June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Industrial Workers of the World

June 27, 1905: western miners and other activists formed the Industrial Workers of the World at a convention in Chicago. The IWW, or Wobblies, was one of the most radical of all organized labor groups. Though they will achieve only limited success in moving their agenda forward, they will inspire generations of labor activists with their militant spirit. The Wobbly motto: “An injury to one is an injury to all.” (Anarchism, see in March 1905; LH, see December 5, 1907)

Emma Goldman

June 27, 1925: on her birthday, Goldman married James Colton, an elderly anarchist friend and trade unionist from Wales, in order to obtain British citizenship and the right to travel and speak more freely. (see Goldman for expanded story)

Hotel worker strike

June 27, 1985: a 26-day strike of New York City hotels by 26,000 workers—the first such walkout in 50 years—ended with a 5-year contract calling for big wage and benefit gains (see Aug 17)

Janus v. American Federation

June 27, 2018: in  Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the US Supreme Court dealt a major blow to organized labor. By a 5-to-4 vote, with the more conservative justices in the majority, the court ruled that government workers who choose not to join unions may not be required to help pay for collective bargaining.

The ruling means that public-sector unions across the nation, already under political pressure, could lose tens of millions of dollars and see their effectiveness diminished.

The court based its ruling on the First Amendment, saying that requiring payments to unions that negotiate with the government forces workers to endorse political messages that may be at odds with their beliefs.

The court overruled its 1977 decision in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, which had made a distinction between two kinds of compelled payments. Forcing nonmembers to pay for a union’s political activities violated the First Amendment, the court said. But it was constitutional, the court added, to require nonmembers to help pay for the union’s collective bargaining efforts to prevent freeloading and ensure “labor peace.” (see July 10)

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Tom Allen and Joe Watts Lynched

June 27, 1911: a Walton County, Georgia mob of several hundred unmasked white men lynched two Black men named Tom Allen and Joe Watts after a local white judge—Charles H. Brand—had refused to allow state guardsmen to be present to prevent mob action.

Judge Brand had been aware of the threat of mob violence for weeks. Mr. Allen, who had been accused of assaulting a white woman, had been held in Atlanta for safekeeping because of the threat. In early June, Mr. Allen was brought to Monroe for trial with the protection of state troops from the Governor, but Judge Brand “resented” the presence of troops, postponed the trial because of the protection being offered, and sent Mr. Allen back to Atlanta. When Mr. Allen was ordered back to Monroe for trial on June 27, Judge Brand refused an offer of protection from the state troops. Consequently, Mr. Allen was protected only by two officers on the train.

Knowing that Mr. Allen no longer had the protection of state troops, the white mob intercepted the train bound for Monroe and seized Mr. Allen from the two officers charged with protecting him. The mob tied Mr. Allen to a telegraph pole and shot him while the passengers of the train and hundreds in the mob looked on.

The mob then proceeded to march six miles to the town jail where another Black man named Joe Watts was being held. Some newspapers reported that Mr. Watts was an alleged accomplice of Mr. Allen, while others noted Mr. Watts had been arrested for having “acted suspiciously” outside of a white man’s home, but had not been charged with a crime. The white mob stormed the jail without resistance from the jailers, removed Mr. Watts, and lynched him as well, hanging him to a tree and shooting him repeatedly. Both men had maintained that they were innocent, and contemporary newspapers reported that there was no evidence against them. [EJI article] (next BH and next lynching, see September 5, 1912 or see AL2 for expanded lynching chronology)

Buffalo, NY

June 27, 1967:  Buffalo, NY black youths cruised the neighborhood of William and Jefferson Streets breaking car and store windows. By night nearly 200 riot-protected police were summoned and a battle ensued. Many blacks, three policemen and one fire fighter were injured. Although it was dispersed that night, it began again the next afternoon with fires set, cars overturned, and stores looted. [article] (see July 12 – 18)

Sterilization abuse

June 27, 1973: the Relf family, with assistance from the Southern Poverty Law Center, filed a lawsuit against the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, its parent agency, and the Office of Economic Opportunity, which provided federal funding to the clinic. The suit exposed the wide-spread sterilization abuse funded by the federal government and practiced for decades. The district court found an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 poor people were sterilized annually under federally-funded programs. Countless others were forced to agree to be sterilized when doctors threatened to terminate their welfare benefits unless they consented to the procedures.

The judge prohibited the use of federal dollars for involuntary sterilizations and the practice of threatening women on welfare with the loss of their benefits if they refused to comply.  (BH, see Sept 1)

Laquan McDonald

June 27, 2017: three current and former Chicago police officers, David March, Joseph Walsh and Thomas Gaffney were charged with conspiracy, official misconduct and obstruction of justice connected with covering up the Lequan McDonald shooting. March was the lead detective and Walsh was Van Dyke’s partner on the night of the fatal shooting. (B & S, see June 29; McDonald, see Aug 28)

Antwon Rose

June 27, 2018: the Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, district attorney charged East Pittsburgh police Officer Michael Rosfeld with criminal homicide in the shooting death of 17-year-old Antwon Rose II, court records show.

The severity of the charge was not immediately clear. Under Pennsylvania law, criminal homicide includes murder, voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter. The latter is often a misdemeanor. (B & S, see July 16; AS, see Dec 10)

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

FEMINISM

Suffrage opponents

June 27, 1918:  Suffrage opponents in U.S. Senate threaten filibuster; successfully delay rescheduled vote on federal woman suffrage amendment. (see Aug 6)

Women’s Health

June 27, 2016: the Supreme Court struck down parts of a restrictive Texas law that would have reduced the number of abortion clinics in the state to about 10 from what was once a high of roughly 40.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote the majority opinion, joined by Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented.

The decision concerned two parts of a Texas law that imposed strict requirements on abortion providers. It was passed by the Republican-dominated Texas Legislature and signed into law in July 2013 by Rick Perry, the governor at the time. [NYT article] (see June 28)

Voisine v. the United States

June 27, 2016: the US Supreme Court handed down a decision that prohibited people convicted of domestic violence from possessing guns in a 6-2 vote.

“This was the case of two Maine men who were convicted on state domestic violence charges and then found with firearms and charged with violating a federal law that prohibits domestic abusers from having firearms,” SCOTUS blog’s Amy Howe wrote in the live blog. “The question was whether their convictions qualified under the statute.” [Oyez article] (see July 28)

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Fair Housing

National Housing Act of 1934

June 27, 1934: also called the Capehart Act. It was part of the New Deal to make housing and home mortgages more affordable.

It created 1) the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) it insure made by banks and other private lenders for home building and home buying, and 2) the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation in order to insure deposits in savings and loans and 3) the United States Housing Authority to make low-interest, long term loans to local public agencies for slum clearance and construction of low-income dwellings. [Living New Deal article] (see August 15, 1936)

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Fourth Amendment

Brinegar v. United States

June 27, 1949: the US Supreme Court case employing the “reasonableness test” in warrantless searches, held that while police need not always be factually correct in conducting a warrantless search, such a search must always be reasonable. [Justia article] (see February 20, 1950)

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

June 27, 1952: officially the Immigration and Nationality Act (but usually referred to as the McCarran-Walter Act), the law allowed the government to deport aliens and naturalized citizens for subversive activities, and also to bar alleged subversives from entering the country. President Truman had vetoed the law two days earlier, but Congress overrode his veto by large margins (57–26 in the Senate), and Truman signed it into law on this day.

The provisions of the law that allowed the government to deny people from other countries visas to enter the U.S. because of their political views were largely repealed in later years. [US OoH article] (see January 5, 1953)

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

see June 27 Music et al for more

Connie Francis

June 27 – July 10, 1960: “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” by Connie Francis #1 Billboard Hot 100.

Jimi discharged

June 27, 1962: received an honorable discharge on the basis of “unsuitability.” The discharge became effective on July 2. (see Jimi for expanded military story)

A World Without Love

June 27 – July 3, 1964: written by Paul McCartney. “A World Without Love” by Peter & Gordon #1 on Billboard Hot 100. (see July 10)

Trouble Every Day

June 27, 1966: Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Trouble Every Day. Zappa’s reaction to the media’s coverage of the Watts Riots. (see “In Sept“)

see Denver Pop Festival for more

June 27 – 29, 1969: Denver Pop Festival (Mile High Stadium). From Wikipedia: Throughout much of the festival, a crowd gathered outside the venue and demonstrated against having to pay to hear the acts. They also tried to breach the gates and security fences. The Denver Police were forced to employ riot tactics to protect the gates.

The Road to Bethel

June 27, 1969: The Times-Herald editorial read in part, “We regard the proposed ordinance as an example of flagrant misuse of government power….It is, in our opinion, highly improper to prohibit one event in the guise of regulating it.” (see Chronology for full story)

see Fillmore East for more

June 27, 1971: Bill Graham closed the Fillmore East. The Allman Brothers Band, The J. Geils Band, Albert King, The Beach Boys, Edgar Winter, Country Joe McDonald and Mountain (Leslie West Mountain) were on the bill for the final show. The show was by invitation only. (next rock venue, see December 1973)

John/Yoko & the Watergate Scandal

June 27, 1973: John Lennon (still in the process of appealing his deportation) and Yoko Ono attended Watergate Hearings. (see “July – August”)

Victor Jara

June 27, 2016: a Florida jury found a former Chilean army officer liable for the 1973 torture and murder of the folk singer and political activist Victor Jara, awarding $28m in damages to his widow and daughters in one of the biggest and most significant legal human rights victories against a foreign war criminal in a US courtroom.

The verdict against Pedro Pablo Barrientos Nuñez after a two-week civil trial in Orlando’s federal court could now also pave the way for his extradition to face criminal murder charges in Chile related to his conduct during a CIA-backed coup that led to Augusto Pinochet’s 17-year military dictatorship and the deaths of almost 3,100 people. [NYT article] (see Jara for expanded chronology)

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Religion and Public Education

JFK

June 27, 1962: following the June 25  Supreme Court decision declaring officially sponsored prayers in public schools to be unconstitutional, President John F. Kennedy was asked to comment on the subject at a press conference. Kennedy answered by giving strong support to the Court’s decision and the Supreme Court as an institution in America. He added that the decision reminds people of the importance of prayer at home.

President Kennedy: “The Supreme Court has made its judgment, and a good many people obviously will disagree with it. Others will agree with it. But I think that it is important for us, if we are going to maintain our constitutional principle, that we support the Supreme Court decisions even when we may not agree with them.” (see February 27 – 28, 1963)

Zelman v. Simmons-Harris

June 27, 2002: the US Supreme Court ruled that Cleveland’s school voucher program did not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment. The Court argued that since the program addressed a legitimate secular purpose of improving the educational options of poor children within a struggling school system. Since the vouchers, in the form of scholarships of up to $2250, were made available to a large category of people who were then free to direct this money to the school of their choice, religious or non-religious, the government program was neutral on religion and therefore not in violation of the First Amendment.

In a 5-4 opinion delivered by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, the Court held that the program did not violate the Establishment Clause. The Court reasoned that, because Ohio’s program is part of Ohio’s general undertaking to provide educational opportunities to children, government aid reaches religious institutions only by way of the deliberate choices of numerous individual recipients and the incidental advancement of a religious mission, or any perceived endorsement, is reasonably attributable to the individual aid recipients not the government. Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote that the “Ohio program is entirely neutral with respect to religion. It provides benefits directly to a wide spectrum of individuals, defined only by financial need and residence in a particular school district. It permits such individuals to exercise genuine choice among options public and private, secular and religious. The program is therefore a program of true private choice.” [Oyez article] (see January 13, 2005)

Ten Commandments

June 27, 2015: the Oklahoma Supreme Court again ordered the removal of a statue of the Ten Commandments from the state capitol grounds after denying an appeal. The nine justices turned down an appeal from the Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission to rehear the case less than one month after the court originally ordered for the monument to be taken down.

The court said the Oklahoma Constitution — in Article 2, Section 5 — banned the use of public property “for the benefit of any religious purpose.” Even though the Ten Commandments monument was paid for with private funding, the court said it is on public property and benefits or supports a system of religion and is therefore unconstitutional. [Huff Post article]  (see Dec 14)

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

June 27, 1962: US above ground nuclear test. 7.65 megaton. (CW, see June 28; NN, see Aug 5)

 

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

June 27, 1969: Life magazine displayed portrait photos of all 242 Americans killed in Vietnam during the previous week, including the 46 killed at ‘Hamburger Hill.’ The photos had a stunning impact on Americans nationwide as they view the once smiling young faces of the dead. [Life  link]  (see July 8)

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Stonewall Inn

June 27, 1969: patrons of the Stonewall Inn  riot when police officers attempt to raid the popular gay bar around 1am. Since its establishment in 1967, the bar had been frequently raided by police officers trying to clean up the neighborhood of “sexual deviants.”  Angry gay youth clash with aggressive police officers in the streets, leading to a three-day riot during which thousands of protestors received only minimal local news coverage. Nonetheless, the event will be credited with reigniting the fire behind America’s modern LGBTQ rights movement. [Inn’s site]  (next LGBTQ, see June 30; Stonewall, see June 6, 2019)

Chicago Gay Liberation parade

June 27, 1970: Chicago Gay Liberation held a gay rights parade in Chicago, one day ahead of the New York City Gay Pride March. These were the first two gay pride marches in the U.S. The 1970 marches were held to commemorate the June 28, 1969 (and days following) Stonewall Inn Riots in New York City which sparked the national lesbian and gay rights movement. [WTTW article] (see June 28)

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Watergate Scandal

June 27, 1973: CBS reporter Daniel Schorr obtained a copy of Nixon’s infamous “enemies list” and read names from the list live on CBS television. In the midst of reading, he discovered that his own name was on the list. The “enemies list” was one of the abuses of power by the Nixon administration that were exposed as a result of the Watergate scandal and which eventually led to Nixon’s resignation. In fact, there was no single list, but several different versions that continued to grow in length.

Names on the original “enemies list” included reporter Daniel Schorr (number 17), actor Paul Newman, columnist Mary McGrory, labor union leader Leonard Woodcock, and African-American Congressmen John Conyers (Detroit) and Ron Dellums (Oakland). (see Watergate for expanded story)

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

June 27, 1977: Djibouti independent of France. [face2face Africa article] (see July 7, 1978)

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Proclamation 4771

June 27, 1980, in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter signed Proclamation 4771, requiring 18- to 25-year-old males to register for a peacetime military draft. [text]

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Student Rights & Fourth Amendment

June 27, 2002: Board of Education of Independent School District #92 of Pottawatomie County v. Earls. Random drug tests of students involved in extracurricular activities do not violate the Fourth Amendment. In Veronia School District v. Acton (1995), the Supreme Court held that random drug tests of student athletes do not violate the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures. Some schools then began to require drug tests of all students in extracurricular activities. The Supreme Court in Earls upheld this practice. [Oyez article] (SR, see July 25, 2009; 4^th, see June 15, 2006)

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Pledge of Allegiance

June 27, 2002: a federal appeals court declared that the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional because the phrase ”one nation under God” violates the separation of church and state. A three-member panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the pledge, as it exists in federal law, could not be recited in schools because it violates the First Amendment’s prohibition against a state endorsement of religion. In addition, the ruling turned on the phrase ”under God” which Congress added in 1954 to one of the most hallowed patriotic traditions in the nation.

