“Better to die on your feet than live on your knees!” THE CRIME: Emiliano Zapata played a leading role in the civil wars that raged in Mexico between 1910 and his death in 1919. Born in San Miguel on 8 August 1879 (some sources say 1883), he began his revolutionary activities aged only 18 when… Read More »
“The men who beat Rodney King do not deserve to wear the uniform of the LAPD.” THE CRIME: On 3 March 1991 Rodney King, a black building site labourer, was speeding on his way home when four Los Angeles policemen — Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno and Sergeant Stacey Koon — stopped him. They… Read More »
“Let the Sheriff go and erect a scaffold… and let us stop this farce now” THE CRIME: In October 1884 the American Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions declared that from 1 May 1886 the working day would constitute eight hours. Unions decided to strike on that day in support of the new measure… Read More »
A “cowardly rascal” THE CRIME: The most famous mutiny in the world occurred in the Pacific Ocean in the spring of 1789. On 23 December 1787 HMS Bounty had set sail for Tahiti to collect breadfruit under the captaincy of Lieutenant William Bligh, aged 35. Ten months later, it docked at its destination, 43,000 km… Read More »