April 9, 1961: Greenwich Village folk song fans battled the police for two hours in Washington Square. Police arrested ten demonstrators. Several persons, including three policemen, were hurt. Follow link above for more. (see NYC bans for expanded story)
April 9 Music et al
West Side Story
April 9, 1962: 1961 Oscars held. Bob Hope hosts. The Best Picture winner was West Side Story. The film had eleven nominations and ten Oscar wins (losing only its Screenplay nomination) – close to matching the record established by Ben-Hur (1959) with its twelve nominations and eleven Oscars.
April 9 Music et al
(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration
April 9 – 29, 1966: “(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration” by The Righteous Brothers #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
From Wikipedia: The song was written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil who were part of the legendary Brill Building pop machine in New York City. They first started writing it following the success of the Righteous Brothers’ first single with Phil Spector, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'”, a song they also wrote. However, the song was not completed as they thought it sounded too much like “Lovin’ Feelin”, and Spector chose instead to record Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s “Just Once in My Life” with the duo as their second single.
After leaving Spector’s Philles Records in late 1965, the Righteous Brothers moved to the mostly jazz-oriented Verve label. Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers then made inquiry to Mann about the incomplete “Soul and Inspiration” that the songwriters had previously played to Medley when they first started writing it, and asked them to complete the song. Mann and Weil complied with the wishes of Medley, and the Righteous Brothers then recorded the finished song.
The song was arranged by Jack Nitzsche who arranged many of Phil Spector’s song.
April 9 Music et al
Nashville Skyline
April 9, 1969: Bob Dylan released Nashville Skyline, his ninth album and the last album of the 1960s. He had recorded Feb 12 – 21, 1969.
Like any Beatle release, Dylan’s move toward a more country sound pushed many groups in that direction as well as attracting Dylan fans to bands already in that genre.
April 9 Music et al
“It Don’t Come Easy”
April 9, 1971: Ringo’s “It Don’t Come Easy” released in UK. It will be released in US on April 16.
Ringo is the only songwriter credited on this, but he had a lot of help from George Harrison, who was very generous in giving his buddy full writing credit. The track (less Ringo’s vocal and horn parts) was already completed when Harrison gave it to him, and it included a scratch vocal by George.
This was Ringo’s first big hit as a solo artist (his cover of “Beaucoups of Blues” made #87 US a year earlier). (see Apr 15)
April 9 Music et al
Phil Ochs
April 9, 1976: Phil Ochs committed suicide.
From the New York Times: Phil Ochs, the folk singer, guitarist and lyricist whose music provided some of the strongest notes of protest against the Vietnam War in the early 1960’s, committed suicide yesterday morning at his sister’s home in Far Rockaway, Queens, the family reported.
“Phil had been very depressed for a long time,” a family friend said. “Mainly, the words weren’t coming to him anymore.”
Mr. Ochs, who was 35 years old, had been living with his sister, Sonny Tanzman, since December, according to a family friend. He died by hanging.
April 9, 1865: Iroquois Ely Samuel Parker was brevetted brigadier general of volunteers in the Union Army.
During the Civil War, Parker, a close friend and colleague of General Ulysses S. Grant, served the Union cause and penned the final copy of the Confederate army’s surrender terms at the Appomattox Courthouse in 1865.
April 9, 1866: the Civil Rights Act of 1866, enacted. It was a federal law that was mainly intended to protect the civil rights of African-Americans, in the wake of the American Civil War. The Act had been approved by Congress in 1865 but vetoed by President Andrew Johnson. In April 1866 Congress again passed the bill. Although Johnson again vetoed it, a two-thirds majority in each house overcame the veto and the bill became law.
The act made it illegal to discriminate in jobs and housing on the basis of race. However, federal penalties were not provided for, so that remedies were left to the individuals involved. Because those being discriminated against had limited access to legal help, this left many victims of discrimination without recourse. (House dot gov article) (see May 15, 1911)
Scottsboro Nine
April 9, 1931: the case against Roy Wright, aged 13, ended in a hung jury when 11 jurors seek a death sentence, and one votes for life imprisonment. That same day, Judge Hawkins sentenced the eight convicted defendants to death by electric chair. Hawkins set the executions for July 10, 1931, the earliest date Alabama law allowed.
