India in 1947, as the Asian nation becomes the world's largest democracy. Independence is the culmination of decades of work by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Indian nationalists committed to throwing off the yoke of British colonialism. The transition to independence comes at a price. The subcontinent is partitioned into two nations, Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. Violence erupts between Hindus and Muslims as Hindus migrate to India and Muslims shift to Pakistan. It is estimated that 1 million people die during the migration.

1948: Birth of Israel

• Date: May 15

• Location: Middle East

After Israel declares its independence following a UN resolution, neighboring Arab states with troops from Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Transjordan (now Jordan), Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia attack the former British-controlled Palestinian mandate. The Arab-Israeli War ended with an armistice that leaves Israel with some territories as Egypt and Jordan retains control over the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, respectively.

1949: NATO Founded

• Date: April 4

• Location: Washington D.C.

With the Cold War worsening, the Soviet Union detonates its first nuclear bomb and quickly exerts its influence over Eastern Europe. It attempts to do the same in Western Europe, which is still recovering from the massive destruction of World War II. To respond to the Soviet threat, U.S. and Western European allies form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Fundamentally, NATO simply states that an attack on any NATO member would be considered an attack on all NATO members. Cold War tensions ratchet up later that year when the communists take over China, the world’s most populous nation.

1950: Korean War Starts

• Date: June 25

• Location: Korea

The North Korean People's Army crosses the 38th parallel into South Korea, eliciting almost an immediate response from U.S. President Truman, and starting the Korean War – a proxy battle between the United States and the People's Republic of China. Three years later, a ceasefire would halt the war. The uneasy relations between North Korea and South Korea last to this day.

1951: Rosenbergs Sentenced

• Date: March 29

• Location: New York City

Husband and wife Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of espionage for their part in passing along atomic secrets to the Soviet Union during and after World War II. They are executed two years later. Not everyone is convinced of their involvement in the scheme. Supporters claim they are scapegoats swept up in the Cold War hysteria of the time. Documents revealed decades later would show the detailed extent of Julius Rosenberg's involvement in the spy ring, though Ethel's participation in the scheme remains inconclusive.

1952: First Hydrogen Bomb Test

• Date: Nov. 1

• Location: Marshall Islands

The United States successfully detonates its first hydrogen bomb, a second generation thermonuclear device, in the Marshall Islands as part of Operation Ivy, one of a series of nuclear bomb tests. From 1946 to 1958, the United States used the remote Pacific Marshall Islands as its nuclear weapons testing site, detonating a total of 67 nuclear tests.

1953: The Dawn of DNA

• Date: Feb. 28

• Location: Cambridge, England, U.K.

Cambridge University scientists James Watson and Francis Crick announce they have discovered the fundamental behavior and double-helix structure of DNA. Though scientists had been aware of DNA since the 1860s and its role in genetic inheritance since 1943, Watson and Crick were the first to explain how DNA works to replicate itself and pass on genes from one generation to the next.

1954: Brown vs. Board of Education

• Date: May 17

• Location: Washington D.C.

In a landmark case involving Linda Brown of Topeka, Kansas, who had to cross a railroad track to reach an all-black elementary school even though an all-white school was closer, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the segregated school system was unconstitutional on the basis of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. The clause would be used again by the courts to reverse state-level racial segregation practices and ordinances.

1955: Parks Starts a Movement

• Date: Dec. 1

• Location: Montgomery, Alabama

Rosa Parks makes history by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery bus. The arrest of Parks for insisting to remain seated leads to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the ascent of a young pastor named Martin Luther King, Jr., as a local activist leader to advance the civil rights cause. A successful federal lawsuit by the NAACP against the city leads to the desegregation of the Montgomery bus system on Dec. 21 of the following year.

1956: Hungary Suppressed

• Date: Nov. 4

• Location: Budapest

Cold War tensions escalate when Hungarians take to the streets, demanding democratic reforms. Three days later, Red Army troops invade Hungary, killing thousands. Nine days after the incursion, Budapest is occupied by the Soviet troops in one of the largest and most aggressive actions taken by the Soviet Union since the end of World War II.

1957: The Little Rock Nine

• Date: Sept 24

• Location: Little Rock, Arkansas

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower orders federal troops to protect nine African American high school students as they start classes at the all-white Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. This would become one of the first high-profile actions by the federal government against state-level racial segregation.

1958: US Launches First Satellite

• Date: Jan. 31

• Location: Cape Canaveral, Florida

The United States successfully launches Explorer 1, three months after the Soviet Union sent its first satellite, Sputnik, into orbit. The two superpowers would go on to send more satellites into space, creating a Cold War space race to build ever more sophisticated orbital communications devices.

1959: Castro Takes Over Cuba

• Date: Jan. 1

• Location: Havana

U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista flees Havana as Fidel Castro's forces advance on the Cuban capital. Days later, rebels led by Ché Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter the city, followed two days later by Castro's forces, who quickly consolidate power in Cuba, establishing a communist government in the Caribbean's largest country.

1960: Lunch Counter Sit-in

• Date: Feb. 1

• Location: Greensboro, North Carolina

When four African American college students – Ezell A. Blair, Franklin E. McCain, Joseph A. McNeil and David L. Richmond – sit down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and ask for service, they are denied. The young men refuse to leave, leading to a larger six-month protest that results in the desegregation of the lunch counter by that summer. The Greensboro Woolworth’s would close in 1993, and a section of the lunch counter be donated to the Smithsonian.

1961: Berlin Wall Built

• Date: Aug. 13

• Location: Berlin, East and West Germany

By the late summer of 1961, the loss of skilled workers such as teachers, engineers, and doctors to the West reaches crisis levels in East Germany. On Aug. 12, 2,400 East Germans cross into West Berlin, the most in a single day. The next day, with the approval of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, East Germany builds a wall that would extend 27 miles through Berlin, dividing families and friends for the next 28 years. The wall would serve as an enduring symbol of the Cold War, used by presidents John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan to inspire a divided city.

1962: Cuban Missile Crisis

• Date: Oct.16-28

• Location: Multiple

When the United States learns that the Soviet Union is building nuclear missile installations 90 miles south of Miami in communist Cuba, the Kennedy administration starts a naval blockade around the island, which is at times tested, and Kennedy demands the removal of the missiles.The standoff is widely considered to be the closest the two nuclear superpowers come to direct military confrontation. Cooler heads prevail. The Soviet Union offers to remove the missiles in exchange for a guarantee that the United States will not invade Cuba. In secret, the administration also agrees to withdraw U.S. missiles from Turkey.

1963: JFK Assassinated

• Date: Nov. 22

• Location: Dallas

As President John F. Kennedy prepares for his re-election bid, he embarks on a multi-state tour starting in September 1963. He is murdered by a sharpshooter’s bullet fired by Lee Harvey Oswald at about 12:30 p.m. as his motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in Dallas. Oswald himself is murdered two days later by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.

1964: LBJ's "War on Poverty"

• Date: Jan. 8

• Location: Washington D.C.

Bogged down by the Vietnam War, President Lyndon B. Johnson struggles constantly to pivot away from the war to focus on his stated goals of reducing poverty, ending segregation, and establishing the social programs many Americans rely on to this day, including the immensely popular Medicare program. During his “War on Poverty” State of the Union Address of Jan. 8, 1964, LBJ outlines the need for the country to reduce poverty, end racial discrimination, attend to the health needs of the elderly, and other progressive goals. Later achievements during LBJ’s administration are the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Social Security Amendments of 1965.

1965: Civil Rights Turns Violent

• Date: March 7

• Location: Selma, Alabama

The fatal shooting of protester Jimmy Lee Jackson by an Alabama state trooper sparks a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Hundreds of civil rights activists march in what becomes known as “Bloody Sunday.” Police would confront the marchers, led by John Lewis (who would serve as a House Democrat from Georgia) and others. As the activists cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge, police attack the protesters with tear gas and billy clubs, hospitalizing 50. Lewis would pass away in July 2020, his body crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge for the last time in a horse-drawn carriage.

1966: Mao Purges Rivals

• Date: Aug. 13

• Location: Beijing

At the end of a weeklong session of the Communist Party Central Committee of the People's Republic of China, Chairman Mao Zedong condemns the political elites, calling on China's youth to rebel against the entrenched political hierarchy. It is the beginning of the decade-long Cultural Revolution that fundamentally transforms Chinese society. Intellectuals, members of the former Nationalist government, and people with ties to Western powers are persecuted, sent to re-education labor camps, or killed by the factions of Red Guards formed in the wake of Mao's call to action.

1967: Six-Day War

• Date: June 5

• Location: Middle East

Amid escalating tensions with its neighbors, Israel launches a pre-emptive strike that destroys most of Egypt's air force. Syria, Jordan, and Iraq also attack Israel. As the war continues, Israel takes the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, captures East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan, and in heavy fighting seizes the Golan Heights from Syria. A ceasefire went into effect on June 10.

1968: King Assassinated

• Date: April 4

• Location: Memphis, Tennessee

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is fatally shot by James Earl Ray as the civil rights icon stands on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, a tragedy that sparks race riots nationwide. King's influence in words and actions touch and move not only the nation, but the world, and resonate to this day. Two months later, on June 4, Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy and brother of John F. Kennedy, is fatally shot by Sirhan Sirhan, an Arab Christian from Jerusalem, who believes Kennedy is "instrumental" in oppressing Palestinians.

1969: Landing on the Moon

• Date: July 20

• Location: Moon

President Kennedy’s goal of a manned lunar landing before 1970 is realized six years after his assassination. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins blast off from the Kennedy Space Center at 9:32 a.m. aboard the Saturn V rocket. After three days of travel, Armstrong and Aldrin land the Eagle module on the lunar surface as Collins remains in lunar orbit to pilot the module. Upon their return to Earth, the three astronauts are put in 21-day quarantine to ensure they do not bring back any lunar contagions.

1970: War In Asia Widens

• Date: April 29

• Location: Eastern Cambodia

Although the United States should be scaling back U.S. troop presence in Vietnam, President Richard Nixon approves an operation with the South Vietnamese to invade Cambodia to oust Northern Vietnamese forces there. The Cambodian incursion inflames anti-war protests in the United States as it is perceived to be an escalation of U.S. military involvement in Southeast Asia.

1971: Pentagon Papers

• Date: Feb. 8

• Location: Laos

The Pentagon Papers, a study by the U.S. Department of Defense about the country's involvement in the Vietnam war, are released and published first in The New York Times, then other newspapers. The documents expose several missteps and how several administrations have misled the American public regarding the war in Vietnam. They also reveal an expanded campaign in Cambodia and Laos, especially clandestine bombing in Laos, which today is considered the heaviest bombardment in history.

1972: Nixon Goes To China

• Date: Feb. 21

• Location: Beijing

President Richard Nixon, a virulent anti-communist earlier in his political career, surprises the American public by traveling to Beijing, China, for a week of talks in a historic first step toward normalizing relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Until this trip, the United States and communist China were de facto enemies, fighting proxy wars in the Korean Peninsula in the 1950s and South Vietnam at the time of Nixon’s visit.

1973: Roe v. Wade

• Date: Jan. 22

• Location: Washington D.C.

In a landmark 7-2 decision that will be known as Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court rules that under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, states cannot completely bar a woman's decision to terminate her pregnancy. However, the court adds that as the pregnancy develops, the state can balance a woman's right to privacy with its interest in preserving the "potentiality of human life." As a result, states can ban abortion in the third trimester except in cases where a pregnancy affects a woman's health.

1974: Nixon Resigns Out

• Date: Aug. 8

• Location: Washington D.C.

President Richard Nixon announces his resignation amid impeachment proceedings stemming from the Watergate scandal and his administration's attempt resist a congressional investigation. The scandal exposes abuses of power by the White House after five burglars were busted breaking in to the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Nixon becomes the only president in U.S. history to resign.

1975: Saigon Falls

• Date: April 30

• Location: South Vietnam

Two years after the last American troops leave Vietnam, communist troops from North Vietnam capture Saigon, ending nearly two decades of relentless war in the rice paddies and jungles of that Southeast Asian nation. The final tally of war dead for the United States is 58,202.

1976: The Concorde Changes Air Travel

• Date: Jan. 21

• Location: London and Paris

Two supersonic Concorde jets take off simultaneously – one from London to Bahrain, operated by British Airways, and the other from Paris to Rio de Janeiro via Dakar in Senegal, operated by Air France – marking the first time paying passengers enjoy commercial travel at faster than the speed of sound. Though travel by one of the 16 Concordes ever put into service could slash travel time from New York to London in half, the high cost of maintenance, soaring ticket prices, as well as a fatal accident in 2000, sealed the fate of the narrow, slope-nosed aircraft.

1977: Rise of the PC

• Date: January

• Location: Chicago

Personal home computers began to emerge in the 1970s, but many of the earliest versions resembled calculators that would plug into televisions sets. By 1977, however, the desktop home computer begins to resemble their more modern versions – with an accompanying attached or separate computer screen and a magnetic tape or floppy disk storage device. The Commodore PET is unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago that year, while the first Apple II and Radio Shack's TRS-80 go on sale.

1978: Cult's Mass Suicide

• Date: Nov. 18

• Location: Jonestown, Guyana

More than 900 people die in one of worst recorded acts of cult-related mass murder-suicide after most of the victims and perpetrators drink a powdered drink mix dosed with cyanide. Most of the victims are Americans, devotees of Peoples Temple cult leader Jim Jones, a former Methodist-trained preacher who built a following and led the flock to Guyana. Among the dead are 276 children who drink the poison. A small number of cult defectors are killed by Peoples Temple gunmen who also slay California congressman Leo Ryan, who had gone to Guyana to investigate Jonestown.

1979: Islamic Republic Born in Iran

• Date: Feb. 11

• Location: Tehran

Worsening economic conditions, increasing discontent with the government, and wide support for religious leader in exile Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini end the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. The shah and his family flee Iran in January 1979. On Feb 11, the monarchy is dissolved, and on April 1, Khomeini declares Iran an Islamic republic. With support among the nation's clergy and their many followers, he begins rebuilding Iranian society based on conservative Shiite religious principles.

1980: Reagan Elected

• Date: Nov. 4

• Location: Washington, D.C.

With the United States in an economic malaise and the Iranian hostage crisis hobbling the presidency of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan is elected the 40th president in a landslide. Reagan, who would serve two terms, was the oldest man elected president at the time. Reagan's election changes the trajectory of American politics, ushering in an era of conservative leadership. During his tenure, he takes a more aggressive approach to the Soviet Union and increases defense spending. Reagan convinces Congress to cut taxes, a move that many economists credit with triggering an economic boom in the 1980s.

1981: AIDS Impacts America

• Date: June 5

• Location: Los Angeles

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publishes a report about five gay men who had been diagnosed by local physicians with a rare form of pneumonia – the first reported U.S. cases of what would later become known as HIV/AIDS. The autoimmune disease spread so fast that by the end of 1982, 500 Americans had died from what now the CDC called acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. An estimated 35 million people worldwide would die from AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the epidemic.