From a constitutional standpoint, those two words, Judge Alfred T. Goodwin wrote in the 2-to-1 decision, were just as objectionable as a statement that ”we are a nation ‘under Jesus,’ a nation ‘under Vishnu,’ a nation ‘under Zeus,’ or a nation ‘under no god,’ because none of these professions can be neutral with respect to religion.” (see Pledge for expanded story)

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

June 27, 2011: in Brown v. Video Merchants Association, the Supreme Court struck down a 2005 California law that outlawed the sale of violent video games to children without parental consent. The Court held that video games, like books, movies and other forms of expression, communicate ideas and are therefore protected by the First Amendment. It also held that there is insufficient evidence that exposure to violent video games causes violent behavior.

The Court: “Video games qualify for First Amendment protection. Like protected books, plays, and movies, they communicate ideas through familiar literary devices and features distinctive to the medium. And ‘the basic principles of freedom of speech … do not vary’ with a new and different communication medium. . . The most basic principle—that government lacks the power to restrict expression because of its message, ideas, subject matter, or content . . . is subject to a few limited exceptions for historically unprotected speech, such as obscenity, incitement, and fighting words. But a legislature cannot create new categories of unprotected speech simply by weighing the value of a particular category.” [Cornell law article] (see August 20, 2013)

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

June 27, 2018: James Alex Fields Jr., who was accused of killing a counterprotester in an attack involving a car at August 12, 2017’s white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, was indicted on federal hate-crime charges according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Federal law enforcement authorities announced that a grand jury returned 30 civil-rights charges against Fields, 21, of Maumee, Ohio, including two charges related to the death of Heather Heyer, a counterprotester who was killed when a car plowed into a crowd.

The charges against Fields included one hate-crime count for Heyer’s death, 28 counts for “hate crime acts causing bodily injury and involving an attempt to kill,” and one count of “racially motivated violent interference with a federally protected activity.” (T, see Oct 22; Fields, see Dec 7)

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Voting Rights

June 27, 2023: the Supreme Court rejected a legal theory that would have radically reshaped how federal elections are conducted by giving state legislatures largely unchecked power to set rules for federal elections and to draw congressional maps warped by partisan gerrymandering.

The vote was 6 to 3, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. writing the majority opinion. The Constitution, he said, “does not exempt state legislatures from the ordinary constraints imposed by state law.” [NYT article] (next VR, see  Aug 4)

June 27 Peace Love Art Activism

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Anarchism

June 26, 1893: Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld pardoned Samuel Fielden, Oscar Neebe and Michael Schwab, three men found guilty of the Haymarket bombing, effectively ending his political career. (next Anarchism, see In August)

US Labor History

June 26, 1894: the American Railway Union, led by Eugene Debs, called a general strike in sympathy with Pullman workers. (see June 28)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Republicans endorse ERA

June 26 – 28, 1944: at its convention, the Republican Party endorsed the Equal Rights Amendment. (see Feminism  July 19 – 21, 1944)

United States v. Virginia

June 26, 1996: the Supreme Court ruled that the all-male Virginia Military School had to admit women in order to continue to receive public funding. It held that creating a separate, all-female school would not suffice. [Oyez article] (see Aug 29)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

Berlin airlift

June 26, 1948: US General Lucius Clay gave the order for the Berlin Airlift (only afterwards receiving authorization from President Truman). This act of defiance against the Soviets was an incredible feat of logistics (at one point cargo planes landed at Tempelhof every four minutes, twenty four hours a day), a defining moment of the Cold War, and a demonstration of American support for the citizens of Berlin.  [US Office of the Historian article] (Red Scare, see July 2, 1948; Berlin Airlift, see May 12, 1949)

Congress for Cultural Freedom

June 26, 1950: The Congress for Cultural Freedom was a liberal anti-Communist group that was secretly funded by the CIA. The Congress was designed to offset the impact of international conferences and events sponsored by the Soviet Union. While some leaders of the Congress were “witting” (the term then used for those knowledgeable about the secret practices), many people who participated in its events were not, and were embarrassed when the secret role of the CIA was exposed in the 1960s. [CIA article] (Red Scare, etc, see June 29; CCF, see February 15, 1967)

Cole v. Young

June 26, 1956: Senators Joe McCarthy and James O. Eastland of Mississippi attacked the Supreme Court (“One pro-Communist decision after another”) for a series of pro-civil liberties decisions.  Specifically, they were incensed by the Court’s decision in Cole v. Young just two weeks earlier, on June 11, 1956. [Oyez article] (see July 23)

Ich bin ein Berliner

June 26, 1963: President Kennedy spoke in Berlin, West Germany. He reaffirmed American solidarity declaring, “Ich bin ein Berliner”  [Atlantic article] (see Aug 30)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

School Desegregation

June 26, 1959: Prince Edward County closed its schools to avoid the desegregation ordered by the Virginia Supreme Court. Five years later (see May 25, 1964), the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the public school system reopened. (BH, see July 14: SD, see January 11, 1960)

Medgar Evers murder trial

June 26, 1963: the federal government dropped its civil rights charges against De La Beckwith in view of Mississippi’s plans to prosecute him for the murder of Medgar Evers. (BH, see “in July”; Evers, see July 2)

James Meredith

June 26, 1966: Meredith, along with nearly 15,000 marchers, ended the civil rights march in Jackson, MS. (see January 1967).

James C. Anderson murdered

June 26, 2011:  James Anderson was standing near his car at a Jackson, Mississippi  motel about 5 a.m. Two carloads of teenagers pulled off the Interstate and into the motel parking lot. Several jumped from the vehicles and beat Anderson. A white sport utility vehicle drove away. As Anderson stumbled along the edge of the parking lot, the police said, the driver of a green Ford F250 pickup truck, Deryl Dedmon, accelerated and drove over him. Mr. Anderson was pronounced dead at a local hospital. (see Aug 7)

Philando Castile

June 26, 2017: Valerie Castile, the mother of Philando Castile, the black motorist killed last summer by a police officer from St. Anthony, Minn., reached a nearly $3 million settlement with that city.

The settlement came 10 days after the officer who fired the fatal shots, Jeronimo Yanez, was acquitted of second-degree manslaughter and all other charges. Mr. Castile’s case is the latest example of a police shooting of a black person leading to a legal settlement but no criminal conviction of the officer involved. (see June 29)

Timothy Coggins

June 26, 2018: Frank Gebhardt, 60, was convicted of murder, battery, assault and other charges in the killing of Timothy Coggins. He was sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison.

“Hopefully, sir, you have stabbed your last victim,” Judge W. Fletcher Sams of Spalding County Superior Court said as he handed down the sentence.

The other murder defendant, Bill Moore — Mr. Gebhardt’s brother-in-law — is awaiting trial later this year. (BH, see July 3)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

June 26, 1960:  Madagascar independent from France. [Global Security dot org article] (see IDs for list of independence days from that decade)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

June 26 Music et al

Quarter to Three

June 26 – July 9, 1961, “Quarter to Three” by Gary U.S. Bonds #1 Billboard Hot 100.

A Hard Day’s Night

June 26, 1964: US release of A Hard Day’s Night album by United Artists Records in both mono and stereo, the fourth Beatles album in the US. The album went to number one on the Billboard album chart, spending 14 weeks there, the longest run of any album that year.

