Category Archives: History

October 27 Peace Love Art Activism

October 27 Peace Love Art Activism

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

October 27 Peace Love Activism

October 27, 1659: during the late 1650s, the government of colonial Massachusetts felt deeply threatened by the Quaker religion. Puritan leaders thought it could destabilize society by undermining their culture and religion. Laws were passed that outlawed Quakerism. Being a Quaker, meeting with or aiding a Quaker, or publishing Quaker material was punished by banishment from the territory, on pain of death.

The first Quakers to break the laws were Marmaduke Stevenson, William Robinson, Mary Dyar, and Nicholas Davis. On September 12, 1659, they were banished from Massachusetts, and told that if any of them returned, they would be put to death. Dyar and Davis left Massachusetts. Stevenson and Robinson ignored the ruling, and went to Salem, MA to spread their gospel. The pair were quickly apprehended and imprisoned in Boston. Dyar left Massachusetts but was compelled to return, and she was also locked up.

On October 27, 1659, Stevenson, Robinson, and Dyar were paraded by 200 armed men through the town of Boston to the place of execution at Boston Neck. They tenderly hugged each other, and each cheerfully climbed the gallows-ladder while praising the Lord. Stevenson and Robinson were executed, but Dyar received a reprieve. She demanded to be hanged like her brethren, but was not executed. Dyar was banished once again, and was eventually hanged in 1660 for returning to the colony. (see May 27, 1668)

October 27 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Technological Milestone

October 27, 1904: New York City Mayor George McClellan took the controls on the inaugural run of the city’s innovative new rapid transit system: the subway. While London boasts the world’s oldest underground train network (opened in 1863) and Boston built the first subway in the United States in 1897, the New York City subway soon became the largest American system. More than 100 workers died during the construction of the first 13 miles of tunnels and track. (NYT subway(TM, see December 24, 1906; Labor, see January 2, 1905) 

DNAinfo

October 27, 2017: the National Labor Relations Board conducted a vote of workers at DNAinfo after its owner, Joe Ricketts, had refused to recognize the union. The result was that 25 out of 27 workers voted to join the Writers Guild, which meant that management would be required to bargain with the union.

DNAinfo, which specialized in covering the city neighborhood by neighborhood, had broken big stories and earned respect since its founding in 2009, but it had never turned a profit. Gothamist, with a smaller staff but wider readership, was a blog with attitude that combines original reporting, cultural coverage and aggregation. [NYT article] (Labor, see Oct 29; DNAinfo, see Nov 2)

October 27 Peace Love Art Activism

The Red Scare

October 27 Peace Love Art Activism

October 27, 1947: the famous confrontations between the “Hollywood Ten” and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began on this day. The first “hostile witness” was the screenwriter John Howard Lawson, who like the other members of the Hollywood Ten who followed, was aggressively confrontational with the committee, refusing to answer questions and challenging the committee’s legitimacy.

HUAC had launched an investigation into alleged Communist influence in Hollywood that is probably the most famous event in the entire history of the committee. The hearings had begun on October 20, 1947, with a series of “friendly” witnesses who testified that there was Communist influence in Hollywood. Beginning on this day, a group of so-called “unfriendly” witnesses who refused to testify about their beliefs and associations resulted in stormy confrontational hearings. This group of directors and screenwriters became known as the “Hollywood Ten.” In retrospect (and for many people, almost immediately), it was apparent that the aggressive, confrontational tactics of the Hollywood Ten only alienated potential support across the country.

The hearings ended on October 30, but HUAC conducted another set of hearings in 1951, which resulted in more blacklisting. (NYT article) (see November 24, 1947)

October 27 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

US Labor History

October 27, 1951: the National Labor Council was formed in Cincinnati to unite Black workers in the struggle for full economic, political and social equality. The group was to function for five years before disbanding, having forced many AFL and CIO unions to adopt non-discrimination policies. (BH, see Dec 25; Labor, see Dec 21)

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR

October 27, 1960: King released from jail. Word about President Kennedy’s call circulated widely in the African-American community. Some political commentators believed the publicity gained Kennedy enough African-American votes to give him victory in the November presidential election, but others dispute this interpretation.. (BH, see Oct 29; MLK, see Nov 26)

Ruby Bates

October 27, 1976: Ruby Bates died at age sixty-three. [NYT article] (see Scottsboro Travesty for expanded story)

October 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Cuban Missile Crisis

