Category Archives: Peace Love Art and Activism

Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

April 3, 2017 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Thomas Sims

April 3, 1851: in 1850, the U.S. Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act (see September 18, 1850), which sought to force Northern officials to apprehend alleged runaway slaves and ensure their return to slavery in the South. Any official who would “hinder or prevent” the arrest of a runaway slave or “harbor or conceal” a fugitive slave faced a fine of $1000 or six months imprisonment. Captured fugitives – as well as the many free blacks who were erroneously captured under the law as runaway slaves – had no right to a trial by jury and could not defend themselves in court.

In early 1851, Thomas Sims, a slave from Savannah, Georgia, successfully escaped and fled to Boston, Massachusetts, where slavery had been abolished. Only a few weeks later, on April 3, 1851, a United States Marshal and members of the local police force arrested Sims and took him to the federal courthouse. Fearing riots or an escape attempt, authorities surrounded the courthouse with chains and a heavy police force.

The morning after his capture, attorneys for James Potter, the man who purported to own Sims, presented a complaint to the United States Commissioner. After a short proceeding in which several individuals testified that Sims was the slave who had escaped from Potter’s possession, the Commissioner issued an order remanding Sims back to Georgia. Sims sought review from both the Massachusetts Supreme Court and the United States District Court in Boston, but was unsuccessful. On April 12, Sims left Boston and was returned to Savannah, where he promptly received 39 lashes as punishment for seeking freedom. The marshals who escorted Sims to Georgia received praise and a public dinner for their service.

After the Emancipation Proclamation and in the midst of the Civil War, Thomas Sims again escaped from slavery in 1863, this time fleeing Vicksburg, Mississippi, to return to Boston. (BH, see June 21; SR, see Oct 1)

Smith v Allwright

April 3, 1944: the US Supreme Court overturned the Texas state law that authorized the Democratic Party to set its internal rules, including the use of white primaries. The court ruled that the state had allowed discrimination to be practiced by delegating its authority to the Democratic Party. This affected all other states where the party used the rule.

The Democrats had excluded minority voter participation by this means, another device for legal disfranchisement of blacks across the South beginning in the late 19th century.(Oyez article) (BH, see Apr 22; see June 10, 1946)

Thurgood Marshall

April 3, 1960: speaking at Bennett College, NAACP legal counsel Thurgood Marshall urged attendees not to compromise. The protests strengthened after an economic boycott of the two stores was organized by local leaders. (see Greensboro for expanded story)

Military desegregation

April 3, 1962: President Harry Truman had desegregated the U.S. armed services on July 26, 1948. His order did not cover the Reserves or the National Guard, however. The Defense Department on this day corrected that problem with regard to the Reserves and ordered them racially integrated. National Guard units, however, were still not covered. Although some states began integrating National Guard units in 1947, full integration did not come until the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The issue of whether the federal government or the states control state National Guard units arose again in 2013, when several states refused to comply with Pentagon policy that same-sex spouses of military personnel were entitled to military identification cards. (see Apr 9)

“B Day”

April 3, 1963: “B Day” (for Birmingham) marked the beginning of massive civil rights demonstrations protesting segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. The Birmingham campaign was Rev. Martin Luther King’s major project for 1963. King and other leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) began a freedom campaign of nonviolent direct action to demand an end to segregation in Birmingham public facilities and employment discrimination in the city. The Birmingham protests became one of the iconic events of the civil rights movement, marked by the use of police dogs and fire hoses against civil rights demonstrators, on May 3, 1963. Images of the protests sparked national and international protest.