All seven songs from the film were featured along with “I’ll Cry Instead”, which, although written for the film, was cut at the last minute. The American version also included four easy listening-styled instrumental versions of Lennon and McCartney songs arranged by George Martin conducting an orchestra of studio musicians: “I Should Have Known Better,” “And I Love Her,” “Ringo’s Theme,” and “A Hard Day’s Night.” (see June 27 – July 3)

Mr. Tambourine Man

June 26 – July 2, 1965:  “Mr. Tambourine Man” by the Byrds #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Helped introduce many to Bob Dylan. (see In July)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7eJSdpMEnI

The [bumpy] Road to Bethel on June  26, 1969

Woodstock Ventures held a media meeting at the Village Gate on Bleeker Street to cooperatively present, discuss, and formulate “ground rules for outdoor peace and music programs.” In the end it was agreed that the festival was to emphasize music and not politics.

On that same day the Wallkill town attorney  presented Woodstock Ventures with a document outlining proposed ordinances regarding  assemblies of 5,000 people or more. Such proposals such as not light, sound, or odor seepage beyond the festival’s specific boundaries created seemingly insurmountable barriers to the event. Wallkill expected Woodstock Ventures to present the  application for the event covering all the details no later than July 2. (see Chronology for expanded story)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

June 26, 1965: Gen. William Westmoreland, senior U.S. military commander in Vietnam, was given formal authority to commit American troops to battle when he decided they were necessary “to strengthen the relative position of the GVN [Government of Vietnam] forces.” This authorization permitted Westmoreland to put his forces on the offensive. Heretofore, U.S. combat forces had been restricted to protecting U.S. airbases and other facilities. (see June 28)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

June 26, 1972: Rosenfeld v New Jersey. At a school board meeting, David Rosenfeld  was arrested for calling  teachers, the school board, and others “motherfuckers.” The Supreme Court overruled the conviction. [Justia article] (see March 19, 1973)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Watergate scandal 

June 26, 1973: former White House counsel John W. Dean told the Senate Watergate Committee about an “enemies list” kept by the Nixon White House. (see June 27)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

June 26, 1974: the supermarket price scanner made its debut in Troy, Ohio, as a 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum costing 67 cents and bearing a Uniform Product Code (UPC) was scanned by Marsh Supermarket cashier Sharon Buchanan for customer Clyde Dawson. (The barcoded package of never-chewed gum is on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.) (see January 21, 1976)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

ADA

June 26, 1975: in O’Connor v. Donaldson the Supreme Court ruled that a state cannot confine a mentally ill person who is not a danger to the community and who can survive in the community by themself or with the assistance of others. Kenneth Donaldson had been held for 15 years in a Florida State institution for the mentally ill. He was confined with dangerously mentally ill persons in an understaffed ward that had only one doctor (an obstetrician) for about 1,000 inmates.

The Court: “May the State fence in the harmless mentally ill solely to save its citizens from exposure to those whose ways are different? One might as well ask if the State, to avoid public unease, could incarcerate all who are physically unattractive or socially eccentric. Mere public intolerance or animosity cannot constitutionally justify the deprivation of a person’s physical liberty.” [Oyaz article] (see April 5, 1977)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

Leonard Peltier

June 26, 1975: Special Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams, two FBI agents, entered Jumping Bull Ranch where a large number of AIM supporters, invited there for protection by the Jumping Bull elders, camp. A shootout ensued and the two agents were killed.

One of the AIM defenders, Leonard Peltier, was later captured in Canada, extradited and convicted for murder by an all-white jury. Activists continue to campaign for his exoneration and release while Peltier serves two consecutive life terms in federal prison. (Peltier, see June 24, 1987)

NAPT

In 1976, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting establishes Native American Public Telecommunications, Inc.  to promote, produce and distribute Native American television and radio programming.[Indian Country article] (next NA, see September 13, 1976)

 

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Anita Bryant protest

June 26, 1977: some 200,000 protesters march through the streets of San Francisco, protesting Anita Bryant’s anti-gay remarks and the murder of Robert Hillsborough. (see Oct 14)

Lawrence v. Texas

June 26, 2003:  the US Supreme Court, in a 6–3 ruling struck down the sodomy law in Texas and, by extension, invalidated sodomy laws in thirteen other states, making same-sex sexual activity legal in every U.S. state and territory. The Court overturned its previous ruling on the same issue in the 1986 case Bowers v. Hardwick, where it upheld a challenged Georgia statute and did not find a constitutional protection of sexual privacy. [Oyez article] (see Aug 5)

LGBTQ June 26, 2015

• Obergefell et al v Hodges, Director, Ohio Department of Health, et al

The US Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution guarantees a nationwide right to same-sex marriage. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in the 5 to 4 decision. He was joined by the court’s four more liberal justices.

Justice Kennedy said gay and lesbian couples have a fundamental right to marry.

“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family,” he wrote. “In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.”

“It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage,” Justice Kennedy said of the couples challenging state bans on same-sex marriage. “Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.” [Oyez article]

• Most States immediately comply

In Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal (R) said the state “is subject to the laws of the United States” and a judge at a county court in Atlanta began performing the state’s first gay marriages.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) urged compliance with the ruling, asking the state to “treat everyone with the respect and dignity they deserve.”

Alabama’s attorney general, Luther Strange (R), issued a statement acknowledging that “the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling is now the law of the land” and pledged to enforce the ruling, though some counties in the state had stopped issuing all marriage licenses in an effort to avoid allowing gay marriages. (see June 28)

Free Speech vs Gay Rights

June 30, 2023: the Supreme Court sided with a web designer in Colorado who said she had a First Amendment right to refuse to design wedding websites for same-sex couples despite a state law that forbids discrimination against gay people.

Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, writing for the majority in a 6-3 vote, said that the First Amendment protected the designer, Lorie Smith, from being compelled to express views she opposed.

“A hundred years ago, Ms. Smith might have furnished her services using pen and paper,” he wrote. “Those services are no less protected speech today because they are conveyed with a ‘voice that resonates farther than it could from any soapbox.’”

The case, though framed as a clash between free speech and gay rights, was the latest in a series of decisions in favor of religious people and groups, notably conservative Christians.  [NYT article] (next LGBTQ+, see )

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

Ford v. Wainwright

June 26, 1986: the U.S. Supreme Court held in a 5-4 vote that the execution of an insane prisoner was an unconstitutional violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. [Oyez article] (see November 4, 1986)

Penry v. Lynaugh

June 26, 1989: the Supreme court held that executing mentally retarded persons did not violate the Eighth Amendment.  [Oyez article] (DP, see September 13, 1994; 8^th, see March 1, 2005)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

IRAQ

June 26, 1993: President Clinton ordered a cruise missile attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters in the Al-Mansur District of Baghdad, in response to an Iraqi plot to assassinate former. President George H. W. Bush during his visit to Kuwait in mid-April.[Politico article] (October 8, 1994)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Jack Kevorkian

“suicide clinic”

June 26, 1995: opened a “suicide clinic” in an office in Springfield Township, Michigan. Erika Garcellano, a 60-year-old Kansas City, Missouri, woman with ALS, is the first client. A few days later, the building’s owner kicks out Kevorkian. (see JK for expanded story)

Washington v. Glucksberg

June 26, 1997:   the U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously that state governments have the right to outlaw doctor-assisted suicide. The Court had been asked to decide whether state laws banning the practice in New York and Washington were unconstitutional.  [Oyez article] (see Oct 27)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Student Rights

Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton, 515 U.S. 646

June 26, 1995:  the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of random drug testing regimen implemented by the local public schools in Vernonia, Oregon. Under that regimen, student athletes were required to submit to random drug testing before being allowed to participate in sports. During the season, 10% of all athletes were selected at random for testing. The Supreme Court held that although the tests were searches under the Fourth Amendment, they were reasonable in light of the schools’ interest in preventing teenage drug use. [Justia article] (see June 10, 1996; 4^th, see June 27, 2002)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

June 26, 1998: Ken Starr presented arguments to a federal appeals court requesting that Secret Service personnel be required to testify in the Lewinsky case. Linda Tripp is called to appear before the grand jury on Tuesday, June 30. (see Clinton for expanded story)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

June 26, 2015: the US Supreme court decided 8 – 1 in the Johnson v. United States case that a section of the Armed Career Criminal Act, which is used to extend prison sentences, was “unconstitutionally vague.” The ruling may compel Congress to address the language of the law as thousands of prisoners would seek to have their sentences reduced.

Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the majority opinion for the court and ruled that the residual clause of the ACCA was a violation of due process: “Nine years’ experience trying to derive meaning from the residual clause convinces us that we have embarked upon a failed enterprise. Each of the uncertainties in the residual clause may be tolerable in isolation, but “their sum makes a task for us which at best could be only guesswork.” United States v. Evans [(1948). Invoking so shapeless a provision to condemn someone to prison for 15 years to life does not comport with the Constitution’s guarantee of due process.”  [Justia article] (see Oct 6)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

June 26, 2017: in Trinity Lutheran v. Comer, the Supreme Court ruled that efforts at separating church and state go too far when they deny religious institutions access to government grants meant for a secular purpose.

In siding with a Missouri church that had been denied money to resurface its playground, the court ruled 7-2 that excluding churches from state programs for which other charitable groups are eligible is a violation of the Constitution’s protection of the free exercise of religion.

“The consequence is, in all likelihood, a few extra scraped knees,” wrote Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. “But the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all the same, and cannot stand.” [Oyez article] (see Sept 30)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

June 26, 2017: the Supreme Court permitted a scaled-back version of President Trump’s ban on travelers from six mostly Muslim countries to take effect, deciding to hear the merits of the case in the fall but allowing Trump for now to claim a victory in the legal showdown.

The court’s unsigned order delivered a compromise neither side had asked for: It said the government may not bar those with a “bona fide” connection to the United States, such as having family members here, or a job or a place in an American university.

But the justices indicated that courts had gone too far in completely freezing Trump’s order banning new visas for citizens of six countries — Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — for 90 days and putting the refu­gee program on hold for 120 days. [Washington Post article] (see July 12)

States sue Trump

June 26, 2018: seventeen U.S. states sued over the federal government’s controversial policy of separating undocumented children from parents, intensifying an ongoing legal fight just hours after President Donald Trump scored a major victory on his travel ban. A complaint calling the policy unconstitutional was filed Tuesday in federal court in Seattle by states including Washington, California, New York and Pennsylvania, as well as the District of Columbia. The joint effort by the Democratic state attorneys general mirrors the battle over Trump’s travel ban against several Muslim-majority countries — a battle the states lost Tuesday in a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court ruling along ideological lines. The states allege the border policy violates immigrants’ Fifth Amendment rights to equal protection under the law and due process. The policy also runs afoul of the federal Administrative Procedure Act and U.S. asylum laws, the states say.

Trump v Hawaii

June 26, 2018: in Trump v Hawaii, the US Supreme Court upheld President Trump’s ban on travel from several predominantly Muslim countries, delivering to the president a political victory and an endorsement of his power to control immigration at a time of political upheaval about the treatment of migrants at the Mexican border.

In a 5-to-4 vote, the court’s conservatives said that the president’s power to secure the country’s borders, delegated by Congress over decades of immigration lawmaking, was not undermined by Trump’s history of incendiary statements about the dangers he said Muslims pose to the US. (see July 5)

Japanese Internment Camps

June 26, 2018: an unexpected effect of the ruling was the official overruling of Korematsu—which upheld the exclusion of persons of Japanese ancestry, including US citizens, from their west coast homes during World War II. Although Korematsu had been widely condemned, the Court had never formally overruled it. Quoting Justice Jackson’s dissent, Chief Justice Roberts took “the opportunity to make express what is already obvious: Korematsu was gravely wrong the day it was decided, has been overruled in the court of history, and—to be clear—’has no place in law under the Constitution.’ ” (next JIC, see June 11, 2019)

Nationwide Injunction

June 26, 2018: Judge Dana M. Sabraw of the Federal District Court in San Diego issued a nationwide injunction temporarily stopping the Trump administration from separating children from their parents at the border and ordered that all families already separated be reunited within 30 days.Sabraw said children under 5 must be reunited with their parents within 14 days and he ordered that all children must be allowed to talk to their parents within 10 days.The judge wrote taht “The unfortunate reality is that under the present system, migrant children are not accounted for with the same efficiency and accuracy as property.” (next IH, see July 5; next Judge Sabraw, see July 16)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

NIFL v AG of CA

June 26, 2018:  ruling for opponents of abortion on free speech grounds, the US Supreme Court said in National Institute of Family and Life v Attorney General of Californina that the State of California may not require religiously oriented “crisis pregnancy centers” to supply women with information about how to end their pregnancies. The case was a clash between state efforts to provide women with facts about their medical options and First Amendment rulings that place limits on the government’s ability to compel people to say things at odds with their beliefs. (see June 29)

Affordable Care Act

June 26, 2018: students at the University of Notre Dame sued the Indiana school and the Trump administration over a move this year to drop coverage for some forms of birth control from the university’s health insurance plan, citing religious objections. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in South Bend, Indiana, where the school is located, asked the court to block the school from enforcing the new Notre Dame said it would seek to have the suit dismissed.  (WH, see June 29; ACA, see July 24)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

June 26, 2018: voters in Oklahoma approved a ballot measure making the state the 30th in the nation to allow broad access to medical marijuana. (see July 24 or see CCC for expanded cannabis chronology)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Voting Rights

June 28, 2023: the Supreme Court lifted its hold on a Louisiana political remap case, increasing the likelihood that the Republican-dominated state will have to redraw boundary lines to create a second mostly Black congressional district.

For more than a year, there had been a legal battle over the GOP-drawn political boundaries, with a federal judge, Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards and opponents saying that the map is unfair and discriminates against Black voters.

The map, which was used in Louisiana’s November congressional election, had white majorities in five of six districts, all currently held by Republicans. This is despite Black people accounting for one-third of the state’s population. Another mostly Black district could deliver another congressional seat to Democrats. [AP article] (next VR, see June 27)

June 26 Peace Love Art Activism

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

Thomas Bird

June 25, 1790: the first federal execution. U.S. Marshall Henry Dearborn coordinated the hanging of Thomas Bird in Massachusetts. Bird was convicted of murdering his master, John Connor, captain of the slave ship Mary, off the coast of Africa. Dearborn spent five dollars and fifty cents for the construction of a gallows and a coffin. (see July 9, 1868)

Kennedy v. Louisiana

June 25, 2008:  a divided U.S. Supreme Court barred the death penalty for the crime of child rape, saying a Louisiana man’s execution would violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The justices, voting 5-4 in Kennedy v. Louisiana spared Patrick Kennedy from becoming the first person since 1964 to be executed in the U.S. for a crime other than murder. Kennedy was convicted of raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter.

“The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court. The ruling extended a line of Supreme Court cases that had restricted the circumstances in which the death penalty can be applied. It also underscores Kennedy’s significance as the court’s deciding vote on many social issues.