1982: Mexico Triggers Regional Debt Crisis

• Date: Aug 12

• Location: Mexico City

Global economic stagnation in the 1970s and early 1980s, and excessive borrowing among Latin America's biggest economies, boils over when Mexico's Finance Minister Jesús Silva-Herzog tells the U.S. Federal Reserve his country can no longer service its debt to $80 billion. After the announcement, lenders realize virtually every country in Latin America, led by Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, are not able to pay back loans. The crisis would lead to years of eroding wages, weak-to-negative economic growth, sky-high unemployment, severe austerity measures, and political instability – known as the "lost decade" in Latin America.

1983: The Internet is Born

• Date: Jan. 1

• Location: Multiple

The internet as we know it today – a seemingly endless collection of websites hosted on servers scattered across the globe – is still more than a decade away. But at the beginning of 1983, the the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) – a small network for academics and researchers – transitions to the standard TCP/IP protocol of the World Wide Web. The protocol would become the internet's cornerstone and technical foundation as it allows expanded available address space and decentralizes the network, thus also expanding accessibility.

1984: Chemicals Kill Thousands in India

• Date: Dec. 2

• Location: Bhopal, India

The chemical disaster in Bhopal is still considered history's worst industrial disaster. About 30 tons of methyl isocyanate, an industrial gas used to make pesticide, are released at a Union Carbide Corp. plant. About 600,000 poor residents of nearby shanty towns are exposed to a highly toxic compound that kills about 15,000 people and countless farm animals, according to Indian government estimates. The calamity leads to a generation of birth defects. To this day, locals claim the now-abandoned site is riddled with toxic materials left behind by Union Carbide, which was acquired by Dow Chemical in 2001.

1985: Reagan, Gorbachev Meet

• Date: Nov. 19

• Location: Geneva

Despite his often bellicose criticisms of the Soviet Union, President Ronald Reagan agrees to meet with his counterpart, Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, in Geneva in the first meeting between leaders of the two Cold War foes in nearly a decade. Though the meeting yields little of substance, it starts a closer relationship between the two men who both seem committed to scaling back the nuclear arms race between the two nuclear superpowers.

1986: Shuttle Tragedy

• Date: Jan. 28

• Location: Off the coast of Florida

The 25th mission of the U.S. space shuttle program ends with the tragic loss of seven astronauts as space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after takeoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Among those killed are Christa McAuliffe, who would have been the first teacher in space. The failure is later identified as a problem with the so-called O-rings used to form a seal in the seams of the shuttle's external fuel tanks.

1987: Stock Market Tanks

• Date: Oct. 19

• Location: Worldwide

Oct. 19, 1987 is called Black Monday because on that day the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges 508 points, or more than 22%. The drop is worse than the crash in 1929. It is also worse than the market plunge after the 9-11 terrorist attacks and the 2008 financial crisis. Among the reasons cited for the drop are rising tensions in the Persian Gulf, concern over higher interest rates, and the belief that the bull market is ending. Computerized trading, relatively new at the time, accelerates trade orders, which speeds up the market drop. As a result of the collapse, exchanges put in place so-called circuit breakers intended to halt trading when stocks fall too fast. This measure is designed to provide investors a cooling off period and avoid a panic.

1988: When the U.S. Armed Iran

• Date: March 16

• Location: Washington D.C.

Lt. Col. Oliver North and Vice Adm. John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States for their involvement in the so-called Iran-Contra affair. The scandal involved members of the Reagan administration who illegally sold arms to Iran to help facilitate the release of American hostages, and then transfer the proceeds of the sale to fund the Nicaraguan contras, a loose affiliation of right-wing militias. North is convicted, but his conviction is vacated and reversed, while Poindexter's convictions are also reversed on appeal.

1989: The Berlin Wall Falls

• Date: Nov. 9

• Location: Berlin, East and West Germany

Cracks in the monolithic Soviet bloc are starting to appear in the 1980s, and the very symbol of communist repression comes crashing down in November, when the Berlin Wall is breached, ending a 28-year division of the city. During the day on Nov. 9, a spokesman for East Berlin's Communist Party says starting at midnight that day, citizens of East Germany are free to cross the country's borders. Almost immediately Berliners start slamming the wall with axes and sledgehammers. By nightfall, the celebration turns into what one observer calls "the greatest street party in the history of the world" and the city is reunited. East and West Germany would reunite one year later.

1990: Democracy in Poland

• Date: Jan. 28

• Location: Poland

With the hold of the Soviet Union and communism on East Europe loosening, Poland's ruling communist party votes to dissolve and become more moderate. In the following elections, Lech Wałęsa, leader of the Solidarity Movement and the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, wins the election and becomes president.

1991: American Goes to War in Middle East

• Date: Jan. 17

• Location: Saudi Arabia and Kuwait

After Saddam Hussein's Iraq invades and occupies Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990, the United States sends forces to defend neighboring Saudi Arabia from being overrun and to protect its vital oil assets in Operation Desert Shield. With Saudi Arabia secured, U.S. implements Operation Desert Storm to push Iraqi forces back across the border with Kuwait in a military operation that lasts until a ceasefire takes effect in April.

1992: Cold War Ends

• Date: Feb. 1

• Location: Camp David, Maryland

Just weeks after the dissolution of the Soviet Union on Dec. 26, 1991, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and his Russian counterpart, Boris Yeltsin, meet at Camp David to formally declare the end of the Cold War that began shortly after the end of World War II. The meeting comes days after both countries announce they would stop aiming nuclear missiles at each other. Russia declares its 11 former communist satellite republics – from Armenia to Uzbekistan – independent.

1993: The EU Becomes Reality

• Date: Nov. 1

• Location: Brussels

The Treaty of the European Union, also known as the Maastricht Treaty, goes into effect in November, after a rough series of political wrangling that, among other concessions, allows the U.K. and Denmark to opt out of the common euro currency. The treaty opens the way to removing border controls among member states and invites new members to join the union.

1994: Amazon.com is Born

• Date: July 5

• Location: Seattle

With an initial aim of becoming an online bookstore, Jeff Bezos and a handful of angel investors launch Amazon.com, just as e-commerce is about to take off. In 2020, after expanding from books to the so-called “Everything Store” and growing a business selling cloud services to companies like Netflix and Instagram, Bezos would be the world’s richest man.

1995: Domestic Terror Strikes Oklahoma

• Date: April 19

• Location: Oklahoma City

In the deadliest domestic terrorist attack in U.S. history, anti-government radicals Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols bomb the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. They time the truck-bomb attack for a weekday morning in order to maximize casualties. For the murder of at least 168 people, including 19 children who were in a childcare center in the building, and the injury of hundreds of others, an unremorseful McVeigh is executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001. Nichols is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

1996: The Dawn of Cloning

• Date: July 5

• Location: Midlothian, Scotland, U.K.

Dolly the Sheep enters the annals of bioengineering when scientists at Scotland's Roslin Institute become the first to not only successfully clone a mammal, but also the first to do so using an adult cell rather than an embryonic one. After 277 so-called cell fusions that created 29 embryos, the teams managed to turn an udder cell into a nearly complete biological carbon copy of the sheep from which it came.

1997: Machine Tops Chess Champ

• Date: May 11

• Location: New York City

Artificial intelligence and machine learning have been serious areas of study (and hype) for over 60 years. In 1997, one of the most significant victories for silicon logic came when IBM's Deep Blue became the first machine to beat a world chess champion. The the refrigerator-sized computer beat Garry Kasparov twice and tied him three times in a six-game match.

1998: The Age of Google Begins

• Date: Sept. 4

• Location: Menlo Park, California

With seed money from Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, among others, Stanford University Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin launch the search engine Google. The digital advertising behemoth Google Inc., now Alphabet Inc., is a $1.104 trillion company with several subsidiaries, including video-sharing platform YouTube; autonomous-car development company Waymo; and X, the company’s research and development division.

1999: NATO's First Independent Strike

• Date: March 24

• Location: Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

In order to expel Serbian forces from Kosovo during the Kosovo War, NATO forces initiate their first-ever military campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (now Montenegro and Serbia) without U.N. Security Council authorization as Russia and China oppose the attack. The NATO air strikes are aimed at stopping an onslaught against ethnic Albanians by the government of Slobodan Milošević. The NATO attacks last nearly three months, culminating in the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo.

2000: International Space Station Opens

• Date: Nov. 2

• Location: Low earth orbit

Commanders Bill Shepherd from the United States and Yuri Gidzenko of Russia, along with Russian flight engineer Sergei Krikalev become the first temporary residents of the International Space Station two years after the first component of the research center was put into low-Earth orbit about 250 miles above sea level. Since that first crew, there have been 229 other visitors to the ISS, some of them multiple times, led by 146 from the United States and 47 from Russia.

2001: 9/11

• Date: Sept. 11

• Location: Multiple

In the worst attack on U.S. soil since the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, 19 hijackers inspired by Islamist extremism kill nearly 3,000 people after crashing three passenger-laden commercial aircraft into the World Trade Center towers in lower Manhattan and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. A fourth plane, United Airlines 93, crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew attempt to regain control of the plane headed Washington D.C.

2002: Homeland Security

• Date: Nov. 25

• Location: Washington D.C.

Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. Congress and President George W. Bush enact the Homeland Security Act, the biggest government reorganization of national security efforts since the Department of Defense was created in 1947. The sweeping legislation creates the massive Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for everything from protecting infrastructure from cyber-attacks to managing the new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

2003: US Crushes Iraq

• Date: March 19

• Location: Iraq

With the help of British and other allied forces, the United States begins its invasion of Iraq with a rapid bombing "Shock and Awe" campaign with the intention of destroying Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction; the weapons are never found. Coalition forces manage to quickly topple the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein, but have to fight insurgent forces for years afterward.

2004: Facebook Founded

• Date: Feb. 4

• Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Mark Zuckerberg, a 23-year-old Harvard University student, creates “The facebook,” a local social networking site named after the orientation materials that profiles students and faculty and given to incoming college freshmen. Sixteen years later, Facebook has become an $843.6 billion digital advertising behemoth so integral to many people’s lives that it has been criticized for helping foreign powers and propagandists influence the U.S. political system.

2005: Katrina Overwhelms New Orleans

• Date: Aug. 29

• Location: U.S. Gulf Coast

After spending four days in the Gulf of Mexico bulking up to a category 5 hurricane, Katrina slams into New Orleans, inundating the city and creating a humanitarian crisis that lasts for weeks. The catastrophe underscores the precarious situation not only in the Big Easy, but also the surrounding area of the Gulf Coast. At least 1,833 people in the storm's path are killed, and the storm inflicts $161 billion in damages to the region, the costliest storm in U.S. history.

2006: Hussein Executed

• Date: Dec. 30

• Location: Baghdad

Three years after U.S. soldiers pulled him from a hole in the ground where he had been hiding, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is hanged after he was convicted for crimes against humanity, specifically for ordering the massacre of 148 Shiites in 1982 following a failed assassination attempt against him.

2007: The iPhone

• Date: Jan. 9

• Location: San Francisco

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who died in October 2011, first shows the world one of the most popular branded consumer electronic devices in history, the iPhone. Since the first generation phone that Jobs introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show that year, there have been 18 versions of the mobile device, and more than 1.2 billion units have been sold globally through 2017. Only Samsung's Galaxy smartphone comes close to that volume.

2008: Dow Plunges

• Date: Sept. 29

• Location: New York City

The Dow Jones Industrial Average records an intraday drop of 777.68 points after Congress rejects a massive $700 billion bailout of U.S. banks. The bill would pass days later. The market reacts also to months of global market turmoil amid the 2008 global financial crisis spurred by the U.S. subprime mortgage market crash. The Dow fell by more than half during the 2007-09 Great Recession, tumbling from 14,164 on Oct. 9, 2007 to 6,594 on March 5, 2009.

2009: America’s First African American President

• Date: Jan. 20

• Location: Washington D.C.

After defeating Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona by amassing 365 electoral votes and 53% of the popular vote, Barack Obama is sworn in as the first African American president of the United States. Obama inherits the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, but with his party holding majorities in both houses of Congress at the time, the president is able to pass a stimulus package and his signature Affordable Care Act in March 2010.

2010: Catastrophic Oil Spill

• Date: April 20

• Location: Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana

Eleven workers die and 17 are injured after an explosion and fire erupts on the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig 40 miles from the Louisiana coast. The explosion causes the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history, spewing 3 million barrels of crude over the three months it takes to stop the leak. British oil company BP says costs climbed to $65 billion in claims for the accident, including a $1.7 billion charge it took as recently as the fourth quarter of 2017.

2011: Bin Laden Killed

• Date: May 2

• Location: Abbottabad, Pakistan

In an intense 40-minute nighttime firefight, 25 U.S. Navy SEALs hunt down and kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Within hours, bin Laden’s body is identified using DNA and then buried at sea.

2012: The "God Particle" Is (Probably) Discovered

• Date: July 4

• Location: Near Geneva

Nearly 600 feet below the France-Switzerland border at CERN's Large Hadron Collider Facility, an international team of scientists discovers a new particle widely believed to be the elusive Higgs boson, known as the "God Particle," which is thought to be a fundamental component of the universe. Higgs boson has been an important element of particle physics theory for decades, but until 2012 there had been no physical evidence to support its existence.

2013: Snowden Reveals Secrets

• Date: June 6

• Location: Hong Kong

After surreptitiously leaving his job at U.S. National Security Agency contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, computer security consultant Edward Snowden meets secretly in Hong Kong with journalists Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras. He reveals the first of a series of secrets about numerous U.S. and European government surveillance operations. Hailed as a courageous whistleblower and privacy champion by some, and a traitor that compromised counterterrorism efforts by others, the American now resides in exile in Moscow.

2014: Russian Bear Bites Ukraine

• Date: March 16

• Location: Crimea

Exploiting political unrest in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin orchestrates the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. The action incites peals of condemnation from world leaders and a raft of economic sanctions against Moscow. This strategically important and predominantly Russian-speaking region on the Black Sea has been coveted by the Russians as part of their strategic efforts to check NATO expansion along Russia's western border.

2015: NASA Flies by Pluto

• Date: July 14

• Location: 3 billion miles from Earth

NASA spacecraft New Horizons becomes the first human-made object to fly past and observe the dwarf planet Pluto. New Horizons sends back stunning photographs of this enigmatic and distant member of the solar system, including images of a mountain range and massive icebergs floating in frozen nitrogen. New Horizons is now en route to the Kuiper Belt, a massive asteroid belt at the far reaches of the solar system.

2016: Trump Elected

• Date: Nov. 8

• Location: U.S.

Running on a populist agenda, Donald Trump is elected the 45th president of the United States and the fifth president in U.S. history (the second since the 2000) to win despite losing the popular vote. The real estate developer and television personality ran on a platform of putting "America First" in global trade and foreign policy negotiations and cracking down on undocumented immigrants.

2017: Hurricane Triple Whammy

• Date: August-September

• Location: Multiple

Within just four weeks, three massive hurricanes – Harvey, Irma, and Maria – strike Texas, Florida, and the Caribbean, killing 228 people, inflicting a combined $265 billion in damages, and displacing millions of homeowners. Hurricane Maria inflicts immense damage to the U.S. commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which was already struggling from economic insolvency.

