January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Slaves petition for freedom

January 6, 1773: Massachusetts slaves petitioned legislature for freedom. There were 8 such petitions during the Revolutionary War period. (Slave Revolts, see August 22, 1791; BH, see April 14, 1775)

Mildred and Richard Loving

January 6, 1959: Mildred and Richard Loving  pleaded guilty to violating a Virginia law against interracial marriage. They had been rousted out of bed by sheriff’s deputies on July 11, 1958, and arrested for their “crime” of being married. A judge sentenced them to one year in prison.  He suspended the sentence on the condition that they leave the state — they moved to Washington, D.C. Mildred later wrote to Attorney General Robert Kennedy, asking for legal assistance. Kennedy felt there was nothing he could do, but he referred the case to the local ACLU chapter, which took the case, eventually to the Supreme Court. (next BH, see Jan 12; Loving, see June 12, 1967)

Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter

January 6, 1961: a federal judge ordered the University of Georgia to admit Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter. They will become the first Black graduates of U of G. (see Jan 10)

Mamie Till Mobley

January 6, 2003: Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley, died of heart failure, at age 81. Her death came just two weeks before The Murder of Emmett Till was to premiere nationally on PBS. [NYT obit] (BH, see Feb 28; ET, see February 13, 2013)

1964 Murders of Three Civil Rights Workers

January 6, 2005: 41 years later, the State of Mississippi charged 79-year-old former Klan preacher Edgar Ray Killen with murder in connection with the slayings of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.  Police arrested Killen at his home following a grand jury session, according to Neshoba County Sheriff Larry Myers.  Convicted Klan conspirator Billy Wayne Posey expressed anger at Killen’s arrest: “After 40 years to come back and do something like this is ridiculous…like a nightmare.”  Carolyn Goodman, the 89-year-old mother of victim Andrew Goodman was pleased with the news.  She hoped the killers would someday be “behind bars and think about what they’ve done.” (NYT article) (BH, see Jan 8; see Murders for expanded chronology)

Johnnie Mae Chappell

January 6, 2006: Florida Gov Jeb Bush issued an executive order appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the 1964 murder of Johnnie Mae Chappell, a woman slain in a drive-by shooting in northwest Jacksonville in 1964. JW Rich, the shooter, was convicted of manslaughter and served three years in prison.

In his order, Bush wrote: “… I have determined that the ends of justice will be best served if the honorable William Cervone, State Attorney for the 8th Judicial Circuit of Florida, reviews the findings of this investigation.” Cervone’s 8th Circuit serves the Gainesville area. He was given one year to investigate and prosecute the case. Cervone said he was just beginning to learn about the case, saying that calling a grand jury in the case is one possibility.

“I would assume that the investigative techniques used many, many years ago would not be nearly as sophisticated as might be available now,” Cervone told Channel 4. “Not only do you have that kind of problem the age of the case creates, but you also have the problem inherent with people of people and/or tangible objects disappearing, losing memories, all those kinds of issues.”

Fourth Circuit State Attorney Harry Shorstein, released a statement saying it was highly unusual that the governor removed the case that he [Shorstein] had be involved with for several years from his jurisdiction.

“… It is outrageous to relieve someone who has as strong a record of civil rights prosecution and trial advocacy … as I have exhibited in my career,” Shorstein wrote. “It is wrong for the governor, without any justification, to assign the decision-making authority in this case to another state attorney.”

On May 9 that criminal investigation ended.

William Cervone, who’s 8th Circuit served the Gainesville area, was given one year to investigate and prosecute the case, but reported his findings after a five-month revision of the Investigation

Cervone released a statement saying after “reviewing the investigation into the murder of Johnnie Mae Chappell in Duval County in 1964 … my conclusions … are that no additional investigation is warranted and that no prosecution is legally possible.”

Cervone went on to state that the statute of limitations has run out on anything but first degree murder, and that there was not enough evidence to prosecute the three co-defendants on that charge simply because they were in the car when JW Rich shot and killed Chappell.