October 27 Peace Love Art Activism

October 27, 1962: Radio Moscow began broadcasting a message from Khrushchev. The message offered a new trade, that the missiles on Cuba would be removed in exchange for the removal of the Jupiter missiles from Italy and Turkey.  Cuba shot down a US U2 plane with surface to air missile killing the pilot, Rudolph Anderson. U.S. Army anti-aircraft rockets sat, mounted on launchers and pointed out over the Florida Straits in Key West, Florida. (see Cuban missile crisis for expanded story; Anderson, see Nov 6)

October 27 Peace Love Art Activism

October 26 Music et al

Love Me Do

October 27, 1962, The Beatles before their US appearance:  “Love Me Do/PS I Love You” #48 on UK Melody Maker hit parade. (see Nov 26)

Future Woodstock Performers

October 27, 1967: Ten Years After released its first album, Ten Years After. Alvin Lee, age 22.

In 1968 these artists will release their first albums:

  • Johnny Winter (age 22) released  The Progressive Blues Experiment
  • Sweetwater released Sweetwater
  • Bert Sommer (age 18) released , The Road to Travel. It was produced by Artie Kornfeld. Sommer was a schoolmate of Leslie West. (see Feb 21)
LSD

October 27, 1970: The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act  passed. Part II of this is the Controlled Substance Act (CSA) which defined a scheduling system for drugs. It placed most of the known hallucinogens (LSD, psilocybin, psilocin, mescaline, peyote, cannabis, & MDA) in Schedule I. It placed coca, cocaine, and injectable methamphetamine in Schedule II. Other amphetamines and stimulants, including non-injectable methamphetamine were placed in Schedule III. [text of Nixon’s remarks at signing] (see September 3, 1971)

October 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

October 27, 1968: in London, 50,000 protest the Vietnam war. (NYT article) (see Oct 30)

INDEPENDENCE DAYS

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

October 27 Peace Love Art Activism

October 27, 1979: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines independent of the United Kingdom. (see April 18, 1980)

Dissolution of the USSR

October 27, 1991: Turkmenistan declared its independence from the Soviet Union. (see Dec 16)

October 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

October 27 Peace Love Activism

October 27, 1986: President Ronald Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. The law created a significant disparity in the sentences imposed in federal courts for crimes involving powdered cocaine versus the sentences imposed for crimes involving crack cocaine. The law imposed certain mandatory minimum sentences for crimes involving certain quantities of powdered cocaine, but those mandatory sentences could also be triggered by crimes involving only one percent of that quantity in cases of crack cocaine. For instance, a drug crime involving five grams of crack cocaine resulted in a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison, but crimes involving less than 500 grams of powdered cocaine would not trigger the five year minimum sentence.

This one hundred-to-one sentencing disparity, which was not based on credible scientific evidence about differing biological impacts between cocaine in powder form versus crack form, has had a significant impact on the mass incarceration of African Americans. In the years following the enactment of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, admissions of African Americans to federal prison spiked from approximately 50 admissions per 100,000 adults to nearly 250 admissions per 100,000 adults, while there was almost no change among whites. Disparities in sentence lengths also increased. In 1986, African Americans received drug sentences that were 11% longer than sentences received by whites, on average, but that disparity increased to 49% in the years following the law’s enactment. This law, and similar laws, had a significant role in increasing the incarcerated population from approximately 500,000 in 1980 to nearly 2.3 million in 2013. (see May 26, 1987)

October 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Jack Kevorkian

October 27,  1997: the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, which was approved by referendum on November 8, 1994, and which allows voluntary end of life, took effect on this day. The law allows individuals to voluntarily end their own lives by ingesting a life-ending drug that is prescribed by a licensed physician. The law has survived two challenges. Oregon voters rejected a repeal measure by a margin of 60 percent in 1997. And in 2006, the Supreme Court upheld the law, in Gonzales v. Oregon. (see JK for expanded story)

October 27 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ+

Frank Schaefer

October 27, 2014: the Judicial Council of the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination ruled that a Pennsylvania church jury was wrong to defrock Frank Schaefer last year after he would not promise never to perform another same-sex wedding.

The council ruled on technical grounds and did not express support for gay marriage in general. Its decision was final. [CBS News story](next LGBTQ+, see Nov 6)

Passports

October 27, 2021, LGBTQ+: the U.S. State Department  issued the first official passport with the gender marker “X” in order to make the documents more inclusive for people who identify as nonbinary, intersex or gender-nonconforming.

The department would be able to offer the option to all passport applicants once it finished updating its systems and forms by early 2022, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price.

“I want to reiterate, on the occasion of this passport issuance, the Department of State’s commitment to promoting the freedom, dignity, and equality of all people – including LGBTQI+ persons,” Price said in a statement. [NPR story] (next LGBTQ+, see June 10, 2022)

October 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News & ICAN

October 27, 2016: the United Nation’s First Committee adopted a landmark International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons [ICAN] -supported resolution to launch negotiations in 2017 on a treaty outlawing nuclear weapons.

ICAN called on all states to participate in the negotiations, stating that “every nation has an interest in ensuring that nuclear weapons are never used again, which can only be guaranteed through their complete elimination.” (Nuclear, see January 6, 2017; ICAN, see July 7, 2017)

October 27 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

October 27, 2018:  46-year-old Robert Gregory Bowers entered the Tree of Life – Or L’Simcha Congregation synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of while Shabbat morning services and a bris were being held. He shouted “All Jews must die” and began shooting. Eleven people were killed, and nine were injured.  [NYT article] (T, see Oct 29; PSS, see Oct 30)

October 27 Peace Love Art Activism

October 26 Peace Love Art Activism

October 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

US Labor History

October 26, 1825: after eight years and at least 1,000 worker deaths—mostly Irish immigrants—the 350-mile Erie Canal opened, linking the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River. Father John Raho wrote to his bishop that “so many die that there is hardly any time to give Extreme Unction (last rites) to everybody. We run night and day to assist the sick.” Governor DeWitt Clinton of New York, the driving force behind the project, led the opening ceremonies and rode the canal boat Seneca Chief from Buffalo to New York City (TM, see November 26, 1832; Labor, see January 29, 1834)

October 26 Peace Art Love Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Blacks in court

Prior to the Civil War, many Southern states, including Texas, barred enslaved or free black people from testifying against white people in court proceedings. Following the Confederacy’s defeat, those states were forced to comply with requirements created by the Republican-controlled Congress in order to be readmitted to the Union, including altering their laws and state constitutions to respect black Americans’ new status as citizens with civil rights.

On October 26, 1866, the Texas legislature passed a law redefining the circumstances in which blacks could testify in court. Rather than simply establish that black people would have full and equal rights to testify, Texas lawmakers crafted a statute that provided that “persons of color shall not testify” except in cases where “the prosecution is against a person who is a person of color; or where the offense is charged to have been committed against the person or property of a person of color.”

In civil cases between white parties and in criminal prosecutions of white people not charged with offenses against a black person, black people remained second-class citizens with no right to air their grievances in a court of law. In addition, even in the cases in which black witnesses were permitted to speak, few could have much faith in the promise of equal justice — a court system that limited rights based on the color of one’s skin also was likely to judge credibility by those same terms. (see February 6, 1867)

Claude Neal lynched

October 26, 1934: on Thursday, October 18, 1934. Lola Cannidy left her home about noon to water the family livestock. The young white woman never returned. Her mutilated body was found the next morning on a wooded hillside near her home.

Two hours later, Claude Neal, a farmhand who lived across the road from the Cannidy home, was arrested and charged with her rape and murder.

After his arrest, Neal was immediately moved to the neighboring town of Chipley. But when an angry crowd began to gather the sheriff to moved Neal to Panama City, florida. Neal was moved several more times before ending up over 200 miles away in Brewton, Alabama. But it wasn’t far enough.

On the morning of October 26, a mob of more than 100 people showed up at the Brewton jail and hauled Neal back to Marianna. They announced their intention to lynch Neal between 8 and 9 p.m. Friday night – an advance notice of 12 hours.

News of the upcoming lynching spread quickly. Newspapers and radio stations not only in Florida, but across the nation, reported that the lynching was going to take place. And despite the flood of telegrams requesting him to step in, Florida governor Dave Sholtz declined to do so, stating that local authorities had the situation under control.

By the time Friday evening came around, a large crowd of several thousand people had gathered outside the Cannidy farm to observe and participate in the lynching. But the size of the mob began to make the men holding Neal nervous. So the “Lynch Committee of Six,” as the group called itself, decided to take him to another location where they would have better control over how the lynching was carried out.

According to eyewitness accounts and newspaper reports, it was a drawn out and torturous process. Soon after arriving at the chosen spot, Neal was castrated. His torso was cut and stabbed with knives and sticks. His fingers and toes were cut off and the remainder of his body burned with hot irons. One newspaper account states there were 18 bullet holes in Neal’s chest, head and abdomen.

