February 8: A Queen Beheaded, Scouts Founded, and Blood on Campus

February 8 connects three moments that shaped nations and movements—when the execution of one queen secured another's throne and changed the course of British monarchy, when an organization dedicated to building character and citizenship launched what would become America's largest youth movement, and when state violence against Black students protesting segregation became one of the Civil Rights Movement's forgotten tragedies. These stories remind us that political survival sometimes requires ruthless decisions, that teaching values to youth shapes future generations, and that the struggle for equality has been paid for in blood that history often fails to remember.