On this date in 1865, the 13th Amendment was ratified to outlaw slavery in the United States. Lincoln and others were concerned that the Emancipation Proclamation would be seen as a temporary war measure during the Civil War, but ended keeping it and adding it to the constitution. I have mixed feelings about this topic and about Lincoln. I don't really like the amount of credit he gets from the public especially blacks about ending slavery. I'll save that for another post...

Stephen Biko was born on this date in 1946. He was a nonviolent anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s. More on Biko