April 9, 1933: a jury found Haywood Patterson guilty and sentenced him to death in the electric chair. (seeScottsborofor expanded story)
Marian Anderson
April 9, 1939: Marian Anderson performed at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., after she was denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution because of her race. (see Aug 21)
Journey of Reconciliation
April 9, 1947: in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision (see June 3, 1946) that outlawed segregation on interstate buses, a group of 16 black and white men rode South together on the first freedom ride, known as the “Journey of Reconciliation.” The Congress of Racial Equality and the Fellowship of Reconciliation sponsored the ride, meant to challenge Jim Crow laws. Two African Americans, Bayard Rustin and Andrew Johnson, served on a chain gang for 30 days after their conviction in North Carolina. (Ncpedia article) (see Apr 15)
Corporal Roman Ducksworth Jr–Black & Shot
April 9, 1962: stationed at Fort Ritchie, Maryland, Corporal Roman Ducksworth Jr. ,27, was on emergency leave and taking a bus to his hometown, Taylorsville, Mississippi, where his family had lived for more than 50 years. He was going home to be with his wife during a difficult pregnancy.
Ducksworth was asleep on the bus when he arrived home. William Kelly, a local policeman, struck Ducksworth and ordered him off the bus. Kelly hit Ducksworth again and then shot him. Kelly claimed he shot Ducksworth in self-defense.
Later Kelly sent a message to Ducksworth’s father: “If I’d known it was your son I wouldn’t have shot him.” The father replied, “I don’t care whose son it was, you had no business shooting him.”
Ducksworth’s wife gave birth that same day to their sixth child.
Ducksworth was buried with full military honors, including a 16-gun salute by an integrated honor guard. He is among 40 martyrs listed on the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Ala.
On April 8, 1964 the Mississippi legislature had enacted the Mississippi Anti-Picketing Law, which, as amended, prohibited “picketing . . . in such a manner as to obstruct or unreasonably interfere with free ingress or egress to and from any county . . . courthouses. . . .” On April 9, 1964, the sheriff read the new law to the pickets, ordered them to disperse, and removed the barricades. (see Apr 10)
Riots following murder of Martin Luther King, Jr
April 9, 1968: riots in Kansas City, Missouri riot and Trenton, NJ (BH, see Apr 11; RR, see Apr 25)
Trayvon Martin Shooting
April 9, 2012: Florida State Attorney Angela Corey, special prosecutor appointed to investigate the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, said that she had decided not to convene a grand jury in the case. The prosecutor said in a statement that her decision “should not be considered a factor in the final determination of the case.” (see Apr 10)
137 Shots
April 9, 2015: on the third day of testimony, Cleveland police officer Michael Demchak refused to testify. Prosecutors had gotten through just a couple basic questions about the identity and work history of Demchak before he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on the witness stand.
According to a report from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Demchak was one of the 13 officers that fired their guns on the night of November 2012, when the two unarmed suspects were killed. Investigators had concluded Demchak fired his gun four times. (see 137 for much expanded chronology)
April 9 Peace Love Art Activism
Space Race
NASA Astronauts
April 9, 1959: the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration introduced the first seven astronauts to the world. Without yet performing a task, they are instantly hailed and embraced as heroes by the American public. (seeMay 28)
April 9, 1961: Greenwich Village folk song fans battled the police for two hours in Washington Square. Police arrested ten demonstrators. Several persons, including three policemen, were hurt. (see Banfor expanded story)
West Side Story
April 9, 1962: 1961 Oscars held. Bob Hope hosts. The Best Picture winner was West Side Story. The film had eleven nominations and ten Oscar wins (losing only its Screenplay nomination) – close to matching the record established by Ben-Hur (1959) with its twelve nominations and eleven Oscars.
(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration
April 9 – 29, 1966: “(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration” by The Righteous Brothers #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Nashville Skyline
April 9, 1969 Dylan released his last album of the 1960s: Nashville Skyline. Recorded Feb 12 – 21, 1969.
In August, although in his “backyard,” Dylan was never in serious negotiation to play at Woodstock. Instead, in mid-July, Dylan had signed to play the Isle of Wight Festival of Music.
Dylan set sail for England on Queen Elizabeth 2 on August 15, the day the Woodstock Festival started. His son was injured by a cabin door and the family disembarked. Dylan, with his wife Sara, flew to England the following week. (see Isle for that festival story)
“It Don’t Come Easy”
April 9, 1971: Ringo’s “It Don’t Come Easy” released in UK. It will be released in US on April 16. (see Apr 15)
Phil Ochs
April 9, 1976: Phil Ochs committed suicide.
