Here’s a brief look back in time on this day, February 5th.
In 1631, the Lyon approaches Nantasket Beach outside of Boston, MA. One of the passengers was English minister Roger Williams, who would later help establish the Colony of Rhode Island. It would be one of the first Western governments to promote freedom of religion.
In 1883, a 2,000-mile track extending from West Colton, CA, to New Orleans, LA, finishes construction. Dubbed “The Sunset Route”, it was one of the most ambitious railway projects following the American Civil War. The line still runs to this day.
In 1917, the U.S. ended its search for the notorious Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa after 11 months of searching. This followed his alleged raid of Columbus, NM, where several hundred guerilla fighters reportedly killed 17 Americans in retaliation for then-President Woodrow Wilson’s support of Venustiano Carranza: Villa’s rival for the Mexican presidency. Villa would be assassinated on July 20th, 1923; likely from political rivals ahead of the 1924 presidential campaign.
In 1994, Ku Klux Klan member Byron De La Beckwith is convicted for the murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers; 31 years after the crime took place in 1963. Evers was one of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in the South, who campaigned to desegregate the University of Mississippi by helping James Meredith become the first African American to attend. Beckwith was first prosecuted in 1964, but remained free following two hung juries. It wasn’t until 1989 when documents showed jurors in both trials being illegally screened, which resulted in findings of prejudice against Evers. He was convicted of murder by a racially diverse jury and sentenced to life in prison. Beckwith died while imprisoned in 2001.