On this day in ...... 1859 (150 years ago today), the Arkansas legislature enacted a law that required free African Americans to leave the state or return to enslavement. Florida and Missouri legislators subsequently passed similar expulsion bills, and such legislation was seriously considered in 9 other states. Governors vetoed Florida's and Missouri's bills; as for Arkansas (in light green at left), legislators suspended its expulsion act in 1860, even though by that time most free blacks had already left."
... 1525, in what is now Mexico, Spanish troops acting under orders from conquistador Hernán Cortés executed the last leader of the Aztec Empire, Cuauhtémoc (right), by hanging. Some years earlier Cortés had ordered the torture of Cuauhtémoc in an unsuccessful effort to extract information regarding the whereabouts of Aztec riches.Prior February 28 posts are here and here.)
