Happy Birthday to Major League Baseball (MLB) star Sammy Sosa, born on November 12, 1968 in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic. His father died when he was a child, and Sousa worked selling oranges and shining shoes to help support his mother and siblings. At age 16, he negotiated a $3,500 signing bonus with… Continue reading Happy Birthday to Sammy Sosa
Tag: 1968
Luis Walter Alvarez, Noble Prize Winner 1968
On October 30, 1968, the Nobel Committee announced that its Prize for Physics was awarded to Luis Walter Alvarez, a native Californian whose grandfather had emigrated from Spain. Alvarez earned his B Sc, M Sc, and Ph D from the University of Chicago. According to the Committee, Alvarez achieved the Nobel Prize for his “decisive… Continue reading Luis Walter Alvarez, Noble Prize Winner 1968
Lieutenant Colonel Omar Torrijos in power in Panama 1969
After the election of Dr. Arnulfo Arias Madrid as President of Panama, the Panamanian National Guard staged a coup against Arias on October 11, 1968. The coup was led by then Lieutenant Colonel Omar Torrijos, which was the starting point of Torrijos’ career as a politician. Under the military’s control, Panama initiated land redistribution, encouraged self-sufficiency for… Continue reading Lieutenant Colonel Omar Torrijos in power in Panama 1969
Juan Romero and Robert F. Kennedy 1968
On June 6, 1968, gunshots raged through a Los Angeles hotel, and Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. At his side in his final moments was his admiring supporter, Juan Romero. Mexican-American Romero worked as a busboy at the hotel. In an interview with the LA Times decades after the event, Romero recounted that… Continue reading Juan Romero and Robert F. Kennedy 1968
Poor People’s March on Washington, DC 1968
The Poor People’s March on Washington, DC on May 12, 1968. The march was planned and organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. (King was assassinated on April 4, 1968.) Latino activist Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez (1928 –2005) joined the march, and issued his manifesto, “Demandas de la Raza” (Demands of… Continue reading Poor People’s March on Washington, DC 1968
US Army Sergeant and Hero Roy Perez Benavidez 1968
During intense enemy fire on May 2, 1968, US Army Sergeant Roy Perez Benavidez valiantly rescued his fellow soldiers at Loc Ninh, Vietnam. (The Vietnam War was from 1955 to 1975.) Benavidez was severely wounded during the rescue, and courageously continued to carry soldiers to safety and to destroy classified documents, preventing their capture by… Continue reading US Army Sergeant and Hero Roy Perez Benavidez 1968
Civil Rights Act of 1968
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the historic Civil Rights Act of 1968 on April 11 of that year. This Act, also known as the Fair Housing Act and the Indian [Native American] Civil Rights Act, prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing for race, religion and national origin. (Gender and physical disabilities… Continue reading Civil Rights Act of 1968
Bilingual Education Act of 1968
On January 2, 1968, US President Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908 – 1973) signed the Bilingual Education Act. The Act provided assistance to students with limited English language skills. Johnson taught Mexican children in Texas early in his career, and remembered later, “I shall never forget the faces of the boys and the girls in that little… Continue reading Bilingual Education Act of 1968