The court divided along ideological lines. Justices Stephen Breyer, John Paul Stevens, David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined the majority. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito,  Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas dissented. [Oyez article] (see March 18, 2009)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Alien and Sedition Act of 1798

June 25, 1798: Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798, which empowered the President to deport any alien he found dangerous to the peace and safety of the Nation. These laws included new powers made it harder for new immigrants to vote. Previously a new immigrant would have to reside in the United States for five years before becoming eligible to vote, but a new law raised this to 14 years. (see March 2, 1819)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Olympia Brown

June 25, 1863: Olympia Brown ordained by the St. Lawrence Universalist Association, becoming possibly the first woman minister in the US ordained with full denominational authority [Harvard article] (see May 10, 1866)

Mann Act

June 25, 1910: Congress passed the White Slavery Act, popularly known as the Mann Act, to fight interstate prostitution. The law made it a crime to transport across state lines “any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.” (The law was named for Rep. James Mann of Illinois.) It was a sign of the cultural and racial politics of the time that the law applied only to the transport of women and had the title, “White Slavery Act.” The law interfered with the right of unmarried people to cross state lines and to have sexual relations; because its terms were so vague and potentially expansive, for decades it was enforced in a highly arbitrary manner.

A number of prominent Americans fell victim to prosecution. They included the famed African-American boxer Jack Johnson (convicted in a racially motivated prosecution); the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright (charges dropped in 1926); silent film star Charlie Chaplin (acquitted in 1944); and rock and roll star Chuck Berry (convicted in 1962 and sentenced to three years in prison for transporting a 24-year-old). (Feminism, see Dec 1910; BH, see Sept 29)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

Battle of the Greasy Grass

June 25, 1876: George A. Custer led an army detachment, encountered an encampment of Sioux and Cheyenne at the Little Bighorn River. The Native Americans annihilated Custer’s detachment, but the US continued its battle against the Sioux in the Black Hills until the government confiscated the land in 1877. [Indian Country Today article] (see Aug 15)

Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, a Minor Child Under the Age of Fourteen Years

June 25, 2013: the US Supreme Court decided that a Native American child did not have to be taken away from her adoptive parents and given to her biological father. The justices ruled 5-4 in a case about a federal law intended to keep Indian children from being taken from their homes and typically placed with non-Indian adoptive or foster parents. South Carolina courts had said that the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act favored the biological father of the girl. The South Carolina couple who raised her for the first 27 months of her life had appealed that decision. (see July 15)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Anarchism in the US

June 25, 1893: the Haymarket Martyrs Monument was dedicated at Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois, to honor those framed and executed for the bombing at Chicago’s Haymarket Square on May 4, 1886. More than 8,000 people attended the dedication ceremony. At the base of the monument are the last words of Haymarket martyr August Spies: “The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today.” [ILHS article] (next Anarchism, see  June 26; next Labor, see Sept 2)

Fair Labor Standards Act 1938

June 25, 1938: Franklin D Roosevelt signed The Fair Labor Standards Act 1938. The FLSA established a national minimum wage, guaranteed ‘time-and-a-half’ for overtime in certain jobs, and prohibited most employment of minors in “oppressive child labor,” a term that is defined in the statute. [US DoL article] (see January 7, 1939)

Executive Order 8802

June 25, 1941: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802, which established a Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) to ensure equal employment opportunity for African Americans in the defense industries. It was the first-ever federal rule prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of race. [text via Our Documents] (see January 12, 1942)

“Freedom’s Road”

In 1942, Langston Hughes wrote the lyrics, Emerson Harper wrote the music, and Josh White sang “Freedom’s Road” in which they attempted to link the war abroad to the struggle for racial justice at home.

That’s why I’m marching, yes, I’m marching, Marching down freedom’s road. Ain’t nobody gonna stop me, nobody gonna keep me, From marching down freedom’s road.  Hand me my gun, let the bugle blow loud, I’m on my way with my head a-proud, One objective I’ve got in view, Is to keep a hold of freedom for me and you That’s why I’m marching, yes, I’m marching, Marching down freedom’s road. Ain’t nobody gonna stop me, nobody gonna keep me, From marching down freedom’s road.  Ought to be plain as the nose on your face, There’s room in this plan for every race, Some folk think that freedom just ain’t right,

Those are the very people I want to fight. That’s why I’m marching, yes, I’m marching, Marching down freedom’s road. Ain’t nobody gonna stop me, nobody gonna keep me, From marching down freedom’s road. Now, Hitler may rant, Hirohito may rave, I’m going after freedom if it leads me to my grave. That’s why I’m marching, yes, I’m marching, I’m marching down freedom’s road.  United we stand, divided we fall, Let’s make this land safe for one and all. I’ve got a message, and you know it’s right, Black and white together unite and fight.  That’s why I’m marching, yes, I’m marching, Marching down freedom’s road. Ain’t no fascists gonna stop me, no Nazis gonna keep me, From marching down freedom’s road.

Link to recitation of “Freedom Road”

Smith-Connally Act

June 25, 1943: enacted over President Roosevelt’s veto, Congress passed the Smith-Connally Act  (also called the War Labor Disputes Act) allowing the government to take over critical industries hit by strikes. It also prevented unions from contributing to political campaigns. [Cambridge U Press article] (see August 1, 1944)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Jack Johnson

June 25, 1913: boxer Jack Johnson skipped bail and left the country, joining wife Lucille in Montreal, before fleeing to France. In order to flee to Canada to skip his bail, Johnson posed as a member of a black baseball team. For the next seven years, they lived in exile in Europe, South America and Mexico. [2016 Washington Post article] (next BH, see July 21; next JJ, see July 20, 1914)

Baton Rouge bus boycott

June 25, 1953: to end the Baton Rouge bus boycott, the city agreed to a compromise: the two side front seats of buses were to be reserved for whites and the long rear seat was for African Americans. The remaining seats were to be occupied on a first-come-first-served basis. The Black community agreed to the compromise and the boycott ended. [Black Past article] (see Aug 13)

Church burning

June 25, 1964: Williams Chapel in Ruleville, Mississippi, was firebombed in the middle of the night. The chapel, located a few miles from the home of then-candidate for Congress Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, was a site of voter registration activity. The fire caused slight damage, but volunteer firefighters quickly controlled and eliminated the blaze. Eight containers of gasoline were found later at the scene. (Burning, see June 21, 1995)

St. Augustine, Florida

June 25, 1964: in the summer of 1964, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other Southern Christian Leadership Conference leaders began anti-segregation work in St. Augustine, Florida. They held weeks of civil rights demonstrations and marches, and many demonstrators, including Dr. King, were arrested. After weeks of activism and outbreaks of violence between segregationists and anti-segregationists, Florida Governor Farris Bryant, a segregationist, issued a ban on evening demonstrations held after 8:30 p.m.

On June 25, 300 anti-segregationist marchers who had spent the afternoon rallying at the site of St. Augustine’s former slave market, Slave Market Square, were violently attacked by over 200 white segregationists. The segregationists easily evaded police and physically assaulted the marchers. As the marchers fled, they were chased and attacked across the city’s downtown area. Close to fifty of the marchers were injured, and fifteen were treated at the city’s hospital. Several hours before the attacks on the marchers, seventy-five white segregationists had attacked a group of 100 African Americans who attempted to wade into the ocean at a local “white beach,” and twenty people were arrested. Such violent clashes between anti-segregationists and segregationists in St. Augustine continued throughout June 1964. (see June 29)

James H Meredith

June 25, 1966: Meredith returned to head his march through Mississippi. [American Heritage article] (see June 26)

Norwood v. Harrison

June 25, 1973: the US Supreme Court ruled that states cannot provide textbooks to racially segregated private schools to avoid integration mandates.  [Justia article] (BH, see June 27; SD, see July 21, 1974)

School Desegregation

June 25, 1976: Bobbe’s School denied admission to Michael McCrary and Colin Gonzales, two African American students.  Fairfax-Brewster School had also denied admission to Gonzales.

