June 23 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

The rape of slave Celia

June 23, 1855: in the summer of 1850, Robert Newsom, a sixty-year-old white man, purchased Celia, a fourteen-year-old black girl, from a man in a neighboring county. Before Newsom had even returned to his farm, he raped the enslaved girl, and he continued to do so frequently over the next five years. Newsom regularly came to Celia’s cabin and forced himself on her, and she gave birth to a child in 1855. At some point during the course of this abuse, Celia entered into a relationship with a man named George who was also enslaved by Newsom. When Celia became pregnant again in late winter of 1855, George insisted that she put an end to Newsom’s sexual abuse.

Celia begged Newsom to stop “forcing her while she was sick” and even appealed to his daughters for help. The assaults continued. On June 23, 1855, Newsom told Celia he was “coming to her cabin” that night. When Newsom arrived and began to lower his face over hers, Celia struck him in the head with a stick. Eventually, Celia realized that Newsom had died from the blow. Not knowing what to do, she disposed of the evidence by cremating the body in her fireplace. (see Celia for expanded story; next BH, see In May)

George White lynched

June 23, 1903: a white mob of more than 4,000 people in Wilmington, Delaware, burned a Black man named George White to death before he could stand trial. Mr. White, who had been arrested and accused of killing a young white woman, adamantly denied any involvement in the crime and never had the opportunity to defend himself in court.

Within one week of Mr. White’s arrest, two lynch mobs attempted to abduct him from the workhouse where he was being held. White Wilmington residents talked openly about these lynching plans. In a sermon on June 21, local white pastor Robert Elwood urged white residents to exact swift public vengeance by lynching Mr. White. A lynch mob began forming the next day, and its members spent the next two days meticulously planning the public spectacle lynching that took place on June 23. Despite this public planning, in which mob members even shared their plans in advance with police officers, authorities charged with protecting him did not relocate him to a different jail and the local court refused to advance his trial date.  [EJI article] (next BH and next Lynching, see February 7, 1904 or see AL2 for expanded chronology)

Marcus Garvey

June 23, 1919: Marcus Garvey assisted with the incorporation of the Black Star Line, the Universal Negro Improvement Association’s vehicle for promoting worldwide commerce among black communities. In Garvey’s vision, Black Star Line ships would transport manufactured goods, raw materials, and produce among black businesses in North America, the Caribbean, and Africa, and become the linchpin in a global black economy. (see Garvey for expanded story)

Dyer Anti-lynching bill

June 23, 1922: at its thirteenth annual conference in Newark, the NAACP pledged the Association membership to “punish” those who oppose the Dyer bill. “The Republican Party has always received the bulk of the negro vote; the Republican Party is in power; the Republican Party has promised by its platform and its President to pass the Dyer bill. Unless the pledge is kept we solemnly pledge ourselves to use every avenue of influence to punish the persons who defeat it. We will regard no man as our friend who opposes this bill.”  (see June 30)

Rev. Douglas E. Moore

June 23, 1957:  in Durham, North Carolina, a local minister, Rev. Douglas E. Moore, led seven attendees from his Sunday session at Asbury United into the segregated Royal Ice Cream Parlor, located nearby at the corner of Roxboro and Dowd Streets. A group of African-Americans entered through the back door, sat in the section reserved for white patrons, and asked to be served. The manager on duty that day called the police and the group was charged with trespassing.

All members of the group were found guilty of trespassing the next day and were each fined $10 plus court costs. On appeal, the case went to Durham County Superior Court and a jury trial. An all-white jury rendered a guilty verdict on each defendant. The case was then appealed to the North Carolina Supreme Court, which upheld the law regarding segregated facilities. The group’s attorneys tried to appeal the decision to the United States Supreme Court, but they refused to hear the case.

After the unsuccessful attempt at desegregating the store, a group of high school NAACP members, of which more than half were girls, organized regular pickets outside the Royal Ice Cream Parlor under the direction of Floyd McKissick.  [Black Then article] (see Aug 29)

Eisenhower meets Black leaders

June 23, 1958: President Dwight Eisenhower had been urged to meet with civil rights leaders for some time, and finally agreed to do so on this day. Attending were A. Philip Randolph, Dr. Martin Luther King, Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, and Lester Granger of the National Urban League. The meeting was cordial, even though the civil rights leaders had been critical of the president’s lack of leadership on racial justice. Eisenhower, for example, had failed to give a strong endorsement to the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision declaring separate but equal schools unconstitutional (May 17, 1954). The great African-American baseball star Jackie Robinson, who was normally not politically active, publicly criticized Eisenhower on May 13, 1958 for his lack of leadership on civil rights. The group at the meeting on this day presented him with a list of demands, but Eisenhower did not act on any of them. (BH, see June 29; MLK, see Sept 20)