2018: Wildfires

• Date: November

• Location: Northern California

Wildfires engulfed northern California in November, the deadliest in that state’s history. The catastrophe cost the lives of 88 people and fire consumed 18,500 homes and businesses. State and federal officials estimated that it would cost $3 billion to clean up debris. Climate change activists said the conflagrations were evidence that global warming is no longer a distant concern and that it is occurring now.

2019:Hong Kong Protests

• Date: Beginning in March

• Location: Hong Kong

Residents of the small economic powerhouse of Hong Kong, which was given special administrative region status as a condition to its handover to China from Great Britain, protested a proposed extradition bill in March. That led to other mass demonstrations in Hong Kong throughout the year over concerns China was trying to erode Hong Kong’s autonomy.

People power manifested itself in protests in other nations as well in 2019, with demonstrations leading to the ouster of presidents in Algeria and Sudan.

2020: COVID-19

• Date: March

• Location: Worldwide

A novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, that causes the disease COVID-19 was first detected in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. The virus spread to Europe and the United States in early 2020 and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11. The outbreak reached virtually every nation on Earth, leading to countrywide lockdowns, massive layoffs, business closures, and school shutdowns. As of Aug. 26, the pandemic claimed more than 820,000 lives worldwide, including about 179,000 people in the U.S. COVID-19 has become the worst pandemic since the Spanish flu in 1918.

24/7 Wall Street is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.

PGA Tour commissioner announces higher prize money at some ...

(CNN) PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan told reporters Wednesday prize money at eight regular season tournaments will be increased, an announcement that comes on the heels of several big-name golfers leaving the tour for the controversial Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series .

"Let me be clear, I am not naïve. If this is an arms race and if the only weapons here are dollar bills, the PGA Tour can't compete," Monahan said at a news conference. "The PGA Tour, an American institution, can't compete with a foreign monarchy that is spending billions of dollars in an attempt to buy the game of golf."

During the commissioner's news conference, the LIV Golf series announced former world No. 1 Brooks Koepka would be joining the venture.

LIV Golf is organized by LIV Golf Investments and backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) -- a sovereign wealth fund chaired by Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and the man who a US intelligence report named as responsible for approving the operation that led to the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi . Bin Salman has denied involvement in Khashoggi's killing.

Earlier this month, Monahan announced that all golfers playing in the breakaway series will no longer be eligible to participate in PGA Tour tournaments.

Monahan said the Tour welcomes "good, healthy" competition but said the new tour is an "irrational threat" and is not concerned with the "true growth" of the game.

Until now, the various golf tours and organizations have worked together, he said.

"But when someone attempts to buy the sport, dismantle the institutions that are intrinsically invested in its growth and focused only on a personal priority, that partnership evaporates and instead we end up with one person, one entity using endless amounts of money to direct employees, not members or partners, toward their personal goal," Monahan said. "Which may or may not change tomorrow or the next day. I doubt that's the vision any one of us have the for the game."

In a memo to players obtained by CNN Monahan wrote that the Sentry Tournament of Champions, The Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Players Championship, WGC - Dell Technologies, Memorial Tournament, FedEx St. Jude Championship and BMW Championship would have millions added to their prize money, including several that will see 67% more in the purses.

Monahan also said the PGA Tour will create a series of up to three international events that will feature a limited-field in a no-cut format. The international events will take place after the conclusion of the fall schedule and will include the top 50 players from the final FedEx Cup points list and the best performers in the fall.

He revealed the PGA Tour will return to a calendar year schedule culminating with the FedEx Cup playoffs, which will feature a smaller field of 70 players instead of the usual 125, followed by fall events that will determine the top 125 players.

The first full season of the new changes will begin in the 2024 calendar year.

Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world, said he doesn't think there is any amount of money that will change his mind about playing on the PGA Tour.

"The money that we have on the PGA Tour, I never dreamed of playing for this much money as I do now," he said. "I mean, I can't, I don't know, I don't know how much money I've made this year, but it's definitely more than I deserve for whacking a little white golf ball around."

Scheffler said he wasn't going to tell others what they should do, but in the past, doing things based on the money involved hadn't worked out well for him.

Six-time major winner Phil Mickelson and former world No. 1 Dustin Johnson are among those who played in the first LIV Golf event, while other major winners Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel also participated.

There are seven LIV events remaining this year, including an event in Portland that begins June 30 and a tournament at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, with the first round on July 29.

Tulsa Race Massacre events: Updates as Black Wall Street ...

Survivors, dignitaries, state residents and people from all walks of life will gather in Tulsa over the next week to commemorate the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre on Black Wall Street.

The Oklahoman will be providing live updates from Tulsa over the next several days. Check back to this article often to get the latest information on events at the Tulsa Race Massacre centennial.

Racially diverse crowd joins for candlelight vigil in Greenwood, despite rain and chilly weather

Kevin Dedner looked around him as he stood with two friends on Monday at the corner of Greenwood and Archer avenues.

Hoisting an umbrella in the air, the Washington, D.C. resident explained why he chose to stand in the rain with more than 100 other people at a candlelight vigil held at 10:30 p.m. to mark the moment the first shot was fired that started the Tulsa Race Massacre 100 years ago in Greenwood.

"I started the morning at the dedication of the (Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church prayer) wall and it was very still before the rain and the wind wasn't blowing. All I could think about was how 100 years ago, all of these people were starting their day here," said Dedner, who is African American.

"They thought it was going to be a normal day and they thought they were going to go on building their lives and futures for their children and by 10 o'clock that night, the whole world as they knew it, would unravel. So I wanted to here to honor their memory, to really join them in their suffering, because when we suffer, we then know our path to healing."

Dedner had a message for the city where white mobs murdered Black Tulsans and burned their homes, businesses and churches in the thriving community called Black Wall Street — but no one has ever been punished for the killings and calls for justice and reparations haven't been answered.

"Tulsa, America is staring you back. Tulsa is important to our healing in America," he said.

Some of the people in the racially diverse crowd had trouble keeping their candles burning due to the wind and rain, but the majority worked together, often with strangers, to keep their flames lit for the roughly 15-minute vigil.

At one point, a woman began singing the hymn "Hallelujah" and many people joined in. When she inserted the phrase "Greenwood rising" into the song, some voices became louder as they sang the victorious words and several people briefly cheered.

Jeremy Panakos, who is white, said he was part of a group from the University of Tulsa.

"We're here to show our support for the community and to show we're a part of it," he said.

Terrance Curry, who is African American, said he was a New York native currently living in Tulsa. He said he attended the candlelight vigil to remember the race massacre victims whose lives were changed forever 100 years ago.

"I have to say I'm extremely grateful about being here and experiencing that," he said.

"I'm grateful to be in Tulsa and not being a native Tulsan, seeing what this looks like boots on the ground, what Black Wall Street is, and seeing everyone coming out today honoring those that came before us."

Viola Bloom said she grew up in Tulsa but she'd been away for several years while living in New York.

"I came to commemorate this tragedy, this piece of Tulsa history, to acknowledge it, to honor the lost and to show that I care," she said.

"Tulsa being the site of this incredibly tragic event also gives us an example for how to heal and how to come together and create something beautiful. There's the inspiring story of this incredible wealth that was here, the incredible community, the incredible potential. I just feel brokenhearted, thinking about what we lost. It was the most tragic loss to the Black community, but as a white Tulsan, I feel like we lost too. They had to rebuild and rebuild. I know urban renewal was part of the reason this community declined. but just imagining what this community could be today if it had not encountered all those obstacles, I feel like it's a tragic loss for the entire city."

On a more hopeful note, Bloom said she was making a personal commitment to racial healing and reconciliation as a flier for the candlelight gathering suggested.

"This is sort of my personal gesture, a commitment on my part to address racism when I see it and not turn a blind eye, to use my privilege to make a change. I have a greater vision for what Tulsa can become. I just wanted to come out and feel this community and this place at this time. It's an incredible thing — this was the moment and I feel like it's incredibly moving to be here."

— Carla Hinton

New York's Harlem Chamber Players to broadcast Tulsa Race Massacre commemorative program

New York's Harlem Chamber Players will present "Pity These Ashes: Tulsa 1921-2021," an online concert program on June 19, which is Juneteenth, in partnership with The Greene Space at WQXR and WNYC, Harlem Stage, and the Harlem School of the Arts.

The program will feature the world premiere of "TULSA 1921 (Pity These Ashes, Pity This Dust)" by Adolphus Hailstork, commissioned to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, with a libretto by Herbert Woodward Martin. The concert also will include performances of Starburst by Jessie Montgomery, Prema by Alice Coltrane, and The People Could Fly by Trevor Weston.

“Our wish for this program is to use music to confront our painful past that has been buried from us for too long. These brilliant works by Black composers — underrepresented in the classical music canon — tell a story of endurance and resilience, and we hope it helps people to move forward and heal," said Liz Player, founder of the Harlem Chamber Players, in a statement.

The concert event will be filmed and broadcast from The Greene Space at WQXR and WNYC and will feature star mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, WQXR host and author Terrance McKnight, violinist Jessica "Lady Jess" McJunkins, conductor Amadi Azikiwe, harpist Ashley Jackson and musicians from The Harlem Chamber Players.

"The intersection of art and social justice is at the very foundation of Harlem Stage. We are so pleased to partner on this critical work that shines a light on truth and injustice, and showcases the immense, diverse talent of artists of color," said Pat Cruz, Harlem Stage artistic director and CEO, in a statement.

For more information, go to https://www.harlemchamberplayers.org.

— Brandy McDonnell

'Legacy of Black Wall Street' special to appear on Oprah Winfrey Network

Pioneers of the Greenwood District past and present will appear in the two-part special "The Legacy of Black Wall Street" on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network.

The OWN Spotlight event will premiere Tuesday and June 8 on subscription streaming service and will then broadcast in primetime at 8 p.m. those same nights on OWN.

"The Legacy of Black Wall Street" will chronicle the rise of Black Wall Street up until the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, which destroyed the 36-block booming business epicenter.

Rather than focusing on the massacre, the documentary shifts will amplify the voices of those Black trailblazers back then who went West to build their American dream. The special will intertwine their stories of the past with the stories of contemporary Black pioneers now who continue the path to healing and rebuilding.

"We're proud to tell this powerful story and commemorate the triumphant survivors who worked to rebuild and reclaim Black Wall Street," said OWN President Tina Perry in a statement. "This is a significant moment in our history that will not be forgotten. We will continue to amplify Black excellence and resilience on OWN as we make strides on the road to healing."

The history is shared through the lives of five individuals who were on Black Wall Street in the early 1900s: Loula Williams, Augusta Stradford, Dr. Andrew C Jackson, Drusilla Dunjee Houston and A.J. Smitherman.

Interwoven with their stories are the perspectives of the race massacre descendants and present-day activists in Greenwood: Venita Cooper, Jerica Wortham, Charity Marcus, Dr. Jabraan Pasha and Raven Majia Williams.

In addition, the documentary will include new interviews with various experts, financial professionals, historians and professors, such as Dr. Angela Davis, Dr. Ellora Derenoncourt as well as state Rep. Regina Goodwin and J. Kavin Ross, both direct descendants of the Tulsa massacre

"OWN Spotlight: The Legacy of Black Wall Street" is produced by Trailblazer Studios. Executive producers include Ashleigh Di Tonto and Jeff Lanter. Deborah Riley Draper serves as director and producer.

"It is an honor getting to spend time with these truly remarkable pioneers and their direct descendants. Deborah and I wanted to share the intimate and unknown origin stories of those pioneers that can only be told by those closest to them; an oral history that's passed down from generation to generation. Getting to be the stewards of their stories is a privilege that is not lost on us," said Di Tonto, senior vice president of development for Trailblazer Studios, in a statement.

— Brandy McDonnell

Justice for Greenwood group praises John Legend for supporting survivors

The Justice for Greenwood Foundation praised Grammy Award-winning recording artist John Legend on Monday for issuing a statement calling for a “true reckoning and reparations for the survivors and their descendants” of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and encouraging donations to Justice for Greenwood.

Attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons, who is representing the three living race massacre survivors in a reparations lawsuit; Tiffany Crutcher; and Greg Robinson of Justice for Greenwood released the following statement:

"For a century, the survivors, descendants, and the community of Greenwood have been unable to shake the weight of the legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Its continued harms haunt us to this very day, contributing to the gross inequities leaving the Black community in Tulsa with a shortened life span, lower pay, fewer opportunities for job or economic mobility, higher rates of heart disease and diabetes, and a disturbing school-to-prison pipeline. The first step to addressing these systemic issues and dismantling the forces of white supremacy begins with respect, repair, and restitution.

"Thank you to John Legend for honoring the survivors of the massacre and recognizing that the path forward for truth, justice, and accountability begins with reparations. Mother Randle, Mother Fletcher, and Hughes Van Ellis have waited long enough for justice — we cannot spare another day in delivering them reparations so we can begin to heal and move forward together."

Legend released a statement via Twitter sending his love to the people of Tulsa as they commemorate the 100th anniversary of the race massacre. The singer-songwriter was to headline a star-studded event called "Remember and Rise" on Monday but it was canceled.

"While we won't be together tomorrow, I look forward to visiting with you in the near future, and, most importantly, to a true reckoning and reparations for the survivors and their descendants. To help the victims of Greenwood and their descendants receive justice and reparations, please consider donating: justiceforgreenwood.org/donate," Legend said in his statement.

— Carla Hinton

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi releases statement on Tulsa Race Massacre centennial

U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi released the following statement marking 100 years since the start of the Tulsa Race Massacre:

Today is a day of profoundly solemn commemoration, as our nation marks one hundred years since the start of the Tulsa Race Massacre. A century ago, the Black community in Greenwood suffered one of the most brutal and senseless campaigns of racial violence in American history, targeted because of their commitment to pursuing their American Dream. Compounding the cruelty, the truth of this horrific act – hundreds murdered and injured, homes and businesses destroyed, generational wealth erased – is too often ignored and overlooked, allowing ignorance and bigotry to persist.

Thanks to Congressman Hank Johnson’s leadership on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee’s resolution to commemorate the Massacre, the House is fighting to ensure that our nation does not look away from this dark chapter in our history. We were grateful that courageous survivors Viola Ford Fletcher, Hughes Van Ellis and Lessie Benningfield Randle testified before Congress earlier this month to share their heartbreaking stories from that tragic day.

President Biden and the Democratic Congress are united in our strong condemnation of this heinous Massacre and all appalling acts of bigotry and violence against the Black community. Our nation’s fight against systemic racism and racial violence continues today with a renewed sense of urgency, sparked by the murder of George Floyd and so many others subjected to police brutality. As we fight to enact the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, we will not relent in our urgent work to advance justice, peace and prosperity for all – and we keep the memory of those murdered in Tulsa, and all those we have lost to racial violence, in our hearts.

— Oklahoman Staff

Biden names May 31, 2021 National Day of Remembrance for Tulsa Race Massacre

An official proclamation naming May 31, 2021 a Day of Remembrance: 100 Years After the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre was issued by President Joe Biden this morning.