Neal’s body was then tied to the rear of an automobile and dragged to the Cannidy farm, where women and children participated in the final acts of mutilation. The body was then hung from an oak tree on the courthouse lawn. Photos were taken and later sold for 50 cents a piece. Neal’s fingers and toes were reportedly exhibited as souvenirs.

The local sheriff cut the body down the following morning. A mob soon formed demanding that it be hung up again. The sheriff refused, the mob descended upon the courthouse. The mob then dispersed into the city streets and began attacking the remaining blacks in town. [PBS story] (next Lynching, see November 12, 1935 or see Chronology for an expanded list of this era’s lynchings)

Mary McLeod Bethune

In 1935: Mary McLeod Bethune organized the National Council of Negro Women, a coalition of black women’s groups that lobbied against job discrimination, racism, and sexism. (next BH, see Mar 19)

President Warren G. Harding

October 26, 1921: President Warren G. Harding spoke at the 50th Anniversary celebration of the founding of Birmingham, Alabama. Before a crowd of about 100,000 whites and African-Americans, he gave a strong civil rights message: “Let the black man vote when he is fit to vote; prohibit the white man voting when he is unfit to vote.” Reportedly his statement was greeted with complete silence. (see Dec 20)

see Scottsboro Travesty for expanded story

October 26, 1937: the US Supreme Court declined to review the Haywood Patterson and Clarence Norris convictions.

Exactly 39 years later, on October 26, 1976, Alabama Governor George Wallace pardoned Clarence Norris.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR

October 26, 1960: Coretta Scott King and others were seriously worried that King might be lynched while in custody. Word of this reached John Kennedy’s presidential election campaign team, and they decided that Kennedy should call her. Kennedy did, on this day, and expressed his sympathy about her husband’s situation. He did not promise to take any action, but his brother, Robert Kennedy called both the governor of Georgia and the judge in the case, and that was thought to have had some effect. King was promptly released the next day, on October 27, 1960.

Word about Kennedy’s call circulated widely in the African-American community. Some political commentators believed the publicity gained Kennedy enough African-American votes to give him victory in the November presidential election, but others dispute this interpretation. (see Oct 27)

Ali/Quarry

October 26 Peace Art Love Activism

October 26, 1970: certain states and boxing commissions begin to consider allowing Ali to fight. After a three-year exile, Muhammad Ali returned to the ring in Atlanta to fight Jerry Quarry. Ali knocked out Quarry in the third round. (BH, see February 2, 1971: Ali, see March 8, 1971)

October 26 Peace Art Love Activism

Calvin Graham

October 26, 1942: the USS South Dakota took part in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands and shot down 26 Japanese planes. Graham’s gun crew accounted for seven of them. (see Calvin Graham)

October 26 Peace Art Love Activism

Women’s Health

October 26 Peace Love Activism

October 26, 1916: Margaret Sanger’s clinic was raided by the vice squad and shut down. The women were arrested and all the condoms and diaphragms at the clinic are confiscated. (Sanger freed on bail)

In 1917, Margaret Sanger will meet Katharine McCormick at one of Sanger’s Boston lectures, and struck up an enduring friendship. Sympathizing with Sanger’s movement, McCormick made small contributions to the cause and smuggled diaphragms into the United States for Sanger’s clinics. (see Feb 2)

October 26 Peace Art Love Activism

FREE SPEECH

October 26,1954: the Comic Book Code adopted on this day paralleled the earlier motion picture code (June 13, 1934) and was intended to “clean up” comic books so that they would not cause young people to become juvenile delinquents. The context of the code was a national panic over juvenile delinquency in the 1950s. (see October 24, 1955)

October 26 Peace Art Love Activism

Vietnam

South Vietnam Leadership

October 26, 1955: Ngo Dinh Diệm proclaimed the formation of the Republic of Vietnam, with himself as its first President. Elections had been scheduled to reunify the country in 1956, but Diệm refused to hold them, claiming that a free election was not possible in the North. (Vietnam, see June 8, 1956; SVL, see May 9, 1957)

Henry Kissinger

October 26, 1972: National security adviser Henry Kissinger declared “peace is at hand” in Vietnam. (related NYT article) (see Nov 11)

