曆史上的六月四日

曆史上的6/4日

今天是6/4日，2023年的第155天，今年還剩210天。
人類曆史上的今天,發生了如下值得我關注的事件：

——1919
美國國會通過了第19修正案，賦予百人婦女投票權

該修正案規定“美國或任何州不得以性別為由剝奪或剝奪美國公民的投票權”，該修正案在國會兩院獲得通過，並送交各州批準。八天後，第19修正案生效。

盡管修正案通過了，黑人婦女也為實現選舉權做出了長達幾十年的貢獻，但人頭稅、當地法律和其他限製繼續阻止有色人種婦女投票。50年以後，美國才能實現所有婦女平等的投票權利。
Congress passes the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote

The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote, is passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification.
The women’s suffrage movement was founded in the mid-19th century by women who had become politically active through their work in the abolitionist and temperance movements. In July 1848, 240 woman suffragists, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, met in Seneca Falls, New York, to assert the right of women to vote. Female enfranchisement was still largely opposed by most Americans, and the distraction of the North-South conflict and subsequent Civil War precluded further discussion. During the Reconstruction Era, the 15th Amendment was adopted, granting African American men the right to vote, but the Republican-dominated Congress failed to expand its progressive radicalism into the sphere of gender.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the role of women in American society was changing drastically; women were working more, receiving a better education, bearing fewer children, and several states had authorized female suffrage. In 1913, the National Woman’s party organized the voting power of these enfranchised women to elect congressional representatives who supported woman suffrage, and by 1916 both the Democratic and Republican parties openly endorsed female enfranchisement. In 1919, the 19th Amendment, which stated that “the rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex,” passed both houses of Congress and was sent to the states for ratification. Eight days later, the 19th Amendment took effect.
Despite the passage of the amendment and the decades-long contributions of Black women to achieve suffrage, poll taxes, local laws and other restrictions continued to block women of color from voting. It would take another 50 years for all women to achieve voting equality.

——1989
中共殘暴鎮壓天安門廣場抗議學生

1989年6月4日，中共軍隊和武裝警察衝進天安門廣場，不分青紅皂白地向抗議人群開火。騷亂隨之而來，數以萬計的年輕學生試圖逃離現場；其他抗議者進行了反擊，用石頭反擊進攻的部隊，推翻並點燃了軍用車輛。現場的記者和西方外交官估計，至少有300人，也許數千人被殺，多達1萬人被捕。

中國政府襲擊手無寸鐵學生的野蠻性震驚了其盟友和冷戰敵人。蘇聯領導人米哈伊爾·戈爾巴喬夫宣布，他對中國的事件感到悲傷。他說，他希望政府通過自己的國內改革計劃，並開始使中國政治製度民主化。

在美國，輿論評論員和國會議員譴責了天安門廣場大屠殺，並敦促喬治·布什總統懲罰中國政府。三個多星期後，美國國會投票決定對中華人民共和國實施經濟製裁，以應對其殘酷侵犯人權的行為。

Chinese crackdown on protests leads to Tiananmen Square Massacre

Chinese troops storm through Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing, killing and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters. The brutal Chinese government assault on the protesters shocked the West and brought denunciations and sanctions from the United States.
In May 1989, nearly a million Chinese, mostly young students, crowded into central Beijing to protest for greater democracy and call for the resignations of Chinese Communist Party leaders deemed too repressive. For nearly three weeks, the protesters kept up daily vigils, and marched and chanted. Western reporters captured much of the drama for television and newspaper audiences in the United States and Europe. 

On June 4, 1989, however, Chinese troops and security police stormed through Tiananmen Square, firing indiscriminately into the crowds of protesters. Turmoil ensued, as tens of thousands of the young students tried to escape the rampaging Chinese forces. Other protesters fought back, stoning the attacking troops and overturning and setting fire to military vehicles. Reporters and Western diplomats on the scene estimated that at least 300, and perhaps thousands, of the protesters had been killed and as many as 10,000 were arrested.
The savagery of the Chinese government’s attack shocked both its allies and Cold War enemies. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared that he was saddened by the events in China. He said he hoped that the government would adopt his own domestic reform program and begin to democratize the Chinese political system. 
In the United States, editorialists and members of Congress denounced the Tiananmen Square massacre and pressed for President George Bush to punish the Chinese government. A little more than three weeks later, the U.S. Congress voted to impose economic sanctions against the People’s Republic of China in response to the brutal violation of human rights.