May 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

May 28, 1830: President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which authorized the President to grant land west of the Mississippi River in exchange for the lands of the American Indian tribes living primarily in the southeastern United States. President Jackson’s message to Congress stated a double goal of the Indian Removal Act: freeing more land in southern states like Alabama and Mississippi, while also separating the Indians from “immediate contact with settlements of whites” in the hopes that they will one day “cast off their savage habits and become an interesting, civilized, and Christian community.” [PBS article] (see March 18, 1831)

May 28 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

East St Louis attack

May 28, 1917: in East St. Louis, Illinois, a meeting of 3000 white union members marched on the Mayor’s office to make demands about the job competition resulting from the city’s growing African American population. The disgruntled union members were upset that African Americans who had migrated from the South were being hired by companies who wanted to weaken the bargaining power of white unions. The large group quickly devolved into an angry mob, and rioted through the streets of East St. Louis, destroying property and physically assaulting African Americans at random.

Local law enforcement was unable to control the large crowd and the National Guard was deployed to regain order in the community. After the riots were calmed, little action was taken to prevent the violence from restarting and none of the union’s participants were arrested. New agreements were not established with white unions and local police were not better equipped to handle large mobs. [images via sttoday dot com]  (BH, see July 1; RR, see July 2)

Woolworth’s lunch counter

May 28, 1963: Black and white civil rights activists were attacked as they took part in a sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Jackson, Mississippi. One of them, John Salter, said, “I was attacked with fists, brass knuckles and the broken portions of glass sugar containers, and was burned with cigarettes. I’m covered with blood, and we were all covered by salt, sugar, mustard, and various other things.” The protest came eight days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state enforcement of restaurant segregation is a violation of the 14th Amendment. M.J. O’Brien’s book, We Shall Not Be Moved: The Jackson Woolworth’s Sit-In and the Movement It Inspired, describes that event. [Zinn Education article] (see June 4)

Miami revolt

May 28, 1993: in a decision met with anger and dismay among blacks in Miami, police officer William Lozano, who was convicted in 1989 on two counts of manslaughter in the shooting deaths of two young black men, was acquitted in a second trial on the same charges. [Washington Post article] (BH, see Aug 4; RR, see April 18, 1994)

Vernon Dahmer

May 28, 1998: Sam Bowers (73) was arrested again for the death of Vernon Dahmer (see January 10, 1966). The jury had deadlocked In each of the four previous trials. [SPLC article] (BH, see June 7; Dahmer, see Aug 21)

Negro League

May 23, 2024: Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that it is now incorporating statistics of Negro Leagues that operated in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s into its record books.

“This initiative is focused on ensuring that future generations of fans have access to the statistics and milestones of all those who made the Negro Leagues possible,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement provided to The Associated Press.

Black players were barred from MLB until Jackie Robinson broke the league’s color barrier in 1947 when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. That breakthrough ultimately led to the Negro Leagues ending play in 1960. [CBS News article] (next BH, see )

 

 

May 28 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAYS

May 28, 1918

1) Armenia independent from Ottoman Empire. [100 years 100 facts article]

2) Azerbaijan independent from the Russian Empire. [Wiki source article]  (see October 28, 1918)

May 28 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

May 28, 1934 (Monday): the union agreed to submit their grievances to mediation, but Auto-Lite officials refused these terms. A company union calling itself the Auto-Lite Council injected itself into the negotiations, demanding that all replacement workers be permitted to keep their jobs. In contrast, the union demanded that all strikebreakers be fired. Meanwhile, Judge Stuart began processing hundreds of contempt of court cases associated with the strike. Arthur Garfield Hays, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, traveled to Toledo and represented nearly all those who came before Judge Stuart. (see Toledo for expanded chronology)

May 28 Peace Love Art Activism

see May 28 Music et al for more

John Fogerty

May 28, 1945: John Fogerty born

Hendrix obsessed

May 28, 1962: Sergeant Louis J Hoekstra filed a statement against Jimi Hendrix for missing bed check and being obsessed with his guitar. (see Military for expanded chronology)

Herbie Hancock

May 28, 1962: Herbie Hancock recorded Takin’ Off  album at Van Gelder Studios.