Byron De La Beckwith

June 23, 1963: the FBI announced the arrest in Greenwood, MS of Byron De La Beckwith in the slaying of Medgar Evers in Jackson, MS. (BH, see June 25; Evers, see June 26)

Murders of Civil Rights Workers Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner

June 23, 1964: the Neshoba Democrat reported that: “The car driven by three integrationists who disappeared after being arrested last Sunday night here has been found by Federal Bureau of Investigation officers about 13 miles from Philadelphia, in the northeast corner of Neshoba County. The car, a 1963 or 1964 Ford station wagon, was located in heavy sweetgum growth on Highway 21, about 100 feet from the Bogue Chitto creek and about 100 feet off the highway. The station wagon had been burned.” (BH, see June 24; Murders, see June 29)
Exactly 41 years later, on June 23, 2005, Edgar Ray Killen was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the killing of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner. (see Murders for expanded story)

Vernon Dahmer

June 23, 1966: a Federal grand jury returned indictments against 15 alleged Ku Klux Klansmen in connection with the firebomb slaying of Vernon Dahmer. (Dahmer, see March 8, 1968)

Jim Bulloch

June 23, 1966: Black students in Grenada, Miss., tried to purchase tickets in the “white” section of the local movie theater — only to be denied service. When they sat down in front of the theater, police arrested 15 students, including Jim Bulloch, an SCLC organizer.  [crmvet dot org article] (see June 25)

African National Congress

June 23, 1992: the African National Congress announced that it was withdrawing from talks on the political future of South Africa until the white-controlled Government took steps to restore the trust shattered by the Boipatong massacre. The 90-member executive committee of the congress led by Nelson Mandela said it was halting the peace process, which seemed just a month ago to have brought South Africa to the brink of majority rule, because of what it called a systematic Government campaign to subvert democracy through violence. (see Mandela for his expanded chronology)

Grutter v. Bollinger

June 23, 2003: Colleges and universities have a legitimate interest in promoting diversity. Barbara Grutter alleged that her Equal Protection rights were violated when the University of Michigan Law School’s attempt to gain a diverse student body resulted in the denial of her admission’s application. The Supreme Court disagreed and held that institutions of higher education have a legitimate interest in promoting diversity. [Oyez article] (next BH, see Oct 10; next Affirmative Action, see June 29, 2023)

Murders of Civil Rights Workers

June 23, 2005: Edgar Ray Killen was sentenced to 60 years in prison. (see Murders for expanded story)

Trayvon Martin Shooting

June 23, 2013:  the trial opened.  (see June 25)

Church Burning

June 23, 2015: an arsonist was blamed for a fire in the sanctuary s at God’s Power Church of Christ in Macon, Ga. (CB, June 24)

Confederate battle flag

June 23, 2015: South Carolina Gov Nikki R Haley called for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from in front of State House building in capital Columbia, marked reversal from her previous seeming indifference to issue; said the symbol must be viewed differently in light of church massacre in Charleston. (BH, see June 24; T, see January 10, 2017)

Affirmative Action

June 23, 2016: in a victory for diversity in higher education, a hamstrung Supreme Court narrowly upheld the affirmative action program at the University of Texas at Austin, effectively allowing the school to keep using race as one of many factors in its admissions process.

Justice Anthony Kennedy — joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor — ruled for a 4-3 majority that the university program did not violate the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection of the laws. (next BH, see June 25; next AA, see July 3, 2018)

June 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

June 23, 1865:  at Doaksville in the Choctaw Nation, General Stand Watie signed a cease-fire agreement with Union representatives for his command, the First Indian Brigade of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi. He was the last Confederate general in the field to surrender. (see April 29, 1868)

June 23 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Nazis

June 23, 1935: the Nazis began a legal campaign against homosexuals by adding to paragraph 175 another law, 175a, which created ten new criminal offenses including kisses between men, embraces, even homosexual fantasies. The Gestapo and the SS, under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler, became involved in a campaign to work gays to death in the camps. Himmler is quoted as follows: ‘Just as we today have gone back to the ancient Germanic view of the question of marriage mixing different races, so too in our judgment of homosexuality a symptom of degeneracy that could destroy our race we must return to the guiding Nordic principle: extermination.…” (see January 5, 1948)

