RIGHTS AND PRIZES

Mark Twain, detail of photo by

Mathew Brady, February 7, 1871

On the 10^th December 1884 Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published for the first time. If ever a writer deserved a Nobel Prize, it was Mark Twain. Had the prize been available at the time I am sure he would have been given it. As for the book, it is one of the best examples of a plea for human rights and dignity of the human spirit ever to come out of America. It is not surprising then that the following events occurred on this day.

Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on 10^th December. The date was chosen to honour the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption and proclamation, on 10^th December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global enunciation of human rights and one of the first major achievements of the new United Nations. The formal establishment of Human Rights Day occurred at the 317^th Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on 4^th December 1950, when the General Assembly declared resolution 423(V), inviting all member states and any other interested organizations to celebrate the day as they saw fit.

On the 10^th December 1901, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded.