September 19 Peace Love Art Activism

Anarchism in the US

September 19, 1892: Andrew Berkman is sentenced to twenty-two years in prison for the attempt on steel magnate Henry Clay Frick’s life on July 23, 1892.  [1970 NY Review article] (see June 1893)

September 19 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Booker T. Washington

July 4, 1881: Booker T. Washington opened the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Tuskegee, Ala. The only building on campus was a shanty with a roof so leaky a student held an umbrella over Washington’s head while he taught. [Black Past article] (see In August)

Emmett Till

September 19, 1955:  the kidnapping (only) trial of J W Milam and Roy Bryant opened in Sumner, Mississippi, the county seat of Tallahatchie County. Jury selection begins and, with blacks and white women banned from serving, an all-white, 12-man jury made up of nine farmers, two carpenters and one insurance agent was selected.

Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till Bradley, departed from Chicago’s Midway Airport to attend the trial. (see Emmett Till)

September 19 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

Operation Plumbbob

September 19, 1957: the US detonated a 1.7 kiloton nuclear weapon in an underground tunnel at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), a 1,375 square mile research center located 65 miles north of Las Vegas. The test, known as Rainier, was the first fully contained underground detonation and produced no radioactive fallout. A modified W-25 warhead weighing 218 pounds and measuring 25.7 inches in diameter and 17.4 inches in length was used for the test. Rainier was part of a series of 29 nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons safety tests known as Operation Plumbbob that were conducted at the NTS between May 28, 1957, and October 7, 1957. (related NYT article) (see Sept 29)

Cuban Missile Crisis

September 19, 1962:  the United States Intelligence Board (USIB) approved a report on the Soviet arms buildup in Cuba. Its assessment, stated that some intelligence indicates the ongoing deployment of nuclear missiles to Cuba. The Soviet Union above ground nuclear test. 1.5 – 10 megaton. (CW/NN, see Sept 25; see Cuban Missile Crisis for expanded story)

September 19 Peace Love Art Activism

The Cold War

No Disneyland for Khrushchev 

September 19, 1959: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had arrived in the US on September 15 for a summit meeting with President Eisenhower. The Soviet leader indicated a desire to see Hollywood. September 19 began pleasantly enough, with a tour of the Twentieth Century Fox Studios. Khrushchev was taken to the sound stage for the movie “Can-Can” and was immediately surrounded by the cast of the film, including Shirley MacLaine and Juliet Prowse. The cast members performed a number from the film. Frank Sinatra was brought in to serve as an unofficial master of ceremonies later lunched with an obviously delighted Khrushchev. (see Disneyland for more)

September 19 Peace Love Art Activism

Teenage Culture

September 19 – 25, 1960: “The Twist” by 18-year-old Chubby Checker #1 Billboard Hot 100 (see January 1962). The song was written by Hank Ballard and originally the B-side of Hank Ballard & the Midnighters’ “Teardrops on Your Letter” in 1959.

Checker was born Ernest Evans. His boss nicknamed him Chubby. He made a private recording, “The Class,” on which he imitated many singers of the time including Fats Domino. The record was given to Dick Clark whose wife, after Ernest Evans said his nickname was Chubby, asked, “As in Checker?” referring to Fats Domino. The name stuck. (see March 1963)

September 19 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

September 19, 1969: President Nixon announced the cancellation of the draft calls for November and December. He reduced the draft call by 50,000 (32,000 in November and 18,000 in December). This move accompanied his twin program of turning the war over to the South Vietnamese concurrent with U.S. troop withdrawals and was calculated to quell antiwar protests by students returning to college campuses after the summer. (see Sept 23)

September 19 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

September 19, 1973: a judge sentenced Aubran W Martin, one of the three gunmen convicted  in the 1969 Yablonski family murders, to die in the electric chair. [Pittsburgh Post Gazette story on murders] (Yablonski, see April 8, 1974; Labor, see Nov 12)

September 19 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

September 19, 1983: Saint Kitts and Nevis independent of the United Kingdom. [NYT article]  (see January 1, 1984)

September 19 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

September 19, 2002: the Boston Archdiocese reached a $10m settlement with victims of John Geoghan, retracting a previous settlement of $30m which the Church said would have bankrupted the archdiocese. (NYT article) (see Oct 7)

September 19 Peace Love Art Activism

Hurricane Katrina

September 19, 2005: Louisiana’s official death toll stood at 973. (see Katrina for expanded story)

September 19 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Don’t ask, don’t tell

September 19, 2011: the US military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy officially ended.  [Washington Post article] (see September 20,  2011)

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell/Year 1

September 19, 2012: the one-year anniversary of the end of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy passed with little notice because the policy had been so quickly implemented with so little disruption. Gay, lesbian and bisexual service members were thought to make up at least 2 percent of the military’s 2.2 million forces on active duty, in the reserves, and the National Guard. (see October 18, 2012)

September 19 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH & Colin Kaepernick

September 19, 2016: four Philadelphia Eagles raised their fists during the anthem

Prior to the game, Malcolm Jenkins said the Eagles would protest during the anthem. Jenkins was joined by Steven Means, Ron Brooks and Marcus Smith in raising a fist while standing during the anthem. [Washington Post article] FS & CK, see Sept 20)

September 19 Peace Love Art Activism

September 18 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Fugitive Slave Act

September 18, 1850: Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers. This was one of the most controversial acts of the 1850 compromise and heightened Northern fears of a “slave power conspiracy”. It declared that all runaway slaves were, upon capture, to be returned to their masters. Abolitionists nicknamed it the “Bloodhound Law” for the dogs that were used to track down runaway slaves. (Britanica article) (Slave Revolts and Black History, see Apr 3)