LSD

May 28, 1963:  Weil and Russin wrote a scathing critique of Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert’s work in the Harvard Crimson. Part of the article read: Far from exercising the caution that characterizes the published statements of most scientists, Leary and Alpert, in their papers and speeches, have been given to making the kind of pronouncement about their work that one associates with quacks. They also wrote: “The shoddiness of their work as scientists is the result less of incompetence than of a conscious rejection of scientific ways of looking at things. Leary and Alpert fancy themselves ‘prophets’ of a psychic revolution designed to free Western man from the limitations of consciousness as we know it.”  (see September Music…)

When A Man Loves a Woman

May 28 – June 10, 1966: “When A Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

What Now My Love

May 28 – July 22, 1966: Herb Albert’s What Now My Love  is the Billboard #1 album.

The Road to Bethel

May 28, 1969: Mel Lawrence presented first “checklist” for the festival’s execution. Incredible String Band and Ravi Shankar signed. $4,500 each. Also at this time (late May) newspapers began to display the first print advertisements for the festival. (see Road for expanded story)

May 28 Peace Love Art Activism

 Space Race

May 28, 1959: NASA launched Miss Baker and Able, two monkeys, from Cape Canaveral and successfully recovered them after their Atlantic Ocean landing.

America’s first attempt to send up a monkey was in 1948. For over a decade, all monkey flights failed for one reason or another. [NPR story] (see Sept 14)

May 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Amnesty International

May 28, 1961, the British newspaper The London Observer published British lawyer Peter Benenson’s article “The Forgotten Prisoners” on its front page, launching the Appeal for Amnesty 1961–a campaign calling for the release of all people imprisoned in various parts of the world because of the peaceful expression of their beliefs. The article will spur the establishment of Amnesty International, a non-governmental organization focused on human rights. [Amnesty International site]

May 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

May 28, 1970: The National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia was incorporated in the District of Columbia. Voting membership is comprised of wives, children, parents, siblings and other close blood and legal relatives of Americans who were or are listed as Prisoners of War (POW), Missing in Action (MIA), Killed in Action/Body not Recovered (KIA/BNR) and returned American Vietnam War POWs. (see June Peace…)

May 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Falklands War

May 28 – 29, 1982: Battle of Goose Green. Seventeen British soldiers from 2 Para killed in two days of fierce fighting, which ended in Argentine surrender with dozens killed and more than 1,000 taken as prisoners of war. [War History article] (see June 8)

May 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Religion and Public Education

May 28, 1982: in an attempt to permit some form of prayer in its public schools, the state of Alabama enacted a law requiring a “moment of silence” in classrooms at the start of each school day. Ishmael Jaffree filed complaint on this day on behalf of his three children, challenging the constitutionality of the law. [FFRF article] (Religion, see June 29, 1983; Jaffree, see June 4, 1985)

May 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

Pakistan nuclear tests

May 28, 1998: in response to a series of Indian nuclear tests, Pakistan exploded 5 nuclear devices of its own in the Chaghai hills of Baluchistan. [Guardian article] (see May 30)

ICAN

May 28, 2010: the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons [ICAN] campaigners at the NPT Review Conference in New York called on governments to support a nuclear weapons convention. While references to a convention were included in the final document, ICAN was already considering a shift in strategy toward a new treaty banning nuclear weapons in order to empower non-nuclear-weapon states to assume more effective leadership. (Nuclear, see May 30 ; ICAN, see June 27, 2011)

May 28 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

May 28, 1998: Ken Starr asked the Supreme Court to expedite their ruling on executive privilege. Monica Lewinsky gave handwriting and fingerprints samples to the FBI at Ken Starr’s request. (see Clinton for expanded story)

May 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

May 28, 2019: the Supreme Court said that a provision of an Indiana law which said the state may prohibit abortions motivated solely by race, sex or disability should remain blocked.

The court, however, did say it would allow part of the law that requires clinics to bury or cremate fetal remains to take effect.

Then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence had signed the law in March 2016. Judge William Bauer of the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals blocked it last year.

In his decision Bauer wrote that provisions in the law that bar women from seeking abortions in certain cases “clearly violate” what he described as “well-established Supreme Court precedent, and were therefore, unconstitutional.”

Justice Clarence Thomas agreed that the court was right not to take up the provision at this time, but said justices “soon need to confront” the issue. (see June 10)

May 28 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

May 28, 2019: the US Supreme Court left in place a lower court ruling in favor of a Pennsylvania school district policy that allowed some transgender students to use bathrooms that matched their gender identity.

