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Trujillo born
Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina was born October 24, 1891. He was born in the city of San Cristóbal and grew up there . He got into alot of trouble and even served some jail time. He was very political and soon joined the National Party of Horacio Vasquez and joined in the protests against the current president. -
Dominicanización of the Fronterá
Dominicanización of the Fronterá was begun to "whiten" Dominicans. Trujillo liked the idea of European immigragion. He readily accepted Jews when not many other countries did. Trujillo was said to wear whitening makeup to make himself look more pale. He was of Spanish, Hatian, and Dominican decent and therefore had the darker skin. -
Trujillo Becomes President
In the Revolution in Santiago in 1930 Trujillo and all his buddies overthrew the government, and the current president. He however had to hide his identity during the whole ordeal so he would not be charged with treason. Because of this consealment, he was readily accepted as the new president with little opposition. -
The organization of the Partido Dominicano
The year after Trujillo became president, he organized the Partido Dominicano which gave him control of politics for the next three decades and was called "El Jefe" and "El Benefactor". He was an unconditional dictator and did give the country sucess economically, but did not give the people any freedom. -
People stop agreeing with Trujillo
People began to rebel against Trujillo and his policies. To stop this, Trujillo started a secret system called the SIM that would flush out such rebellions. Once people were found, they would be captured and tortured, ultimately put to death. -
Trujillo revamps the city
After a hurricane that devistated much of Santo Domingo Trujillo decided to get the country excited again. So he renamed Santo Domingo "Trujillo City". In his city, he named the streets after himself and his family. He also put statues of himself everywhere so everyone could see him. He named January 11 to be a holiday to himself, "Benefactor Day". -
Trujillo's wives
Trujillo married Aminta Ledesma on August 13, 1913 and had two daughters with her. One of them died. He divorced her in 1925. He then married Bienvenida Ricardo on March 30, 1927, divorcing her as well in 1935. He had an affair with María de los Angeles Martínez Alba and married her after his divorce with Bienvenida Ricardo. He had three children with Maria. In 1941 he met Lina Lovatón Pittaluga and had two children with her. -
Hatians slaughtered
Trujillo made agreements with the Hatian president saying he would let Hatians cross the border. However he decided afterward that he did want to control the border. He made it a rule that if you could not pronounce the R in the Spanish word for parsley correctly (Hatians could not easily pronounce Rs) then you would be killed. Therefore many Hatians in the Dominican were murdered. -
Period: to
Chapters 1-10
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Minerva, Dede, and Patria go to Inmaculada Concepcion
The girls go to Inmaculada because Papa was convinced by Mama that they needed education to go with their money. Minerva met Sinita on her first day there and they became fast friends. Minerva and Sinita become best friends with Elsa and Lourdes, and they were known as "The Quadruplets". Minerva finds out Sinita's "secret" that Trujillo is killing everyone. -
World War II Begins
Began when Germany invaded Poland, in violation of the Versailles treaty. It was litteraly a World War for no country was left unaffected. It remains the deadliest war in history. -
Trujillo falls in love with Lina
Trujillo sees Lina playing volleyball with the other girls from a balcony and askes if he can see her. They fall in love and in the months afterward they kept seeing more of each other. One day Lina doesn't come back and that summer Minerva finds out she was living in one of Trujillo's mansions, added to his large number of pregnant girlfriends. -
The family sits under the anacahuita tree
The family sits under the anacahuita tree at night, sitting on rockers, telling stories, and drinking guanabana juice. Papa begins to fortune tell, stopped by Mama. After Minerva says she wants to be a lawer, he says "You and Trujillo" implying that he thinks Trujillo needs help running the country. -
Slinky toy introduced
When Richard James realized he could make it fun to drop a tension spring on the ground, he show it to his wife. She named the toy "slinky" which means sinous and stealthy. The first slinky toys were sold in Pennsylvania. -
Patria meets Pedrito
When Patria was helping wash feet on Holy Thursday when a pair of feet came and after washing them quite diligently, she could not help but look up. She knew instantly she had seen her husband. They married February 24, the day before her seventheenth birthday. -
Benefactor's Day
Maria Teresa is very excited for this holiday celebrating Trujillo. She wishes El Jefe a very heartfelt Happy Benefactor's Day and Papa gives the Trujillo Tillers speech. Mate feels she is very lucky to have Trujillo as president. -
Minerva begins to join the undergound
Mate is called to the office to verify that Minerva was visiting a friend. She found out later that Minerva and her friends Sinita, Elsa, and Lourdes were going to secret meetings at Don Horacio's house. When Mate asked why Minerva replied that she wanted Mate to live in a free country. Mates outlook on life changed from then on. Minerva's friend Hilda comes and the SIM come after her. Mate has to bury her little book just in case the SIM might find it. -
Dede and Minerva meet Lio
