| December 26, 1862 38 members of the Santee Sioux tribe were hanged in a public mass execution in Minnesota. 300 members of the band had been convicted of participating the the Minnesota Uprising and ordered to hang. However, all sentences except the 38 had been commuted by President Abraham Lincoln. For decades white settlers had been encroaching on Santee Sioux territory, and they had been victimized by corrupt federal Indian agents on the reservations.In July agents and contractors had withheld food when their demands for kickbacks had been refused. The Indians eventually struck back, killing Anglo settlers and taking some hostages. In two battles with the U.S. Army, they killed or wounded dozens of soldiers, but ultimately lost and were put on trial.  America’s only legal mass execution =========================================== December 26, 1966 The first Kwanzaa was celebrated in Los Angeles, California. It was conceived and organized in the wake of the Watts riots by Dr. Maulana (Ron) Karenga, a professor and chairman of Black Studies at California State University at Long Beach. Kwanzaa is a non-religious African-American holiday focusing on family, community, and culture.The name Kwanzaa is derived from the phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” which means “first fruits” in Swahili. The celebrations are expressed through song, dance, drumming, storytelling, poetry and the lighting of candles in a Kinara, all followed by a large traditional meal. The holiday is observed for seven days, each representing a different principle:  a Kwanzaa Kinara • Umoja (oo-MO-jah) Unity • Kujichagulia (koo-gee-cha-goo-LEE-yah) Self-Determination • Ujima (oo-GEE-mah) Collective Work and Responsibility • Ujamaa (oo-JAH-mah) Cooperative economics • Nia (NEE-yah) Purpose • Kuumba (koo-OOM-bah) Creativity • Imani (ee-MAH-nee) Faith  Ron Karenga lighting the Kinara History, Principles, and Symbols of Kwanzaa ============================================ December 26, 1971  Two dozen members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War “liberated” the Statue of Liberty with a sit-in to protest resumed U.S. aerial bombings in Vietnam. They flew an inverted U.S. flag from the crown as a signal of distress. ============================================= December 26, 1992  photo: Simran Sachdev Belgrade, 7.2009 Women In Black began campaign against rape during war, Belgrade, Serbia.  WIB website Women in Black is a world-wide network of women committed to peace with justice and actively opposed to injustice, war, militarism and other forms of violence. ================================================ December 26, 1999 Alfonso Portillo Cabrera scored a resounding victory (nearly 70% of the vote in the second round) in Guatemala’s first peacetime presidential elections following a 36-year civil war.  Alfonso Portillo Cabrera after his election Some perspective |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december26
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