The case was a challenge to a Pennsylvania’s school district’s policy that allowed some transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity. The plaintiffs were students who said the policy violated their privacy rights and constitutes sexual harassment in violation of Title IX, a federal law that bars discrimination based on sex in educational institutions that receive federal funds.

The ruling was issued without comment. (see June 6)

May 28 Peace Love Art Activism

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

Feminism

May 27, 1647: Achsah (sometimes rendered “Alice”) Young of Windsor, Connecticut, became the first person executed in North America for witchcraft when she was hanged in Hartford, Conn. [Jurist article] (see June 15, 1648)

Hall v Florida

May 27, 2014: the Supreme Court decided 5 – 4 that Florida’s threshold requirement, as interpreted by the Florida Supreme Court, that defendants show an IQ test score of 70 or below before being permitted to submit additional intellectual disability evidence was unconstitutional because it created an unacceptable risk that persons with intellectual disabilities will be executed.

Twelve years after leaving it to the states to decide when an individual convicted of murder was too intellectually incapacitated to be executed, the divided Supreme Court withdrew some of that discretion.  The states cannot use a fixed IQ score as the measure of incapacity to be put to death.  “Intellectual incapacity,” the Court said, “is a condition, not a number.”

But even the new attempt at guidance may have left some uncertainty.  While states were told that they cannot make an IQ test score anywhere above 70 as permission for an individual’s execution, it did say that it was not ruling on whether a state could set the fixed score at 75 or above, and use that alone as the measure.  [Oyez article] (see July 16)

Nebraska death penalty

May 27, 2015: Nebraska became the first conservative state in more than 40 years to abolish the death penalty, with lawmakers defying their Republican governor, Pete Ricketts, a staunch supporter of capital punishment who had lobbied vigorously against banning it. After more than two hours of emotional speeches at the Capitol, the Legislature, by a 30-to-19 vote that cut across party lines, overrode the governor’s veto of a bill repealing the state’s death penalty law. After the repeal measure passed, by just enough votes to overcome the veto, dozens of spectators in the balcony burst into celebration. [DP information center article]  (DP, see June 8; Nebraska, see November 9, 2016)

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

May 27, 1668: three colonists were expelled from Massachusetts for being Baptist. (see May 11, 1682)

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Black History

Ida B Wells

May 27, 1892: while black journalist Ida B. Wells was away visiting Philadelphia, a white mob attacked and destroyed her newspaper’s office in Memphis, Tennessee and threatened her with bodily harm if she returned to the city.

On March 9, three black men had been lynched in Memphis. Ms. Wells, 29, was a local black schoolteacher, editor, and co-owner of The Free Speech and Headlight newspaper, and a friend of the three men. Though Ms. Wells was already a popular journalist and advocate of black causes, the lynchings of her friends inspired her to examine the frequency of racial terror lynching and the false charges often used to justify it. She used the newspaper as a forum to share information she gathered. (next BH, see June 7; next Wells, see July 31, 1896)

Scottsboro Nine

May 27, 1932: the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear the Scottsboro cases. (see Scottsboro for expanded story)

Judge Tom P. Brady

May 27, 1954: Judge Tom P. Brady of Brookhaven, Mississippi delivered a defiant speech called “Black Monday” in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, inspiring many white leaders to join the white Citizens’ Council. The racist diatribe was printed in books and distributed to white schoolchildren across Mississippi. Brady pointed to specific moments in history from ancient times, to the period of the Civil War, as proof of the natural order of subordination of African Americans to whites. He went on to discuss what he saw as the nation’s infringement on states’ rights, and campaigns against national laws that undermine the way that the people in Mississippi wish to treat African-American people. He argued that anti-civil rights activists needed to take action against civil rights laws and against an empowered African-American people. [1973 NYT obit](see June 10)

George Whitmore, Jr

May 27, 1966: Justice Aaron Goldstein sentenced  Whitmore to five to ten years in prison for the attempted rape and assault. With time off for good behavior and credit for 25 months already served, Whitmore was eligible for release in. (see Whitmore for expanded story)

Green v. County School Board of New Kent County

May 27, 1968: the US Supreme Court ordered states to dismantle segregated school systems “root and branch.” The Court identified five factors — facilities, staff, faculty, extracurricular activities and transportation — to be used to gauge a school system’s compliance with the mandate of Brown. In a private note to Justice Brennan, Justice Warren wrote: “When this opinion is handed down, the traffic light will have changed from Brown to Green. Amen!”  [Oyez article] (BH, see May 27; SD, see Oct 29, 1969)

