On this day in 1948, Israel was declared to be an independent state and a provisional government was established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel was attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
On this day in 1961, during the American civil rights movement, the Freedom Riders bus was fire-bombed in Alabama, and the civil rights protesters were beaten by an angry mob.
And on this day in 2009, Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou ratified two United Nations human rights covenants -- the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
