Alfredo Blacio (1899 - 1985)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Alfredo's lifetime.

In 1899, in the year that Alfredo Blacio was born, on February 4th, the Philippine–American War began. The Philippines objected to the Treaty of Paris, signed in 1898, that transferred possession of the Philippines from Spain to the U.S. Filipinos began a fight for independence and fighting between U.S. forces and those of the Philippine Republic broke out. On June 2nd, the Philippines officially declared war on the United States.

In 1920, at the age of 21 years old, Alfredo was alive when the Volstead Act became law. Formally called the National Prohibition Act, the Volstead Act enabled law enforcement agencies to carry out the 18th Amendment. It said that "no person shall manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, or furnish any intoxicating liquor except as authorized by this act" and defined intoxicating liquor as any beverage containing more than 0.5% alcohol by volume.

In 1947, Alfredo was 48 years old when on April 15th, Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, playing first base. He was the first black man to play in the Major Leagues. Since the 1880's, professional baseball had been segregated and blacks played in the "Negro leagues". He went on to play for 10 years.

In 1978, by the time he was 79 years old, on November 18th, Jim Jones's Peoples Temple followers committed mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana - where they had moved, from San Francisco, as a group. Jones was the leader of the cult and ordered his followers to drink cyanide-laced punch, which they did. Whole families (women and children included) died - more than 900 people in all.

In 1985, in the year of Alfredo Blacio's passing, in May, a paper published in Nature by three British scientists reported that a huge hole was discovered in the ozone layer over the Antarctic. It was much larger than expected and is due to the use of manmade chemicals.