Louisville riot

May 27, 1968: Louisville, Kentucky riot in response to the Martin Luther King, Jr assassination. [images] (BH, see Sept 8; RR, see October 31, 1969 )

137 SHOTS

May 27, 2015: authorities said that Cleveland police Officer Michael Brelo allegedly engaged in a fight with his twin brother during a night of drinking. Michael Brelo and his brother, Mark, faced assault charges. The fight between the twins occurred at Michael Brelo’s home after 4 a.m. on May 27, according to police in Bay Village, Ohio. (see 137 for expanded story)

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Battle of Toledo, day 5

May 27, 1934 (Sunday): almost all picketing and rioting within the now eight-block-wide zone surrounding the Auto-Lite plant ceased. (see Toledo for expanded chronology)

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

May 27 Music et al

“From Me to You”

May 27, 1963: The Beatles released their second US single:  “From Me to You.” (March 15 was first release) It peaked at #116 on the national charts in August. In Los Angeles, it peaked at the same time at #32.

In 1980, John Lennon said, “We were writing it in a car, I think… and I think the first line was mine. I mean, I know it was mine. (humms melody) And then after that we just took it from there. We were just writing the next single. It was far bluesier than that when we wrote it. The notes, today.. you could rearrange it pretty funky.” (see June Peace…)

The Freewheelin Bob Dylan 

May 27, 1963: released his second album, The Freewheelin Bob Dylan.

The album cover features Dylan with Suze Rotolo. It was taken in February 1963 by CBS staff photographer Don Hunstein at the corner of Jones Street and West 4th Street in the West Village, close to the apartment where they couple lived.

Critic Janet Maslin summed up the iconic impact of the cover as “a photograph that inspired countless young men to hunch their shoulders, look distant, and let the girl do the clinging.” (see Freewheelin’ for expanded story)

Side one “Blowin’ in the Wind” “Girl from the North Country” “Masters of War” “Down the Highway” “Bob Dylan’s Blues” “A Hard Rain’s a’Gonna Fall

Side two “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” “Bob Dylan’s Dream” “Oxford Town” “Talkin’ World War III Blues” “Corrina, Corrina” (Traditional) “Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance”  “I Shall Be Free”

The Road to Bethel

May 27, 1969: press release: the production staff for the festival was completed. Wartoke Concern was the festival’s public relations firm. (see Road for expanded story)

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

May 27, 1964: Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy gave the keynote address at the National Conference on Bail and Criminal Justice on this day. Chief Justice Earl Warren also spoke. The conference launched a national bail reform movement that led to the 1966 federal Bail Reform Act (June 22, 1966) and similar laws in every state. [Justice Dept PDF] (see March 8, 1965)

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

United States v. O’Brien

May 27, 1968: United States v. O’Brien (see March 31, 1966). In a 7 – 1 opinion, the Supreme Court upheld the 1965 law that made it a crime to burn or otherwise destroy or mutilate a draft card. Chief Justice Warren, writing the majority opinion, rejected the lower court’s contention that draft card burning was “symbolic speech” and that Congress was forbidden by the First Amendment’s free-speech guarantees to outlaw it. [Oyez article] (Vietnam, see June 14; FS, see June 3; Draft Card Burning, see October 30)

Swedish Humanitarian Aid to NLF

May 27, 1971: in Sweden, Foreign Minister Torsten Nilsson revealed that Sweden had been providing assistance to the Viet Cong (aka, National Liberation Front), including some $550,000 worth of medical supplies. Similar Swedish aid was to go to Cambodian and Laotian civilians affected by the Indochinese fighting. The support was primarily humanitarian in nature and included no military aid. (see June 7)

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

SALT

May 27, 1972: Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev and U.S. President Richard Nixon, meeting in Moscow, signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) agreements. At the time, these agreements were the most far-reaching attempts to control nuclear weapons. [Office of the Historian article] (see July 1; SALT, see December  13,  2001)

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

World Trade Center

George H. Willig fined

May 27, 1977:  NYC Mayor Beame accepted $1.10 to settle the city’s $250,000 suit against George H. Willig, Instead, Willig was fined $1.10, 1 cent per floor, for scaling the World Trade Center. (see February 26, 1993)