“The Federal Government must reckon with and acknowledge the role that it has played in stripping wealth and opportunity from Black communities,” Biden said in the proclamation.

Biden called for the people of the United States to commemorate the massacre, celebrate the survivors and their stories, and commit to fighting racism.

“We honor the legacy of the Greenwood community, and of Black Wall Street, by reaffirming our commitment to advance racial justice through the whole of our government, and working to root out systemic racism from our laws, our policies and our hearts,” Biden continued in the proclamation.

The announcement comes ahead of the President’s scheduled trip to the city tomorrow, amid ongoing celebrations and remembrance ceremonies for the massacre’s centennial anniversary.

— JaNae Williams

Smithsonian marking Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial with virtual panel

Smithsonian Magazine and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre with a virtual panel discussion titled "Historically Speaking: In Remembrance Of Greenwood" at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

The free panel will explore the development of Tulsa's Greenwood District, the events which led to its Black residents being the target of racially motivated violence and the aftermath that highlights the community's resilience and regrowth. Panelists include Lisa Cook, a professor at Michigan State University; Victor Luckerson, a Tulsa resident and a contributor to Smithsonian Magazine’s April 2021 cover package devoted to the race massacre and the Black history of Oklahoma; and Paul Gardullo, the National Museum of African American History and Culture's curator of history.

Michael Fletcher of ESPN's "Undefeated" will moderate. To register or get more information, go to https://nmaahc.si.edu/event/historically-speaking-100th-anniversary-and-remembrance-tulsa-race-massacre.

— Brandy McDonnell

Festival attendees take in history and culture

Several people taking in the sights and sounds of the Black Legacy Wall Street Festival on Sunday shared their reasons for attending some of the events and activities marking the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

Ann Harris, Broken Arrow: I'm here for the history. Even though I'm not from here — I'm originally from Little Rock, Arkansas — I have a 3-year-old grandson who lives in North Tulsa. That's the most important thing, that I can pass down that cultural history. This week, we're teaching him different things and he can point to the pictures and we ask him what is that and he's saying "Wall Street Grandma," so he's already learning. Grandma is excited about it.

Roland Martin, digital media and broadcast journalist: On my show we focus on African Americans. This is American history, not just Black history. So for us being Black owned media, it's up to us to tell our own stories but not just talk about what took place over the last 100 years, but also to put forth the mission of what should happen over the next 100 years. My focus is what happens on June 1, June 2, June 3, June 4. That's why we were here, for the live community events but also talking to people and sort of laying the foundation for what should happen next.

Rachel Dazey, Tulsa: I'm really here to support Black friends who are artists. Community is important. It's important that the community is talking about it I think it's important that it's reaching outside Tulsa too. It's good that the media's here to highlight this. It's the largest race massacre in our nation's history. If anything, it (attention) should be bigger than it is.

Lee Roland, Oklahoma City: I love this, to see Black people celebrating their heritage. I took a picture with one of the survivors so I'm just thankful that I could put my arm around her and say thank you for what you did.

Irving Roland, Los Angeles: We're here to commemorate the lives that we lost 100 years ago and basically celebrate progression and hopefully move in the right direction. Everyone is out here having fun, the fellowship is great and I'm just thankful that I was able to fly in and be a part of it.

Kabaka Maroon, Raleigh, North Carolina: We (Black Panthers) came here for the March on Tulsa because of what happened in 1921, which I consider as a slaughter. It was a high level of violence that day performed against our people. So I came here to feel my ancestors' spirits. I'm real deep rooted in the spiritual. I didn't come here to celebrate. I came here to mourn the people that were murdered here.

The Rev. Mary Ivey, Washington, D.C.: My ministry is called Maine Avenue Ministries. I'm from Vian and my parents are buried there. I came to this because of the nature of what it is and what it means not only to Tulsa, Oklahoma, but to the world at large. I came because a lot of people don't even know about Greenwood. Greenwood is one of the most historical events that should be studied and reviewed in history, in terms of not only race but cultural relations, for all of the world, not just for Black people and white people, but for all nations and nationalities to understand that we're all one humanity. Before we can gain real solid ground, we have to have people admit to what happened and why it happened.

— Carla Hinton

Oklahoma advocates to be featured at Intersectional Pride Series

Three days of in-person and virtual events honoring the legacy of Black Wall Street, Oklahoma’s BIPOC LGBTQIA+ and the state's arts community will take place Monday-Wednesday to coincide with the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the first week of Pride Month 2021 and International Sex Workers’ Day.

The Intersectional Pride Series — a collaboration of 10 nonprofit organizations, spearheaded by New York Transgender Advocacy Group — is intended to remember, activate and encourage healing, according to a news release.

The series will include both live and streamed conversations with Oklahoma Black artists, advocates in criminal legal reform and leaders in the BIPOC, trans, queer and sex work communities. Self-care will be encouraged through a complimentary group therapy session for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ and Oklahoma residents by a two-spirit indigenous licensed Oklahoma therapist.

The event will include film screenings, panel discussions and presentations. Complimentary skincare and makeup gift bags sponsored by Clinique will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis during in-person events at Living Arts Tulsa, 307 E Reconciliation Way.

"Whoever you are is multi-layered. You are not just one thing. I am a multi-racial transgender queer filmmaker, a Tulsa native, researcher, sex worker, and an advocate. Approaching difficult issues from an intersectional lens is critical to dismantling oppression. I hope these unique events can contribute to conversations happening around the centennial," said J. Leigh Oshiro-Brantly, the primary event organizer and director of “Transcend: 5 Black Artists by 5 Black Artists," in a statement.

Registration is required at Bit.ly/NYTAGTulsa100.

— Brandy McDonnell

CBS special 'Tulsa 1921' airing Monday

"CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King will anchor "Tulsa 1921: An American Tragedy," a one-hour CBS News primetime special marking the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, to be broadcast at 9 p.m. Monday on the CBS Television Network and available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.

"Tulsa 1921: An American Tragedy" also will be presented at 10 p.m. Tuesday on BET and 9 p.m. Tuesday on the Smithsonian Channel.

“For years, what happened in Tulsa was hidden from America,” King says in a statement. “Many people still are unaware of the depth of death and destruction that occurred 100 years ago. It is important to dig up the past in order to realize a better future.”

The special will feature interviews with Tulsa Race Massacre survivors Viola Fletcher, 107, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, 106. Descendants John Rogers, founder of the country’s first Black-owned asset management firm and whose great-grandfather owned the Stradford Hotel, and CBS News correspondent Danya Bacchus, whose great-great-grandparents owned the Dreamland Theatre, also will appear on the program. The hotel and theater both were destroyed in 1921.

The CBS special will include additional interviews with Michael Eric Dyson, Vanderbilt University professor and author; Hannibal B. Johnson, Tulsa attorney and author; Karlos K Hill, associate professor and chair of the Clara Luper Department of African and African American Studies at the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oklahoma; Michelle Place, executive director of the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum; the Rev. Robert R.A. Turner, pastor of Tulsa's Vernon AME Church; Damario Solomon Simmons, Tulsa civil rights attorney; G.T. Bynum, the mayor of Tulsa; Karen Sieber, historian at the McGillicuddy Humanities Center at the University of Maine; Mary N. Elliott, curator of slavery at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture; and John W. Franklin, managing partner of Franklin Global LLC.

"Tulsa 1921" will conclude with a special spoken-word performance by 17-year-old Garrett Bland, a senior at Tulsa's Booker T. Washington High School.

— Brandy McDonnell

Tulsa music icon Charlie Wilson releases video prayer to mark race massacre anniversary

Oklahoma native, 13-time Grammy Award nominee and former Gap Band frontman Charlie Wilson posted a fervent video prayer via Twitter Sunday to mark the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre.

"As we approach the 100th Anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, let us pray for the families and the community of Greenwood as they continue to heal from the pain," Wilson posted on Twitter with the video.

Wilson and his brothers, Ronnie, and Robert Wilson, named their hitmaking funk and R&B band the Gap Band after Greenwood, Archer and Pine, three streets in the historic Greenwood District in their hometown of Tulsa.

In addition, Charlie Wilson appeared as a guest artist on a track of the new self-titled album by the Oklahoma hip-hop consortium Fire in Little Africa. A tribute to the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial and the Greenwood District, "Fire in Little Africa" was released Friday on Motown Records.

— Brandy McDonnell

John Legend, headliner of canceled 'Remember + Rise' event, issues statement on race massacre

Emmy-, Grammy-, Oscar- and Tony-wining John Legend, who was supposed to headline Monday's scrapped "Remember + Rise" Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial tribute, issued a lengthy statement about the Greenwood massacre on Twitter Sunday morning, encouraging people to support reparations for the victims of the tragedy and their descendants.

"Sending love to the people of Tulsa as they commemorate the Massacre of 100 years ago. While we won't be together tomorrow, I look forward to visiting with you in the near future, and, most importantly, to a true reckoning and reparations for the survivors and their descendants," Legend wrote on Twitter.

Organized by the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, "Remember + Rise," which also was to feature activist Stacey Abrams, actor Hill Harper and an extensive celebrity lineup, was abruptly canceled Thursday after a dispute boiled over between the commission and attorneys representing the three known race massacre survivors.

"The road to restorative justice is crooked and rough — and there is space for reasonable people to disagree about the best way to heal the collective traumas wrought by white supremacy. But one thing that is not up for debate — one fact that we must hold with conviction — is that the path to reconciliation runs through truth and accountability," Legend posted on Twitter.

"Our collective work starts by confronting our past, openly and honestly — and by teaching and learning about the most painful chapters of our history, right alongside our noble ideals and aspirations. But our work doesn't end at remembering and discussing the truth. It extends to reparations — to break the vicious, persistent cycle of anti-Black racism and inequality set in motion by slavery and Jim Crow; to spur investment in the business and communities that have had so much stolen fm and denied to them."

He included a James Baldwin quote: "history is literally present in all that we do," adding "because without truth, there can be no justice, but with it, we can rebuild, more perfect, together."

He ended his post by asking people to please consider donating to justiceforgreenwood.org, "to help the victims of Greenwood and their descendants receive justice and reparations."

— Brandy McDonnell

OSU-Tulsa to host sunrise vigil Tuesday

Oklahoma State University-Tulsa, 700 N Greenwood Ave., will host "5:08 – A Sunrise Vigil in remembrance of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre" from 5 a.m. until sunrise Tuesday to commemorate the race massacre centennial.

The event is planned around the exact time on the morning of June 1, 1921, when witnesses recount hearing a train whistle or a similar sound, which was interpreted as a signal for the full invasion of the Greenwood District to begin.

The vigil is open to all.

Participants will hear brief remarks and readings of statements from survivors, then have space to share their thoughts or remain in silent contemplation and remembrance, according to the Facebook event.

The vigil will take place at the Ellis Walker Woods Memorial, an outdoor memorial at the intersection of Greenwood Avenue and John Hope Franklin Boulevard on the OSU-Tulsa campus. It honors the first principal of Tulsa's Booker T. Washington High School.

In case of rain, the event will be moved to the OSU-Tulsa Main Hall Commons.

For more information, go to https://www.facebook.com/osutulsa.

— Brandy McDonnell

Leaders, community members take 'Pathway to Hope'

TheRese Aduni strolled along the Pathway to Hope, a new pedestrian walkway in the Greenwood District.

Aduni knows a lot about hope.

Her grandparents, Lula Barnes and Willie Lee Anderson, survived the Tulsa Race Massacre and had a special reason to be hopeful in the aftermath of the horrific events of May 31 and June 1, 1921: Her grandmother was pregnant with her father Harold M. Anderson.

Aduni was among the community members, donors, state and civic leaders who recently gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony officially dedicating the "Pathway to Hope."

The walkway is a symbolic connection between Black Wall Street and the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park. It is among the projects sponsored by the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission. People gathered for the dedication then took part in "The Dawn of a New Day" march for reconciliation that served as the official opening of the walkway.

The commission held the recent dedication in conjunction with the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation's National Symposium.

The walkway pays tribute to many of the leaders and historical milestones over the last 10 years through art produced by the Greenwood Art Project.

State Sen. Kevin Matthews, D-Tulsa, the centennial commission's chairman, thanked people who helped make the pathway possible. Oklahoma Secretary of Transportation Tim Gatz also made remarks.

Reuben Gant, interim director and board member of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation, said the idea for the special pathway came about seven or eight years ago.

"I realized then that something needed to be done to unearth this untold story of lost history, lost lives," he said.

Gant said many visitors to the Greenwood area think that the massacre was what ultimately destroyed the Greenwood that survivors and their descendants rebuilt, but he said it was desegregation, urban renewal and the highway that was eventually carved through the area that had a dampening effect on progress.

Aduni also spoke about the rebuilding of Greenwood and how important it was for people to know that the many of the survivors did rebuild their homes and businesses.

As for her grandparents, she said they didn't talk much about the tragedy.

"They were busy trying to make sure it never happened again," she said.

But they were survivors.

And they had hope.

— Carla Hinton

'Society’s Cage' art installation to be exhibited at Vernon AME Church

The "Society’s Cage" experiential art installation will be exhibited in Tulsa in conjunction with the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial.

It will be installed on the grounds of the historic Vernon AME Church, 311 N Greenwood Ave., and will be open to the public from Sunday through Juneteenth, which is June 19.

The "Society’s Cage" installation was initiated and led by a team of Black architects in the Washington, D.C., office of SmithGroup, one of the nation’s leading integrated design firms. The design team was moved to create the installation in the aftermath of the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, according to a news release.

“The intent of 'Society’s Cage' is to educate about racialized state violence through an immersive experience,” said lead designer Dayton Schroeter, a principal at SmithGroup, in a statement. “The installation complements the commemoration, remembrance and reconciliation in spirit with the centennial of the Massacre, the most egregious and least-recognized instance of racial injustice in our nation’s history.”

The installation features a distinctive interpretive pavilion sculpted to symbolize the historic forces of racialized state violence. The artwork provides a sanctuary to reflect, record and share personal thoughts. It is meant to provide a mechanism for building empathy and healing.

Founded in 1905, the Vernon AME Church is the only standing Black-owned structure on Greenwood Avenue from the Black Wall Street era and one of the few edifices to survive the race massacre.

"Society’s Cage" debuts in Tulsa in partnership with Tri-City Collective, Inc.; the Tulsa Artist Fellowship; Jewish Federation of Tulsa; Vernon A.M.E. Church; Temple Israel (of Tulsa); and Sharna Newman Frank Educational Gallery Philanthropic Fund.

The installation has previously been exhibited in Washington, D.C., on the National Mall and in Baltimore, Maryland, on War Memorial Plaza.

SmithGroup is the lead sponsor for "Society’s Cage" and is partnered with the Architects Foundation to raise funds for their diversity advancement scholarship program through the installation, to support historically underrepresented youth to pursue careers in architecture.

For more information about the "Society’s Cage" installation, go to https://www.smithgroup.com/societys-cage.

— Brandy McDonnell

Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance teaming with MTV to make Tulsa Race Massacre series

MTV Entertainment Studios and Bassett Vance Productions — the production company formed by esteemed husband-and-wife actors Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance — announced this week that award-winning playwright Nathan Alan Davis will write a scripted original limited-series inspired by the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.