The demonstrations led directly to President John F. Kennedy’s nationally televised speech, on June 11, 1963, when he called for a federal civil rights bill. The bill eventually became law on July 2, 1964. (BH, see Apr 4; MLK, see Apr 12)

Viola Liuzzo

April 3, 1965: Mrs C L Wilkins, the mother of Collie Leory Wilkins, one of four men held in connection with the death of Mrs. Viola Liuzzo, told President Johnson that he made it impossible for her son to have a fair trial. (see Liuzzo for expanded story)

“I Have Been to the Mountaintop”

April 3, 1968: Martin Luther King spoke publicly for the last time. He delivered the “I Have Been to the Mountaintop.” speech at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters) in Memphis, Tennessee. [Text] (see Ap4 4]

Rep John Conyers

April 3, 2001: Rep. John Conyers introduced the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. It was referred to the Subcommittee on Crime. The bill died when it failed to advance in the committee. (next BH, see Apr 7; LGBTQ, see March 28, 2002; Byrd & MSM, see April 2, 2004)

DEATH PENALTY

see Anthony Ray Hinton for full story

April 3, 2015: (from the NYT) nearly 30 years after the Alabama authorities relied on analyses of a handgun and bullets to send him to death row, Anthony Ray Hinton was freed after experts undermined the state’s case.

Hinton’s release from the Jefferson County jail, where he was being held awaiting a new trial that was ordered last year, came close to three decades after a court-appointed lawyer mounted such a feeble defense that the United States Supreme Court ruled it was “constitutionally deficient.”

At the time of Mr. Hinton’s initial trial, his lawyer used a visually impaired civil engineer with little expertise in firearms to rebut prosecutors whose case hinged on linking the handgun found in Mr. Hinton’s home to a string of shootings in and around Birmingham.

Despite pleas by Mr. Hinton’s lawyers, who cited conclusions by newly enlisted specialists, the state refused for years to reconsider the evidence. And so it was not until Friday at 9:30 a.m., one day after a Circuit Court judge ordered his release, that Mr. Hinton exited the jail to hugs, tears and wails of “Thank you, Lord!”

“The State of Alabama let me down tremendously,” Mr. Hinton said in his first interview after his release. “I have no respect for the prosecutors, the judges. And I say that not with malice in my heart. I say it because they took 30 years from me.” (next death penalty, see Apr 29)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

see April 3 Music et al for more

LSD

April 3, 1896: Havelock Ellis was among the pioneering investigators of psychedelic drugs and the author of one of the first written reports to the public about an experience with mescaline, which he conducted on himself on April 3, 1896. He consumed a brew made of 3 Echinocacti (peyote) in the afternoon of Good Friday alone in his apartment in Temple, London.

During the experience, lasting for about 24 hours, he noted a plethora of extremely vivid, complex, colourful, pleasantly smelling hallucinations, consisting both of abstract geometrical patterns and definite objects such as butterflies and other insects. He published the account of the experience in The Contemporary Review in 1898 (Mescal: A New Artificial Paradise).

The article’s title alludes to an earlier work on the effects of mind-altering substances, the 1860 book Les Paradis artificiels by French poet Charles Baudelaire (containing descriptions of experiments with opium and hashish). (see November 16, 1938)

Elvis Presley

On April 3, 1956: NBC broadcast the Milton Berle Show live from the deck of the USS Hancock while it was docked at the Naval Air Base in San Diego, California. The show was one of the most popular programs on TV. This one starred Esther Williams, Berle’s comedy sidekick, Arnold Stang and the Harry James Orchestra featuring Buddy Rich.

More importantly, Elvis appeared. Afterwards the Elvis Presley Fan Club sent members a 12″ x 18 1/2″ TV/Concert double-sided announcement / promotional handbill from the Colonel to publicly thank Milton Berle for having Elvis perform on his program and to promote the upcoming concerts in San Diego.

Elvis played “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Money, Honey,” and “Blue Suede Shoes.” An estimated 25% of the Americans tuned in to hear him. (see Apr 4)

Howl

April 3, 1957: the American Civil Liberties Union announced it would defend Allen Ginsberg’s book Howl against obscenity charges. (see June 3)

“Blue Moon”

April 3 – 23, 1961: written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in 1934, “Blue Moon” by the Marcels #1 Billboard Hot 100.

The song had been a hit twice already in 1949 with by Billy Eckstine and Mel Tormé.