Dale Jennings

June 23, 1952: the trial of Dale Jennings began and lasted ten days. Jennings confessed to being a homosexual but denied any wrongdoing. While there were different accounts of what exactly occurred, by the end of the trial the jury voted 11–1 for acquittal on the basis of police intimidation, harassment, and entrapment of homosexuals, and the case was dismissed. [2000 NYT obit] (see January 1953)

Stonewall Inn a city landmark

June 23, 2015: a unanimous vote by the New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to make the Stonewall Inn a city landmark. The designation would afford the bar a new set of protections, and marked the first time the city had landmarked a location due to its involvement in the Gay Rights Movement. (see NYT article)

The Christopher Street tavern served as a focal point at the start of the fight for gay rights—it was the site of the 1969 Stonewall riots, after police raided the bar and launched an ongoing movement. Though the Stonewall was part of the Greenwich Village Historic District, activists and elected officials had been attempting to get the bar landmarked for decades in hopes of increasing its level of protection. “We don’t want to see an important historical site turn into a nail salon. With real estate as crazy as it is, I would consider these sites to be generally threatened from those type of pressures,” said state Senator Brad Hoylman. [NYT article] (see June 26)

Discrimination allowed

June 23, 2017: the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that LGBT activists and other plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge a controversial Mississippi law that allowed businesses to deny marriage-related services to same-sex couples.

The Court of Appeals reversed a federal judge who had blocked the law, House Bill 1523, from taking effect, [ABA article] (LGTBQ, see June 30; House Bill 1523, see January 8, 2018)

June 23 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Taft-Hartley Act

June 23, 1947: Taft-Hartley Act (also known as the Labor-Management Relations Act): Congress overrode President Truman’s veto of the Taft-Hartley bill,  legislation that rolled back many of the advantages labor gained in the 1935 Wagner Act. Truman would subsequently use it twelve times during his presidency. [NLRB article] (CW, see July 26; Labor History see Dec 12)

Brown lung

June 23, 1978: the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a cotton dust standard to protect 600,000 workers from byssinosis, also known as “brown lung.” (see Apr 25)

Court Limits Recruiting

June 23, 2021: the Supreme Court ruled that a California regulation allowing union organizers to recruit agricultural workers at their workplaces violated the constitutional rights of their employers.

The vote was 6 to 3, with the court’s three liberal members in dissent.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the majority, said that “the access regulation grants labor organizations a right to invade the growers’ property.” That meant, he wrote, that it was a taking of private property without just compensation.  [NYT article] (next LH, see Dec 9)

June 23 Peace Love Art Activism

June 23 Music et al

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

June 23 – September 28, 1962: Ray Charles’s Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is Billboard’s #1 album. [see RC for expanded story]

The [bumpy] Road to Bethel

June 23, 1969: Jim Grant, a friend of Wes Pomeroy and asked by Pomeroy to go along with Stanley Goldstein to the Hog Farm meeting, sent at letter to Woodstock Ventures regarding the Hog Farm: “the entire affair appeared to be completely without organization or management.” (see Chronology for expanded story)

June 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

June 23, 1965:  Sen. Robert F. Kennedy called on the Johnson administration to give top priority to the problem of halting the spread of nuclear weapons — a problem he termed more urgent than the war in Vietnam. He added that at an ‘‘appropriate time and manner’’ the United States must ‘‘vigorously pursue negotiations on this subject with China.’’ ‘‘China is there, China will have nuclear weapons. And without her participation it will be infinitely more difficult, perhaps impossible in the long run to prevent nuclear proliferation.’’ Sen. Kennedy urged that in the ‘‘journey towards peace’’ the partial nuclear test ban treaty of 1963 be extended to cover certain underground tests. (see January 17, 1966)

June 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Title IX

June 23, 1972:  Congress enacted a series of Educational Amendments including Title IX, which states that “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” While Title IX impacts multiple areas of federally subsidized education, its impact on athletics is the most controversial. Within 30 years, the number of girls participating in high school sports will double.  [DoJ article] (see June 21, 1972)

Women Make Movies

June 23, 1972: Women Make Movies is founded in NY to address the scarcity of women in the film industry and the stereotypical representations of women promoted by the media. The non-profit organization is committed to cultural and racial diversity, and especially to advancing the work of women of color. Women Make Movies assists in the promotion, distribution, and exhibition of independent films and videos created by or focusing on women. [American U article] (see June 21, 1973)