“Angela and I have always had a deep appreciation for history, especially when it comes to stories that are rooted in the Black community. We look forward to working on this series with MTV Entertainment Studios that will explore an important slice of American history as we look to reflect on events that changed the lives of countless Black families in Tulsa, Oklahoma one hundred years ago,” said Vance, principal at Bassett Vance Productions, in a statement.

“We are excited to work with Nathan because his vision directly aligns with the story that Angela and I want to tell. Although the series will revisit the Black pain and tragedy that took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, it will also importantly introduce to many the stories of the extraordinary, entrepreneurial people who built Black Wall Street and all that this community accomplished.”

The series is the first project from Bassett Vance Productions as part of the deal made with MTV Entertainment Studios in 2020.

Davis, who has been a writer on BET's "American Soul" and Facebook Watch's "Sorry For Your Loss," will get his first chance as a show creator on the series.

He previously has written about the Tulsa Race Massacre with his upcoming play, "The High Ground," which is set to premiere at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. The New York-based writer has garnered awards for his produced plays "Nat Turner in Jerusalem," "Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea" and "The Wind and the Breeze."

“I am honored to be partnering with Courtney, Angela, MTV Entertainment Studios and their extraordinary teams in this vital endeavor," Davis said in a statement. "Exploring the history of Tulsa’s Greenwood District as a limited dramatic series affords us a precious opportunity and a deep responsibility. I greatly look forward to crafting a story that will not only shed light on the people of Black Wall Street, but give fresh life to the spirit, ideas, hopes, fears, and dreams that motivated them.”

— Brandy McDonnell

OSU-Tulsa offering special hours for photo exhibit 'Black Settlers in Tulsa'

Oklahoma State University-Tulsa, 700 N Greenwood Ave., is offering special public viewing hours of “Black Settlers in Tulsa: The Search for the Promised Land,” an exhibit featuring photography by Don Thompson and oral histories by Eddie Faye Gates, this weekend to mark the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial.

The exhibit, which was recently moved to the gallery space outside the B.S. Roberts Room in the OSU-Tulsa Conference Center to be more accessible to the public, will be open from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The Black Wall Street Legacy Festival continues Saturday and Sunday in the Greenwood District. For more information, go to https://www.blackwallstreetlegacyfest.com/#events and follow updates on https://www.facebook.com/BlackWallStreetLegacyFest.

The exhibit’s regular hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday. For more information, go to https://www.facebook.com/osutulsa.

— Brandy McDonnell

Mobile gallery the G.A.P. Van keeps on rolling during centennial events

The G.A.P. Van, a multi-use, collaborative mobile art exhibition, workshop space and crosstown poster project that has been engaging with Tulsans for the past several months keeps on rolling through the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial events.

The G.A.P. Van is part of the Greenwood Art Project, an official initiative of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission. The mobile gallery launched in conjunction with PBS' "American Portrait," a national storytelling project.

"We record American portrait stories, and then we also had a poster call-and-response," said Jerica Wortham, project director for the Greenwood Art Project. "With that call-and-response, community members just made different posters and we just put them on the side (of the van) so that we create collages. Over time, we'll just continue to paste over with the different posters and fliers because we have hundreds of posters that were created by community members."

For more information, go to https://www.greenwoodartproject.org/gap-van.

— Brandy McDonnell

Opening ceremonies delayed for Tulsa Children's Museum of Art

The open ceremonies for the Tulsa Children's Museum of Art, 700 N Greenwood Ave. on the Oklahoma State University-Tulsa campus, have been delayed.

Museum founder Courtney Skipper told The Oklahoman that the event has been postponed from its originally planned date on Tuesday due to the heightened security in place for Pres. Biden's Tulsa visit.

Instead, the museum will host a red-carpet reception from 3 to 5 p.m. June 5 for student-artists whose work has been accepted for inclusion in its first exhibit. The youths will have the chance to meet with local and national press to speak about their work.

The museum's inaugural exhibit "Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the 1921 Race Massacre: Through the Eyes of Children" will be on view in the OSU-Tulsa Main Commons during normal university hours. The campus will be hosting the museum until it has a permanent space, Skipper said.

For the exhibit, the museum partnered with schools, teachers, historical societies and art schools to recruit Oklahoma schoolchildren in prekindergarten to 12th grade to submit visual artworks that respond to the race massacre centennial.

For more information, go to https://www.tulsachildrensmuseumofart.org.

— Brandy McDonnell

Living Arts of Tulsa keeping special hours for Tulsa Race Massacre commemoration

Living Arts of Tulsa, 307 E Reconciliation Way, will offer special gallery hours through the weekend and into next week for the Tulsa Race Massacre 100th anniversary.

The nonprofit contemporary art gallery's "The Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Project" encapsulates local artists’ response and influence of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre over the last 100 years. It is on view through June 19, which is Juneteenth.

Participating artists are Jamario Beard, Francine Campbell, Adam Carnes, Marie Casimir, Dr. Delia Cook Gillis, Yusuf Etudaiye, Terricia Foster, Faith Green, Elizabeth Henley, Jessica Hines, Talitha Jacobs, Sonie Joi-Thompson-Ruffin, Kalup Linzy, Andrea Martin, Patrick McNicholas, Katherine Mitchell, Brad Morrow, Taylor Painter-Wolfe, Michael Palazzo, Cristiana Prado, Spencer Plumlee, Amanda Ruyle, Sondra Stidham, Adrian Sturdevant, C.J. Ward and Jave Yoshimoto.

More: Dance film to screen at OU Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Symposium

Select works are provided by the Living Arts of Tulsa Archives and the Greenwood Art Project.

Gallery hours for the centennial are noon to 4 p.m. Friday-Tuesday. Living Arts of Tulsa will be closed Wednesday and reopen for noon to 4 p.m. Thursday.

Admission is free, but online ticketing is recommended due to the limited capacity with COVID-19. For more information, go to http://www.livingarts.org.

— Brandy McDonnell

Lankford cites 'political agenda' for his resignation from 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission

U.S. Sen. James Lankford resigned from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission in recent weeks. According to his office, the Oklahoma Republican "has seen a drift from the original goals of the Commission to a more partisan political agenda, and as a result, he notified the Commission he can no longer serve as a member."

In January, Lankford apologized to Black Tulsans for questioning the results of the 2020 presidential election, saying he didn’t recognize the “blind spot” he had in doing so.

Some Black Oklahomans were angered because many of the states whose results were under fire have large Black populations. Some leaders said then that Lankford should resign from the commission, even though the senator has been making public speeches for years about the importance of the massacre centennial.

Republican Jackson Lahmeyer, a Tulsa pastor, has announced his intent to run against Lankford next year and has criticized the incumbent for not being loyal enough to former President Donald Trump.

After news broke on Friday that Lankford had stepped down from the commission, Lahmeyer tweeted:

"Enough pressure and he caves just like Jan 6, 2021. WE the people have been beating this drum and WE WON!"

Lahmeyer has previously accused Lankford of backing down, or caving, because the senator dropped his planned opposition to Arizona's Electoral College votes after rioters broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6.

— Chris Casteel

Jay-Z meets virtually with Tulsa Race Massacre survivors

Grammy-winning rapper, songwriter, record executive and businessman Jay-Z on Thursday met virtually with Viola “Mother” Fletcher and Lessie Benningfield “Mother” Randle, two of the last known living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

Organizers of the Black Wall Street Legacy Festival released details Friday on the virtual meeting. Per the Legacy Fest organizers, Jay-Z called the meeting "an honor to be in the presence of royalty.”

“Thank you to Jay-Z for taking the time to meet with Mother Fletcher and Mother Randle. These powerful Black women have spoken their truth and fought for justice for over a century, and now it’s on us to carry their legacy forward and ensure their stories are cemented into history," said Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, lead organizers of the Black Wall Street Legacy Fest, in a statement.

Legacy Fest officially kicked off Friday morning with the Black Wall Street Memorial March, followed by the Black Wall Street Summit, the African Street Festival, the World Culture Music Festival, a headlining performance by John P. Kee and more.

For more information, go to https://www.blackwallstreetlegacyfest.com and follow updates on https://www.facebook.com/BlackWallStreetLegacyFest.

— Brandy McDonnell

PBS' 'American Experience' streaming Tulsa Race Massacre documentary

In commemoration of the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, PBS' seminal history series "American Experience" is streaming its acclaimed documentary "Goin' Back to T-Town" at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/t-town.

Directed by Sam Pollard, "Goin' Back to T-Town," which first aired in 1993, tells the story of Greenwood, an extraordinary Black community in Tulsa, that prospered during the 1920s and '30s despite rampant and hostile segregation. Devastated in 1921 by one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history, the neighborhood rose from the ashes. By 1936, it boasted the largest concentration of Black-owned businesses in the U.S., known as “Black Wall Street.”

More: Tulsa Race Massacre history recounted in PBS documentaries airing tonight and premiering in spring

Told through the memories of longtime Greenwood residents, the film features final recorded interviews of some of the eyewitnesses who survived the 1921 attacks.

PBS' new Tulsa Race Massacre documentary "Tulsa: The Fire and the Forgotten" will premiere at 8 p.m. Monday on PBS (OETA in Oklahoma), pbs.org and the PBS Video app.

— Brandy McDonnell

Alfre Woodard, Tiffany Cross, Sen. Chris Coons and more added to Black Wall Street Legacy Festival

Oscar-nominated Tulsa native Alfre Woodard, Tiffany Cross, Rashad Robinson, Philonise Floyd, and Delaware Sen. Chris Coons are among the leaders, entertainers and activists from across the nation joining survivors and descendants of the Tulsa Race Massacre at the Black Wall Street Legacy Festival, commemorating the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

Legacy Fest officially kicked off Friday morning with the Black Wall Street Memorial March, to be followed by the Black Wall Street Summit, the African Street Festival, the World Culture Music Festival, a headlining performance by John P. Kee and more.

Woodard and fellow actor Jay Ellis will be featured Sunday at Tulsa's Black Wall Street Legacy Festival.

Among those who have been added to the festival: Tiffany Cross, political analyst and journalist; Rashad Robinson, President of Color of Change; Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd; Roland Martin, journalist; Rep. Cori Bush; Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director, Equal Justice Initiative; Brittany Packnett Cunningham, activist, educator and writer; Charles M. Blow, journalist and op-ed columnist for The New York Times; Damario Solomon-Simmons, founder and executive director, Justice for Greenwood; Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee; Ben Crump, national civil rights attorney; Wesley Lowery, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist; Nicole Austin-Hillery, executive director of the US Program at Human Rights Watch; Daniel Roumain, composer and performer; Brandan ‘B-mike’ Odums, visual artist and political activist

Among those making virtual appearances Oklahoma native Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Steve Cohen, Rep. Hank Johnson, Sen. Cory Booker, and Nina Turner, former state senator and Congressional candidate for Ohio’s 11th district.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will also sponsor a private luncheon honoring the massacre’s three last known survivors on Saturday.

The Black Wall Street Legacy Festival is headlined by the last known Tulsa Race Massacre survivors — 106-year-old Lessie Benningfield “Mother” Randle, 107-year-old Viola “Mother” Fletcher, and 100-year-old Hughes Van Ellis — who will lead a procession and participate in an event honoring their legacy and continued fight for justice and accountability.

Weekend highlights will include the Centennial Black Wall Street Heritage Parade at 11 a.m. Saturday, a headlining set by Grammy-winning musician and Maroon 5 keyboardist PJ Morton at 8:45 p.m. Saturday and a screening and conversation with "Watchmen" creator Damon Lindelof and writer Cord Jefferson at 7 p.m. Sunday.

More: PJ Morton, 'Watchmen' creator join Black Wall Street Legacy Festival

Woodard and Ellis will appear at the Legacy Fest Main Event (Homecoming), set from 2:30 to 7 p.m. Sunday. For more information, go to https://www.blackwallstreetlegacyfest.com and https://www.facebook.com/BlackWallStreetLegacyFest.

For those unable to attend in person, live-streams of each event are being posted on https://www.facebook.com/BlackWallStreetLegacyFest and https://www.facebook.com/TheBWSTimes.

— Brandy McDonnell

Greenwood Rising grand opening pushed to early July due to rain delays

Due to the recent rain impacting the final few days of construction, the new Greenwood Rising: The Black Wall Street History Center will not be complete in time for the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial.

But much of the space will be ready to preview starting Wednesday, the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission has announced.

Sen. Kevin Matthews, the commission's founder and chair, confirmed at a press conference Thursday that the ribbon cutting and dedication for Greenwood Rising will still take place at 11:29 a.m. Wednesday.

As many descendants of the race massacre are traveling to Tulsa in anticipation of seeing the history center, the commission is dedicating 10 days — Wednesday-June 12 — to previewing Greenwood Rising before it closes for finishing touches and officially opens in early July.

The VIP opening is set for 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday-June 8, with the last tours at 8 p.m. Timed-entry tickets are required, with priority given to race massacre survivors and family members, direct descendants and their families, freedmen and descendants of freedman, North Tulsa community leaders and elders, North Tulsa churches and community members with ties to the historic Greenwood District.

The preview window for the Tulsa community is planned for 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. June 9-12, with the last tours at 8 p.m. Timed-entry tickets are required and prioritized for Tulsa residents.

All visitors, including those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, are required to wear face masks and undergo temperature checks. Occupancy at Greenwood Rising will be limited to 20 people per tour to limit the risk of exposure.

All tours stop June 13 for the completion of exterior construction, with a grand opening tentatively scheduled for July 3. Details will be finalized in June.

Greenwood Rising admission will be free for the first year, but registration will be required.

Normal operating hours will be 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday-Monday and Wednesday-Saturday. The history center will be closed on Tuesdays.

The commission's primary brick-and-mortar project, the $18.6 million, 11,000-square-foot history center is situated at Greenwood Avenue and Archer Street, the gateway to the Greenwood District. For more information, go to https://www.greenwoodrising.org.

— Brandy McDonnell

Oklahoma hip-hop collective Fire in Little Africa releases Greenwood tribute album on Motown Records

Fire in Little Africa — a coalition of Oklahoma rappers, musicians and artists who initially came together to record a compilation hip-hop album and has since blazed into a multimedia movement receiving national notice — has released its eponymous album.

A 21-track collection of original material that aims to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, "Fire in Little Africa" is out Friday on Motown Records/Black Forum in partnership with Tulsa’s Bob Dylan Center and Woody Guthrie Center.

In March 2020, 60 rappers, poets and producers from Tulsa, OKC and Lawton gathered in Tulsa's Greenwood District to record an album to speak to the truth of what happened there on May 31-June 1, 1921. They recorded 143 songs in five days, executive producer Steph Simon told The Oklahoman in an April interview.

"It was everybody getting on board for a cause, which is not only spreading awareness of Black Wall Street, but taking that history and that mentality and instilling it into people going forward," said Simon, who is featured with Hakeem Eli'juwon on the new Fire in Little Africa music video for "Elevator."