Over the years, “Blue Moon” has been covered by various artists including versions by Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Elvis Presley, the Mavericks, Dean Martin, The Supremes, and Rod Stewart.

John Lennon

April 3, 1973: John Lennon appealed of the order to leave the United States by May 21 and sought to show that the Justice Department’s legal arguments in the action against him had made it “not just a John-and-Yoko case” but one where “many cases hinge on the outcome.” (see “in May”)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

April 3, 1965: an American campaign against North Vietnam’s transport system began. In a month-long offensive, Navy and Air Force planes hit bridges, road and rail junctions, truck parks and supply depots. (see April 6)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

April 3, 1973: in New York City Martin Cooper made the first handheld cellular phone call . (2010 CNN article) (see December 17, 1976)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Symbionese Liberation Army

April 3, 1974: In a fifth tape recording, sent to KSAN radio station 59 days after the kidnapping, Patty Hearst denounces her family and claims allegiance to the S.L.A. She takes the guerrilla name “Tania.” Her family claims she has been brainwashed. (see Patty Hearst for expanded story)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Falklands War

April 3, 1982: the UN Security Council condemned the invasion (Telegraph chronology article) (see Apr 5)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

April 3, 2003: U.S. forces seized control of Bagdad’s Saddam International Airport. (see April 9)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

April 3, 2009: the Iowa Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision in favor of the freedom to marry in Varnum v. Brien. The ruling went into effect on April 27, and same-sex couples begin marrying. (see April 7)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

April 3, 2018: the E.P.A. announced that it would reconsider and most likely roll back, Obama-era rules requiring automakers to hit ambitious emissions and mileage standards by 2025. The statement also implied that the Trump administration would take on California’s authority to set its own rules. (see May 1)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

April 3, 2018: the White House announced that President Trump planned to deploy the National Guard to the southern border to confront what it called a growing threat of illegal immigrants, drugs and crime from Central America after the president for the third consecutive day warned about the looming dangers of unchecked immigration. (see Apr 6)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

Barr Expands Early Release of Inmates at Prisons Seeing More Coronavirus Cases

April 3, 2020: Attorney General William P. Barr ordered the Bureau of Prisons to expand the group of federal inmates eligible for early release and to prioritize those at three facilities where known coronavirus cases had grown precipitously, as the virus threatens to overwhelm prison medical facilities and nearby hospitals.

Barr wrote in a memo to Michael Carvajal, the director of the Bureau of Prisons, that he was intensifying the push to release prisoners to home confinement because “emergency conditions” created by the coronavirus have affected the ability of the bureau to function.

He directed the bureau to prioritize the release of prisoners from federal correctional institutions in Louisiana, Connecticut and Ohio, which comprise the bulk of the system’s 91 inmates and 50 staff members who have tested positive for the coronavirus. [NYT article] (next C & P, see May 24)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Trump Impeachment

April 3, 2020: NPR reported that President Trump fired Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson.

In a letter to the Senate Intelligence committee chairs, Trump said he “no longer” has the fullest confidence in Atkinson. The letter said the removal will be effective “30 days from today.”

Atkinson first raised concerns about a complaint involving President Trump’s communications with Ukraine, which led to the impeachment inquiry. (next TI, see or see TIA for expanded chronology)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

April 3, 2023: in addition to the National Basketball Association (NBA) removing marijuana from its banned substances list for players—it also planned to let players promote and invest in cannabis companies.

That was the latest detail that surfaced in reporting on the new seven-year collective bargaining agreement which was also expected to remove drug testing requirements for marijuana.

With respect to league’s broader marijuana reform, it would formally codify what has been the league’s decision to temporarily suspend cannabis testing for the past three seasons. [MM article] (next Cannabis, see orsee CAC for expanded chronology)

Lynching, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

April 2 Peace Love Art Activism

April 2, 2017 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

April 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

Woman Rebel

April 2, 1914: the Post Office declared “unmailable” the first issue of birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger’s new monthly newsletter, Woman Rebel.