June 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Watergate Scandal

June 23, 1973: Nixon’s adviser, H.R. Haldeman, told the president to put pressure on the head of the FBI to “stay the hell out of this [Watergate burglary investigation] business.” In essence, Haldeman was telling Nixon to obstruct justice. (see Watergate for expanded story)

June 23 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

June 23, 1978: Frank Collin and Nazi sympathizers cancelled their planned demonstration in Skokie scheduled for June 25.  (see June 25)

June 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Religion and Public Education

June 23, 1997:  in Agostini v. Felton, the US Supreme Court overturned an earlier decision that a New York City program designed to provide tutoring and remedial education services to low-income children could not deliver these service on a religious school campus. Holding that allowing public employees to provide tutoring on a religious school campus would not constitute a “symbolic union” of church and state, the Court holds that the federally-funded program could deliver its services on a religious school campus without violating the establishment clause. [Oyez article] (see February 1998)

June 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

June 23, 2014: in Utility Air v. E.P.A., a divided Supreme Court blocked the Obama administration from requiring permits for greenhouse gas emissions from new or modified industrial facilities, but the ruling won’t prohibit other means of regulating the pollutant that causes global warming.

The court’s conservative wing ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency exceeded its authority by changing the emissions threshold for greenhouse gases in the Clean Air Act to regulate more stationary sources. That action can only be taken by Congress, Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion said.

The 5-4 ruling, which partially reverses a 2012 federal appeals court decision, represents a moral but somewhat hollow victory for industry and state government opponents of the federal regulations. They have complained that the rules could cost billions of dollars to implement and threaten thousands of jobs.

But the court said the EPA can regulate greenhouse gas emissions from industries already required to get permits for other air pollutants. Those generally are the largest power plants, refineries and other industrial facilities responsible for most such emissions.  [SCOTUS article] (see Sept 20)

June 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Supreme Court

June 23, 2016: the Supreme Court did not reach a majority for or against President Barack Obama’s plan to defer deportation for millions, effectively leaving his executive actions on hold and undocumented immigrants in limbo.

In a one-sentence ruling, the justices simply said, “The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided court.” But they didn’t indicate how they voted — a sign that the court was sharply at odds along ideological lines.

The split decision meant a lower court ruling that effectively blocked the program will stand, and no national precedent will be set as to whether the president acted within the law when he announced it in November 2014. [NYT atricle] (see Nov 13)

Trump’s Wall

June 21, 2017: “We’re thinking about building the wall as a solar wall so it creates energy and pays for itself and this way Mexico will have to pay much less money, and that’s good, right? Is that good?” Trump told a crowd in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The solar wall idea was later abandoned. (IH see June 26; TW, see July 12)

June 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

June 23, 2017: Michigan District Judge Donald Allen ruled there was probable cause to send Larry Nassar to trial on 12 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

The charges relate to six women and girls who testified during the three-day preliminary hearing that Nassar had sexually assaulted them during medical appointments while in their teens.

Four of the counts with which Nassar is charged involve a victim under the age of 13; the other eight involve victims between ages 13 and 15.  [Michigan Radio article] (SAC, see July 28; Nassar, see Nov 22)

June 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Student Rights & FREE SPEECH

June 23, 2021: the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a former high school cheerleader who argued that she could not be punished by her public school for posting a profanity-laced caption on Snapchat when she was off school grounds.

The case involving a Pennsylvania teenager was closely watched to see how the court would handle the free speech rights of some 50 million public school children and the concerns of schools over off-campus and online speech that could amount to a disruption of the school’s mission or rise to the level of bullying or threats.

Justice Stephen Breyer wrote the 8-1 majority opinion.

“It might be tempting to dismiss (the student’s) words as unworthy of the robust First Amendment protections discussed herein. But sometimes it is necessary to protect the superfluous in order to preserve the necessary,” Breyer wrote. (next SR, see June 28; next FS, see Oct 29)

June 23 Peace Love Art Activism

June 21 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Sojourner Truth

June 21, 1851: Marius Robinson, published the first recorded version of Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech in the Anti-Slavery Bugle. He wrote: One of the most unique and interesting speeches of the convention was made by Sojourner Truth, an emancipated slave. It is impossible to transfer it to paper, or convey any adequate idea of the effect it produced upon the audience. Those only can appreciate it who saw her powerful form, her whole-souled, earnest gesture, and listened to her strong and truthful tones. She came forward to the platform and addressing the President said with great simplicity: “May I say a few words?” Receiving an affirmative answer, she proceeded:

I want to say a few words about this matter. I am a woman’s rights. I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that? I have heard much about the sexes being equal. I can carry as much as any man, and can eat as much too, if I can get it. I am as strong as any man that is now. As for intellect, all I can say is, if a woman have a pint, and a man a quart – why can’t she have her little pint full? You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much, – for we can’t take more than our pint’ll hold. The poor men seems to be all in confusion, and don’t know what to do. Why children, if you have woman’s rights, give it to her and you will feel better. You will have your own rights, and they won’t be so much trouble. I can’t read, but I can hear. I have heard the bible and have learned that Eve caused man to sin. Well, if woman upset the world, do give her a chance to set it right side up again. The Lady has spoken about Jesus, how he never spurned woman from him, and she was right. When Lazarus died, Mary and Martha came to him with faith and love and besought him to raise their brother. And Jesus wept and Lazarus came forth. And how came Jesus into the world? Through God who created him and the woman who bore him. Man, where was your part? But the women are coming up blessed be God and a few of the men are coming up with them. But man is in a tight place, the poor slave is on him, woman is coming on him, he is surely between a hawk and a buzzard. [PBS article] (F, see Sept 11;  BH, see October 1, 1851)

Guinn v. United States

June 21, 1915: the US Supreme Court held that “grandfather” clauses were unconstitutional. Grandfather clauses were 19th century laws that exempted people from voter literacy tests if a grandfather had been a registered voter, had voted in some other country, or had served in the armed forces before 1866. The clauses were designed to permit illiterate white voters, but not African-Americans, to vote. The decision invalidated clauses in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Virginia and North Carolina laws. [Black Past article] (see Sept 29)

Marcus Garvey

June 21, 1923: Garvey sentenced to 5 years in prison for mail fraud. His appeal is soon denied, and he is taken to Tombs Prison in New York. He was freed on bail on September 10. (see  Garvey for expanded story)

Jesse Thornton lynched

June 21, 1940: twenty-six-year-old black man Jesse Thornton addressed a passing police officer by his name, Doris Rhodes. When the officer, a white man, overheard Mr. Thornton and ordered him to clarify his statement, Thorton attempted to correct himself by referring to the officer as “Mr. Doris Rhodes.” The officer hurled a racial slur at Mr. Thornton while knocking him to the ground and arresting him. Rhodes then walked Thornton into the city jail as a mob of white men formed just outside.

Thornton tried to escape and managed to flee a short distance while the mob quickly pursued, firing gunshots and throwing bricks, bats, and stones at him.  Thornton was injured by gunfire and eventually collapsed. The mob dumped him into a truck and drove to an isolated street where he was dragged into a nearby swamp and shot again. Thornton’s decomposing, vulture-ravaged body was found a week later by a local fisherman in the Patsaliga River, near Tuskegee Institute.

Dr. Charles A.J. McPherson, a local leader in the Birmingham branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,  wrote a detailed report on Thornton’s lynching. Thurgood Marshall, then an attorney with the NAACP, provided the Department of Justice with the report and requested a federal investigation. The Justice Department instructed the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine whether law enforcement or other officials were complicit in the lynching but there is no record that anyone was ever prosecuted for Mr. Thornton’s murder. (next BH, see Sept 27); next Lynching, see January 2, 1944; for expanded chronology of lynching, see also AL4)

Albany Movement

June 21, 1963: Albany, Georgia police temporarily closed all Black businesses and banned Blacks from sidewalks after an attempted walk by Blacks toward the White shopping district for a sit-in at a lunch counter. (next BH, see June 22; see Albany for expanded story)

KKK Murders

June 21, 1964: James E. Chaney, 21; Andrew Goodman, 21; and Michael Schwerner, 24, “Freedom Summer’ volunteers had gone to investigate the burning of a black church (see June 16). Police arrested them on speeding charges, incarcerated them for several hours, and then released them after dark into the hands of the Ku Klux Klan, who murdered them near Philadelphia, Mississippi.

Edgar Ray Killen guilty

June 21, 2005: exactly 41 years later, a jury found Edgar Ray Killen, an 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman, guilty of manslaughter in the deaths of three civil rights workers.

End of investigation

June 21, 2016: exactly 11 years after Killen’s conviction, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood announced an end to the active federal and state investigation into the 1964 killings of three civil rights workers in Mississippi.