October 26 Peace Art Love Activism

October 26 Music et al

see Rebel Without a Cause for more

October 26, 1955: Rebel Without a Cause movie released. The NY Times states: It is a violent, brutal, and disturbing picture of modern teen-agers…. Young people neglected by their parents or given no understanding and moral support by fathers and mothers who are themselves unable to achieve balance and security in their home…It is a picture to make the hair stand on end. (next Teenage Culture, see January 23, 1957)

Bob Dylan

October 26, 1963: Dylan gave a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall. His parents, Abe and Beatty Zimmerman came in from Hibbing, MN for the concert. (November 2 – December 6, 1963)

Peter, Paul, and Mary

October 26 – November 1, 1963,  a year after being the Billboard #1 album, Peter, Paul, and Mary’s Peter, Paul, and Mary  was again the #1 album. [Pete Seeger and Lee Hays wrote  If I Had a Hammer in 1949 in support of the progressive movement, and was first recorded by The Weavers, a folk music quartet composed of Seeger, Hays, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman, and then by Peter, Paul and Mary. The Weavers released the song under the title “The Hammer Song” as a 78 single in March, 1950 on Hootenanny Records.

The Beatles

October 26, 1965: Queen Elizabeth presented the Beatles with the Member of the British Empire (MBE) medal. (NYT article) (Beatles, see Dec 3; medals, see November 25, 1969)

The San Francisco Pop Festival

October 26 Peace Art Love Activism

October 26 & 27, 1968, The San Francisco Pop Festival was held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. (article) (see Dec 28 – 30) Performers:

  • Johnny Rivers
  • Jose Feliciano
  • Eric Burdon & The Animals
  • Iron Butterfly
  • Fraternity of Man
  • Buddy Miles Express
  • Rejoice
  • The Chambers Brothers
  • Canned Heat
  • The Grass Roots
  • Procol Harum
  • Deep Purple
  • Creedence Clearwater Revival
  • The Loading Zone
  • Womb
October 26 Peace Art Love Activism

The Cold War

Cuban Missile Crisis

October 26, 1962: in one of the most dramatic verbal confrontations of the Cold War, American U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson asked his Soviet counterpart during a Security Council debate whether the USSR had placed missiles in Cuba. Meanwhile, B-52 bombers were dispersed to various locations and made ready to take off, fully equipped. (see Cuban Missile Crisis)

Yom Kippur War

October 26, 1973: the Yom Kippur War ends. [Aljazeera article]

October 26 Peace Art Love Activism
TERRORISM & Fourth Amendment

October 26, 2001: President George W. Bush signed the USA Patriot Act, giving authorities unprecedented ability to search, seize, detain or eavesdrop in their pursuit of possible terrorists.  [ACLU article] (Terrorism, see Dec 11; Fourth, see June 27, 2002)

October 26 Peace Art Love Activism

Iraq War II

October 26, 2005:  American military death toll in Iraq reached 2,000 [CBS News article] (see Dec 15)

October 26 Peace Art Love Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

ICAN

October 26, 2014: 155 States, an increase of 30 from the previous year, submitted a joint humanitarian appeal for nuclear disarmament at UN General Assembly. (Nuclear & ICAN, see In December )

US Nuclear arsenal

October 26, 2017: the New York Times reported that “The United States nuclear arsenal consists of 4,000 warheads, plus more than 2,000 warheads awaiting dismantlement. [That amount]… that is far more than the country could ever need. The nuclear stockpile is so large, and its payload so enormous, researchers determined that the United States could kill large parts of the populations of more than a dozen countries using less than half its arsenal. … the United States has reduced its nuclear stockpile from the peak of 31,255 warheads in 1967.

By comparison, the Times reported, that Russia had 4,300, France 300, China 270, Britain 215, Pakistan 140, India 130, and Israel 80. [NYT article] (see Nov 7)

October 26 Peace Art Love Activism

TERRORISM

October 26, 2018: Cesar Sayoc, Jr mailed bombs to Kamala Harris, James R Clipper, Jr, and Tom Steyer. None exploded. That same day, the FBI arrested Cesar Sayoc, Jr outside a car repair shop in Plantation FL. (T see Oct 27; CSJ, see Oct 31)

October 26 Peace Art Love Activism

Environmental Issues

October 26, 2022: according to a report issued by the United Nations, countries around the world were failing to live up to their commitments to fight climate change, pointing Earth toward a future marked by more intense flooding, wildfires, drought, heat waves and species extinction,.

