Today in History

Today is Thursday, Jan. 12, the 12th day of 2012. There are 354 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Jan. 12, 1912, textile workers at the Everett Mill in Lawrence, Mass., (most of them immigrant women) walked off the job to protest wage cuts. The "Bread and Roses Strike," as it came to be known, spread to other mills in Lawrence and lasted until the following March.

On this date:

In 1519, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I died.

In 1773, the first public museum in America was organized in Charleston, S.C.

In 1828, the United States and Mexico signed a Treaty of Limits defining the boundary between the two countries to be the same as the one established by an 1819 treaty between the U.S. and Spain.

In 1915, the House of Representatives rejected, 204-174, a constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote.

In 1932, Hattie W. Caraway became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate, after serving out the remainder of the term of her late husband, Thaddeus.

In 1948, the Supreme Court ruled that state law schools could not discriminate against applicants on the basis of race.

In 1959, Berry Gordy, Jr. founded Motown Records (originally Tamla Records) in Detroit.

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson said in his State of the Union address that the U.S. should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggression there was ended.

In 1969, the New York Jets of the American Football League upset the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League 16-7 in Super Bowl III, played at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

In 1971, the groundbreaking situation comedy "All in the Family" premiered on CBS television.

In 1987, Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite arrived in Lebanon on his latest mission to win the release of Western hostages; however, Waite ended up being taken captive himself, and wasn't released until 1991.

In 2010, Haiti was struck by a magnitude-7 earthquake, killing as many as 300,000 residents and leaving over 1.5 million people homeless.

Ten years ago: The United States intensified its anti-terror campaign in eastern Afghanistan, dropping bombs on suspected al-Qaida and Taliban hide-outs. Michelle Kwan won her fifth successive U.S. Figure Skating Championships crown and sixth overall. Former Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance died in New York at age 84.

Five years ago: Two kidnapped boys, Ben Ownby and Shawn Hornbeck, were found alive in the same suburban St. Louis apartment -- four days after Ben vanished and 41/2 years after Shawn disappeared. (The boys' abductor, Michael Devlin, is serving multiple life terms for kidnapping and sexual assault.) Durham County, N.C., District Attorney Mike Nifong, facing ethics charges, asked to be removed from the Duke lacrosse rape investigation. (State prosecutors later exonerated three suspects; Nifong ended up being disbarred.) Larry Stewart, the anonymous Missouri philanthropist known as "Secret Santa," died at age 58.

One year ago: President Barack Obama visited Tucson, Ariz., the scene of a deadly shooting rampage, where he urged Americans to refrain from partisan bickering and to embrace the idealistic vision of democracy held by 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, the youngest of the shooting victims. Torrential summer rains tore through Rio de Janeiro state's mountains. Floodwaters poured into downtown Brisbane, Australia, swamping neighborhoods and reaching the tops of traffic lights in some parts of the city.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Luise Rainer is 102. Country singer Ray Price is 86. Singer Glenn Yarbrough is 82. The Amazing Kreskin is 77. Country singer William Lee Golden (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 73. Rock musician Cynthia Robinson (Sly and the Family Stone) is 68. Singer-musician George Duke is 66. Actor Anthony Andrews is 64. Movie director Wayne Wang is 63. Radio commentator Rush Limbaugh is 61. Actress Kirstie Alley is 61. Writer Walter Mosley is 60. Country singer Ricky Van Shelton is 60. Radio personality Howard Stern is 58. Rock musician Tom Ardolino (NRBQ) is 55. Writer-producer-director John Lasseter is 55. Broadcast journalist Christiane Amanpour is 54. Rock musician Charlie Gillingham (Counting Crows) is 52. Actor Oliver Platt is 52. Basketball Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins is 52. Actor Olivier Martinez is 46. Rapper TBird (B-Rock and the Bizz) is 45. Model Vendela is 45. Actress Farrah Forke is 44. Actress Rachael Harris is 44. Rock singer Zack de la Rocha is 42. Rapper Raekwon (Wu Tang Clan) is 42. Singer Dan Haseltine (Jars of Clay) is 39. Rock musician Matt Wong (Reel Big Fish) is 39. Singer Melanie Chisholm (Spice Girls) is 38. Contemporary Christian singer Jeremy Camp is 34. Rhythm-and-blues singer Amerie is 32. Actress Naya Rivera is 25. Actor Will Rothhaar is 25. Actor Andrew Lawrence is 24.

Thought for Today: "Necessity does the work of courage." -- Nicholas Murray Butler, American educator (1862-1947).

Copyright 2012, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.