"It's catching like an organic wave where people are talking about (it) — and that's exciting because you don't see that these days in music. But music hasn't came with such a powerful message like this in so long, and people are hungry for or thirsty for this type of message."

Oklahoma music icon Charlie Wilson, a 13-time Grammy nominee and the former frontman of the Tulsa-grown Gap Band, is a featured guest artist on the song "Party Plane."

In conjunction with the album release, members of the collective are participating in this weekend's Black Wall Street Legacy Festival. Fire in Little Africa will take part in the Black Wall Street Legacy Summit at 12:30 p.m. Friday at the Greenwood Cultural Center and perform at 6:30 p.m. Saturday on the Legacy Fest Main Stage. For more information, go to https://www.facebook.com/fireinlittleafrica and https://www.blackwallstreetlegacyfest.com.

— Brandy McDonnell

Greenwood Art Project artists gather at Skyline Mansion

Artists and supporters of the Greenwood Art Project, an initiative of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, gathered for a reception Wednesday night at a site of historical significance: the Skyline Mansion, 620 N Denver Ave.

Once known as the Brady Mansion, the Skyline Mansion is the former home of the late Tate Brady, a Ku Klux Klan member and an instigator of the Tulsa Race Massacre. It is now owned by Tulsa native and former NFL running back Felix Jones, who has turned it into an event center.

Currently on view inside the mansion is "Greenwood: Black Wall Street," an exhibition of collaged posters depicting the history of the Greenwood District and the Tulsa Race Massacre by Jimmy Friday, a Greenwood Art Project artist and Tulsa native.

For more information on the Skyline Mansion, go to https://www.skylinemansion.com.

Look for more from The Oklahoman in the coming days on the Greenwood Art Project, and check out the schedule of art experiences, installations and exhibitions at https://www.greenwoodartproject.org/calendar.

— Brandy McDonnell

Tulsa Race Massacre survivors attend centennial events

Tulsa Race Massacre survivors Viola “Mother” Fletcher, 107, and Lessie Benningfield “Mother” Randle, 106, were among the attendees at centennial events Wednesday evening and Thursday afternoon.

Fletcher made an appearance Wednesday evening at a meet-and-greet for Greenwood Art Project artists at the Skyline Mansion event center. Ebony Iman Dallas, an Oklahoma City-based Greenwood Art Project artist called meeting Fletcher a magical moment and said people should pray for the survivors as they share their stories.

"It felt like a dream honestly, to be here in 2021 and have a firsthand witness who has the strength and determination to tell her story," Dallas said.

Fletcher got to see her likeness as captured by Tulsa artist Udonna Wallace, who has hand-drawn portraits of many Tulsa Race Massacre survivors. The drawings were displayed outside the Skyline Mansion during the Wednesday event and will be exhibited again from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, during "A Century Walk: 100 Years," which will recreate the route many Black Tulsans took while fleeing the violence of the Tulsa Race Massacre.

"I didn't know what I was getting into with this, but I'm glad I did. I'm very glad that I did," Wallace said.

Fletcher and Randle also appeared Thursday afternoon at a special sneak peek for organizers and press of “The Legacy of Survival” exhibit at the Gilcrease Museum of Art. The centerpiece of the exhibit is interactive conversational videos of Fletcher and Randle.

Look for more from The Oklahoman in the coming days on the Greenwood Art Project and "The Legacy of Survival" exhibit.

— Brandy McDonnell

More:How did 1921 Black Wall Street residents defy America's 'caste' system? Author Isabel Wilkerson gives talk at reconciliation symposium

NBCUniversal News Group releasing digital documentary on massacre

As the country marks 100 years since the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, NBCUniversal News Group will offer extensive coverage. The cross-platform series "Tulsa: The Massacre & the Movement" begins on Thursday across "Today," "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt," NBCNews.com, MSNBC, NBC News NOW, CNBC and Peacock.

MSNBC correspondent Trymaine Lee hosts the digital documentary "Blood on Black Wall Street: The Legacy of the Tulsa Massacre," which examines how the violence inflicted on a once-thriving economic hub has impacted generations of Black Tulsans. Lee will speak with descendants still struggling financially and emotionally, while they push the city to recognize the role it played. The documentary will stream Friday on NBCNews.com and NBC News NOW, and it will be available Sunday on Peacock on demand.

Lee also hosts a special two-part episode of MSNBC’s "Into America" podcast that traces the century-long financial impact of the massacre through the story of two Black families, as well as the efforts of white Tulsa residents as they face their families’ past. The first episode will be available on Thursday and the subsequent one on June 3.

Lee and NBC News reporter Antonia Hylton will also cover the weekend centennial events, honoring the more than 300 victims and countless survivors of the massacre.

In addition, Lee and NBCU Academy will team up with The Juice Radio, a youth-led radio program out of KBOB, as they tour Greenwood to learn more about the city’s history. The report will be featured on https://www.nbcuniversal.com.

— Brandy McDonnell

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Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum presents key to the city to Greenwood Art Project lead artist Rick Lowe

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum appeared Wednesday afternoon at the public unveiling of the Greenwood Art Project, where he presented lead artist Rick Lowe with the key to the city.

"A hundred years after the worst event in the history of our city, we have artists from all around the world who have pulled together to help represent what was lost, what was rebuilt, the work that needs to be done — through art," Bynum said at the event.

The Greenwood Art Project is an initiative of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission and is funded in part by a $1 million award from Bloomberg Philanthropies' Public Art Challenge and a $200,000 grant from The George Kaiser Family Foundation.

More than 25 local artists were commissioned through the project to create original works to honor the resilience and recovery of the Greenwood District, as well as to express the challenges of the current era.

Bynum said he felt confident that Tulsa would win the $1 million Bloomberg Philanthropies 2018 Public Art Challenge after Lowe, a renowned Houston-based artist and organizer, agreed to take the lead of the Greenwood Art Project.

"The fact that one of the great artists in the whole world cares enough about what happened in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre (and) wants to tell that story to the world and that he would dedicate years of his life to helping us do that, this community owes so much to Rick Lowe for his leadership and his guidance," Bynum said.

He then presented Lowe with a golden oversize key to the city.

"The highest award that a mayor gets to give anybody, Rick, is the key to the city," Bynum said. "There's some medieval castle that this unlocks somewhere, but on behalf of all 400,000 of my fellow Tulsans, I want to present this to you out of our deep appreciation for your dedication to this work. We're so grateful for you."

Lowe thanked Bynum and joked that he and William Cordova, his co-lead artist for the Greenwood Art Project, would have to fight over the key, even going so far to try to slip it into Cordova's pocket.

"We can probably find another one for William," Bynum said. "And that's classic Rick: always focused on others."

As part of the 100th anniversary commemoration of the Tulsa Race Massacre, a variety of Greenwood Art Project installations, experiences and collaborations are debuting over the next few days, with more set to be unveiled well into the summer. For more information, go to https://www.greenwoodartproject.org/calendar.

— Brandy McDonnell

National Geographic's June issue features Tulsa Race Massacre cover

National Geographic’s June magazine issue, “Reckoning with the Past,” published online on Wednesday and includes a number of features on the Tulsa Race Massacre and an overall discussion of race in America.

The cover of the issue features the work of Kadir Nelson, a renowned artist who has album covers for Michael Jackson and Drake, stamps and numerous magazine covers to his credit. This is Nelson’s third cover for National Geographic, and the magazine's editors asked him to take on the challenge of visually framing the legacy of the Tulsa Race Massacre that took place in 1921 for their readers.

Nelson's National Geographic cover depicts prominent Black families from the Greenwood District — the most affluent Black neighborhood in America’s history to this day — while showcasing how the largely forgotten community was affected by the events that occurred 100 years ago in Tulsa.

Daneen L. Brown, a Washington Post reporter and Oklahoma native, wrote the feature story for the June issue, titled “Reckoning with the Past.”

In addition, National Geographic Documentary Films partnered with prolific documentarian Dawn Porter — who last year released “Good Trouble: John Lewis” and “The Way I See It” — and Trailblazer Studios on a feature documentary that sheds new light on a century of intense racial conflict. "Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer" premieres at 8 p.m. June 18 on the National Geographic channel and will be available on Hulu on the same day.

Brown reports on the search for a mass grave in Tulsa in the documentary.

— Brandy McDonnell

Philbrook Museum of Art pin raising funds for Black Wall Street Memorial

Artists Adrian Aguilera and Betelhem Makonnen have joined forces with Tulsa's Philbrook Museum of Art to produce an exclusive artists' edition lapel pin of their 2020 collaborative work "untitled (a flag for John Lewis or a green screen placeholder for an America that is yet to be)."

A verdant version of the American flag, the original artwork is displayed high above the museum's lobby as part of its exhibition "From the Limitations of Now," which uses an array of artworks — from tapestries and video installations to beadwork and digital photographs — to explore America's past of violence and racial injustice and envision a changed future.

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The latest installment of the artists' series of reimagined American flags honors civil rights icon and Georgia Rep. John Lewis, who died last July, as well as all past and present liberation workers who continually fight for freedom, justice and equal rights for all Americans.

In an initiative developed in collaboration with activist Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, all net proceeds from the sales of this artists’ edition lapel pin will support the Black Wall Street Memorial, a project of the Tulsa Community Remembrance Coalition. For more information on the memorial project, go to blackwallstreetmemorial.com.

The artist-designed green flag lapel pins cost $10 each. They are on sale in the Philbrook Museum Shop, 2727 S Rockford Road, or online at Philbrook.org/shop.

— Brandy McDonnell

Reparations:Tulsa Race Massacre survivors ask city to 'do the right thing'

Elizabeth Warren, other national Congressional leaders to attend Tulsa Race Massacre centennial

The Black Wall Street Legacy Festival 2021 has announced the participation of Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., as well as Representatives Hank Johnson, D-Ga., Cori Bush, D-Mo., and Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., in this weekend’s events.

Details of the congressional members' involvement have not been released, though many have been vocal advocates for reparations and national recognition of the Tulsa Race Massacre.

The White House announced Tuesday that President Joe Biden will be in Tulsa on Tuesday to mark the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre.

Warren, a native Oklahoman, sponsored a resolution in March alongside Rep. Shiela Jackson Lee (D-TX) to commemorate the centennial. The resolution also sought to acknowledge the Tulsa Race Massacre “as one of the largest single instances of State-sanctioned violence against Black people in American history.” It further condemned those involved and the coverup and honored the lives and legacies of those killed or injured.

Johnson announced plans to introduce the Tulsa-Greenwood Massacre Claims Accountability Act last week during a subcommittee hearing. The bill would provide an opportunity for financial compensation to survivors and family members of victims of the massacre.

In a statement about the bill, Johnson said, “Congressional action is warranted because not only is there precedence in providing reparations for atrocities such as the Tulsa Massacre, but there is substantial evidence that shows government officials – including the police and the National Guard – were complicit in the massacre 100 years ago this month.”

— JaNae Williams

OK Congressional delegation honors Tulsa Race Massacre

Oklahoma’s Congressional delegation introduced resolutions in both chambers seeking to focus on the recognition and accurate historical representation of the Tulsa Race Massacre.

The resolution also contained language pushing for the massacre to be part of nationwide educational curriculum and recognizing the historically Black towns of Oklahoma. Senators James Lankford and Jim Inhofe brought proceedings Tuesday to pass the motion swiftly, before the 100th anniversary of the massacre. It passed unanimously in the Senate.

“Before 1921, Greenwood district, also known as Black Wall Street, was a vibrant, thriving prosperous Black community,” Inhofe said in a speech after the resolution's passing. “But then, the evening of May 31 into the early morning of June 1, 1921—there was a horrific massacre where hundreds of Black Tulsans were murdered and thousands were made homeless overnight. It was truly terrible and horrific. That’s why it is important to come together to honor the victims and their families and share their stories today and with future generations.”

A similar resolution co-sponsored by Oklahoma’s Representatives — Markwayne Mullin, Kevin Hern, Frank Lucas, Stephanie Bice and Tom Cole — was also introduced in the House.

“The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre was one of the darkest moments in our state and our nation’s history,” said Bice, in a statement. “There is still much work to be done, in Tulsa, the state of Oklahoma, and nationwide, to heal our community, educate the public about the horrific events of the past, and ensure such a tragedy never occurs again. While significant progress has been made, this resolution allows us as Oklahomans to not only recognize the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, but to also ensure that victims and survivors’ stories are known to future generations of Oklahomans and Americans.”

— JaNae Williams

Dig deeper into the Oklahoman's coverage of the Tulsa Race Massacre

The Biggest News Story Every Year Since 1950 – 24/7 Wall St.

John Harrington and Grant Suneson

24/7 Wall Street

Each year there are major news events that capture the world’s attention. These stories range from massive conflicts or catastrophes that leave thousands dead or stranded to technological developments and supreme court decisions that completely change our daily lives.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed the biggest news stories in each year since 1950. The event we chose for a given year wasn’t always the most talked-about story when it occurred, but each one in retrospect proved to have the biggest impact on history.

Major milestones in civil rights, wars and conflicts, and breakthroughs in science and medicine stand out in news coverage over this time period. As technology evolved, modifying and innovating our lives in ways never dreamed of, progressive ideas also found footing and changed the world. Women, African Americans, and the LGBTQ community demanded, and often won, equal rights – from the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the legalization of same-sex marriage. Here are the most important human rights milestones since 2000.

Increasingly, major news events in recent years include severe weather events and other catastrophes tied to global climate change. Devastating changes to our climate now endanger the ecosystems of our planet. In the coming years, natural disasters will have an increasingly large role on the course of history. Here are 26 disaster scenarios caused by climate change.

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1950: Korean War starts

• Date: June 25

• Location: Korea

The North Korean People’s Army crosses the 38th parallel into South Korea, eliciting an almost immediate response from U.S. President Harry Truman and marking the beginning of the Korean War – a proxy battle between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. The parties would agree to a ceasefire three years later. The uneasy relations between North Korea and South Korea last to this day.

1951: Rosenbergs sentenced

• Date: March 29

• Location: New York City

Husband and wife Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of espionage for their part in passing along atomic secrets to the Soviet Union during and after World War II. They are executed two years later. Not everyone is convinced of their involvement in the scheme. Supporters claim they are scapegoats swept up in the Cold War hysteria of the time. Documents would reveal decades later the extent of Julius Rosenberg’s involvement in the spy ring, though Ethel’s participation in the scheme remains inconclusive.

1952: First hydrogen bomb test

• Date: Nov. 1

• Location: Marshall Islands

The United States successfully detonates its first hydrogen bomb, a second-generation thermonuclear device. The detonation in the Marshall Islands is part of Operation Ivy, one of a series of nuclear bomb tests. From 1946 to 1958, the United States used the remote Pacific Marshall Islands as its nuclear weapons testing site, conducting a total of 67 nuclear tests.

1953: The dawn of DNA

• Date: Feb. 28

• Location: Cambridge, England, U.K.

Cambridge University scientists James Watson and Francis Crick announce they have discovered the double-helix structure of DNA. Though scientists had been aware of DNA since the 1860s and of its role in genetic inheritance since 1943, Watson and Crick were the first to explain how DNA works to replicate itself and pass on genes from one generation to the next.