Just 26 of 193 countries that agreed last year to step up their climate actions had followed through with more ambitious plans. The world’s top two polluters, China and the United States, had taken some action but had not pledged more in 2022 and climate negotiations between the two had been frozen for months.

Without drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the report said, the planet is on track to warm by an average of 2.1 to 2.9 degrees Celsius, compared with pre-industrial levels, by 2100.  [NYT article] (next EI, see Nov 30)

October 25 Peace Love Art Activism

October 25 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Slave Revolts

October 25 – November 2, 1859: trial of John Brown. Following is John Brown’s last speech after his trial by by the Commonwealth of Virginia in Charles Town, Virginia (now part of West Virginia). Brown stated:

I have, may it please the court, a few words to say. In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted — the design on my part to free the slaves. I intended certainly to have made a clean thing of that matter, as I did last winter when I went into Missouri and there took slaves without the snapping of a gun on either side, moved them through the country, and finally left them in Canada. I designed to have done the same thing again on a larger scale. That was all I intended. I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection.

For Brown’s complete speech see PDF. (next BH, see Dec 2)

School desegregation

October 25, 1958: more than 10,000 marched in Washington, DC for integrated schools. Martin Luther King was scheduled to speak, but he had been stabbed shortly before the march (see Sept 20) and his speech his wife Correta Scott King delivered it. (next BH, see Oct 28; next SD, see Nov 24)

Fables of Faubus

In 1959 Charles Mingus released Fables of Faubus aimed at Arkansas governor Orval Fabus. Uncomfortable with the lyrics, Columbia records turned the song into an instrumental (see Jan 12)

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR

October 25, 1960: King sent to Reidsville (GA) State Prison for parole violation stemming from his May 4, 1960 arrest for driving without a license. ((BH & MLK, see Oct 26)

Stephon Clark

October 25, 2018: seven months and seven days after 22-year-old Stephon Clark was killed on the patio in the backyard of his grandmother’s home, the Sacramento Police Department concluded its investigation into the shooting that led to his death.

The department said the results of the investigation had been turned over to Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. It was now up to Schubert to decide whether or not to bring charges against the two officers who shot and killed Clark after mistaking his cell phone for a gun. (B & S, see Nov 5; SC, see January 28, 2019; BH, see Nov 9)

October 25 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Doctor Matthew Shields

October 25, 1889: twenty-five anthracite coal miners from the Jermyn Coal Colliery in northeastern Pennsylvania attend what is believed to be the first formal training on first aid. Believing that many lives could be saved with quick, efficient medical care until a physician arrived, local doctor Matthew Shields set up a series of courses for the miners who, upon completion, were prepared and able to render first aid to their co-workers. (see Oct 29)

GM/UAW strike ends

October 25, 2019:  the longest nationwide strike against General Motors in half a century ended after a solid majority of the company’s union members delivered their support for the four-year contract hammered out by their leaders.

The United Auto Workers union emerged with substantial wage increases and succeeded in ending a two-tier wage structure that had been a particular irritant in its ranks. It also won commitments to new G.M. investments in United States factories, while accepting the permanent shutdown of three plants already idled. [NYT article] (next LH, see Oct 31)

October 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

October 25, 1951: the manufacturing of color televisions was put on hold at the request of Defense Mobilizer Charles E. Wilson and the National Production Authority due to scarcity of metals and the conflict in Korea.

By the end of 1951, 23.5% of US homes will have a TV set. (see Nov 10)

October 25 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

October 25, 1955: Austria independent again. (see January 1, 1956)

see Cuban Missile Crisis for expanded chronology

October 25 Peace Love Art Activism

October 25, 1962
  • the Chinese People’s Daily announced that “650,000,000 Chinese men and women were standing by the Cuban people”.
  • at the United Nations, ambassador Adlai Stevenson confronted Soviet Ambassador Valerian Zorin in an emergency meeting challenging him to admit the existence of the missiles.Soviets responded to the blockade by turning back 14 ships presumably carrying offensive weapons. (NYT article) (see Crisis for expanded story)
October 25 Peace Love Art Activism

October 25 Music et al

Bob Dylan

October 25, 1961: Dylan and Columbia Records drew up a contract. It was a 5-year contract that gave Dylan a small advance against 4% royalties. Columbia would release one album and then decide whether he merited a second. (see Nov 4)

Rolling Stones

October 25, 1964: the Rolling Stones performed on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time. [Ultimate Classic Rock article].

