Marching Through Time Voices

“Based on what happened in these events, people learn from them and don’t want to repeat the mistakes that were made before. When it comes to civilization, people don’t want to repeat those mistakes. You just learn from them, improve, and maybe take something good from the past to improve upon and implement it into society. I guess one is the Boston Massacre, when some British soldiers started shooting a couple of people who were being rude. But it still felt wrong. I feel like that’s something people wouldn’t do today. At least, back then, we would be more accepting of things like that happening, but today it’s different. One example [of a pivotal event in March] would be the invention of the telephone. That impacted everyone, and today it’s been improved so much that we have phones like we do now.” — Junior Aritro Dasgupta

 

“The dot com crash of March 10, 2000, had a huge impact on the stock market and the economy. So, in the short term, the NASDAQ index fell by about 75%, and most investors lost around $5 trillion, which was just insane. Long term, companies started to focus more on sustainable long-term growth rather than just chasing quick, short-term gains. Investors began diversifying their portfolios, which is, like, where the saying “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” probably came from. On a personal note, my granddad actually lost about 77K in the crash, and the company my dad worked at, Sun Microsystems, went bankrupt, which was rough. But, you know, things are good now.” — Junior Leo Chen

 

“I first learned about the Civicus report [as a historic moment], where the United States was added to the Civicus Monitor Watchlist in March 2025 due to a decline in civic freedom, in my AP Human Geography class, where we discussed how democratic backsliding impacts civic engagement worldwide. It reinforced my belief that staying informed and engaged isn’t just important, but necessary.” —History Club President Senior Megan Nguyen

 

“I’ll have to go with the 1933 Enabling Acts [as a pivotal moment in March]. The signing of the Enabling Act gave Adolf Hitler dictatorial powers following a rigged election in which despite outright intimidation the Nazis only won 43% of the vote. The Centrist parties chose to stand with Hitler over the left, and they thought they could control him. He immediately established concentration camps for his political opponents and banned all parties other than the Nazi party. Of course, this led to the Nuremberg Laws and persecution of the Jews, with Hitler’s aggressive foreign policy leading to the invasion of Poland and WW2. I think that far too many people simply don’t know about how the Nazis came to power and thus can’t really tell when authoritarians are becoming too powerful. People take democracy as a given, and they never know what they lost until they lost it. People have this weird notion that the Nazis were completely divorced from ordinary Germans, that they took over a country, then took over half of Europe, then got creamed by America. Of course reality is a lot more complex, as the Nazis grew due to the economic crisis, and their main base was middle class voters. They even had their own January 6 moment called the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 where Hitler tried to overthrow the German government single handedly. Memory of these events, or lack thereof, is why you see so many historical patterns that correspond to rising authoritarianism like rising wealth inequality, erosion of institutions, media silence, and not enough people are paying attention.”— MSJ Civics Club Vice President Junior Ashwin Vaidyanathan

 

“In domestic terms, [I would say] attempts to cut programs in Medicare [is currently a pivotal moment this month]. Right now they plan to cut billions from Medicare, which especially affects young children. Certainly we can all agree it is most important to protect and nurture our children. We’ve all had times where we needed help from others. I previously grew up in a community that all took care of each other, without which I wouldn’t be here today. In every community, there are children that need Medicare, especially in poorer areas.” — History Teacher Anthony Belloti

 

“I would say the Women’s Suffrage movement was the most significant [March event]. By employing controversial measures like picketing the White House they increased the visibility of the movement. The movement kicked off a century of activism, of course, led to the [passage of the] 19th Amendment, and continues to fuel the fight for full equality today. We still see it in every conversation about women’s rights, from equal pay to abortion, both here in the US and globally.” — Swarit Agrawal, 10