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Passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act
The Americans With Disabilities Act was a civil rights law that was designed to prevent discrimination against those that had disabilities in the United States, no matter what the situation/environment. This law focused on equal employment, nondiscrimination when applying for government services, public accomodations, telecommunications, and miscellaneous provisions. -
Passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act Part 2
Perhaps the most important part of this law was the opportunity for equal employment. Before this law was passed, it was legal to fire someone based on their disability. This law made employer decisions such as these prohibited in the workplace. The same is true with public accomodations; places now had to be made friendly with those with disabilities (they had to receive equal accomodations [i.e. no different restrooms]). -
Confirmation of Clarence Thomas
Before the confirmation of Clarence Thomas, Thurgood Marshall had announced that he was retiring. Clarence Thomas was appointed by President George H.W. Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate. He is the second African-American to be on the Supreme Court. Thomas called the various confirmation hearings that he had a "high-tech lynching for an uppity black." Anita Hill had made several allegations against him for sexual assualt. Despite this, Thomas was confirmed. -
Magic Johnson's HIV Announcement
Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers before he retired in 1991, shortly after the announcement that he had contracted HIV. In his announcement, he stated that he didn't know how he got it, he just knew that his wife and unborn baby did not have the disease. Soon after, rumors started circulating that he contracted HIV due to the fact that he was gay. Later on, he admitted to sleeping with several women throughout his basketball career. -
US Soldiers in Somalia / Blackhawk Down
Throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, there was increasing violence in Somalia; the Bush administration saw fit to intervene in Somalia to deal with those issues. Warlords were trying to take over Somalia, and they cut off the civilian food supply, resulting in several innocnet Somalians starving to death. President George H. W. Bush sent troops to Somalia to counteract the cruel actions of the warlords and make sure that Somalian citizens had food to eat. -
US Soldiers in Somalia / Blackhawk Down Part 2
An unexpected attack by Somalian forces brought down one of the helicopters (inside was a task force to capture Aided, the main warlord that the United States government had concerns about). The soldiers inside survived the fact that the helicopter that was shot down. Once the helicopter was on the ground, they encountered heavy Somalian fire. This was significant because this struggle was designed to last less than an hour, but it lasted for at least a day. -
Passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement established free trade in North America. The agreement was signed in 1992; yet it went into effect two years later. Signed by Cananda, Mexico, and the United States; it created free trade between these three countries. This agreement was created in order to make trade between these three countries easier, as any trade boundaries that already existed between these three countries had a signifcant impact on the economies of each country. -
Passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement Part 2
Furthermore, this bill sought to eliminate any trade tariffs between the United States and Mexico, as these trade tariffs were impacting both of their economies. Such was not the case between the United States and Canada, as tariffs had already been eliminated. This agreement helped to increase Mexico's exports and reduce imports, which strengthened their economy. The same was true for the United States and Canada. -
O.J. Simpson Trial
The O.J. Simpson Trial was held at the Los Angeles County Superior Court. O.J. Simpson was tried for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson, plus the murder of waiter Ronald Lyle Goldman. The O.J. Simpson trial became highly contraversial, due to the fact that O.J.'s defense team alleged that the evidence at the crime scene had been tampered with. Furthermore, the evidence being used against O.J. showed that there was misconduct by the Los Angeles Police themselves. -
O.J. Simpson Trial Part 2
O.J.'s defense team pointed to the fact that the police officers wanted to frame O.J. on purpose, without charging him with a crime that he had actually committed. One of the police officers in particular, Mark Fuhrman, had reportedly beat up other African American men in the past and used racist remarks towards them (he boasted to others about it). The following day, O.J. Simpson was found not guilty. The O.J. Simpson case is still a highly contraversial case today. -
Million Man March
The Million Man March was led by Louis Farrakhan, who was the leader of the Nation of Islam at that time. The march was intended to be an event in which black men could call attention to the issues that plagued their community, such as poverty. Those that participated in the March gathered at the National Mall to listen to various speakers discuss issues in the black community, such as poverty. The main goal of the march was to ensure that the black community could be self-sufficient (no poverty -
Explosion of TWA Flight 800
On July 17th, 1996, TWA Flight 800 exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after takeoff (the flight was on the way to Rome). Everyone on the plane was killed. Initially, the National Transportation Safety Board thought that terrorists were behind the crash, but no evidence was found of any sort of terrorist activities following a year of thorough investigation. The investigation lasted four years and it was concluded that the fuel tank exploded (due to poor aircraft regulations). -
NATO bombing of Yugoslavia Starts
The bombing of Yugoslavia was done to stop the Serbian people from abusing human rights. This bombing is significant because this was the first time in human history that NATO utilized military force without the green light from the United Nations Security Council. Through bombing Yugoslavia, NATO hoped to ensure that Yugoslavia would overthrow the oppressive, Milosevic government. -
Columbine Shooting
Two teenagers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot and killed 13 people at Columbine High School in Denver, Colorado. They wounded twenty others before both committing suicide. This was the worst school shooting in the United States, and this shooting sparked a massive controversy over who should have the right to own guns in the United States. The two teens had conspired to bomb the cafeteria and kill hundreds of students, along with staff. School security has tightened as a result. -
NATO bombing in Yugoslavia Ends
The impact of the bombing in Yugoslavia was devastating. The United Nations and NATO both agreed that Kosovo would be politically supervised; as this was part of the conflict between Yugoslavia and the Milsevic government that it had. Kosovo was a heavilty disputed territory during that time period. NATO hoped that the Milsevic government would withdraw its forces from Yugoslavia and hopefully, Yugoslavia would soon become democratic.