School Desegregation

September 18, 1945: in Gary, Indiana, mounting pressure from civic groups such as the League of Women Voters, YWCA, and Gary Teacher’s Union to desegregate schools pushed district officials to make another attempt (see September, 1927) at integration. Again, white students took to the streets en masse in an effort to curb integration. [NPR story re Frank Sinatra and Gary desegregation] (BH & SD, see Nov 1)

September 18 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Harvard Law School

September 18, 1950:  Harvard Law School admitted women for the first time. Thirteen female students were admitted. [Harvard Law article]

Jo Ann Robinson

In 1953: Jo Ann Robinson (of Montgomery’s Women’s Political Council) and other local black leaders met with the three commissioners of Montgomery. Robinson’s group complained that the city did not hire any black bus drivers, said that segregation of seating was unjust, and that bus stops in black neighborhoods were farther apart than in white ones, although blacks were the majority of the riders. The commissioners refused to change anything. Robinson and other WPC members met with bus company officials on their own. The segregation issue was deflected, as bus company officials said that segregation was city and state law. The WPC achieved a small victory, as the bus company officials agreed to have the buses stop at every corner in black neighborhoods, as was the practice in white neighborhoods. [Black Past article]  (BH, see June 8; Feminism, see May 18, 1954; Montgomery, see March 2, 1955)

Justice Ginsburg

September 18, 2020: The New York Times reported the death of  Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court and a pioneering advocate for women’s rights, who in her ninth decade became a much younger generation’s unlikely cultural icon/ She died at her home in Washington. She was 87.

The cause was complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer, the Supreme Court said. (next Feminism and Ginsberg, see  Sept 25)

September 18 Peace Love Art Activism

September 18 Music et al

Bobby Vee

September 18 – October 8, 1961:  “Take Good Care of My Baby” by Bobby Vee #1 Billboard Hot 100.

Judy Garland

September 18 – December 17, 1961: Judy Garland’s Judy at Carnegie Hall Billboard #1 album.

Jimi Hendrix

September 18, 1970: Hendrix, age 27, died in London. (NYT article) (see Oct 4)

September 18 Peace Love Art Activism

see Symbionese Liberation Army for more

September 18, 1975: S.L.A. members Patty Hearst, Bill and Emily Harris and Wendy Yoshimura arrested in San Francisco. When asked for her occupation while being booked, Hearst says, “urban guerrilla.” [FBI report] (see March 11, 1976)

September 18 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

September 18, 1998: over Democrats’ objections, the House Judiciary Committee agreed to release President Clinton’s videotaped grand jury testimony and more than 3,000 pages of supporting material from the Starr report, including sexually explicit testimony from Monica Lewinsky. (see Clinton for expanded story)

September 18 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

September 18 2001: the 2001 anthrax attacks commenced as letters containing anthrax spores are mailed from Princeton, New Jersey to ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, the New York Post, and the National Enquirer. 22 in total are exposed; 5 of them die. [NPR story] (Terrorism, see Oct 26; Anthrax, see April 11, 2007)

September 18 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

September 18, 2012: the Chicago Teachers Union agreed to end its strike allowing 350,000 children to return to classes. The terms, which appeared to provide some victories for both sides, gave annual raises to teachers, lengthened the school day,  and allow ed teachers to be evaluated, in part, with student test scores. The school system would also aim to guide laid-off teachers with strong ratings into at least half of any new job openings in the schools. [NYT article] (see January 26, 2014)

September 18 Peace Love Art Activism

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

September 18, 2014: the US Air Force reversed its policy requiring new recruits and those reenlisting to conclude a swearing-in oath with “So help me God.”

The trouble for the Air Force had started when a Tech. Sgt. at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada with 10 years’ service wanted to reenlist. As an atheist, he didn’t see why he had to swear an oath to a deity he didn’t believe in. It seemed to violate the religious establishment clause of the US Constitution. No other branches of the US military required it, nor did the honor code at the US Air Force Academy.

The sergeant had scratched out that last line in the Air Force enlistment/reenlistment document, which read in full: “I, [insert name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”  [Guardian article] (see Oct 6)

September 18 Peace Love Art Activism

 FREE SPEECH & Colin Kaepernick

September 18, 2016: more San Francisco 49ers joined Kaepernick, Dolphins continued protest

Kaepernick’s teammates Antoine Bethea, Eli Harold, Jaquiski Tartt and Rashard Robinson joined in protesting during the national anthem by raising their right fists ahead of San Francisco’s game vs. the Carolina Panthers.

Meanwhile in Foxboro three of the same Miami Dolphins players continued their protest. Arian Foster, safety Michael Thomas and wide receiver Kenny Stills all kneeled during the anthem. [USA Today article] (FS & CK, see Sept 19)

September 18 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

September 18, 2018: a district court in Minnesota issued a ruling that said, “The marriage is declared to be in all respects valid.”

“The ruling was a long time coming, but I knew the courts would eventually rule in our favor,” said Baker. “Over the years, many legal scholars have reviewed our case and concluded that the law was on our side.” (next LGBTQ, see Oct 4; Baker/McConnell, see February 16, 2019)

September 18 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

September 18, 2019: the Trump administration revoked California’s authority to set auto emissions rules that were stricter than federal standards.

Lawyers said the action took the administration into uncharted legal territory in its battle with the state, which vowed to fight the change all the way to the Supreme Court.

“This is unprecedented and a tremendously big deal,” said Richard L. Revesz, a professor of environmental law at New York University, noting that no administration has ever revoked a state’s authority to regulate its own air quality in the past.

September 18 Peace Love Art Activism