In addition, Cervone said Florida law prevents them from being recharged due to speedy trial constraints.

State Attorney Harry Shorstein issued a statement: “This was a tragic chapter in the history of our city and I understand the Chappell family’s desire to find justice. I regret that a few have used the Chappell family’s great suffering for personal, professional, or political gain.” Shorstein also commended Cervone for a comprehensive, thorough and professional investigation.(BH, see “February”; Chappell, see May 9)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

January 6, 1838: Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrated his telegraph, in Morristown, N.J. (see January 2, 1839)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Anarchism

January 6, 1907: Emma Goldman arrested while speaking on “The Misconceptions of Anarchism” at an afternoon meeting of 600 people in New York City. (see Goldman for her expanded chronology)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Youngstown Sheet & Tube

January 6, 1916: eight thousand workers went on strike at Youngstown Sheet & Tube. The next day  wives and other family members joined in the protest. Company guards used tear gas bombs and fire into the crowd killing three strikers and wounding 25. (see Jan 7)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

New York Times v. Sullivan

January 6, 1964: the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the free speech/free press case of New York Times v. Sullivan. (FS, see Jan 23; NYT, see Mar 9)

Howl

January 6, 1988: for the third time in its controversial history, Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl ran into censorship issues. On this day, a number of radio stations planned to broadcast a reading of the poem as part of an Open Ears/Open Minds series. The Pacifica stations, a group of independent, nonprofit stations, refused to broadcast the reading, however, because of the Supreme Court’s decision in FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (July 3, 1978). In that case, the Court held that the FCC could ban the “seven dirty words” that were a part of a monologue by comedian George Carlin. (NYT article) (see Feb 24)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

January 6 Music et al

Beatles

January 6, 1967: UK release of soundtrack to The Family Way movie with music written by Paul McCartney and George Martin.  (Beatles, see Jan 31; Family Way, see June 12; solo Beatle album, see November 1, 1968 )

Magical Mystery Tour

January 6 – March 1, 1968: Magical Mystery Tour the Billboard #1 album. (see Feb 16)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Religion and Public Education

 

January 6, 1983: protests from parents followed the enactment of a New Jersey law that required all public school classes to begin the day with a “moment of silence.” The New Jersey ACLU announced that it would challenge the law in court on the grounds that it violated the separation of church and state. Several states adopted similar laws in an effort to evade the Supreme Court ruling that a mandatory prayer in public schools violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court declared an Alabama moment-of-silence law unconstitutional in Wallace v. Jaffree on June 4, 1985, thereby invalidating the New Jersey law.(Separation, see Feb 3; Religion, see June 9; Moment of silence, see March 1, 1984)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran–Contra Affair

January 6, 1987: the U.S. Senate voted 88-4 to establish an eleven-member panel to hold public hearings on the Iran-Contra affair. (see Jan 9)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

January 6, 2010: a federal grand jury in Michigan charged the Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, with attempted murder on a plane, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and related offenses. (Terrorism, see Jan 29; Abdulmutallab, see Sept 14)

January 6 Insurrection

January 6, 2021: President Trump had declared a “Save America March” for January 6, 2021, the day that Congress would formally count the electoral votes and officially declare the next President.

On that day, President Trump, Donald Trump, Jr, and Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani spoke to the crowd. Trump continued to prevaricate and repeat debunked claims of widespread election fraud. He incited the crowd with statements like, “We will never give up, we will never concede.”

Only seven minutes into the 75 minute speech, the crowd chanted: Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump!