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Oklahoma City Explosion

Michael Fortier

May 27, 1998: Michael Fortier, the government’s star witness in the Oklahoma City bombing case, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after apologizing for not warning anyone about the deadly plot. (see January 2000)

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

May 27, 1998: Monica Lewinsky’s lawyer, Bill Ginsburg wrote an angry “open letter” to Ken Starr which was published in “California Lawyer.” “Congratulations, Mr. Starr! As a result of your callous disregard for cherished constitutional rights, you may have succeeded in unmasking a sexual relationship between two consenting adults.” It was reported that death threats were made against Linda Tripp when the Lewinsky scandal first broke in January and she was moved to a safe house. (see Clinton for expanded story)

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Dissolution of Yugoslavia

Slobodan Milosevic

May 27, 1999: in The Hague, Netherlands, a war crimes tribunal indicted Slobodan Milosevic and four others for atrocities in Kosovo. It was the first time that a sitting head of state had been charged with such a crime.  [Slate article on Milosevic] (see June 3)

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Family Leave Medical Act

May 27, 2003: In Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs, the Supreme Court ruled that states can be sued in federal court for violations of the Family Leave Medical Act. (NYT article)

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

May 27, 2010: President Obama announced a six-month moratorium on new deepwater oil drilling permits in 500 feet of water or more. Based on the oil flow estimates by the Flow Rate Technical Group, the US government increased its estimate from 12,000 to 19,000 barrels (500,000 to 800,000 US gallons per day. (NYT article) (see June 1)

Plains All American Pipeline

May 27, 2015: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Coast Guard ordered Texas-based Plains All American Pipeline to continue its efforts to clean up the pipeline breach that dumped crude onto a pristine stretch of shoreline and into the Pacific Ocean.

The order required Plains All American Pipeline to submit a written plan by June 6 that will outline measures for analyzing the spill’s effects on the environment.

The May 19 spill dumped as much as 2,400 barrels (101,000 gallons, or 382,000 liters) of crude onto a pristine stretch of the Santa Barbara coastline and into the Pacific, leaving slicks that stretched over 9 miles (14 km) along the coast.

“Our action today is to make sure the oil response work continues until the Santa Barbara County coastline is restored,” Jared Blumenfeld, an EPA regional administrator, said in a statement. (see June 9)

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

May 27, 2014: a divided Supreme Court ruled that the Michigan could not block the opening of an off-reservation American Indian casino because the state’s legal challenge is barred by tribal sovereign immunity.

In a 5-4 decision, the high court said the state could not shutter the Bay Mills Indian Community’s casino about 90 miles south of its Upper Peninsula reservation.

The ruling was a win for Indian tribes, which had increasingly looked to casinos as a source of revenue and had relied on immunity to shield them from government interference. But it’s a disappointment for Michigan and more than a dozen others states that say the decision will interfere with their ability to crack down on unauthorized tribal casinos.

Michigan argued that the Bay Mills tribe opened the casino in 2010 without permission from the U.S. government and in violation of a state compact. The tribe had purchased land for the casino with earnings from a settlement with the federal government over allegations that it had not been adequately compensated for land ceded in 1800s treaties. [SCOTUS blog article] (see June 18)

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

May 27, 2015: the Justice Department said it would not ask the Supreme Court to review the judge’s decision that put on hold President Obama’s executive action on immigration. (see June 15)

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

May 27, 2021: a federal report by U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) analyzed youth surveys of high school students from 2009 to 2019. The report concluded that there had been “no measurable difference” in the percentage of those in grades 9-12 who reported consuming cannabis at least once in the past 30 days.

The report, which relied on data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, also found that access remained stable during that time period, with no statistically significant changes in the percentage of youth who say they’ve been offered, sold or gifted illegal drugs on school grounds in the previous 30 days.

What makes the report notable is the timeline.

Cannabis reform opponents frequently argued that enacting adult-use legalization in states spur more underage people to use marijuana. There were no recreational markets in 2009, and that year, 21 percent of high school students reported past 30-day use. The first legal sales launched in Colorado in 2014—and five years after that, 22 percent of teens said they’d recently used marijuana. [MM article] (next Cannabis see June 22 or see CAC for expanded chronology)

May 27 Peace Love Art Activism

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

May 26, 1637: the Mystic [CT] massacre took place during the Pequot War, when English settlers under Captain John Mason and Narragansett and Mohegan allies set fire to a fortified Pequot village near the Mystic River. They shot any people who tried to escape the wooden palisade fortress and killed the entire village in retaliation for previous Pequot attacks.

