| December 5, 1955 Five days after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man, the African-American community of Montgomery, Alabama, launched a boycott of the city’s bus system. The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was formed to coordinate the boycott with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., elected as its president. Out of Montgomery’s 50,000 black residents, 30,000-40,000 participated. They walked or bicycled or car-pooled, depriving the bus company of a substantial portion of its revenue. The boycott lasted (54 weeks) until it was agreed the buses would be integrated.  Waiting at a transportation pickup point during the Montgomery bus boycott – 1955-1956 < What was the Montgomery Bus Boycott? > |
| December 5, 1955 The American Federation of Labor, which had historically focused on organizing craft unions, merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, an organization of unions largely representing industrial workers, to form the AFL-CIO with a combined membership of nearly 15 million. George Meany was elected its first president.  AFL-CIO history |
| December 5, 1957 New York became the first city to legislate against racial or religious discrimination in housing (Fair Housing Practices Law). |
December 5, 1967 Dr. Benjamin Spock 264 were arrested at a military induction center in New York City during a Stop the Draft Week Committee action. Dr. Benjamin Spock and poet Allen Ginsberg were among those arrested for blocking (though symbolically) the steps at 39 Whitehall Street where the draft board met. 2500 had shown up at 5:00 in the morning to show their opposition to the draft and the Vietnam War.  Allen Ginsberg |
| December 5, 1980 The United Nations adopted the charter for the University for Peace in Costa Rica. Its purpose would be “promoting among all human beings the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful coexistence, to stimulate cooperation among peoples and to help lessen obstacles and threats to world peace and progress . . . .”  The monument sculpted by Cuban artist Thelvia Marín in 1987, is the world’s largest peace monument. It also established short-wave Radio for Peace International (RFPI)which was shut down by the University in 2004 when RFPI exposed a plan between the University for Peace and the U.S. to hold anti-terrorist combat training on campus. Interview with James Latham, CEO of RFPI when it was under siege RFPI on the web |
December 5, 2002 President George W. Bush with Sen. Lott and Sen. Thurmond At the 100th birthday celebration for Senator Strom Thurmond (R-South Carolina), Senate Republican leader Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) praised Thurmond’s Dixiecrat Party 1948 presidential campaign (official slogan: “Segregation Forever!”). “I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of him. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years, either.” The reaction to this sentiment led to Lott’s resignation as Senate majority leader. |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december5
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