1954: Brown v. Board of Education

• Date: May 17

• Location: Washington D.C.

In a landmark case involving Linda Brown of Topeka, Kansas, who had to cross a railroad track to reach an all-black elementary school even though an all-white school was closer, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the segregated school system is unconstitutional on the basis of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. The clause would be used again by the courts to reverse state-level racial segregation practices and ordinances.

1955: Parks starts a movement

• Date: Dec. 1

• Location: Montgomery, Alabama

Rosa Parks makes history by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery bus. Her arrest for insisting to remain seated leads to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the ascent of a young pastor named Martin Luther King, Jr., as a local activist leader working to advance the civil rights cause. A successful federal lawsuit by the NAACP against the city leads to the desegregation of the Montgomery bus system on Dec. 21 of the following year.

1956: Hungary suppressed

• Date: Nov. 4

• Location: Budapest

Nine years after the start of the Cold War, Hungarians take to the streets, demanding democratic reforms. Three days later, Soviet Red Army troops invade Hungary, killing thousands. Nine days after the incursion, Soviet troops occupy Budapest in one of the largest and most aggressive actions taken by the Soviet Union since the end of World War II.

1957: The Little Rock Nine

• Date: Sept 24

• Location: Little Rock, Arkansas

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower orders federal troops to protect nine African American high school students as they start classes at the all-white Little Rock Central High School. This would become one of the first high-profile actions the federal government would take against state-level racial segregation.

1958: US launches first satellite

• Date: Jan. 31

• Location: Cape Canaveral, Florida

The United States successfully launches Explorer 1, three months after the Soviet Union sends its first satellite, Sputnik, into orbit. The two superpowers would go on to send more satellites into space, creating a Cold War space race to build ever more sophisticated orbital communications devices and to achieve spaceflight capabilities and generally space superiority.

1959: Castro takes over Cuba

• Date: Jan. 1

• Location: Havana

U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista flees Havana as Fidel Castro’s forces advance on the Cuban capital. Days later, rebels led by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter the city, followed two days later by Castro’s forces. Castro quickly consolidates power in Cuba, establishing a communist government in the Caribbean’s largest country.

1960: Lunch counter sit-in

• Date: Feb. 1

• Location: Greensboro, North Carolina

When four African American college students – Ezell A. Blair, Franklin E. McCain, Joseph A. McNeil, and David L. Richmond – sit down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter and ask for service, they are denied. The young men refuse to give up their seats, their sit-in leading to a larger six-month protest that results in the desegregation of the lunch counter by that summer and many other restaurants across the south.

1961: Berlin Wall built

• Date: Aug. 13

• Location: Berlin, East and West Germany

By the late summer of 1961, the loss of skilled workers such as teachers, engineers, and doctors to the West reaches crisis levels in East Germany. On Aug. 12, 2,400 East Germans cross into West Berlin, the most in a single day. The next day, with the approval of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, East Germany begins building a wall that would extend 27 miles through Berlin, dividing families and friends for the next 28 years. The wall would serve as an enduring symbol of the Cold War, used by presidents John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan to inspire a divided city.

1962: Cuban missile crisis

• Date: Oct.16-28

• Location: Multiple

When the United States learns that the Soviet Union is building nuclear missile installations 90 miles south of Miami in communist Cuba, the Kennedy administration enacts a naval blockade around the island, which is at times tested, to demand the removal of the missiles. The standoff is widely considered to be the closest the two nuclear superpowers come to direct military confrontation. Cooler heads prevail. The Soviet Union offers to remove the missiles in exchange for a guarantee that the United States will not invade Cuba. In secret, the administration also agrees to withdraw U.S. missiles from Turkey.

1963: JFK assassinated

• Date: Nov. 22

• Location: Dallas

As John F. Kennedy prepares for his re-election bid, the 34th president of the United States embarks on a multi-state tour in September 1963. He is murdered by a sharpshooter’s bullet fired by Lee Harvey Oswald at about 12:30 p.m. as his motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in Dallas. Oswald himself is murdered two days later by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.

1964: LBJ's "War on Poverty"

• Date: Jan. 8

• Location: Washington D.C.

President Lyndon B. Johnson struggles to shift focus away from the Vietnam War and on his stated goals of reducing poverty, ending segregation, and establishing the social programs that many Americans rely on to this day, including the immensely popular Medicare program. During his “War on Poverty” State of the Union Address of Jan. 8, 1964, LBJ outlines the need for the country to reduce poverty, end racial discrimination, attend to the health needs of the elderly, and other progressive goals. LBJ later ushers in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Social Security Amendments of 1965.

1965: Selma to Montgomery march

• Date: March 7

• Location: Selma, Alabama

The fatal shooting of protester Jimmy Lee Jackson by an Alabama state trooper sparks a march in the state from Selma to Montgomery. Hundreds of civil rights activists march in what becomes known as “Bloody Sunday.” Police confront the marchers, led by John Lewis (who is a House Democrat from Georgia) and others. As the activists cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge, police attack the protesters with tear gas and billy clubs, hospitalizing 50.

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1966: Mao purges rivals

• Date: Aug. 13

• Location: Beijing

At the end of a weeklong session of the Communist Party Central Committee of the People’s Republic of China, Chairman Mao Zedong condemns the political elites, calling on China’s youth to rebel against the entrenched political hierarchy. It is the beginning of the decade-long Cultural Revolution that fundamentally transforms Chinese society. Intellectuals, members of the former Nationalist government, and people with ties to Western powers are persecuted, sent to re-education labor camps, or killed by factions of the Red Guards formed in the wake of Mao’s call to action.

1967: Six-Day War

• Date: June 5

• Location: Middle East

Amid escalating tensions with its neighbors, Israel launches a pre-emptive strike that destroys most of Egypt’s air force. Syria, Jordan, and Iraq also attack Israel. As the war continues, Israel takes the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, captures East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan, and in heavy fighting seizes the Golan Heights from Syria. A ceasefire goes into effect on June 10.

1968: Dream denied

• Date: April 4

• Location: Memphis, Tennessee

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is fatally shot by James Earl Ray as the civil rights icon stands on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, a tragedy that sparks race riots nationwide. King’s influence in words and actions touch and move not only the nation, but the world, and resonate to this day. Two months later, on June 4, Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy and brother of John F. Kennedy, is fatally shot by Sirhan Sirhan, an Arab Christian from Jerusalem, who believes Kennedy is “instrumental” in oppressing Palestinians.

1969: Landing on the moon

• Date: July 20

• Location: Moon

President Kennedy’s goal of a manned lunar landing before 1970 is realized six years after his assassination. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins blast off from the Kennedy Space Center at 9:32 a.m. aboard the Saturn V rocket. After three days of travel, Armstrong and Aldrin land the Eagle module on the lunar surface as Collins remains in lunar orbit to pilot the module. Upon their return to Earth, the three astronauts are put in 21-day quarantine to ensure they did not bring back any lunar contagions.

1970: Vietnam War turns to Cambodia

• Date: April 29

• Location: Eastern Cambodia

Although the United States should be scaling back U.S. troop presence in Vietnam, President Richard Nixon approves an operation with the South Vietnamese to invade Cambodia to oust Northern Vietnamese forces there. The Cambodian incursion inflames anti-war protests in the United States as it is perceived to be an escalation of U.S. military involvement in Southeast Asia.

1971: Pentagon Papers

• Date: Feb. 8

• Location: Laos

The Pentagon Papers, a study by the U.S. Department of Defense about the country's involvement in the Vietnam war, are released and published first in The New York Times, then other newspapers. The documents expose several missteps and how several administrations have misled the American public about how involved the military was and about plans to escalate the war in 1964. They also reveal an expanded campaign in Cambodia and Laos, especially clandestine bombing in Laos, which today is considered the heaviest bombardment in history.

1972: Nixon goes to China

• Date: Feb. 21

• Location: Beijing

Nixon, a virulent anti-communist earlier in his political career, surprises the American public by traveling to Beijing for a week of talks in a historic first step towards normalizing relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Until this trip, the United States and communist China were de facto enemies, fighting proxy wars in the Korean Peninsula in the 1950s and South Vietnam at the time of Nixon’s visit.

1973: Roe v. Wade

• Date: Jan. 22

• Location: Washington D.C.

In a landmark 7-2 decision that will be known as Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court rules that under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, abortion is a fundamental right protected by the Constitution. The court adds that as the pregnancy develops the state can balance a woman’s right to privacy with its interest in preserving the “potentiality of human life.” As a result, states can ban abortion in the third trimester except in cases where a pregnancy affects a woman’s health.

1974: Nixon resigns

• Date: Aug. 8

• Location: Washington D.C.

President Richard Nixon announces his resignation amid impeachment proceedings stemming from the Watergate scandal and the administration’s attempt resist a congressional investigation. The scandal exposes abuses of power by the White House after five burglars were caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Nixon becomes the only president in U.S. history to resign.

1975: Saigon falls

• Date: April 30

• Location: South Vietnam

Two years after the last American troops left Vietnam, communist troops from North Vietnam capture Saigon, ending nearly two decades of relentless war in the rice paddies and jungles of that Southeast Asian nation. The total number of fatal casualties for the United States is 58,220.

1976: The Concorde changes air travel

• Date: Jan. 21

• Location: London and Paris

Two supersonic Concorde jets take off simultaneously – one from London to Bahrain, operated by British Airways, and the other from Paris to Rio de Janeiro via Dakar in Senegal, operated by Air France – marking the first time paying passengers enjoy commercial travel at faster than the speed of sound. Though travel by one of the 16 Concordes ever put into service could slash travel time from New York to London in half, the high cost of maintenance, soaring ticket prices, as well as a fatal accident in 2000, would seal the fate of the narrow, slope-nosed aircraft.

1977: Rise of the personal computer

• Date: January

• Location: Chicago

Personal home computers began to emerge in the 1970s, but many of the earliest versions resembled calculators that would plug into televisions sets. By 1977, however, the desktop home computer begins to resemble the more modern versions – with an accompanying, attached or separate, computer screen and a magnetic tape or floppy disk storage device. The Commodore PET is unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago that year, while the first Apple II and Radio Shack’s TRS-80 also go on sale.

1978: Cult's mass suicide

• Date: Nov. 18

• Location: Jonestown, Guyana

More than 900 people die in one of worst recorded acts of cult-related mass murder-suicide as nearly all the victims and perpetrators drink a powdered drink mix laced with cyanide. Most of the victims are Americans, devotees of Peoples Temple cult leader Jim Jones, a former Methodist-trained preacher who built a following and led the flock to Guyana. Among the dead are 276 children. A small number of cult defectors are killed by Peoples Temple gunmen who also slay Leo Ryan, California Congressman who had gone to Guyana to investigate Jonestown.

1979: Islamic Republic born in Iran

• Date: Feb. 11

• Location: Tehran

Worsening economic conditions, increasing discontent with the government, and wide support for religious leader in exile Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini end the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. The shah and his family flee Iran in January 1979. On Feb. 11, the monarchy is dissolved, and on April 1, Khomeini declares Iran an Islamic republic. With support among the nation’s clergy and their many followers, he begins rebuilding Iranian society based on conservative Shiite religious principles. In November, a mob raids the U.S. embassy, taking more than 60 Americans hostage. The crisis would be influential in the following year's presidential election and would not fully resolve until January 1981.

1980: Reagan elected

• Date: Nov. 4

• Location: Washington, D.C.

With the United States in an economic malaise and the Iranian hostage crisis hobbling the presidency of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan is elected the 40th president in a landslide. Reagan, who would serve two terms, was the oldest man elected president at the time. Reagan’s election changes the trajectory of American politics, ushering in an era of conservative leadership. During his tenure, he takes a more aggressive approach to the Soviet Union and increases defense spending. Reagan convinces Congress to cut taxes, a move that many economists credit with triggering an economic boom in the 1980s.

1981: AIDS impacts America

• Date: June 5

• Location: Los Angeles

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publishes a report about five gay men who had been diagnosed by local physicians with a rare form of pneumonia – the first reported U.S. cases of what would later become known as HIV/AIDS. The infectious autoimmune disease spreads so fast that by the end of the 1982, 500 Americans would die from what the CDC later calls acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. The death toll would rise to 5,000 by 1985.

1982: Mexico triggers regional debt crisis

• Date: Aug 12

• Location: Mexico City

Global economic stagnation in the 1970s and early 1980s as well as excessive borrowing among Latin America’s biggest economies boils over when Mexico’s Finance Minister Jesús Silva-Herzog tells the U.S. Federal Reserve his country can no longer service its debt of $80 billion. After the announcement, lenders realize virtually every country in Latin America, led by Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico, is not able to pay back loans. The crisis would lead to years of eroding wages, weak to negative economic growth, sky-high unemployment, severe austerity measures, and political instability – known as the “lost decade” in Latin America.

1983: The internet is born

• Date: Jan. 1

• Location: Multiple

The internet as we know it today – a seemingly endless collection of websites hosted on servers scattered across the globe – is still more than a decade away. At the beginning of 1983, however, the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) – a small network for academics and researchers – transitions to the standard TCP/IP protocol of the World Wide Web. The protocol would become the internet's cornerstone and technical foundation as it allows expanded available address space. The protocol also decentralizes the network, thus also expanding accessibility.

1984: Chemicals kill thousands in India

• Date: Dec. 2

• Location: Bhopal, India

The chemical disaster in Bhopal is still considered history’s worst industrial disaster. About 30 tons of methyl isocyanate, an industrial gas used to make pesticide, are released at a Union Carbide Corp. plant. About 600,000 poor residents of nearby shanty towns are exposed to a highly toxic compound that kills about 15,000 people and countless farm animals, according to Indian government estimates. The calamity leads to a generation of birth defects. To this day, locals claim the now-abandoned site is riddled with toxic materials left behind by Union Carbide, which was acquired by Dow Chemical in 2001.

1985: Reagan, Gorbachev meet

• Date: Nov. 19

• Location: Geneva

Despite his often bellicose criticisms of the Soviet Union, Reagan agrees to meet with his counterpart, Mikhail Gorbachev, in Geneva in the first meeting between leaders of the two Cold War foes in nearly a decade. Though the meeting yields little of substance, it initiates a closer relationship between the two men, who both seem committed to scaling back the nuclear arms race between the two nuclear superpowers.

1986: Chernobyl disaster

• Date: Apr. 26

• Location: Prypyat, Soviet Union

A combination of poor design and human error leads to a power surge in a reactor in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This leads to a massive explosion that puts highly radioactive material into the air. Soviet officials try to cover up the incident, but Swedish scientists notice the increased levels of radioactivity. It takes a little over a week for the radioactive emissions to be contained, but by then radioactive particles had already spread thousands of miles by wind currents to countries as far away as France. A 1,600 square mile area around the plant known as the “exclusion zone” is deemed unsafe, and more than 220,000 people have to be resettled. The radiation causes deformities in nearby livestock and cancer in many people near the blast. Though exact figures are hard to come by, the UN reports years later there were over 20,000 cases of thyroid cancer in children who were in the affected areas. The Chernobyl disaster is still considered the worst nuclear power failure in history.

