November 27 · This Day in America
It is a Monday morning. Dan White, a former supervisor who wants his seat back, climbs through a basement window of City Hall to avoid the metal detectors. He shoots Mayor George Moscone in his office. He reloads. He walks down the hall and shoots Harvey Milk — the first openly gay man elected to major office in California, a camera-shop owner who told frightened young people across the country that there was a place for them. Supervisor Dianne Feinstein finds Milk's body and feels for a pulse. Hours later she stands before the press, voice steady and breaking, and tells the city. That night tens of thousands walk from the Castro to City Hall holding candles, in silence, a river of small flames. Milk had recorded a tape in case this happened. "If a bullet should enter my brain," he said, "let that bullet destroy every closet door." It did the opposite of silencing him.
Source: www.history.com
Also on this day · 1924
There are no giant balloons yet. Instead, Macy's employees dress as clowns and knights and march six miles down from Harlem, leading elephants, camels, and bears borrowed from the Central Park Zoo. A quarter million New Yorkers line the route on a cold Thursday. The roaring animals terrified the children, so balloons came later. But the tradition is born — a department store's idea that becomes one of the country's shared mornings.
Source: guides.loc.gov
“If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.”Harvey Milk, recorded 1977