In August, she will be indicted on three counts of violating the Comstock Act and one count of inciting “murder and assassination.” Sanger promoted contraception using the slogan, “No Gods, No Masters’”

The Comstock Act (see March 3, 1873, for its passage) defined birth control information as obscene and prohibited from being sent through the mails.

At her trial, Sanger rejected the advice of her attorney to negotiate a plea bargain and instead secretly fled to Canada and then England. Sanger remained in England until October 1915. (see Aug 25)

April 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Voting Rights

April 2, 1917: Federal woman suffrage amendment reintroduced in House of Representatives. (see June 20)

Adkins v Children’s Hospital

April 2, 1923: in Adkins v. Children’s Hospital, the Supreme Court ruled that a minimum wage law enacting in 1918 in Washington, DC, for women violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment because it abridged a citizen’s right to freely contract labor. In 1918, the District of Columbia passed a law setting a minimum wage for women and children laborers.

It set up a board to investigate current wages, solicit input on ideal wage levels, and ultimately set minimum wages. The law was designed to protect women and children “from conditions detrimental to their health and morals, resulting from wages which are inadequate to maintain decent standards of living.” The board eventually set minimum wages for various industries, e.g., a minimum $16.50 per week “in a place where food is served” and $15 per week “in a laundry.” (Oyez article) (Feminism, see Nov 17; US Labor, see March 8, 1924)

April 2 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Reuben Micou lynched

April 2, 1933: a mob of white men broke into the Winston County jail in Louisville, Mississippi to lynch a 65-year-old black man named Reuben Micou. Micou had been arrested after he was accused of getting into an altercation with a prominent local white man.

Micou’s body was found in a nearby churchyard, riddled with bullets and bearing injuries suggesting that Mr. Micou had been whipped. Seventeen white men were indicted and arrested for participating in the lynching, but in July 1933 the cases against the seventeen men were “indefinitely postponed.” No one was ever tried or convicted for Micou’s murder. (next BH, see June 3; next Lynching, see Oct 18; see AL3 for expanded chronology of early 20th century lynching)

African National Congress Youth League

April 2, 1944: Nelson Mandela and other activists formed the African National Congress Youth League after becoming disenchanted with the cautious approach of the older members of the A.N.C. The league’s formation marked the shift of the congress to a mass movement. But its manifesto, so charged with pan-African nationalism, offended some non-black sympathizers.

National Party

In 1948: the National Party took power in South Africa and set out to construct apartheid, a system of strict racial segregation and white domination.

Mandela/Tambo

In 1952: Mandela and Oliver Tambo opened South Africa’s first black law practice. (see December 5, 1956)

Greensboro Four

April 2, 1960: both the F.W. Woolworth and Kress stores officially closed their lunch counters. (see Greensboro for expanded story)

Virgina NAACP

April 2, 1963: on September 29, 1956, the state of Virginia passed five laws directed at the NAACP and other civil rights laws organizations. The laws regulated the practices of “barratry,” “champerty,” and “maintenance.” Barratry is the term for “stirring up” litigation by inducing individuals or organizations to sue when they otherwise would not have. In NAACP v. Button, decided this day, the Supreme Court declared the barratry law an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment. (see Apr 3)

George Whitmore, Jr.

April 2, 1965: the N.A.A.C.P. revealed that Detective Edward Bulger, in addition to his involvement in obtaining the dubious David Coleman confession (see Feb 11, 1965), also had been accused in another case of obtaining a confession by fraud from a man named Charles Everett. If Everett would admit the crime, Detective Bulger allegedly promised to intercede with the victim to work out a light sentence. The victim in fact was dead. Everett was convicted of murder, but his conviction was later reversed. (see Whitmore for expanded story; BH, see April 3)