His inflammatory words pushed an already embittered and combative crowd to their successful, if temporary, violent takeover of the Capitol building forcing the members of Congress into hiding within. Five  people died, including a Capitol police officer. [Moyers timeline article] (next T, see Jan 27)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Utah same-sex marriage

January 6, 2013: the Supreme Court blocked further same-sex marriages in Utah while state officials appeal a decision allowing such unions. (see Jan 10)

Roy Moore

January 6, 2016: Alabama Supreme Court’s Chief Justice Roy Moore issued an administrative order (NYT article) barring state judges from issuing same-sex marriage licenses, in contravention of the broadly accepted meaning of the June 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Moore forbade probate judges in the state from issuing marriage licenses that violate the state’s laws prohibiting same-sex marriage, “until further decision by the Alabama Supreme Court.”

Moore argued that the U.S. Supreme Court had only explicitly struck down same-sex marriage bans in Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee in its landmark decision Obergefell v. Hodges, though the ruling may be interpreted to apply to other states’ bans based on precedent. (see Mar 4)

Hubert Edward Spires

January 6, 2017: the Air Force Board for the Correction of Military Records agreed to change the status of 91-year-old Hubert Edward Spires from “undesirable” on his  1940s discharge records to “honorable.” The Air Force had kicked out Spires because he was gay. (see Jan 24)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

January 6, 2015: Summit Midstream Partners announced that almost 3 million gallons of saltwater drilling waste spilled from a North Dakota pipeline earlier, a spill that was called the state’s largest since the North Dakota oil boom began. The brine, which leaked from a ruptured pipeline about 15 miles from the city of Williston, affected two creeks, but it doesn’t currently pose a threat to drinking water or public health. (see Jan 7)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

January 6, 2016: North Korea declared that it had detonated its first hydrogen bomb. [NYT report] (see Feb – Aug)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

January 6, 2019: with the partial government shutdown continuing, President Trump tweeted, “”We are now planning a Steel Barrier rather than concrete. It is both stronger & less obtrusive. Good solution, and made in the U.S.A.”  (IH & TW, see Jan 8)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

January 5 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Black labor history

January 5, 1869: the nation’s first labor convention of Black workers was held in Washington, D.C., with 214 delegates forming the Colored National Labor Union (Labor, see May 10; BH, see Dec 6)

Scottboro travesty

January 5, 1932: Ruby Bates, one of the two girls who accused the Scottsboro Boys of rape, denied that she was raped. In a letter Bates wrote her then boyfriend, Earl Streetman, she denied having been raped: “those Negroes did not touch me….i hope you will believe me the law dont….i wish those Negroes are not Burnt on account of me.”  (see SBT for expanded chronology)

Coke v. City of Atlanta

January 5, 1960: in Coke v. City of Atlanta the District Court of North Georgia, Atlanta, found that Dobbs House Restaurant, as agent for Atlanta at the airport violated the 14th Amendment rights of H. D. Coke by refusing to serve him in the same area as white patrons. Coke was Black. The judge also dismissed the portion of the suit against Atlanta. (see Jan 18)

Albany Movement

January 5, 1962: groups protested to state and college officials regarding the dismissal of students from Albany State College for participating in anti-segregation demonstrations. (see Albany for expanded chronology)

FBI/MLK, Jr

January 5, 1964,: the FBI installed a listening device in Martin Luther King Jr’s room at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. They installed the devices without Attorney General Robert Kennedy’s approval. He had authorized only wiretaps on October 10, 1963. These listening devices were far more intrusive than wiretaps because they captured conversations in many locations. (BH, see Jan 8; MLK, see Mar 26)

Sonny Liston

January 5, 1971: Sonny Liston (b.1932), World Champion boxer (1962-64), was found dead in his Las Vegas home.

Johnnie May Chappell murder

January 5, 2006: the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation into the Johnnie May Chappell murder case (March 23, 1964)  released its results to attorneys representing Chappell’s son. Those attorneys said the findings contained new evidence and interviews with witnesses never before contacted. (BH & Chappell, see Jan 6)

Homer Plessy Pardon

January 5, 2022: Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D) granted a posthumous pardon for Homer Plessy, whose refusal on June 7, 1892 to leave a Whites-only railcar led the Supreme Court to uphold state racial segregation laws in what was considered to be one of its most shameful decisions.

