January 20, 1964: Meet The Beatles! released. (see Beatles for more) (AllMusic dot com review.
January 20 Music et al
Alan Freed died
January 20, 1965: Freed was the man who first played Rock and Roll on the radio and was one of the first to use the term “Rock’N’Roll” in the early 1950’s. Freed is commonly referred to as the “Father of Rock’N’Roll”. He helped bridge the gap of segregation among young teenage Americans, presenting music by African-American artists (rather than cover versions by white artists) on his radio program, and arranging live concerts attended by racially mixed audiences. Freed appeared in several motion pictures as himself. In the 1956 film Rock, Rock, Rock, Freed tells the audience that “rock and roll is a river of music that has absorbed many streams: rhythm and blues, jazz, rag time, cowboy songs, country songs, folk songs. All have contributed to the big beat.” (Cleveland Plain Dealer obituary)
“Mr Tambourine Man”
January 20, 1965: The Byrds entered the studio to record “Mr Tambourine Man,” what would become the title track of their debut album and, incidentally, the only Bob Dylan song ever to reach #1 on the U.S. pop charts. Aiming consciously for a vocal style in between Bob Dylan and John Lennon, Roger McGuinn sang lead, with Gene Clark and David Crosby providing the complex harmony that would, along with McGuinn’s jangly electric 12-string Rickenbacker guitar, form the basis of the Byrds’ trademark sound. (2016 Financial Times article)
Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert
L – R: Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Bob Dylan, and Robbie Robertson.
January 20, 1968, Bob Dylan and the Band performed Woody Guthrie’s “I Ain’t Got No Home” at the Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert, Carnegie Hall. The concert was Dylan’s first public appearance since his motorcycle accident on August 20, 1966. Pete Seeger & Richie Havens sng Jackhammer John; Bob Dylan with the Band sing Grand Coulee Dam, Mrs Roosevelt, and I Ain’t Got No Home. (Rolling Stone magazine article)
January 20 Music et al
Judy in disguise
January 20 – Feb 2, 1968: “Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)” by John Fred & His Playboy Band #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Judy in disguise, well that’s what you are
Lemonade pies with a brand new car
Cantaloupe eyes come to me tonight
Judy in disguise, with glasses
January 20 Music et al
Beatles Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
January 20, 1988, The Beatles inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Paul McCartney did not attend the ceremony, leaving surviving Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr, and Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, to be inducted by Mick Jagger. McCartney released a brief statement that read: ‘’After 20 years, the Beatles still have some business differences, which I had hoped would have been settled by now. Unfortunately, they haven’t been, so I would feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion.’’
On December 23, 1776 Thomas Paine wrote his most famous words and painfully appropriate words: “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
The seventy-seven words that follow those eight are equally appropriate: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.
The reality of life is that trying times give us the opportunity to Rise up!
Activist Art Collective IИDECLIИE
What is INDECLINE? Their webpage‘s answer is simple: INDECLINE is an American Activist Collective founded in 2001. It is comprised of graffiti writers, filmmakers, photographers and full-time rebels and activists. INDECLINE focuses on social, ecological and economical injustices carried out by American and International governments, corporations and law enforcement agencies. INDECLINE is NOT an anarchist group.
Activist Art Collective IИDECLIИE
Projects
What are some of INDECLINE’s projects? In August 2012, the group installed a billboard on Interstate 15 in Las Vegas with Dying for Work in black lettering on a white background and a dummy hanging from it by a noose; a companion billboard, also with a hanged man, read “Hope you’re happy Wall St.”
In April 2015, eight people spent six days creating the largest piece of illegal graffiti in the world: “This land was our land”, painted on a disused military runway in the Mojave Desert. Click the YouTube link below to watch the project.
In October 2015, in response to Trump calling Mexicans “rapists”, the group spray-painted a mural depicting him with the slogan “¡Rape Trump!” on an old border wall on US territory approximately a mile from the Tijuana airport.
In March 2016, members of the group glued names of African-Americans killed by police over names on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and also glued the Indecline logo to the stars.
The project that garnered the most media attention was the Trump statue. Trump statues actually. August 18, 2016, life-sized statues of Trump appeared on sidewalks in Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.