The English colonists sold Pequot tribe members to plantations in the West Indies in exchange for African slaves, allowing the colonists to remove a resistant element from their midst. [2014 Indian Country Today article] (see February 25, 1642)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Dred Scott

May 26, 1857: slaves Dred and Harriet Scott appeared in the St. Louis Circuit Court and were formally freed; Judge Alexander Hamilton approved the papers. Dred Scott took a job as a porter at Barnum’s Hotel at Second and Walnut streets in St. Louis; he became a sort of celebrity there. The family lived off Carr Street in the city, where Harriet took in laundry, which Scott delivered when he was not working at the hotel. (see Scotts for expanded story)

May 26, 1956

Alabama shuts down NAACP

May 26, 1956: Alabama authorities tried to shut down the NAACP, obtaining an order from Circuit Judge Walter B. Jones that prohibited the organization from operating in the state. After the NAACP refused to turn over membership lists, Jones found the organization in contempt and fined it $100,000. He had suggested to Alabama Attorney General John Patterson that the state prosecute the NAACP for failing to register as an out-of-state corporation. The U.S. Supreme Court later threw out the fine and ruled in the NAACP’s favor [2015 Clarion Ledger article] (see June 1, 1964)

Tallahassee bus boycott begins

May 26, 1956: a bus boycott began in Tallahassee, Fla., after Florida A&M students Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson refused to give up their seats to white passengers. The next night, a cross was burned outside the home of Jakes and Patterson. On Jan. 3, 1957, a federal judge ruled bus segregation laws unconstitutional. Four days later, Tallahassee’s city commission repealed its segregation clause. [2015 Clarion Ledger article]  (see June 5)

George Whitmore, Jr.

May 26, 1965: Justice Vincent D. Damiani of Kings County Supreme Court granted a motion by Whitmore’s attorney, Stanley J Reiben,  requiring DA Aaron Koota to bring Whitmore to trial for the Minnie Edmonds murder before retrying him for the lesser crime against Borrero. Damiani wrote,  “To permit the defendant to be tried again on the lesser charge of attempted rape before his trial on the more serious indictment for murder will result in further publicity and substantially increase the difficulty in selecting an impartial jury in the murder case.” (see Whitmore for expanded story)

Hate crime bill fails again

May 26, 2005: The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act reintroduced. It failed to advance in committee. (BH, see June 13; LGBTQ, see Sept 6;  Byrd and Shepard, see March 30, 2007)

137 SHOTS

May 26, 2015: dozens of people marched through the streets of downtown Cleveland demanding changes to the city’s criminal justice system, With chants of “We want justice, we want it now,” and “We can’t wait,” the marchers said they were tired of waiting for authorities to make changes on their own. They delivered letters to prosecutors and the mayor listing their demands. (see 137 for expanded story)

Laquan McDonald

May 26, 2015: Journalist Brandon Smith filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Chicago Police Department asking for videos from the night Van Dyke shot and killed McDonald. (B & S, see June 8; McDonald, see Aug 4)

Murders of Civil Rights Workers Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner

May 26, 2016: retired Circuit Judge Marcus D. Gordon died. Gordon had sentenced Edgar Ray Killen to life in prison in 2005 after a mixed-race jury convicted the reputed former Ku Klux Klan leader of manslaughter in the 1964 abduction and murders of Civil Rights workers Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in Neshoba County. Gordon had retired on March 4, 2016, from the Eighth District Circuit Court. (BH, see June 3;  see Murders for expanded chronology)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Emma Goldman

May 26, 1906: the New York Times published an article detailing that Emma Goldman and Alex Berkman were seen holding hands in a Chicago public park while Chicago police searched for them. (see Goldman for expanded story)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Actors’ Equity Assn

May 26, 1913: 112 actors founded the Actors’ Equity Assn. at a meeting in New York City’s Pabst Grand Circle Hotel. Producer George M. Cohan responded: “I will drive an elevator for a living before I will do business with any actors’ union.” Later a sign will appear in Times Square reading: “Elevator operator wanted. George M. Cohan need not apply” [AEA site] (see June 11)