Viola Liuzzo

April 2, 1983: final arguments in the $2 million negligence suit against the FBI were made in Federal court by lawyers for the children of Viola Liuzzo, whose murder by Klansmen 18 years ago they attributed to a paid F.B.I. informer, Gary Rowe. (BH, see Apr 19; see March for expanded story; see Liuzzo for expanded story)

Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act

2004

April 2, 2004: The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act is reintroduced. It failed to advance in committee. (see May 26, 2005)

2009

April 2, 2009: Rep. John Conyers for a fifth time introduced the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act which has the support of President Obama. (CNN article) (Shepard, see Oct 28, 2009; LGBTQ see Apr 3)

Robert C. Bates

April 2, 2005: Robert C. Bates, 73, a part-time reserve deputy with the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Department intended to subdue a suspect, Eric C. Harris, 44, with a Taser, which fires electric darts to incapacitate a suspect, but instead shot and killed him with his handgun. Before he was killed, Mr. Harris was fleeing on foot from deputies who had tried to arrest him, as part of an undercover operation buying illegal guns. Mr. Bates was one of several officers who took part in the chase. (B & S, see Apr 4; Harris, see Apr 13)

Church Burning

April 2, 2019: the Greater Union Baptist Church in Opelousas, Louisiana burned. This was the second fire (see March 26, 2019) at a religious building in St. Landry Parish. (CB, see Apr 4)

LGBTQ

April 2, 2019: Chicago became the largest American city ever to elect a black woman as its mayor as voters chose Lori Lightfoot, a former prosecutor, to replace Rahm Emanuel. When she took office in May, Ms. Lightfoot also was the city’s first openly gay mayor.

Lightfoot, who had never held elective office, easily won the race, overwhelming a better-known, longtime politician and turning her outsider status into an asset in a city with a history of corruption and insider dealings. [NYT article] (next BH, see Apr 4; next LGBTQ, see Apr 4)

April 2 Peace Love Art Activism

April 2 Music et al

see Beatnik for much more

April 2, 1958: Herb Caen coined the term “beatnik” in the San Francisco chronicle. It became a term used to refer to people who were far off from mainstream society and therefore possibly pro-Communist. (see February 4, 1968)

Ken Kesey

April 2, 1965: Ken Kesey busted first time for marijuana. (see Apr 21)

2001: A Space Odyssey

April 2, 1968: t “2001: A Space Odyssey” had its world premiere in Washington, D.C. (NYT review) (see Apr 28)

April 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

My Lai Massacre

April 2, 1969: a soldier named Ron Ridenhour, who had been gathering information on his own regarding the My Lai incident, wrote a letter presenting the evidence and send his letter to 30 prominent men in Washington, D.C., including President Nixon, antiwar Congressman Mo Udall, Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird, and Senators Edward Kennedy, Barry Goldwater, Eugene McCarthy, and William Fulbright. Mo Udall’s office was the first to respond directly to Ridenhour, calling for an official investigation. A week later, Ridenhour’s letter was forwarded to the Army’s Chief of Staff, General William C. Westmoreland. (Ridenhour site) (see My Lai for expanded story; Vietnam, see April 6)

Anti-Vietnam War bill

April 2, 1970: Massachusetts Governor Francis W. Sargent signed into law an anti-Vietnam War bill providing that no inhabitant of Massachusetts inducted into or serving in the armed forces “shall be required to serve” abroad in an armed hostility that had not been declared a war by Congress under Article I, Section 8, clause 11 of the United States Constitution.

Supporters of the legislation hoped that the US Supreme Court would seize on the obvious conflict that the bill created between state and federal law and would rule on the constitutionality of the Vietnam War itself, but the Court refused to exercise original jurisdiction, forcing the case into the lower federal courts. (see Apr 15)

North Vietnam advances

April 2, 1975: as North Vietnamese tanks and infantry continue to push the remnants of South Vietnam’s 22nd Division and waves of civilian refugees from the Quang Ngai Province, the South Vietnamese Navy began to evacuate soldiers and civilians by sea from Qui Nhon. Shortly thereafter, the South Vietnamese abandoned Tuy Hoa and Nha Trang, leaving the North Vietnamese in control of more than half of South Vietnam’s territory. (see Apr 4)

April 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Falklands War

April 2, 1982, Argentine forces invaded Falkland Islands, entered the capital Port Stanley, and forced Governor Rex Hunt to surrender. (see April 2)

Teacher strikes

April 2, 2018: thousands of teachers in Oklahoma and Kentucky walked off the job, shutting down school districts as they protested cuts in pay, benefits and school funding in a movement that has grown in force since igniting in West Virginia earlier in 2018 year (see Feb 22).