Their parents filed a class action lawsuit against the schools. A federal district court ruled for McCrary and Gonzales, finding that the school’s admission policies were racially discriminatory. The United States Court of Appeals affirmed the decision.

On this date the US Supreme Court held 7 – 2 that federal law prohibited private schools from discriminating on the basis of race. [Oyez article] (BH, see July 12; SD, see February 6, 1986)

Clement A. Lloyd

June 25, 1991: a Florida state appeals court overturned the manslaughter conviction of police officer William Lozano whose 1989 killing of a black motorcyclist Clement A. Lloyd set off three days of racial disturbances that scorched the city.

Florida’s Third District Court of Appeals also ordered a new trial, ruling that a lower court had erred by not considering a defense motion to move the trial out of racially charged Miami. (BH, see July 1; RR, see May 28, 1993)

Shelby County, Alabama v Holder, Attorney General, Et Al

June 25, 2013: the Supreme Court struck down a central portion of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) effectively ending the practice in which some states with a history of racial discrimination must receive clearance from the federal government before changing voting laws. The vote was five to four, with the five conservative-leaning judges in the majority and the four liberal-leaning justices in the minority. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote the decision. The majority held that Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, originally passed in 1965 and since updated by Congress was unconstitutional. The section includes a formula that determines which states must receive pre-approval. The court did not strike down Section 5, which allows the federal government to require pre-approval. But without Section 4, which determines which states would need to receive clearance, Section 5 is largely without significant — unless Congress chooses to pass a new bill for determining which states would be covered.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted in dissent that covered jurisdictions continued to propose voting law changes that were rejected under the VRA, “auguring that barriers to minority voting would quickly resurface were the preclearance remedy eliminated.”  [Cornell Law School article] (BH, see July 12; VR, see October 1, 2014)

Voting Rights

June 25, 2013:  the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional key sections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, eliminating what most experts regarded as the crucial enforcement mechanism of the law. At issue were Section 5 and Section 4b. Section 5 required certain states or local jurisdictions to obtain pre-clearance from the Justice Department about any change in voter registration requirements or voting district composition. Section 4b prescribed the formula to be used to determine which jurisdictions are covered by Section 5. The data in Section 4b is used to identify jurisdictions with histories of racial discrimination in voting. The Supreme Court held that the 4b formula was based on data that are 40 years old and therefore no longer relevant to current conditions.

The Court ruled 5–4 that the result was a constitutionally impermissible burden on the affected jurisdictions, based on principles of federalism’s equal sovereignty of the states. The Court did not declare Section 5 unconstitutional but, without the Section 4b formula, no state would be subject to Section 5 (unless, that is, Congress enacted a new formula). [NYT article] (see October 1, 2014)

Michelle Obama/White House/Slavery

June 25, 2016: First Lady Michelle Obama gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention acknowledging the history of American slavery. Reflecting on our national history, Mrs. Obama remarked during her July 25th speech:  “The story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight, the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation” she explained, “is the story of striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.”

Following her truthful statement, many Republicans and conservatives denounced her statement, thought others realized that their questions were actually an attempt to avoid the truth rather than reveal it. [EJI article] (next BH, see Nov 2)

Gerrymandering

June 25, 2018:  the Supreme Court passed up an opportunity to take another look at whether the Constitution bars extreme partisan gerrymandering, returning a case from North Carolina to a trial court there for a further examination of whether the challengers had suffered the sort of direct injury that would give them standing to sue. (VR & NC, see Aug 27)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

June 25, 1950: Communist North Korean troops invaded South Korea, beginning the Korean War. [CNN summary of war] (see June 26)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

June 25, 1951: the first commercial color broadcast took place at 4:35 PM when CBS offered an hour-long program entitled “Premiere” to an ad-hoc network of five stations in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. Among those participating in the program were Arthur Godfrey, Ed Sullivan, Robert Alda, Faye Emerson, William S. Paley and Frank Stanton (the latter two board chairman and president of CBS, respectively)

Thousands were able to watch the first color broadcast in auditoriums, department stores and hotels in the five cities, but the general public was left in the dark — literally. Because the CBS color system was incompatible with existing black and white television sets, for the hour the color special was on the air, viewers tuned to CBS in any of the five cities saw only a blank screen. (see Sept 4)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

June 25 Music et al

Bill Evans

June 25, 1961, Bill Evans’s album Sunday at the Village Vanguard recorded.

“Paperback Writer”

June 25 – July 1, 1966, The Beatles “Paperback Writer” #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. (see July 29)

Our World broadcast

June 25, 1967:  Our World broadcast. It was the first live, international, satellite television production. Creative artists, including The Beatles, opera singer Maria Callas, and painter Pablo Picasso, representing nineteen different nations were invited to perform or appear in separate segments featuring their respective countries. The two-and-half-hour event had the largest television audience ever up to that date: an estimated 400 million people around the globe watched the broadcast Beatles perform  “All You Need Is Love.” The program was watched by 400 million in 26 countries. The BBC had commissioned the Beatles to write a song for the United Kingdom’s contribution.

Broadcast live around the world from the Abbey Road Studios in London, it featured the band singing and playing along to a pre-recorded track, joined in the studio by guests Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, Keith Richards, Keith Moon, Eric Clapton, George’s wife Pattie, Paul’s fiance Jane Asher and his brother Mike, Graham Nash and his wife, and others. (see July 1)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Religion and Public Education

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

Engel v. Vitale

June 25, 1962:  the US Supreme Court ruled that the Regents’ Prayer, recited daily in New York public schools, violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Despite claims that the prayer was denominationally neutral and that students could choose to remain silent or leave the room, the Court argued that in composing an “official prayer” and coordinating a daily religious observance, the state had violated the First Amendment. [Oyez article] (see June 27)

Boerne v. Flores

June 25, 1997: the US Supreme Court held that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), enacted on November 16, 1993, was unconstitutional as it applied to the states.

The controversy originated with the Supreme Court decision in Employment Division v. Smith, decided on April 17, 1990, in which the Court upheld the denial of unemployment benefits to Alfred Smith because he used peyote. Smith claimed that he used peyote as part of a traditional Native American religious ritual. That decision outraged leaders from many different religions across the country, leading to the enactment of RFRA.

The Boerne case involved a zoning dispute in the city of Boerne, Texas, near San Antonio, in which the city sought to prevent the expansion of a church because it was located in an historic district; the church responded that the city could not restrict its free exercise of religion under RFRA. The Supreme Court decided in favor of the city, holding that RFRA exceeded the powers allowed it under the Fourteenth Amendment. [Justia article]

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Cultural Milestone

June 25, 1962: Manual Enterprises v. Day: The United States Supreme Court ruled that photographs of nude men are not obscene, decriminalizing nude male pornographic magazines. [Oyez article] (see July 9)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

Mary Hamilton

June 25, 1963:  Mary Hamilton (October 13, 1935—November 11, 2002) was a field secretary for the Congress of Racial Equality in Alabama. Along with hundreds of others, she had been arrested during civil rights protests in Gadsden. At a hearing on June 25 challenging the legitimacy of those arrests, she refused to answer questions on the witness stand until she was addressed with the same courtesy accorded white witnesses. At that time, in the South and in many other parts of the nation, it was customary for judges and prosecutors to address white witnesses by last name and courtesy titles such as “Mr. Jones” or “Mrs. Smith”, while addressing all nonwhite witnesses by the first name without honorific. When the county prosecutor addressed Hamilton by her first name only, she said she would not answer any questions unless she were addressed as “Miss Hamilton”. When she persisted in her demand to be addressed in this manner, the judge held her in contempt of court and sentenced her to five days in jail and a $50 fine. [2013 NPR article] (BH, see June 26; Hamilton, see March 30, 1964)

The Red Scare

June 25, 1963: North Carolina enacted a law that banned from speaking on state college and university campuses “known” Communists, “known” advocates of the violent overthrow of the state, and persons who took the Fifth Amendment regarding Communist Party membership.