1987: Stock market tanks

• Date: Oct. 19

• Location: Worldwide

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges 508 points, or more than 22%, on Oct. 19, 1987, later referred to as Black Monday. The drop, in percentage terms, is worse than the crash in 1929. It is also worse than the market plunge after the 9-11 terrorist attacks and the 2008 financial crisis. Among the reasons cited for the drop are rising tensions in the Persian Gulf, concern over higher interest rates, and the belief that the bull market is ending. Computerized trading, relatively new at the time, accelerates trade orders, which speeds up the market drop. As a result of the collapse, exchanges put in place so-called circuit breakers intended to halt trading when stocks fall too fast. This measure is designed to provide investors a cooling off period and avoid a panic.

1988: End of fighting in Iran-Iraq war

• Date: July 20

• Location: Iraq-Iran border

From 1980 to 1988, neighboring Middle East countries Iran and Iraq are engaged in a protracted war. It begins when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein launches an attack on Iran in 1980, sensing an opportunity in the wake of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Iraqi forces initially make incursions into Iranian land, but they lose the area gained in 1982 after Iran is able to mobilize its military and repel the Iraqi forces. Hussein seeks a peace deal that year, but Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini refuses. From 1982 to 1988, the fighting is characterized by sporadic missile launches, attacks on each others’ oil tankers, and the use of chemical weapons, mostly by the Iraqis. By 1988, Iran’s economy is in dire straits, forcing Iran to agree to a UN-brokered ceasefire. The two countries signed an official peace treaty in 1990. Anywhere from 500,000 to 1 million troops were killed in the war and up to 100,000 Kurds.

1989: The Berlin Wall falls

• Date: Nov. 9

• Location: Berlin, East and West Germany

Cracks in the monolithic Soviet bloc are starting to appear in the 1980s, and the very symbol of communist repression comes crashing down in November, when the Berlin Wall is breached, ending a 28-year division of the city. During the day on Nov. 9, a spokesman for East Berlin’s Communist Party says that starting at midnight that day, citizens of East Germany would be free to cross the country’s borders. Almost immediately Berliners start slamming the wall with axes and sledgehammers. By nightfall, the celebration turns into what one observer calls “the greatest street party in the history of the world,” and the city is reunited. East and West Germany would reunite one year later.

1990: Democracy in Poland

• Date: Jan. 28

• Location: Poland

With the hold of the Soviet Union and communism on East Europe loosening, Poland's ruling communist party votes to dissolve and become more moderate. In the following elections, Lech Wałęsa, leader of the Solidarity Movement and the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, wins the election and becomes president.

1991: American goes to war in Middle East

• Date: Jan. 17

• Location: Saudi Arabia and Kuwait

After Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invades and occupies Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990, the United States sends forces to defend neighboring Saudi Arabia from being overrun and to protect its vital oil assets there, calling it Operation Desert Shield. With Saudi Arabia secured, the United States implements Operation Desert Storm to push Iraqi forces back across the border with Kuwait in a military operation that lasts until a ceasefire takes effect in April.

1992: Cold War ends

• Date: Feb. 1

• Location: Camp David, Maryland

Just weeks after the dissolution of the Soviet Union on Dec. 26, 1991, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and his Russian counterpart, Boris Yeltsin, meet at Camp David to formally declare the end of the Cold War that began shortly after the end of World War II. The meeting comes days after both countries announce they would stop aiming nuclear missiles at each other. Russia declares its 11 former communist satellite republics – from Armenia to Uzbekistan – independent.

1993: The EU becomes reality

• Date: Nov. 1

• Location: Brussels

The Treaty of the European Union, also known as the Maastricht Treaty, goes into effect in November, after a rough series of political wrangling. Among other concessions, the treaty allows the U.K. and Denmark to opt out of the common euro currency. The treaty opens the way to removing border controls among member states and invites new members to join the union.

1994: Rwandan genocide

• Date: April-July

• Location: Rwanda

For decades, Rwanda has been embroiled in a conflict between the country's two major ethnic groups – the Hutu and the Tutsi. Over 100 days, an estimated 800,000 people are killed, mostly Tutsis, but some moderate Hutus as well. When Tutsi militant group eventually gains control of the country, some two million Rwandans flee to nearby African nations. In 2008, three former Rwandan officials are convicted by an international court of organizing the genocide.

1995: Domestic terror strikes Oklahoma

• Date: April 19

• Location: Oklahoma City

In the deadliest domestic terrorist attack in U.S. history, anti-government radicals Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols bomb the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. They time the truck-bomb attack for a weekday morning in order to maximize casualties. For the murder of at least 168 people, including 19 children who were in a child-care center in the building, and the injury of hundreds of others, an unremorseful McVeigh is executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001. Nichols is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

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1996: The dawn of cloning

• Date: July 5

• Location: Midlothian, Scotland, U.K.

Dolly the Sheep enters the annals of bioengineering when scientists at Scotland’s Roslin Institute become the first to not only successfully clone a mammal, but also the first to do so using an adult cell rather than an embryonic one. After 277 cell fusions that developed 29 embryos, the team manages to turn an udder cell into a virtually identical biological carbon copy of the sheep from which it came.

1997: Machine tops chess champ

• Date: May 11

• Location: New York City

Artificial intelligence and machine learning notch a significant victory in 1997, when IBM’s Deep Blue machine defeats a world chess champion. The refrigerator-sized computer loses to grandmaster Garry Kasparov in the first match but proceeds to beat him twice and tie him three times in the next five games.

1998: The age of Google begins

• Date: Sept. 4

• Location: Menlo Park, California

With seed money from Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos among others, Stanford University Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin launch the search engine Google. The digital advertising behemoth Google Inc., now Alphabet Inc., is an $863 billion company with several subsidiaries, including YouTube, autonomous-car development company Waymo, and X, the company’s research and development division.

1999: NATO's first independent strike

• Date: March 24

• Location: Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

In order to get Yugoslav forces out of Kosovo during the Kosovo War, NATO forces initiate their first-ever military campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (now Montenegro and Serbia) without U.N. Security Council authorization as Russia and China oppose the attack. The NATO air strikes are aimed at stopping an onslaught against ethnic Albanians by the government of Slobodan Milošević. The NATO attacks last nearly three months, culminating in the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo.

2000: International Space Station opens

• Date: Nov. 2

• Location: Low earth orbit

Commanders Bill Shepherd from the United States and Yuri Gidzenko of Russia, along with Russian flight engineer Sergei Krikalev, become the first temporary residents of the International Space Station two years after the first component of the research center was put into low-Earth orbit about 250 miles above sea level. Since that first crew, there have been 229 other visitors to the ISS, some of them multiple times, led by 146 from the United States and 47 from Russia.

2001: 9/11

• Date: Sept. 11

• Location: Multiple

In the worst attack on U.S. soil since the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, 19 hijackers inspired by Islamist extremism kill nearly 3,000 people after crashing three passenger-laden commercial aircraft into the World Trade Center towers in lower Manhattan and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. A fourth plane, United Airlines 93, crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew attempt to regain control of the plane headed to Washington D.C.

2002: Homeland Security Act

• Date: Nov. 25

• Location: Washington D.C.

Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. Congress and President George W. Bush enact the Homeland Security Act, the biggest government reorganization of national security efforts since the Department of Defense was created in 1947. The sweeping legislation creates the massive Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for everything from protecting infrastructure from cyber attacks to managing the new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

2003: US invades Iraq

• Date: March 19

• Location: Iraq

With the help of British and other allied forces, the United States begins its invasion of Iraq with a rapid bombing called Shock and Awe with the intention of destroying Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction; the weapons are never found. Coalition forces manage to quickly topple the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein but have to fight insurgent forces for years afterward.

2004: Facebook founded

• Date: Feb. 4

• Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Mark Zuckerberg, a 23-year-old Harvard University student, creates The Facebook, a local social networking site named after the orientation materials that profiles students and faculty and given to incoming college freshmen. Within 15 years, Facebook would become a $512 billion digital advertising behemoth so integral to many people’s lives that it is criticized for helping foreign powers and propagandists influence the U.S. political system.

2005: Katrina overwhelms New Orleans

• Date: Aug. 29

• Location: U.S. Gulf Coast

After spending four days in the Gulf of Mexico bulking up to a category 5 hurricane, Katrina slams into New Orleans, inundating the city and creating a humanitarian crisis that lasts for weeks. The catastrophe underscores the precarious situation not only in the Big Easy, but also the surrounding area of the Gulf Coast. At least 1,833 people in the storm’s path are killed, and the storm inflicts $161 billion in damages to the region, the costliest storm in U.S. history.

2006: Hussein executed

• Date: Dec. 30

• Location: Baghdad

Three years after U.S. soldiers pulled him from a hole in the ground where he had been hiding, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is hanged. Hussein had been convicted for crimes against humanity, specifically for ordering the massacre of 148 Shiites in 1982 following a failed assassination attempt against him.

2007: The iPhone

• Date: Jan. 9

• Location: San Francisco

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who died in October 2011, reveals to the world one of the most popular branded consumer electronic devices in history, the iPhone. Since the first generation phone that Jobs introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show that year, there have been 24 versions of the mobile device, and more than 2.2 billion units have been sold globally through 2018, when Apple stopped reporting iPhone sales. Only Samsung’s Galaxy smartphone comes close to that volume.

2008: Dow plunges

• Date: Sept. 29

• Location: New York City

The Dow Jones Industrial Average records the largest-ever intraday drop in points, 777.68, after Congress rejects a massive $700 billion bailout of U.S. banks. The bill would pass days later. The market reacts also to months of global market turmoil amid the 2008 global financial crisis spurred by the U.S. subprime mortgage market crash. The Dow falls by more than half during the 2007-2009 Great Recession, tumbling from 14,164 on Oct. 9, 2007 to 6,594 on March 5, 2009.

2009: America's first African-American president

• Date: Jan. 20

• Location: Washington D.C.

After winning in a landslide against Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, amassing 365 electoral votes and 53% of the popular vote, Barack Obama is sworn in as the first African American president of the United States. Obama inherits the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, but with his party holding majorities in both houses of Congress at the time, the president is able to pass a stimulus package and his signature Affordable Care Act in March 2010.

2010: Catastrophic oil spill

• Date: April 20

• Location: Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana

Eleven workers die and 17 are injured after an explosion and fire erupts on the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig 40 miles from the Louisiana coast. The explosion causes the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history, spewing 3 million barrels of crude oil over the three months it takes to stop the leak. British oil company BP says costs from the clean-up, legal fees, and settlements reached $65 billion.

2011: Bin Laden killed

• Date: May 2

• Location: Abbottabad, Pakistan

In an intense 40-minute nighttime firefight, 25 U.S. Navy SEALs hunt down and kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Within hours, bin Laden’s body is identified using DNA and then buried at sea in the Arabian Sea.

2012: The 'God Particle' is (Probably) Discovered

• Date: July 4

• Location: Near Geneva

Nearly 600 feet below the France-Switzerland border at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider Facility, an international team of scientists discovers a new particle widely believed to be the elusive Higgs boson, known as the “God Particle," which is thought to be a fundamental component of the universe. The Higgs boson has been an important element of particle physics theory for decades, but until 2012 there had been no physical evidence to support its existence.

2013: Snowden reveals secrets

• Date: June 6

• Location: Hong Kong

After surreptitiously leaving his job at U.S. National Security Agency contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, computer security consultant Edward Snowden meets secretly in Hong Kong with journalists Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras. Snowden reveals the first of a series of secrets about numerous U.S. and European government surveillance operations. Hailed as a courageous whistleblower and privacy champion by some and a traitor that compromised counterterrorism efforts by others, the American now resides in exile in Moscow.

2014: Russia invades Ukraine

• Date: March 16

• Location: Crimea

Exploiting political unrest in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin orchestrates the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. The action incites peals of condemnation from world leaders and a raft of economic sanctions against Moscow. This strategically important and predominantly Russian-speaking region on the Black Sea has been coveted by the Russians as part of their strategic efforts to check NATO expansion along Russia’s western border.

2015: NASA flies by Pluto

• Date: July 14

• Location: 3 billion miles from Earth

NASA spacecraft New Horizons becomes the first human-made object to fly past and observe the dwarf planet Pluto. New Horizons sends back stunning photographs of this enigmatic and distant member of the solar system, including images of a mountain range and massive icebergs floating in frozen nitrogen. New Horizons is now en route to the Kuiper Belt, a massive asteroid belt at the far reaches of the solar system.

2016: Trump elected

• Date: Nov. 8

• Location: U.S.

Running on a populist agenda, Donald Trump is elected the 45th president of the United States and the fifth president in U.S. history (the second since the 2000) to win despite losing the popular vote. The real estate developer and television personality ran on a platform of putting “America First” in global trade and foreign policy negotiations and cracking down on undocumented immigrants.

2017: Hurricane triple whammy

• Date: August-September

• Location: Multiple

Within just four weeks, three massive hurricanes – Harvey, Irma, and Maria – strike Texas, Florida, and the Caribbean, killing 228 people, inflicting a combined $265 billion in damages, and displacing millions of homeowners. Hurricane Maria inflicts immense damage to the U.S. commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which was already struggling due to economic insolvency.

2018: Wildfires

• Date: November

• Location: Northern California

The deadliest wildfires in the state’s history engulf northern California in November. The catastrophe costs the lives of 88 people, and the fire consumes 18,500 homes and businesses. State and federal officials estimate that it would cost $3 billion to clean up debris. Climate change activists say the conflagrations are evidence that global warming is no longer a distant concern and that it is occurring now.

2019: Trump impeached

• Date: Dec. 18

• Location: Washington, D.C.

On Dec. 18, 2019, Donald Trump becomes just the third U.S. president to be impeached. A whistleblower reveals that in July Trump had asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the business dealings of Hunter Biden, son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, as well as cybersecurity company Crowdstrike. These requests were made just after Zelensky said Ukraine wanted to buy weapons from the United States. After the call comes to light, Democratic leaders file two articles of impeachment – for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. They say Trump abused his power by using the office of the president to target a political opponent. The obstruction of Congress charge stems from accusations that Trump Administration officials tried to cover up the whistleblower’s report. Trump calls the investigation a “witch hunt” and denies any wrongdoing. The House passes both articles in a vote that goes almost entirely along party lines, moving the impeachment proceedings along to the Senate.

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100 most important events in Sarasota County history from 1921-2021

This summer marks the 100th anniversary of Sarasota County. To celebrate the centennial, we looked back at the events from the past century that shaped our lives today and made Sarasota one of the most famous beach towns in the country. We traced the origins of Sarasota County communities, institutions, traditions, transportation, charitable organizations and businesses including restaurants and hotels. We examined the histories of local arts and entertainment organizations, public parks, sports teams, and venues, as well as individual accomplishments by Sarasotans in various fields ranging from politics and literature to the circus and rock ’n’ roll. We also revisited the busting of color barriers and the legacies of Overtown and Newtown. These neighborhoods, in fact, easily warrant their own timeline of significant events, which can be found at the richly detailed newtownalive.org site dedicated to commemorating and preserving the history of Sarasota’s Black communities.