The wave of strikes in red states, mainly organized by ordinary teachers on Facebook, caught lawmakers and sometimes the teachers’ own labor unions flat-footed. The protesters said they were fed up with years of education funding cuts and stagnant pay in Republican-dominated states. (see Apr 12)

April 2 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

April 2, 1995: major league baseball players ended a 232-day strike. (USA Today article) (see May 29, 1996)

April 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Carbon dioxide

April 2, 2007: in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. (see March 29, 2013)

April 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

Iran

April 2, 2015: officials announced that Iran and six world powers had agreed to a framework for a final deal on Iran’s controversial nuclear program. The understanding paved the way for the start of a final phase of talks that aimed to reach a comprehensive agreement by the end of June. The agreement concluded weeks of intense negotiations and cane two days beyond the initial March 31 deadline for an outline deal.

“We have reached solutions on key parameters on a joint comprehensive plan of action,” EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said at a joint press conference with Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in Lausanne, Switzerland. Reading a statement on behalf of negotiators, Mogherini specified that Europe would end all nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions on Iran under the future deal. The United States would end similar sanctions upon verification of the agreement by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran would retain only one enrichment facility, Natanz, while the Fordo fortified site will be converted into a scientific center, according to the statement. (next Nuclear, see May 8; next Iran, see July 14)

Iran again

April 2, 2021: after weeks of failed starts and back-channel exchanges, Iran and the United States announced that they would begin exchanging ideas about how to restore the 2015 nuclear deal. Initially, though, there will be no direct talks between the two countries, officials in Europe and the United States said. Restoring the nuclear agreement would be a major step, nearly three years after President Donald J. Trump scrapped it and perhaps begin a thaw in the frozen hostility between the two countries. (next N/C N news, see Apr 13; next Iran, see )

April 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

April 2, 2019: New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a bill to replace the holiday honoring the Italian explorer with a day celebrating members of the indigenous community, her office confirmed. The holiday would still be a legal public holiday and fall on the second Monday of October.

Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, said in a statement that she was “proud” to legalize the new holiday.

“This new holiday will mark a celebration of New Mexico’s 23 sovereign indigenous nations and the essential place of honor native citizens hold in the fabric of our great state,” she said. “Enacting Indigenous People’s Day sends an important message of reconciliation and will serve as a reminder of our state’s proud native history.”

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez praised the bill’s passage and thanked Lujan Grisham for her support. (see Apr 26)

April 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Lynching, Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

April Peace Love Art Activism

April 1, 2017 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

April Peace Love Art Activism

I try to be precise and factual with my the many events I attach to a date, but sometimes the best I can find is that something occurred in a month. Such are today’s entries. All the following happened in some past April. If you have the actual date, please let me know.

April Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Dred Scott

In April 1838: the Scotts joined Dr & Mrs Emerson in Louisiana. When the Scotts arrived in Louisiana they might have sued for their freedom in that state. For more than twenty years Louisiana courts had upheld the freedom claims of slaves who had lived in free jurisdictions. Had the Scotts claimed their freedom in Louisiana in 1838, theirs would have been an open-and-shut case. But, once again, they did not seek their freedom. It is likely that they simply had no knowledge that the Louisiana courts routinely freed slaves who had lived in free jurisdictions. (BH, see September 3, 1838; see Scotts for expanded story)