On March 9, 1966, Frank Wilkinson, leader of the campaign to abolish the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), and Herbert Aptheker, a historian and member of the Communist Party, mocked the ban by speaking to students from the other side of the low wall that circles the University of North Carolina campus. In February 1968, a three-judge District Court panel deliberated for 10 minutes and then declared the ban unconstitutional. (FS, see Sept 10; North Carolina and Red Scare, see March 9, 1966)

American flag upside down

June 25, 1974: on May 10, 1970, to protest the Vietnam War, a college student (Spence) had hung an American flag upside down outside his apartment window. He had attached a peace symbol to the flag with removable tape. He was convicted under a Washington State law forbidding attaching anything to the U.S. flag. The Supreme Court on this day, in Spence v. Washington, reversed his conviction on the grounds that it infringed on his freedom of expression. [Oyez article] (see Nov 27)

Frank Collin and Nazi sympathizers

June 25, 1978: Frank Collin and Nazi sympathizers were to march in front of Skokie’s Village Hall. The march was called off when the City of Chicago relented and permitted the group to march in Marquette Park on July 9.  (FS, see July 3; Frank Collin, see July 9)

Island Trees v. Pico

June 25, 1982: the case  involved a challenge to the removal of noted literary works from the library of the New York Island Trees School District because the Board of Education deemed them “anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Sem[i]tic, and just plain filthy.” The censorship included such recognized classics as Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five; Richard Wright’s, Black Boy; and an anthology of Best Negro Short Stories edited by the famed African-America poet Langston Hughes, among others. The Supreme Court split 4–4 on this day, with one Justice holding that the Court did not need to decide the issue. The result left the lower court ruling favoring the school district’s position. [Justia article] (see Aug 12)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAYS

Mozambique

June 25, 1975: Mozambique independent of Portugal. [Face to Face Africa article] (see July 5)

Croatia and Slovenia

June 25, 1991: Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence from Yugoslavia. [UPI article] (see Sept 8)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

June 25, 1996: Dhahran, Saudi Arabia: truck bomb exploded outside Khobar Towers military complex, killing 19 American servicemen and injuring hundreds of others. 13 Saudis and a Lebanese all alleged members of Islamic militant group Hezbollah, were indicted on charges relating to the attack in June 2001.  [NYT article] (see Nov 29)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

ADA

AIDS

June 25, 1998:  in Bragdon v. Abbott,the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) covers those in earlier stages of HIV disease, not just those who have developed AIDS. [law dot uh dot edu article] (ADA, see Dec 31; AIDS, see Nov 12)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

June 25, 1998

• the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that attorney-client privilege extends beyond the grave, exempting Vince Foster’s conversations with his lawyers from being called as evidence in Ken Starr’s presidential investigations.
• White House communications aide Sidney Blumenthal testified before Ken Starr’s grand jury for the third time. Blumenthal complained that Starr’s inquiry focused on what the White House was saying about his prosecution rather than Blumenthal’s conversations with the president. (see Clinton for expanded story)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

June 25, 2012: in Miller v. Alabama, the US Supreme Court held that mandatory sentences of life without the possibility of parole were unconstitutional for juvenile offenders. The ruling extended beyond the Graham v. Florida (May 17, 2010) case, which had ruled juvenile life without parole sentences unconstitutional for crimes excluding murder. [Oyez article] (see June 26, 2015)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

June 25, 2014

Same sex marriage appeal upheld

The three-judge 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Denver ruled 2-1 that states cannot deprive people of the fundamental right to marry simply because they want to be wedded to someone of the same sex. The panel found that the Constitution protects same-sex relationships. The judges added they don’t want to brand as intolerant those who oppose gay marriage, but said there is no reasonable objection to the practice.

“It is wholly illogical to believe that state recognition of love and commitment of same-sex couples will alter the most intimate and personal decisions of opposite-sex couples,” they wrote, addressing arguments that the ruling could undermine traditional marriage.

The decision upheld a lower court ruling that struck down Utah’s gay marriage ban. However, the panel immediately put Wednesday’s ruling on hold so it could be appealed, either to the entire 10th Circuit or directly to the nation’s highest court. [WTOP article]

Same sex marriage ban ruled unconstitutional

U.S. District Judge Richard Young ruled that Indiana’s ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional, immediately allowing same-sex couples across the state to receive marriage licenses.

 Young did not issue a stay on his ruling. However, a spokesman for Attorney General Greg Zoeller, whose office represented the state, said they would “quickly ask for a stay of today’s ruling pending appeal.”

Marion County Clerk Beth White said she was prepared to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in her office at the City-County Building in Downtown Indianapolis. [USA Today article] (see July 18)

Arlene’s Flowers v. Washington

June 25, 2018, LGBTQ: in the case of Arlene’s Flowers v. Washington (a florist who argued that requiring her to create custom floral arrangements for a same-sex wedding would violate her religious beliefs) the US Supreme Court vacated and remanded the State Supreme Court decision that an antigay florist had violated the state’s nondiscrimination laws by refusing to serve a gay couple.

“The Supreme Court…asked the Washington courts to re-examine our clients’ case in light of the recent decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop,” said James Esseks, director of ACLU’s LGBT and HIV Project. [ACLU article] (see July 13)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Fourth Amendment

Riley v. California

June 25, 2014: the US Supreme Court unanimously held that the warrantless search and seizure of digital contents of a cell phone during an arrest was unconstitutional. [Harvard Law Review article] (see Dec 11)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Affordable Care Act

June 25, 2015: in King v Burwell, the US Supreme Court voted 6 – 3 and upheld a key provision of the Affordable Care Act and agreed with the Obama administration that government subsidies that make health insurance affordable for millions of Americans should be available to all.

The court affirmed an Internal Revenue Service ruling that subsidies should be available not only in states that have set up their own health insurance exchanges, but also in those where consumers rely on the federal government exchange.

The decision for the second time defused a potential conflict between President Obama and the Supreme Court over his most notable domestic achievement. While there are more challenges to come, an adverse ruling in this case would have been close to a mortal blow to the act that continue to divide the nation and its political conversation. [Oyez article] (see March 13, 2017)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Fair Housing

June 25, 2015: in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, the US Supreme Court voted 5 – 4  and gave an unexpected reprieve to civil rights groups, ruling that housing discrimination need not be intentional in order to be illegal.

The justices said people objecting to lending, zoning, sales, and rental practices only need to show that they had a disparate impact on blacks or other minorities under a federal fair-housing law.

The decision, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, was an unlikely conclusion to a years-long effort by opponents of the civil rights-era law to reduce its effectiveness against housing policies and practices used by many builders, lenders and insurers. Twice before, the justices had agreed to hear a challenge to the law, only to see the cases withdrawn or settled before reaching court.

“The Court acknowledges the Fair Housing Act’s continuing role in moving the nation toward a more integrated society,” Kennedy wrote. [USA Today article] [Oyez article] (see July 8)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

June 25, 2018: Kevin K. McAleenan, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection said that his agency had temporarily stopped handing over migrant adults who cross the Mexican border with children for prosecution, undercutting claims by other Trump administration officials that “zero tolerance” for illegal immigration is still in place.

McAleenan said his agency and the Justice Department should agree on a policy “where adults who bring their kids across the border — who violate our laws and risk their lives at the border — can be prosecuted without an extended separation from their children.” [NYT article] (see June 26)

June 25 Peace Love Art Activism