“There’s nothing else that can be done,” he said in a news conference Monday.

“The FBI, my office and other law enforcement agencies have spent decades chasing leads, searching for evidence and fighting for justice for the three young men who were senselessly murdered on June 21, 1964,” he said. “It has been a thorough and complete investigation. I am convinced that during the last 52 years, investigators have done everything possible under the law to find those responsible and hold them accountable; however, We have determined that there is no likelihood of any additional convictions. Absent any new information presented to the FBI or my office, this case will be closed.”  (see Murders for expanded story) (next BH, see June 23)

Keyes v. Denver School District No. 1

June 21, 1973:  in Keyes v. Denver School District No. 1 the US Supreme Court found that the Denver school board intentionally segregated Mexican American and black students from white students. The Court distinguished between state-mandated segregation (de jure) and segregation that is the result of private choices (de facto). The latter form of segregation, the Court rules, was not unconstitutional. [Justia article] (see June 25)

Morgan v. Hennigan

June 21, 1974: Morgan v. Hennigan decided by Judge Wendell Aurthur Garity. It was the case that defined the school busing controversy in Boston, Massachusetts during the 1970s. Garotu ruled that the city defendants had contributed to the “establishment of a dual school system,” one for each race. [Black Past article] (BH & SD, see July 25)

Church burnings

June 21, 1995: in Manning, SC, four former members of the Ku Klux Klan set fire to the Macedonia Baptist Church, one of several burned by arsonists in the mid-1990s.  A fire was set the day before at the Mount Zion A.M.E. Church in Greeleyville, S.C. Macedonia Baptist was awarded $37.8 million in a decision against the Klan. A jury believed the Klan’s rhetoric motivated the men to set the fire. (BH, see June 30: CB, see January 8, 1996)

Emmett Till

June 21, 2018: in 2007, eight Emmett Till historic signs were erected in northwest Mississippi, including at the spot on the river where fishermen in 1955 discovered Emmett’s mutilated corpse tethered to a cotton-gin fan.

A year later, vandals tore down the sign on the riverbed. It was replaced. But then bullets were fired into that marker — more than 100 rounds over several years.

On this date, a new sign was erected, but… (next BH, see June 27)

Emmett Till signage

June 21, 2018: in 2007, eight Emmett Till historic signs were erected in northwest Mississippi, including at the spot on the river where fishermen in 1955 discovered Emmett’s mutilated corpse tethered to a cotton-gin fan.

A year later, vandals tore down the sign on the riverbed. It was replaced. But then bullets were fired into that marker — more than 100 rounds over several years.

On this date, a new sign was erected. (BH, see June 27; see ET for expanded chronology)

June 21 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

“Molly Maguires” hung

June 21, 1877: the Molly Maguires was an Irish 19th-century secret society active in Ireland, Liverpool and parts of the eastern United States. It was best known for their activism among Irish-American and Irish immigrant coal miners in Pennsylvania.

A private corporation initiated an investigation the group through a private detective agency. A private police force arrested them, and private attorneys for the coal companies prosecuted them. Twenty were sentenced to death and on June 21, 1877, also known as Black Thursday, six men were hanged in the prison at Pottsville, PA and four at Mauch Chunk, Carbon County, PA.

From History.com: Although the existence of the Molly Maguires as an organized band of outlaws in America is still debated, most historians now agree that the trials and executions were an outrageous perversion of the criminal justice system. In 1979, more than 100 years following his hanging, John Kehoe—the supposed “king” of the Molly Maguires—was granted a full pardon by the state of Pennsylvania. [PA History article] (see July 14)

United States v. Congress of Industrial Organizations

June 21, 1948: the US Supreme Court held that a labor union’s publication of a statement advocating that its members vote for a certain candidate for Congress did not violate the Federal Corrupt Practices Act as amended by the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947. [Justia article] (see January 2, 1949)

June 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestones

George Washington Ferris

June 21, 1893:  the first Ferris wheel premiered at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition, America’s third world’s fair. It was invented by George Washington Ferris, a Pittsburgh bridge builder, for the purpose of creating an attraction like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Each of the 36 cars carried 60 passengers, making a full passenger load of 150 tons. Ferris didn’t use rigid spokes: instead, he used a web of taut cables, like a bicycle wheel. Supported by two 140 foot steel towers, its 45 foot axle was the largest single piece of forged steel at the time in the world. The highest point of the wheel was 264 feet. The wheel and cars weighed 2100 tons, with another 2200 tons of associated levers and machinery. Ferris died just four years later, at the age of only 38. [Smithsonian article]  (see November 8, 1895)

Microgroove phonograph records

June 21, 1948: Columbia Records introduced the first successful long-playing microgroove phonograph records at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.