April 9 Peace Love Art Activism
Technological Milestone
Astrodome
April 9, 1965: (from the AP) HOUSTON, Tex. — There was a bomb scare but President Johnson showed no concern Friday night as he and 47,876 other fans watched air conditioned baseball. An anonymous report that a bomb had been placed in the $31.6 million Harris County Domed Stadium proved false but it caused the President and the first lady to be late for the opening of the all-weather structure. They saw 7 1/2 innings as the Houston Astros opened their astrodome by beating the New York Yankees 2-1 in 12 innings. The President told newsmen he was impressed with the stadium, which permits professional baseball to move indoors for the first time. Because of the bomb scare, the presidential party watched the game from the private suite of Roy Hofheinz and R.E. (Bob) Smith, owner of the Astros. The suite is 30 feet above the right field pavilion and the crowd saw the President and Mrs. Johnson only through its windows. They did not go down on the playing field. [ballparksofbaseball dot com article] (see Apr 27)
April 9 Peace Love Art Activism
Vietnam
STUDENT ACTIVISM
April 9, 1969: approximately 300 students seized the Harvard University Administration Building. They were mostly members of the Students for a Democratic Society. Before the takeover ended, 45 were injured and 184 arrested. (Vietnam, see Apr 23; Student Activism, see May 15)
April 9 Peace Love Art Activism
AIDS & Ryan White
April 9, 1986: White’s case is presented in U.S. Circuit Court. (see Ryan Whitefor expanded story)
April 9 Peace Love Art Activism
Dissolution of the USSR
INDEPENDENCE DAY
April 9, 1991: the Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union. (NYT article) (see Aug 20)
April 9 Peace Love Art Activism
CLINTON IMPEACHMENT
April 9, 1998: a second White House steward called to testify before the grand jury in a supposed effort to learn of meetings between the president and Monica Lewinsky. (see Clinton for expanded story)
April 9 Peace Love Art Activism
Iraq War II
April 9, 2003: U.S. forces seized control of Baghdad, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein. (Washington Post article) (see May 1)
April 9 Peace Love Art Activism
Tulsa shootings
April 9, 2012: Judge William Hiddle set bail at $9.1 million each for Alvin Watts and Jacob C. England. (see Apr 13)
April 9 Peace Love Art Activism
US Labor History
April 9, 2021: Amazon workers at a giant warehouse in Alabama voted decisively against forming a union, squashing the most significant organizing drive in the internet giant’s history and dealing a crushing blow to labor and Democrats when conditions appeared ripe for them to make advances.
Workers cast 1,798 votes against a union, giving Amazon enough to emphatically defeat the effort. Ballots in favor of a union trailed at 738, fewer than 30 percent of the votes tallied, according to federal officials.
The lopsided outcome at the 6,000-person warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., came even as the pandemic’s effect on the economy and the election of a pro-labor president had made the country more aware of the plight of essential workers. [NYT story] (next LH, see Apr 26)
Environmental Issues
April 9, 2024: the Biden administration announced that more than 200 chemical plants across the country would be required to curb the toxic pollutants they released into the air.
The regulation was aimed at reducing the risk of cancer for people living near industrial sites. It was the first time in nearly two decades that the government had tightened limits on pollution from chemical plants.
The new Environmental Protection Agency rule specifically targeted ethylene oxide, which was used to sterilize medical devices, and chloroprene, which was used to make rubber in footwear. [NYT article] (next EI, see April 10)
April 8, 1911: the Banner Mine near Birmingham exploded, killing 128 convicts leased to the Pratt Consolidated Coal Company. A local newspaper listed the crimes of the victims next to their names: vagrancy, weapons violations, bootlegging, and gambling. A rural newspaper observed, “Several negroes from this section . . . were caught in the Banner mine explosion. That is a pretty tight penalty to pay for selling booze.”
By 1910, the State of Alabama had become the sixth largest coal producer in the United States. Between 1875 and 1900, Alabama’s coal production grew from 67,000 tons to 8.4 million tons. This growth was driven in large part by the expansion of convict leasing in the state; in Birmingham, the center of the state’s coal production, more than 25 percent of miners were leased convicts. In addition, more than 50 percent of all miners in the state had learned to mine while working as convicts.
State officials quickly learned how to use the convict leasing system to disproportionately exploit black people. In an average year, 97 percent of Alabama’s county convicts were black. When coal companies’ labor needs increased, local police swept small-town streets for vagrants, gamblers, drunks, and thieves, targeting hundreds of black Alabamians for arrest. These citizens were then tried and convicted, sentenced to sixty- or ninety-days hard labor plus court costs, and handed over to the mines. Employers frequently held and worked convicts well beyond their scheduled release dates since local officials had no incentive to intervene and prisoners lacked the resources and power to demand enforcement.