Auto-Lite plant strike, day 4

May 26, 1934 (Saturday): the violence began to die down somewhat. Troopers began arresting hundreds of people, most of whom paid a small bond and won release later the same day. Large crowds continued to gather in front of the Auto-Lite plant and hurl missiles at the troops, but the National Guard was able to maintain order during daylight hours without resorting to large-scale gas bombing. During the day, strike leader Ted Selander was arrested by the National Guard and held incommunicado. Despite pleas, Taft refused to use his influence to have Selander freed or his whereabouts revealed. With two of the AWP’s three local leaders in jail, the AWP was unable to mobilize as many picketers as before. Although a crowd of 5,000 gathered in the early evening, the National Guard was able to disperse the mob after heavily gassing the six-block neighborhood. [Bay Dispatch article] (see Toledo for expanded chronology)

Battle of the Overpass

May 26, 1937: Ford Motor Co. security guards attacked union organizers and supporters attempting to distribute literature outside the plant in Dearborn, Mich., in an event that was to become known as the “Battle of the Overpass.” The guards tried to destroy any photos showing the attack, but some survived—and inspired the Pulitzer committee to establish a prize for photography. [2013 Smithsonian article] (see May 30)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAYS

May 26, 1918: Georgia independent. (see May 28)

May 26, 1966: Guyana independent from United Kingdom. [Guyana dot org article] (see IDays for expanded list for the decade)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Immigration Act of 1924

May 26, 1924: Congress passed the eugenics-inspired Immigration Act of 1924, which completely prohibited immigration from Asia. Designed to limit all immigration to the US, the act was particularly restrictive for Eastern and Southern Europeans and Asians. Upon signing the act into law, President Calvin Coolidge remarked, “America must remain American.”

The Act of 1924 eliminated immigration from Japan, violating the so-called “Gentleman’s Agreement,” which previously protected Japanese immigration.

The law tightened the national origins quota system, meant to restrict the number of immigrants from a particular country to a percentage of the foreign-born citizens from that country already residing in the United States. The previous quota was based on population data from the 1910 census, but the 1924 Act based the quota on the 1890 census, which effectively lowered the quota numbers for non-white countries. The 1924 system also considered the national origins of the entire American population, including natural-born citizens, which increased the number of visas available to people from the British Isles and Western Europe. Finally, the 1924 Act excluded any person ineligible for citizenship, formalizing the bar on immigration from Asia based on existing laws that prohibited Asians from becoming naturalized citizens.

The act was supported by federally-funded eugenicists who argued that “social inadequates” were polluting the American gene pool and draining taxpayer resources. Its quotas remained in place until 1965. [US Office of the Historian article] (see January 19, 1930)

President Obama’s order declined

May 26, 2015: the US Supreme Court declined to review a Texas judge’s injunction that kept the President Obama’s sweeping immigration plan from taking effect.

U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen had issued a preliminary injunction on Feb. 16 that halted Obama’s executive action, which could spare from deportation as many as 5 million people who are in the U.S. illegally. More than two dozen states sought the injunction, arguing that Obama’s executive action was unconstitutional. (see May 27)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Red Scare

Dies Committee

May 26, 1938: The Dies Committee—later known as the House Un-American Activities Committee—is formed to investigate subversive activities within the United States. The committee, headed by Texas Democrat Martin Dies, initially targets Nazi sympathizers but eventually comes to focus almost entirely on the Communist threat. [National Archives article]  (see April 27, 1942)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Calvin Graham

May 26, 1943: Graham requested 36 days’ pay he considered to be due him at the time of his release from the Navy. (see Graham for expanded story)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Free Speech

Burstyn v. Wilson

May 26, 1952: the Supreme Court held that movies were a form of expression protected by the First Amendment. The Catholic Church had objected to the Italian film, The Miracle (Il Miracolo), when it opened at the Paris Theater in New York City in 1950. The Court’s decision overruled Mutual v. Ohio Industrial Commission, decided on February 23, 1915, which had held that movies are items of commerce and not forms of expression protected by the First Amendment. The Miracle was directed by the famed Italian director Roberto Rossellini and is actually one part of a two-part film, L’Amore (1948), which is the more widely used title. The story was written by Federico Fellini, who also has a bit part in the movie, and who went on to became a famous director himself (especially the film, 8 1/2).