Made of unbreakable Vinilyte plastic, and designed for the new speed of 33-1/3 r.p.m., the records were developed by Dr. Peter Goldmark. The 12 inch record could play 23 minutes per side, as compared to only 4 minutes per side on the earlier 78 rpm record. The LP was also an improvement by the quietness of its surfaces and its greatly increased fidelity. The first LP featured violinist Yehudi Menuhin. Columbia originated the term “LP” itself, which was copyrighted. Thus, although many other firms could make long-playing records, only Columbia could make an LP. (see June 30)

June 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Japanese Internment Camps

June 21, 1943: Gordon Hirabayashi was convicted of violating the curfew affecting Japanese-Americans in Seattle in 1942. In Hirabayashi v. United States — the first Japanese-American case to reach the Supreme Court — the Court upheld the curfew. (see Internment for expanded story)

June 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

Arthur Miller

June 21, 1956: playwright Arthur Miller defied the House Committee on Un-American Activities and refused to name suspected communists. Miller’s defiance of McCarthyism won him a conviction for contempt of court, which was later reversed by the Supreme Court. His passport had already been denied when he tried to go to Brussels to attend the premiere of his play The Crucible, about the Salem witch trials. [Politico article] (see June 26)

June 21 Peace Love Art Activism

see June 21 Music et al for more

Beatles and Bruce Channel

June 21, 1962: as part of manager Brian Epstein’s plan to get The Beatles wider exposure by having them open for established acts, they opened for Bruce Channel of “Hey! Baby!” fame at the Tower Ballroom, in New Brighton, England, Backstage, Delbert McClinton, Channel’s harmonica player, offered John Lennon some tips on playing harmonica, which Lennon later put to use on the band’s first single, “Love Me Do.” (see Aug 14)

The First Big Sur Folk Festival

June 21, 1964: The First Big Sur Folk Festival (held on the grounds of the Esalen Institute. From the Richard and Mimi Farina site: The festivals were founded by Nancy Carlen, a friend of Richard, Mimi and Joan [Baez], …. The annual event started as folk music seminars, and as they evolved into concerts, they became known as well-managed, small affairs that emphasized quality and atmosphere over publicity and commercial success. Even when big names like CSN&Y or the Beach Boys appeared, the audiences were limited to a few thousand to preserve an intimate atmosphere and human scale. Although Big Sur is now sometimes remembered as the anti-Woodstock, it was originally the anti-Newport.

Featuring:

• Joan Baez
• Roger Abraham
• Nancy Carlen
• Malvina Reynolds
• Mark Spoelstra
• Janet Smith
• Mimi & Richard Fariña  (see September 13 – 14, 1965)

Byrds Mr Tambourine Man album

June 21, 1965: the Byrds’ debut album, Mr. Tambourine Man, marked the beginning of the folk-rock revolution. In just a few months, the Byrds had become a household name, with a #1 single and a smash-hit album that married the ringing guitars and backbeat of the British Invasion with the harmonies and lyrical depth of folk to create an entirely new sound. (see June 26 – July 2)

Summer of Love

June 21, 1967, to kick off the “Summer of Love” in San Francisco this poster for the Summer Solstice Celebration was circulated calling for a “Love In” in Golden Gate Park. There were several concerts in Golden Gate Park during that summer that are documented as who played, but that was later on during the Summer of that same year.

The [bumpy] Road to Bethel

June 21, 1969: Stanley Goldstein met with Hugh Romney and the Hog Farm in New Mexico to discuss the Hog Farm’s role in the festival. Jim Grant, a friend and fellow law enforcement official of Wes Pomeroy, accompanied Goldstein. (see Road for expanded story)

Toronto Pop

June 21 – 22, 1969 – see Toronto Pop Festival (Varsity Stadium).

June 21 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

Miller v. California

June 21, 1973: the US Supreme Court developed a three-pronged test for whether a work was obscene and therefore not protected by the First Amendment. The three-prong test became known as the “Miller Test.” The Miller test, however, contains a number of unresolved issues: how are “contemporary community standards” defined? How are the terms “patently offensive” and “prurient interest” defined? What constitutes “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value”?