School Desegregation

In April 1850: the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued its ruling in Roberts v. Boston regarding Sarah Roberts, a black child. Chief Justice Shaw decided the case on narrow legal groups, ruling in favor of the right of the school committee to set education policy as it saw fit. Shaw could find no constitutional reason for abolishing Black schools. Boston’s schools would remain segregated. (see Sarah for expanded story)(BH, see Sept 18; SD, see April 28, 1855)

Leonidas C Dyer

In April 1918: Congressman Leonidas C. Dyer (R-Missouri) introduced an anti-lynching bill in the House of Representatives, based on a bill drafted by NAACP founder Albert E. Pillsbury in 1901. The bill called for the prosecution of lynchers in federal court. State officials who failed to protect lynching victims or prosecute lynchers could face five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The victim’s heirs could recover up to $10,000 from the county where the crime occurred. (Bio Guide dot Congress bio) (next BH & Lynching, see May 18; next Dyer bill, see October 20, 1921; for expanded chronology, see American Lynching 2)

Aurelia Browder

In April 1955: police arrested Aurelia Browder (36 years old) for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white rider in Montgomery, AL. She will be the lead plaintiff in the Browder v. Gayle action lawsuit. (1998 Washington Post article) (BH, see May 7; Feminism, see Oct 21; B v G, see February 1, 1956; see Boycott for expanded )

Muhammad Ali

In April 1968: Esquire magazine’s cover portrayed Muhammad Ali as a martyr akin to St Sebastian. Kurt Andersen, host of NPR’s Studio 360, stated that “George Lois’s covers for Esquire in the 60s are classic. His April 1968 image of Muhammad Ali to dramatize the boxer’s persecution for his personal beliefs, is the greatest magazine cover ever created, making a political statement without being grim or stupid or predicable.” (BH, see Apr 3; Ali, see, April 6, 1969) (see Passion of Muhammad Ali for expanded story)

Nathan Bedford Forrest Rangers

In April 1973: the Pontiac, Michigan school bus bomb case came to trial with Robert Miles, Wallace Fruit, Alex Distel, Dennis Ramsey, and Raymond Quirk as defendants. The government’s star witness, Jerome Lauinger, a Pontiac fireman and licensed gun dealer, told the court that he had infiltrated “Unit 5” of the KKK on behalf of the FBI some three-and-a-half years earlier. He reported that the KKK had a military arm called the “Nathan Bedford Forrest Rangers” and that he was a member of it as well. (BH, see Apr 10; SD, see “In May”)

Rodney King

In April 2012: King’s autobiography, “The Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption. Learning How We Can All Get Along” published. (see June 17, 2012)

April Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism & Voting Rights

National Woman Suffrage Association

In April 1869, : Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony found the National Woman Suffrage Association to campaign for women’s right to vote. (see Dec 10)

Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage

In April 1913: Alice Paul and Lucy Burns founded the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (CU), which later became the National Woman’s Party. The NWP put its priority on the passage of a constitutional amendment ensuring women’s suffrage. (Crusade for the Vote dot org article) (see July 31)

Woman’s Peace Party

In April 1915: opposed to the War, Woman’s Peace Party representatives Jane Addams and Emily G Balch attended the International Congress of Women at The Hague in the Netherlands. The meeting was significant for its founding of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. (see Oct 23)

April Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

In April 1943: U.S. Navy Commodore Milton E. Miles, stationed in Chungking, China proposed that the US parachute twenty Office of Strategic Services (OSS) into the Central Highlands of Vietnam to organize guerrilla bands among the highland peoples to oppose the Japanese forces. The plan was approved, but never implemented. The United States, however, established a network of Vietnamese and French colonials for intelligence and espionage. (valor dot military times article) (see January 24, 1944)

Increased Air Power

April – June, 1964: the US massively reinforced its air power in Southeast Asia. Two aircraft carriers arrived off the Vietnamese coast prompted by a North Vietnamese offensive in Laos. (see Apr 25)

Increased troop strength

In April, 1965: 25,000 U.S. troops stationed in Vietnam (see Apr 3)

