TODAY’S HISTORY TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:

1933: The era of alcohol prohibition ended as Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment.

1955: Martin Luther King Jr., E.D. Dixon, Rosa Parks and other activists launched an organized bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. 1955: The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged, forming the AFL-CIO.

Martin Van Buren (1782-1862), eighth U.S. president; George Armstrong Custer (18391876), U.S. Army officer; Walt Disney (1901-1966), cartoonist/filmmaker; Strom Thurmond (19022003), politician; Otto Preminger (1905-1986), film director; Little Richard (19322020), singer-songwriter; Joan Didion (1934-), author; Jose Carreras (1946-), opera singer; Margaret Cho (1968-), actress/comedian; Keri Hilson (1982-), singer-songwriter; Frankie Muniz (1985-), actor.

TODAY’S FACT: The 21st Amendment expressly gave each state the right to restrict or ban the purchase or sale of alcohol, which meant that many states continued to enforce prohibition laws even after 1933. Mississippi was the last state to repeal prohibition, in 1966.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 2017, the International Olympic Committee banned Russia from competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics as punishment for a doping scandal at the 2014 Games.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “Character — the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life — is the source from which self-respect springs.” — Joan Didion, “On Self-Respect”

TODAY’S NUMBER: 18 — total minutes of screen time for Aurora, the main character in Disney’s 1959 animated film, “Sleeping Beauty.”

TODAY’S MOON: Between full moon (Nov. 30) and last quarter moon (Dec. 7).