The combination clay/silicone sculptures were unflattering to say the least. The artist depicted a very overweight old person whose face appeared discomforted and had varicose veins, a very small penis, and no scrotum.
Joshua “Ginger” Monroe, the artist, entitled each as The Emperor Has No Balls. In some instances the city removed the statue, in others local merchants bought them.
The New York City Parks Department stated that it “stands firmly against any unpermitted erection in city parks, no matter how small.”
One of the statues was set on the roof of a warehouse overlooking the New Jersey entrance to the Holland Tunnel, where Indecline also placed an inverted US flag.
Activist Art Collective IИDECLIИE
Others…
There most recent project is entitled “Death Metals.” They “re-purposed a gold ore processing facility on the Mojave National Preserve that was closed in 1994 and declared a Superfund site.”
There are many other videos of their work that can be viewed at the group’s site.
January 19,2021: the NFL announced that Sarah Thomas will become the first woman to officiate a Super Bowl. Thomas will serve as a down judge on referee Carl Cheffers’ crew at Super Bowl LV in Tampa, Florida.
Thomas joined the NFL in 2015 as its first female on-field official. [ESPN article] (next Feminism, see Jan 25)
January 19 Peace Love Art Activism
US Labor History
January 19, 1915: guards employed by the Agricultural Fertilizer Chemical Company in Chrome, New Jersey, opened fire on unarmed striking workers, killing two people and wounding eighteen others. The next day, 31 deputy sheriffs were arrested, charged with first-degree murder, and held without bail. The workers eventually won a wage increase and nine of the deputies were convicted of manslaughter and received sentences of between two and ten years each. (Daily Kos article) (see Jan 25)
January 19 Peace Love Art Activism
Immigration History
Watsonvill, CA
Beginning on January 19, 1930, mobs of upwards of 500 whites roamed Watsonville, California, and the surrounding towns and farms, setting upon Filipino farm workers and their property in a rage after Filipino men were seen dancing with white women at a newly opened local dance hall.
In the days and weeks before the rioting, politicians and community leaders had ramped up their anti-Filipino rhetoric, calling the farm workers “a menace,” and demanding that Filipinos be deported so “white people who have inherited this country for themselves and their offspring could live.” A local judge stated, “The worst part of [the Filipino man] being here is his mixing with young white girls from thirteen to seventeen. He gives them silk underwear and makes them pregnant and crowds whites out of jobs in the bargain.”
The Watsonville mob was initially turned away from the dance hall by security guards and the armed owners of the hall, but returned in full force to beat dozens of Filipino farm workers. The beatings continued elsewhere in the area, and on the night of January 22, a mob ransacked Filipino farm workers’ houses and shot into the dwellings, killing Fermin Tobera. No one was ever charged with that murder; seven men were later convicted of rioting, but received either probation or 30 days in jail.
The anti-Filipino frenzy continued in California in the months after the Watsonville riots ended on January 23, 1930, with violence breaking out in Stockton, Salinas, San Francisco, and San Jose. In 1933, California amended the law to prohibit marriages between Filipinos and whites. And in 1934, answering in part a long-standing request of California’s government, Congress reduced Filipino immigration to the United States to just 50 people per year. In September 2011, the California legislature officially expressed regret and apologized for these events and actions. (Santa Cruz Sentinel News article) (see May 24, 1934)
Trump/Wall
January 19, 2019: President Trump announced that he would extend deportation protections for some undocumented immigrants in exchange for $5.7 billion in funding for a wall along the border with Mexico.