543,000 US troops

In April 1969: 543,000 US troops in Vietnam. 33,641 Americans have been killed, a greater total than the Korean War. (see Apr 2)

Sons and Daughters In Touch

Spring 2003: Sons and Daughters In Touch led an historic two week journey to Vietnam. Guided by Vietnam combat veterans and nurses who served in the war, more than 50 Gold Star ‘sons and daughters’ were able to stand in the precise location where their fathers were lost. While in Vietnam, the SDIT delegation also visited Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong Delta, Cu Chi, Da Nang, Quang Tri, Khe San, China Beach, Hue City and Hanoi. (see August 20, 2009)

April Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Dale Jennings

In spring 1952: Dale Jennings, a member of the Mattachine Society, arrested for allegedly soliciting a police officer.

American Psychiatric Association

In April 1952: the American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality as a sociopathic personality disturbance in its first publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Immediately following the manual’s release, many professionals in medicine, mental health and social sciences criticized the categorization due to lack of empirical and scientific data. (see June 23, 1952)

April Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy

In April 1957: the escalating nuclear arms race of the late 1950s led Norman Cousins, editor of the Saturday Review, along with Clarence Pickett of the American Society of Friends (Quakers), to found the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE). (Red, see May 2; Nuclear, see Apr 29)

Cuban Missile Crisis

In April 1962: U.S. Jupiter missiles in Turkey became operational. All positions were reported “ready and manned” by U.S. personnel. (next Cold War, see Apr 14; see Cuban Missile Crisis for expanded story)

April Peace Love Art Activism

see In April Music et al for more

Ray Charles

In April 1962: Ray Charles successfully combined country music with soul and crosses into the pop realm with the album “Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music” – the #1 album of 1962.

LSD

In April, 1966: Sandoz Pharmaceutical recalled the LSD it had previously distributed and withdrew its sponsorship for work with LSD. (see September 1966)

Future Woodstock Performers

In April 1967: Country Joe (age 25 ) and the Fish released first album, Electric Music for the Mind and Body.

Ken Kesey

In April 1967: Ken Kesey re-tried. Hung jury. Pled guilty to a lesser charge. Given 6 months on work farm. (see June 1967)

The Road to Bethel

In April 1969: Allan Mann met with Elliiot Tibor who offered a barn for a theater from free if Mann would rent a nearby 6-room Victorian for the summer for $800. Paul Johnson, a friend of Mann, agreed to put the down payment of $200 for the house in exchange for a room there for the summer. [keep in mind, this agreement was made before Wallkill evicted the festival. (see Chronology for full list of dates)

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STUDENT ACTIVISM

“People’s Park”

In April, 1969: UC Berkeley students with local residents began to build a “People’s Park” on college-owned land that had remained unused despite plans to build a park and sports field. (2017 Rolling Stone magazine article) (see Apr 9)

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SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

In April 1995: the “Does” filed suit against Santa Fe Independent School District (TX) in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Texas. For some time prior to the onset of this litigation, the “Does’ believed that SFISD was pursuing policies that were in contravention of the Establishment Clause, mainly because for an undisclosed period of time leading up to and including the 1992-93 and 1993-94 school years, SFISD allowed students to read overtly Christian prayers from the stage at graduation ceremonies, and over the public address system at home football games. The “Does” demanded prospective injunctive and declaratory relief in addition to money damages. (see June 25, 1997)

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CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

In April 1996: then-Deputy White House Chief of Staff Evelyn Lieberman transfered Lewinsky to a job as an assistant to Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon. Lieberman told The New York Times the move was due to “inappropriate and immature behavior” and inattention to work. At the Pentagon, Lewinsky met Linda Tripp, a career government worker. (see Clinton for expanded story)

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Sexual Abuse of Children

Boston Archdiocese

In April 2003: the Boston Archdiocese avoided bankruptcy by agreeing to sell land and buildings for over $100m to fund legal settlements to more than 500 abuse victims. (see May 3)