Edwards signed the pardon during a ceremony outside the former train station in New Orleans where Plessy boarded a train bound for Covington, Louisiana, before his arrest 130 years ago. The Louisiana Board of Pardons unanimously voted in November to clear Plessy’s record. Descendants of Plessy and John Howard Ferguson, the Louisiana judge who initially upheld the state’s segregation law, forged a friendship and advocated for the posthumous pardon.

“The stroke of my pen on this pardon, while momentous, it doesn’t erase generations of pain and discrimination. It doesn’t eradicate all the wrongs wrought by the Plessy court or fix all of our present challenges,” Edwards said before signing the pardon. “We can all acknowledge we have a long ways to go, but this pardon is a step in the right direction.” [CBS News article] (next BH, see Mar 7)

January 5 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

January 5, 1914: the Ford Motor Company raised wages from $2.40 for a 9-hour day to $5 for an 8-hour day in effort to keep the unions out. (see Jan 10)

January 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism/Voting Rights

January 5, 1919: authorities arrested Annie Arniel, Mary Dubrow, Julia Emory, and Phoebe Munnecke for their part in watch fire demonstrations. They refused to pay bail and the judge sentenced them to 10 days in prison. They began hunger strike. (see Jan 9)

January 5 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

January 5, 1948: Alfred Kinsey and his team published  Sexual Behavior in the Human Male.  The report generated a national controversy as the study was first scientific study of sexuality and swept away long-standing cultural taboos against frank discussion of the topic. Consistent with those taboos, The New York Times did not report the publication of the book, did not review it, and published no article on it for almost two full years. Particularly controversial were the report’s estimates of infidelity and homosexual encounters. The second report, Sexual Behavior in the Human Female was published in September 1953 — the Times did publish several articles on that publication.

The two Kinsey reports had a major impact on civil liberties. They opened the door for candid discussions of sexuality, which in turn led to legal challenges to censorship of books and movies with sexually-related themes. They also underpinned the sexual revolution, which led to challenges to restrictions on access to birth control and abortion. Finally, the evidence on the prevalence of homosexuality opened the door for more candid and morally neutral discussion of same sex relationships. (see November 11, 1950)

January 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Whom We Shall Welcome

January 5, 1953: President Harry Truman praised Whom Shall We Welcome, a report on immigration policy. The report recommended that “the National Origins quota system should be abolished.”  The Immigration Act of 1924, which completely prohibited immigration from Asia, had established the quota system, and discriminated against potential immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as other parts of the world (e.g., immigration from India in the early 1960s, for example, was limited to 100 people a year.). Truman’s President’s Commission on Immigration and Naturalization had prepared the report.

While there was no immediate change, Truman set in motion a long public debate that culminated in the 1965 Immigration Reform Act, which abolished the restrictive quota system. President Lyndon Johnson signed the immigration law on October 3, 1965, in a ceremony at the Statue of Liberty. (see June 17, 1954)

Trump’s Wall

January 5, 2018: with Trump and the Democratic leadership continuing to refuse to change their positions on building a wall, President Trump referenced in a tweet the popular Game of Thrones slogan, Winter Is Coming, with “The Wall is Coming,” with a picture of himself over the wall. (IH & TW, see Jan 6) or see Trump Wall for expanded chronology)

LGBTQ & AIDS

January 5, 2010: the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control on this day removed HIV from the list of illness that bar the granting of visas to people seeking to visit the U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s administration added HIV to the list on August 28, 1987; the result was discrimination against homosexuals, one of the largest groups of people with an HIV/AIDS diagnosis.(next AIDS, see Jan 11;next LGBTQ, see Feb 10; IH, see Oct 14)

January 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Right to Legal Representation