The president said he would extend the legal status of those facing deportation and support bipartisan legislation that would allow some immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children, known as Dreamers, to keep their work permits and be protected from deportation for three more years if they were revoked.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said ahead of his remarks that she considered his proposal a “nonstarter,” in part because it offered no permanent pathway to citizenship for Dreamers. (next IH & TW, see Jan 25)
Wall’s expense
January 19, 2020: based on a status report that U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which is overseeing wall construction, had released, on this date, NPR reported that the price tag for President Trump’s border wall had topped $11 billion — or nearly $20 million a mile — and would become the most expensive wall of its kind anywhere in the world. $11 billion had been identified since Trump took office to construct 576 miles of a new “border wall system.” (next Immigration, see Jan 23; next Wall, see Feb 7, or see TW for expanded chronology)
January 19 Peace Love Art Activism
January 19 Music et al
Janis Joplin
January 19, 1943: Janis Joplin born in Port Arthur, TX. (see Janis Joplinfor more)
Ken Kesey arrested again
January 19, 1966: Ken Kesey arrested a second time for marijuana possession. Prankster Mountain Girl (Carolyn Garcia) also arrested. (see Ken Kesey for more) (see Jan 21)
John Lennon inducted
January 19, 1994: John Lennon inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, performers category. (seeNovember 19, 1995)
January 19 Peace Love Art Activism
BLACK HISTORY
Protesters return
On January 18, 1965 Martin Luther King, Jr and John Lewis had led 300 marchers to register. Selma Police Chief Wilson Baker allowed them to march in small groups to the courthouse, but Sheriff Jim Clark had them line up in an alley beside the courthouse, where they were out of sight, and left them there. None were registered.
On January 19, 1965, protesters returned to the courthouse to register and demanded to remain at the front of the building. Clark arrested them (see Jan 22)
Byron De La Beckwith not guilty
January 19, 1974: Byron De La Beckwith was found not guilty of carrying a live time bomb and a pistol on a midnight drive into New Orleans from Mississippi. Beckwith said he was “exceedingly grateful for the kind treatment I have received and I ask the blessing of the most high God on all who have shown me such consideration.” Beckwith had stated during the trial that he did not know he was carrying a time bomb into New Orleans in his car. He said that the was “astounded” to learn from newspaper accounts after his arrest that there was a bomb in his car. (BH, see June 12; Evers, see October 1, 1989)
BLACK & SHOT
January 19, 2017: Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson handed down one-week suspensions to four officers for failing to ensure the dashboard cameras in their squad cars were operating properly on the night of Laquan McDonald’s shooting. (B & S, see Jan 24; McDonald, see Mar 23)
Cold Case Act
January 19, 2019: President Trump signed into law the “Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-426). It authorized the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to create a collection of unsolved civil rights case files. In addition, the law established a Civil Rights Cold Case Review Board to determine which records could be released to the public.
The new law intended to make federal information about investigations of unsolved civil rights cases more readily available to the public. (see Feb 22)
January 19 Peace Love Art Activism
Women’s Health
Clement Haynsworth rejected
January 19, 1970: after the US Senate rejected Clement Haynsworth of South Carolina for an appointment to the US Supreme Court, President Nixon nominated Harold Carswell of the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The nomination became intensely controversial after a reporter discovered the text of a 1948 political campaign speech by Carswell in which he said “I Am A Southerner By Ancestry, Birth, Training, Inclination, Belief And Practice. I Believe That Segregation Of The Races is Proper And The ONLY Practical And Correct Way Of Life In Our States.” Later in the speech he stated, “I Yield To NO MAN, As A Fellow Candidate, Or As A Fellow Citizen, In The Firm Vigirous Belief In The Principles Of White Supremacy, And I Shall Always Be So Governed.” (The speech’s capitalization is as indicated.)
Attorney General John Mitchell, citing an extensive background check by the Justice Department, was willing to forgive, stating that it was unfair to criticize Carswell for “political remarks made 22 years ago.”
Senator Roman Hruska, a Nebraska Republican, stated: “Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they, and a little chance? We can’t have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos.”
On April 8, 1970, the United States Senate refused to confirm Carswell’s nomination to serve on the Supreme Court by a vote of 51 to 45
Nixon then nominated Minnesota judge Harry Blackmun who was confirmed 94–0. Blackmun later became the author of Roe v. Wade. (see April 8)
January 19 Peace Love Art Activism
Watergate Scandal
January 19, 1979: former U.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell was released on parole after 19 months at a federal prison in Alabama. (see Watergate for full story)
January 19 Peace Love Art Activism
Hostage Crisis
January 19, 1981: the United States and Iran signed an agreement paving the way for the release of 52 Americans held hostage for more than 14 months. (see Jan 20)
January 19 Peace Love Art Activism
Nuclear/chemical news
January 19, 1993: U.S. forces fired Tomahawk cruise missiles at Baghdad factories linked to Iraq’s illegal nuclear weapons program. (see April 6, 1993)
On January 9, 2014 it was found that a 48,000-gallon tank was leaking 4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol (MCHM) into the Elk River in West Virginia. The spill affected Charleston and the nine surrounding counties. MCHM is a compound used to wash coal of impurities.