October 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Space Race

October 25, 1968: The Soviets launch the unmanned Soyuz 2. A day later Soyuz 3, piloted by Georgii Beregovoi, launches and completes a rendezvous with Soyuz 2 in orbit. (see Nov 10)

October 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

October 25, 1972:  The first female FBI agents were hired. (NYT article) (see January 22, 1973)

FREE SPEECH

October 25, 1976: at its regular meeting, the Board of Commissioners of the Skokie Park District direct Daniel D. Brown, Director of Parks and Recreation, to respond to Mr. Collin of the Nationalist Socialist Party that Skokie has no “Birch Park”. In addition, the Board passes an ordinance relating to “Parades and Public Assemblies” which required that prospective marchers to 1) obtain a permit at least thirty days in advance of the parade date and 2) post an insurance bond equal to $350,000.00. (see April 28, 1977)

LGBTQ

Lewis v. Harris

October 25, 2006: The New Jersey Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in Lewis v. Harris that same-sex couples were entitled to all state-level spousal rights and responsibilities. The court defered to the legislature on the question of how to extend these rights and responsibilities, suggesting the state either permit couples to marry or create a separate legal status for same-sex couples, such as civil union.  [Wikipedia article] (NJ, see, Dec 14; LGBTQ, see November 7, 2006)

Attorney General Eric Holder

October 25, 2014:  Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the federal government would recognizing gay marriage in Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, North Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming and extended federal benefits to those couples. Gay marriage had recently became legal. (Time magazine article) (see Oct 27)

Occupy Wall Street

October 25, 2011: Oakland, CA. Police use force to disband a group of Occupy protesters and Iraq War veteran, Scott Olsen, was severely wounded. (see Nov 15; Olsen, see March 15, 2012)

October 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

October 25, 2017: federal immigration authorities in Texas detained 10-year-old Rosa Maria Hernandez with cerebral palsy after she passed through a Border Patrol checkpoint on her way to a hospital to undergo emergency gall bladder surgery.

Hernandez, who was brought over the border illegally to live in Laredo, Tex., when she was three months old, was being transferred from a medical center in Laredo to a hospital in Corpus Christi around 2 a.m. on October 24 when Border Patrol agents stopped the ambulance she was riding in, her family said. The agents allowed her to continue to Driscoll Children’s Hospital, the family said, but followed the ambulance the rest of the way there, then waited outside her room until she was released from the hospital.

By the evening of October 25, according to family members and advocates involved in her case, immigration agents had taken her to a facility in San Antonio where migrant children who arrive alone in the United States from Central America were usually held, even though her parents, who both lack legal status, live 150 miles away in Laredo. [NYT article] (IH & RMH, see Nov 3)

Colin Kaepernick

October 25, 2018: on line sales of Nike’s Colin Kaepernick t-shirt sold out in 7 hours. (see Nov 1)

TERRORISM

October 25, 2018Cesar Sayoc, Jr mailed bombs to Robert DiNiro and Joe Biden. None explode. (see Oct 26)

Trump Impeachment Inquiry

October 25, 2019:  attorneys for the whistleblower whose complaint kicked off the impeachment inquiry made clear their client would not sit for in-person interviews with investigators on Capitol Hill.

They wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post with the headline: “We represent the whistleblower. Their identity is no longer relevant.”

Key quote: “Much of what has been disclosed since the release of our client’s complaint actually exceeds the whistleblower’s knowledge of what transpired at the time the complaint was submitted. Because our client has no additional information about the president’s call, there is no justification for exposing their identity and all the risks that would follow.” (see TII for expanded chronology)

October 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

October 25, 2021: the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) told Congress in a report obtained by Marijuana Moment that the Schedule I status of controlled substances like cannabis was preventing or discouraging research into their potential risks and benefits. It also said that current restrictions that block scientists from studying the actual cannabinoid products that consumers can purchase at dispensaries was impeding research to an extent that constitutes a public health concern.

“Researchers have reported that obtaining a new registration can take more than a year, that modifying a registration can also be time consuming, and that differing interpretations of the Schedule I registration requirements among local DEA field offices, research institutions, as well as distinct federal and state registration requirements, greatly complicate the process,” the federal agency told lawmakers. “These challenges can impede critical research on Schedule I substances and deter or prevent scientists from pursuing such work.”  [Marijuana Moment article] (next Cannabis, see or see CA for expanded chronology)

October 25 Peace Love Art Activism