Dede and Minerva meet Mario's cousin Virgilio Morales. Minerva finds out that he goes to the university and they instanatly connect. Minerva and Lio go to a volleyball game and Dede goes to see her cousin Jaimito. Jaimito gets mad because Lio and Minerva are talking behind a hedge. -
Jamito proposes to Dede
Jamito and Dede have liked each other for a while, and Jamito took Dede out to her fathers car one night and kissed her. He then asked her to marry him. They heard a whisper from the backseat. It was Lio, in hiding, and asking for a ride to the anacahuita tree so his ride could pick him up. He came to deliver a letter to Minerva. -
Minerva slaps Trujillo
Minerva and her family, excluding Mate. When they get there she is invited to sit at Trujillo's table, and she does. She is instructed by Patria to keep her tongue in check. Once the dancing rolls around, Minerva dances with Don Manuel after much convincing on his part, and later on she dances with Trujillo. At the end, he comes closer and closer to her and she slaps him. The Mirabals flee, Minerva forgeting her purse with letters from Lio tucked in the fold. -
Minerva gets to go to college
When Minerva and her Mama go to get Papa, they have to meet El Jefe first. Minerva asks to go to law school, and Trujillo says that whoever wins at their game of dice gets what they want. They role for the highest number, and Minerva wins. Papa is released and they return home. -
Patria's baby born dead
After Patria's baby was born dead, a part of both her and Pedrito died indide as well. Patria hid her greif so she could help Pedrito with his. Pedrito was not satisfied till he burried something in the yard. He then was better. Patria made her way back from the dead, slowly but surely gaining more and more light in her life. -
Papa's other family shows up at his funeral
The family is shocked to see Papa's other family at his funeral, and Mate found out that Minerva invited them. Minerva said they are Papa's family too. Mate decides that she hates men. She realizes that they are not much younger than she is and notes that Papa began fooling around sooner that she thought. -
Disneyland Opens
On July 17, Disneyland opened to a few thousand invited visitors before opened to the public the following day. Disneyland is still running and is located in Anaheim, California. It cost about $17 million dollars to build and continues to grow today. -
Mate joines the undergound
A man (a very good looking one at that) came to deliver a box to Manolo's and Minerva's while Mate was the only one home. She looked in the box after he left and found enough guns to start a revolution. She asked Minerva and Manolo about it when they got home and they explained to her everything. Mate joined with them in their plan to liberate the Dominican Republic from Trujillo's nasty sticky fingers. -
Sputnik Launched and Space Age Begins
The Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik 1 and began the Space Age. It was released at exactly 10:29 p.m. this act showed that the Soviet Union was capeable of modern feats. -
Patria gets pregnant
Patria realizes she has missed two months already, and makes the conclusion that she is pregnant. She asks Pedrito and her already teenage children Noris and Nelson what the baby's name should be. Patria names her baby Raul Ernesto after a revolutionary. This signals Minerva that she supports the underground. -
Murder on the mountain
On Patria's retreat with Padre de Jesus and the Salcedo group, one day when they were in a big room in the retreat house when out of no where they were bombed. The whole vilage was bombed and fourty-nine men and boys were killed. Patria saw one get shot right before her eyes. -
Dede is asked to join the undergound
Minerva, Maria Teresa, and Patria have all taken part in stopping Trujillo. They ask Dede multiple times if she will join them. She keeps saying no, using her husband as an excuse. Jaimito will not let her join her sisters, and took violent actions in pursuading her not to. -
Patria begins to pray to Trujillo
Patria now lives with her mother because her house is burned to the ground and both her boys are in jail. She begins to pray to the required picture of Trujillo on her mother's wall, asking it for things. She repeatedly offered herself to Trujillo if he would give her back her Nelson. -
Nelson is released
Patria negotiates with Captain Pena and gets Nelson's release. To go get him, they had to go to Trujillo. They were among many other families to get a family member released, and each family had to say personal comment in thanks of El Jefe. When Patria and her family's turn came, El Jefe took a special interest in Patria's daughter Noris. Nelson is then set free. -
The SIM takes the family
The SIM comes for Leandro first. Next they take Pedrito and Nelson and burned down Patria's house. They dug up all the guns and ammo. They then took Manolo. Lastly they took Mate and Minerva. -
Trujillo murdered (finally)
Trujillo was killed by his own armed forces when he was 71 years old. His 31 year reign was finally ended. The "Era of Trujillo" was over. -
Trujillo's son takes over
After Trujillo's death, his son Rafael Leónidas Trujillo took over the country and ran it for the next five months. After that he became an exile and socialite, dying from car crash injuries. -
Berlin Wall built
Right after midnight on the night of August 12, German soldiers came in and built a wall of concrete and barbed wire to keep Germans separate. East Germany and West Germany were now completely different countries for three decades. -
The interview woman comes for their story
Dede takes the interview woman through the house, showing her everything. The woman wants to know the Meribal girls' story, and Dede begins to tell it to her.