In addition to providing First Amendment protection for movies, the Burstyn decision also struck a blow for freedom of expression about religion. The majority opinion specifically referred to the attempt to censor The Miracle because of its alleged “sacrilege,” but for all practical purposes that also covered “blasphemy.” [Cornell law article] (see March 7, 1953)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

May 26 Music et al

Stranger on a Strange Shore

May 26 – June 1, 1962: “Stranger on a Strange Shore” by Acker Bilk #1 Billboard Hot 100. Bilk became the first Briton ever to have reached the top of the American charts in the rock and roll era. Bilk joined other easy-listening instrumentalists and orchestra leaders like Bert Kaempfert, Percy Faith and Henry Mancini who thrived on the U.S. side of the Atlantic while American rock and blues was increasingly popular on the UK side.

Montreal Bed-In

May 26 – June 2, 1969: Yoko Ono and John Lennon Montreal Bed-In. Denounced violence (see June 1)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

World Trade Center

George H. Willig

May 26, 1977:  using equipment he designed and built himself and tested in secret at night, George H. Willig, a 27-year-old toymaker and mountain climber from Queens, scaled the South Tower of the World Trade Center to the delight of thousand of pedestrians who watched his three-and-a-half-hour effort. He was arrested by the Port Authority police and given three summonses and later was served with a $250,000 suit by New York City. [images] (see May 27)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

Bail Reform Act

May 26, 1987: the 1984 federal Bail Reform Act embodied the principle of preventive detention by allowing judges to deny bail to defendants they believed to be “dangerous” to the community. The law significantly reversed the historic 1966 Bail Reform Act (signed into law on June 22, 1966), which created a presumption of release for all defendants. In United States v. Salerno, decided on this day, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the 1984 law. In the 1980s, states followed the federal lead and passed similar preventive detention laws that allowed judges to deny bail to “dangerous” offenders. [Oyez article] (see August 6, 1988)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

FACE

May 26, 1994: President Clinton signed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) into law. FACE protects reproductive health service facilities, their staff and patients from violent threats, assault, vandalism, and blockade. [NY Times article] (see June 30, 1994)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Oklahoma City Explosion

May 26, 2004: Terry Nichols convicted by an Oklahoma state court on murder charges stemming from the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. (see June 11)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

May 26, 2004: Vermont became the ninth state to legalize medical marijuana when Governor James Douglas allowed “Act Relating to Marijuana Use by Persons with Severe Illness”  (41 KB) to pass into law unsigned. “The law removes state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of marijuana by patients diagnosed with a ‘debilitating medical condition…’ The law establishes a mandatory, confidential state-run registry that issues identification cards to qualifying patients.” (see Nov 2) or see CC for expanded chronology)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

May 26, 2009: The California Supreme Court ruled that, notwithstanding Prop 8, marriages between same-sex couples that occurred in the four months between June and November remain valid. (California, see August 4, 2010; LGBTQ, see May 31)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Stop and Frisk Policy

May 26, 2011: The NYCLU filed a federal lawsuit against the NYPD and NYC for stop-and-frisk of passengers in livery cars. (see May 31)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

Nevada

May 26, 2015: Nevada abolished life without parole sentences for children. The Nevada legislature unanimously passed AB 267 and Governor Brian Sandoval signed it. The legislation was supported by a bipartisan coalition that includes victims’ families, formerly incarcerated youth, and prosecutors. The new law retroactively bars the imposition of a life without parole sentence on any person who was under eighteen at the time of the crime. It provides for an opportunity for parole after serving fifteen or twenty years depending on the crime, and it required judges to consider the differences between juvenile and adult offenders when determining an appropriate sentence for a child. The Nevada law continued a nationwide trend. Vermont, Hawaii, West Virginia, Delaware, Wyoming, and Texas also recently eliminated death-in-prison sentences for children.

Casiano v. Commissioner of Correction

May 26, 2015: the Connecticut Supreme Court, in Casiano v. Commissioner of Correction, said it would retroactively apply the protocols outlined in Riley and in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2012 Miller v. Alabama  The result is that defendants sentenced years—or decades—ago can now return to court and claim that factors relating to their youth were not given appropriate mitigating weight when they were originally sentenced. In other words, they can assert that their sentences were imposed in violation of the Constitution, and that they should be entitled to a new sentencing proceeding to remedy this violation. [Marshall Project article] (see May 27)

May 26 Peace Love Art Activism