December 20, 2021
Leopold Sedar Senghor
Leopold Sedar Senghor, the first President of Senegal, died in France on this day in 2001.
Also on this day
The U.S. Supreme Court on this day in 1956 upheld a lower court’s decision that the law requiring segregation on Montgomery buses was unconstitutional. The Montgomery Improvement Association voted the next day to end their year-long boycott of city buses.
On this day in 1988, ABC news national anchor Max Robinson died from complications of AIDS. He was the first Black to anchor and host the evening news of a major network.
On this day in 1860, after almost two months of debate and discussion, the South Carolina General Assembly voted unanimously to secede from the United States of America, the first state to do so. For some people, this was the first shot in the Civil War.