January 5, 1962:  after writing to an FBI office in Florida and next to the Florida Supreme Court, but denied help, Clarence Earl Gideon mailed a five-page hand-printed petition to the US Supreme Court asking the nine justices to consider his complaint. The Supreme Court, in reply, agreed to hear his appeal. Originally, the case was called Gideon v. Cochran. The Supreme Court will eventually rule that a criminal defendant who cannot afford to hire a lawyer must be provided with a one at no cost. (see Gideon for expanded chronology)

January 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam & DRAFT CARD BURNING

January 5, 1968: Attorney General Ramsey Clark announced (NYT article) the indictment of Dr. Benjamin Spock, the Rev. William Sloane Coffin Jr., chaplain of Yale University, Michael Ferber, a 23-year-old Harvard University graduate student, Mitchell Goodman, 44, of New York and Temple, Me., an author, and Marcus Raskin, 33, of Washington, co-director of the Institute for Policy Studies, a private research organization on charges of conspiring to counsel young men to violate the draft laws.

According to the indictment, Spock, Coffin, Raskin, and Goodman agreed to sponsor a nationwide draft-resistance program that would include disrupting the induction processes at various induction centers, making public appeals for young men to resist the draft and to refuse to serve in the military services and issuing calls for registrants to turn in their draft cards.

The indictment  accused them of having violated Title 50, Section 462(A) of the United States Code Appendix, a section of the Universal Military Training and Service Act that dated to World War I. It declared that any person was guilty of violating the law if they “knowingly counsels, aids, or abets another to refuse or evade registration or service in the armed forces” or if thee “shall knowingly hinder or interfere or attempt to do so in any way, by force or violence or otherwise,” with the administration of the draft. It also made it a crime to conspire to commit these acts. (see Jan 7)

January 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Religion and Public Education

January 5, 1982: in McLean v Arkansas Board of Education, a US Federal Court struck down an Arkansas law requiring that “evolution-science” and “creation-science” be given “equal treatment” in the classroom. The court rejected Arkansas’ claim that “creation-science” is a legitimate science and holds that the purpose of the Arkansas law is to advance religion and therefore is impermissible.

Justice Black stated: The “establishment of religion” clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. No person can be punished for entertaining or professing religious beliefs or disbeliefs, for church-attendance or non-attendance. No tax, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion. Neither a state nor the Federal Government can, openly or secretly, participate in the affairs of any religious organizations or groups and vice versa. In the words of Jefferson, the clause … was intended to erect “a wall of separation between church and State.” (see May 28)

January 5 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

January 5, 1999: Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott announced (NYT article) that President Clinton’s trial would begin January 7, but senators continued to wrangle over how long the trial should be and whether to call witnesses. (see CI for expanded chronology)

January 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

January 5, 2020: Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted details on the legislative action decided upon by Iranian cabinet members in which the country will no longer limit itself to the nuclear restrictions set forth in 2015 by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“As 5th & final REMEDIAL step under paragraph 36 of JCPOA, there will no longer be any restriction on number of centrifuges. This step is within JCPOA & all 5 steps are reversible upon EFFECTIVE implementation of reciprocal obligations Iran’s full cooperation w/IAEA will continue,” Zarif tweeted. [CNN article] (next N/C N see May 21); next Iran, see February 18, 2021)

January 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

January 5, 2023:  the South Carolina Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the state’s ban on abortion after around six weeks of pregnancy, ruling that the law violated the state’s constitutional right to privacy.

The 3-2 decision came nearly seven months after the U.S. Supreme Court’s bombshell ruling voiding the federal constitutional right to terminate pregnancies.

President Joe Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, in a tweet wrote: “We are encouraged by South Carolina’s Supreme Court ruling today on the state’s extreme and dangerous abortion ban.”

“Women should be able to make their own decisions about their bodies,” Jean-Pierre wrote.

The decision by the South Carolina Supreme Court is based on the state’s own constitution, which, unlike the U.S. Constitution, explicitly gives citizens a right to privacy. [CNBC article] (next Women’s Health, see Apr 5)

January 5 Peace Love Art Activism