On January 19 West Virginia authorities completely lifted a 10-day-old ban on the use of tap water. The final 2 percent of the 300,000 customers affected by the spill were cleared to drink and wash from their tap, said West Virginia American Water spokeswoman Laura Jordan. Despite the lifting of the ban, dozens of people continued to seek medical attention at hospitals around Charleston for contamination-related illnesses and rashes.
Out of an “abundance of caution,” though, the water utility advised pregnant women to consider an alternative drinking water source “until the chemical is non-detectable in the water distribution system.” (see April 29)
Relaxed Restrictions Struck Down
January 19, 2021: the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia struck down the Trump administration’s plan to relax restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, paving the way for President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. to enact new and stronger restrictions on power plants.
On the last full day of the Trump presidency, it effectively ended the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to weaken and undermine climate change policies and capped a dismal string of failures in which courts threw out one deregulation after another. Experts had widely described the E.P.A.’s losing streak as one of the worst legal recordsof the agency in modern history. [NYT article] (next EI, see Jan 20)
January 19 Peace Love Art Activism
CLINTON IMPEACHMENT
Monica Lewinsky
January 19, 1998: Monica Lewinsky’s name surfaced in the Internet gossip column, the Drudge Report, which mentioned rumors that Newsweek had decided to delay publishing a piece on Lewinsky and the alleged affair.
Clinton defense team
January 19, 1999: President Clinton’s legal team begins a three-day defense of the president.
Clinton admits to lying
January 19, 2001: in a deal sparing himself possible indictment, President Bill Clinton acknowledged for the first time making false statements under oath about Monica Lewinsky; he also surrendered his law license for five years. (see Clintonfor full impeachment information)
January 19 Peace Love Art Activism
LGBTQ
January 19, 2005: The Louisiana Supreme Courtreinstated a ban on marriage between same-sex couples, bringing the number of states with constitutional amendments against marriage to 17. The Supreme Court decision overturned an October 2004 ruling from District Judge William Morvant, who declared that constitutionally excluding same-sex couples from marriage is unconstitutional. (see July 12)
January 19 Peace Love Art Activism
Native Americans
January 19, 2019: a group of boys from Covington Catholic High School, an all-male college preparatory school in Park Hills, Ky., near Cincinnati. came to Washington on a field trip to rally at the March for Life.
Nathan Phillips, an Omaha elder, a veteran of the Vietnam War and the former director of the Native Youth Alliance, was there to raise awareness at the Indigenous Peoples March.
In a video posted widely on social media, the boys, predominantly white and wearing “Make America Great Again” gear, were seen surrounding Phillips, jeering him. Phillips said, ”I heard them saying ‘Build that wall! Build that wall!’”
In a statement, the Diocese of Covington and Covington Catholic High School condemned the behavior by the students and extended their “deepest apologies” to the elder, as well as to Native Americans in general. [NYT article] (see Apr 2)
January 19 Peace Love Art Activism
Voting Rights
January 19, 2022: Senate Democrats suffered a major defeat in their efforts to pass voting rights legislation — a key issue for the party, which is under pressure to take action ahead of the midterm elections just months away.
An attempt by Democrats to change filibuster rules in order to pass a voting bill failed amid opposition from moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. The vote was 52-48, with the two moderates joining all GOP senators. After the vote failed, there was a loud round of applause from Republicans. [CNN article] (next VR, see June 8, 2023)
Space
January 19, 2024: a Japanese robotic spacecraft successfully set down on the moon— but its solar panels were not generating power, which would cut the length of time it would be able to operate to a few hours.
With the achievement, Japan became the fifth country to send a spacecraft that made a soft landing on the moon. [NYT article] (next Space, see Jan 25)
January 19 Peace Love Art Activism
What's so funny about peace, love, art, and activism?