Conditions in the mines were deplorable. Convicts were often chained together in ankle-deep water, working 12- to 16-hour shifts with no breaks, and surviving on fistfuls of spoiled meat and cornbread stuffed into the rags they wore for uniforms. Describing the experience, a black former convict laborer recalled that the prisoners had slept in their chains, covered with “filth and vermin,” and the powder cans used as slop jars frequently overflowed and ran over into their beds.
April 8 – 9, 1931: Olen Montgomery, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams, and Andy Wright were tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. (see Scottsboro for expanded story)
George Whitmore, Jr.
April 8, 1969: Justice Julius Helf upheld the validity of the identification, saying there was “an unmistakable ring of truth to her testimony.” (next BH, see Apr 19; see Whitmore for expanded story)
FREE SPEECH blocked
April 8, 1964: the Mississippi legislature enacted the Mississippi Anti-Picketing Law, which, as amended, prohibited “picketing . . . in such a manner as to obstruct or unreasonably interfere with free ingress or egress to and from any county . . . courthouses. . . .” (text of law)(see Apr 9)
Black & Shot
April 8, 2015: North Charleston, S.C. officer, Michael T. Slager, who was arrested after shooting and killing an unarmed Walter Scott, was fired from the department and the police chief said that he was appalled by what a video of the encounter revealed.
“I have watched the video and I was sickened by what I saw,” Eddie Driggers, the North Charleston police chief, told reporters, at an emotional and often chaotic news conference, with protesters repeatedly shouting and interrupting. “And I have not watched it since.” Asked whether the proper protocols were followed after the shooting, Chief Driggers said, “Obviously not.” (2017 NYT story) (B & S, see Apr 13; Scott, see June 8)
April 8, 1935: Congress approved the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, the work relief bill that funded the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Created by President Franklin Roosevelt to relieve the economic hardship of the Great Depression, this national works program (renamed the Work Projects Administration beginning in 1939) employed more than 8.5 million people on 1.4 million public projects before it was disbanded in 1943. The WPA employed skilled and unskilled workers in a great variety of work projects—many of which were public works projects such as creating parks, and building roads and bridges, and schools and other public structures. (see July 27)
April 8, 1974: the prosecution closed its case in the murder trial of W. A. Boyle, the former head of the United Mine Workers of America, after the state’s key witness testified that he had heard Mr. Boyle give the orders in 1969 to “take care of” Joseph A. Yablonski. (see Apr 11)
April 8, 1960: Elvis records “Soldier Boy” as part of his first post-military service album. (see Apr 20)
Julian Lennon
April 8, 1963: Julian Lennon born to John and Cynthia. (see Apr 13)
Lawrence of Arabia
April 8, 1963, 1962 Oscars held. Frank Sinatra hosts. Lawrence of Arabia, with ten nominations and seven Oscars, was the Best Film winner. This was the first of four British-made films that won the top Best Picture Oscar in the decade of the 1960s. The other three were Tom Jones (1963), A Man For All Seasons (1966), and Oliver! (1968).
