On this day in ...... 1893 (115 years ago today), a 25-year-old, India-born barrister practicing in Durban, Mohandas K. Gandhi, was thrown off a South African train because he had sat in a compartment reserved for whites. The incident -- the 1st act of civil disobedience by Gandhi, seated in the photo at left -- occurred a year to the day after Homère Patris Plessy was dragged out of a Louisiana train for the same reason. (See too post above.)
... 1948 (60 years ago today), Eduard Beneš abdicated his post as President of Czechoslovakia, a move that placed the state in control of the Soviet Union. Beneš, who had been a resistance fighter during World War I, helped negotiate Czech independence during the Paris peace talks, and served as Czech President before and after World War II, died a few months later at age 64. (credit for 1921 photo of Beneš with his wife, Hana)
