What Happened on December 5?

December 5 is International Volunteer Day — thanking helpers worldwide — on the same date Prohibition ended in 1933, the AFL-CIO merged in 1955, and Montgomery’s bus boycott began after Rosa Parks’s protest.

• 1791 — Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart dies in Vienna

  On December 5, 1791, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna at age 35 — leaving unfinished works and a towering musical legacy. Read the full story →

• 1933 — The 21st Amendment ends national Prohibition

  On December 5, 1933, Utah’s ratification of the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment — ending nationwide Prohibition. Read the full story →

• 1952 — The Great Smog settles over London

  On December 5, 1952, a deadly mix of fog and coal smoke — the Great Smog — blanketed London for days. Read the full story →

• 1955 — The AFL and CIO merge into the AFL-CIO

  On December 5, 1955, America’s two largest labor federations united as the AFL-CIO under George Meany’s leadership. Read the full story →

• 1955 — The Montgomery Bus Boycott begins

  On December 5, 1955, Black residents of Montgomery, Alabama, began a mass boycott of city buses after Rosa Parks’s arrest. Read the full story →

Famous birthdays

Walt Disney (1901–1966) · Little Richard (1932–2020) · Christina Aguilera (1980) · Frankie Muniz (1985)

Days & observances

International Volunteer Day · World Soil Day · National Day of the Ninja · Bathtub Party Day