Moments in Time: Rosa Parks
The History Channel
On Feb. 3, 1953, French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau published a memoir co-written with Frederic Dumas, "The Silent World," about his time exploring the oceans. It was made into an Oscar-winning documentary directed by Louis Malle three years later, the success of which allowed Cousteau to retire from the navy and devote himself full time to oceanography.
On Feb. 4, 1913, Rosa Louise McCauley, better known to us today by her married name of Rosa Parks, was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. The lifelong civil rights activist's refusal to give up her seat on a segregated bus to a white man in 1955 remains a defining moment of America's civil rights movement.
On Feb. 5, 2012, 36-year-old Josh Powell, who had been labeled a person of interest in the 2009 disappearance of his 28-year-old wife, Susan, locked out a social worker before killing himself and his two young sons, Braden and Charlie, by setting fire to his Graham, Washington, home. Susan Powell's remains have still not been found.
On Feb. 6, 1928, a woman calling herself Anastasia Tchaikovsky (later Anna Anderson) and claiming to be the youngest daughter of murdered Russian czar Nicholas II arrived in New York City. Though she fought for recognition of that identity for more than 50 years, it was never verified.
On Feb. 7, 1974, viewers at a screening of the Mel Brooks Western spoof "Blazing Saddles" at the Pickwick Drive-In Theater in Burbank, California, enjoyed the film not from the expected comfort of their cars, but on horseback, in one of Hollywood's most creative P.R. stunts.
On Feb. 8, 1986, Spud Webb, one of the shortest players in professional basketball history at 5-foot-7, scored a win over his Atlanta Hawks teammate, the 6-foot-8 Dominique Wilkins, in the NBA slam dunk contest.
On Feb. 9, 1864, Union General George Armstrong Custer married Elizabeth "Libbie" Bacon in Monroe, Michigan, while he was on leave. A passionate defender of her husband's reputation after his death at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, her efforts helped establish Custer as an American hero.
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