John Lennon’s Rolls Royce
April 8, 1967: John Lennon took his Rolls Royce to coachbuilders J.P. Fallon Ltd in Surrey to inquire if they could paint his car in psychedelic colors. This was based on an idea by Marijke Koger (“The Fool” who was a member of Dutch team of gypsy artists). J.P. Fallon commissioned Steve Weaver’s pattern of scroll and flowers for the Phantom V. The cost for having the work done came in at £2,000. A custom interior/exterior sound system was also installed as well as a Sony television; telephone (WEYBRIDGE 46676) and a portable refrigerator. (see Apr 19)
April 8, 1968: U.S. forces in Operation Pegasus finally retake Route 9, ending the siege of Khe Sanh. A 77 day battle, Khe Sanh had been the biggest single battle of the Vietnam War to that point. The official assessment of the North Vietnamese Army dead is just over 1,600 killed, with two divisions all but annihilated. But thousands more were probably killed by American bombing. (2014 Time/Life article) (see Apr 11)
April 8 Peace Love Art Activism
Women’s Health
April 8, 1970: in a 51 – 45 vote, the US Senatevoted down G Harrold Carswell’s Supreme Court nomination. Seventeen Democrats and twenty-eight Republicans voted for Carswell. Thirty-eight Democrats and thirteen Republicans voted against him. President Nixon accused Democrats of having an anti-Southern bias as a result saying, “After the Senate’s action yesterday in rejecting Judge Carswell, I have reluctantly concluded that it is not possible to get confirmation for the judge on the Supreme Court of any man who believes in the strict construction of the Constitution as I do, if he happens to come from the South.” (seeApr 14)
Eric Rudolph
April 8, 2005: the Dept of Justice announced that Eric Rudolph (see January 16) had agreed to a plea bargainunder which he would plead guilty to all charges he was accused of in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. The deal was confirmed after the FBI found 250 pounds of dynamite he hid in the forests of North Carolina. His revealing the hiding places of the dynamite was a condition of his plea agreement. He made his pleas in person in Birmingham and Atlanta courts on April 13. (see July 18)
April 8 Peace Love Art Activism
AIDS & Ryan White
April 8, 1990: Ryan White died. He is buried in Cicero, close to the home of his mother. In the year following his death, his grave was vandalized on four occasions. (AIDS, see July 26; see White for expanded story)
April 8 Peace Love Art Activism
Sexual Abuse of Children
Rev Paul Shanley
April 8, 2002: file released on the Rev Paul Shanley, alleging he publicly advocated sex between men and boys and still received the backing of the archdiocese for his ministry. (see Apr 23)
April 8 Peace Love Art Activism
Immigration History
Luis Ramirez
April 8, 2009: Colin Walsh pleaded guilty to one felony violation of the Federal Fair Housing Act for his role in aiding and abetting Brandon Piekarsky, 19, and Derrick Donchak, 21, in the beating death of Louis Ramirez. (see Ramirez for expanded chronology)
Asylum seekers
April 8, 2019: Judge Richard Seeborg of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California blocked President Trump’s effortsto force asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases were adjudicated by the immigration courts — a practice that immigration advocates called inhumane and illegal.
Seeborg found that existing law did not give the Trump administration the power to enforce the policy, known as “migrant protection protocols,” which were introduced in San Diego and expanded to other parts of California and Texas.
The judge said in his ruling that in addition to violating immigration laws, the protocols did not include “sufficient safeguards” to comply with the Department of Homeland Security’s obligation against returning migrants to places where their “life or freedom would be threatened.” (next IH, see Apr 12)
April 8 Peace Love Art Activism
Tulsa shootings
April 8, 2012: Police arrested two men — 19-year-old Jake England and 32-year-old Alvin Watts — in connections with shootings that left three people dead (two men and a women: Bobby Clark, 54; William Allen, 31; and Dannaer Fields, 49.
The two people who were wounded did not sustain life-threatening injuries and were released from the hospital). (see Apr 9)
April 8 Peace Love Art Activism
Anti-Muslim Terry Jones
April 8, 2014: Terry Jones’s lawyer announced that Jones would take a plea deal that would drop the felony charge. Jones said he would plead guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge. His goal was to be able to continue to carry a gun legally. Jones said he receives so many death threats, he must be able to continue to carry a weapon. If he were a convicted felon, he would lose that right.
April 8 Peace Love Art Activism
TERRORISM
April 8, 2015: a Boston jury found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 21-year-old who admitted he and his brother bombed the 2013 Boston Marathon, guilty on all 30 counts against him, including conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and bombing of a public place.
The jury of five men and seven women deliberated for roughly 11 hours over two days before reaching a verdict. It took more than 20 minutes for a court clerk to read the entire verdict. Tsarnaev stood, but displayed no reaction as it was announced. (see May 15)
April 8 Peace Love Art Activism
Environmental Issues &Nuclear/Chemical News
April 8, 2019: an article published in the Geophysical Research Letters found that shrimp-like critters from three West Pacific ocean trenches were found to munch on food that sinks down from the surface, leaving a unique chemical signature from decades-old nuclear bomb tests in the bodies of the deep-sea crustaceans.
Weidong Sun, a geochemist at the Institute of Oceanology in China and coauthor of the study, found elevated levels of carbon-14, a heavy variant of carbon, in the amphipods’ muscle tissue and gut contents.
The levels closely matched abundances found near the surface of the ocean, where the amount of carbon-14 is higher than usual thanks to nuclear bomb tests conducted more than half a century ago. [Smithsonian Magazine article] (next EI, see Apr 19; next N/C, see June 30)
April 8 Peace Love Art Activism
What's so funny about peace, love, art, and activism?