The Miller Test: “(a) whether ‘the average person, applying contemporary community standards’ would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest . . . (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law, and (c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”  [Oyez article] (next FS, see April 5, 1976)

Hustler Magazine v. Falwell

February 24, 1988: in Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 8-0 to overturn the $200,000 settlement awarded to the Reverend Jerry Falwell for his emotional distress at being parodied in Larry Flynt’s Hustler, a pornographic magazine.

In November 1983, Hustler had run a piece parodying Falwell’s first sexual experience as a drunken, incestuous, childhood encounter with his mother in an outhouse. Falwell, an important religious conservative and founder of the Moral Majority political advocacy group, sued Hustler and its publisher, Larry Flynt, for libel. Falwell won the case, but Flynt appealed, leading to the Supreme Court’s hearing the case because of its constitutional implications.The Supreme Court unanimously overturned the lower court’s decision, ruling that, although in poor taste, Hustler’s parody fell within the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech and the press.

The Court: “We conclude that public figures and public officials may not recover for the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress by reason of publications such as the one here at issue without showing, in addition, that the publication contains a false statement of fact which was made with ‘actual malice,’ i.e., with knowledge that the statement was false or with reckless disregard as to whether or not it was true.” (next FS, see Dec 23; Larry Flynt, see February 10, 2021)

Burning the American flag

June 21, 1989: the Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag as a form of political protest was protected by the First Amendment.  In Texas v. Johnson, the Supreme Court invalidated prohibitions on desecrating the American flag enforced in 48 of the 50 states. Justice William Brennan wrote for a five-justice majority in holding that the defendant Gregory Lee Johnson’s act of flag burning was protected speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. [Oyez article] (FS, see Oct 28)

Burning crosses

June 21, 1990: several teenagers had assembled a crudely made cross by taping together broken chair legs. They erected the cross and burned it in the front yard of an African American family that lived across the street from the house where one of the teenagers was staying. That teenager, who was a juvenile, was charged with two counts, one of which a violation of the St. Paul Bias-Motivated Crime Ordinance. The Ordinance provided: “Whoever places on public or private property, a symbol, object, appellation, characterization or graffiti, including, but not limited to, a burning cross or Nazi swastika, which one knows or has reasonable grounds to know arouses anger, alarm or resentment in others on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender commits disorderly conduct and shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”(next FS. see Oct 5; cross-burning, see June 22, 1992)

June 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations

June 21, 1973: the Supreme Court ruled that ordinances prohibiting sex-segregated employment advertisements do not violate the First Amendment. The ruling successfully concluded a five-year campaign by the National Organization for Women against sex-segregated job ads.

The case involved an ordinance passed after Wilma Scott Heide of the Pittsburgh chapter of the National Organization of Women filed a complaint with the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations, in which it argued that the practice of the Pittsburgh Press of advertising help wanted classified advertising under headings of “help wanted-male” and “help wanted-female” was discriminatory. Evidence from Gerald Gardner quantified the discriminatory nature of the advertising, showing that fewer jobs and ones with lower pay were being offered for women.  [Justia article] (next Feminism , see  August 22, 1973)

Women’s National Basketball Association

June 21, 1997: the first season of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) began. (see December 10, 1997)

June 21 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Gays Attacked, One Killed

June 21, 1977: in San Francisco, 19 year-old John Cordova attacked Robert Hillsborough and Jerry Taylor. Taylor managed to escape but Cordova, yelling “Faggot! Faggot” stabbed Hillsborough 15 times. Cordova was later convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to ten years in prison. [back2stonewall dot com article] (see June 26)

Carl Nassib Comes Out

June 21, 2021: Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib became the first active NFL player to come out as gay.

Nassib, who was entering his sixth NFL season and second with the Raiders, announced the news on Instagram, saying he wasn’t doing it for the attention but because he felt representation and visibility were important.

“I just wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay,” Nassib said in his video message from his home in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now, but I finally feel comfortable enough to get it off my chest.” [AP article] (next LGBTQ, see June 28)

June 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Watergate Scandal

June 21, 1977: HR Haldeman, former White House chief of staff, entered prison. (see Watergate for expanded story)

June 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

June 21, 1992:  the Sons and Daughters in Touch , the Vietnam gold star organization of children of Vietnam soldiers who died in Vietnam, held its first Fathers Day commemoration at the “Wall” – the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC. The commemoration would became an annual event that included SDIT members and family scrubbing and cleaning  the memorial. [SDIT site] (see February 3, 1994)

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see Calvin Graham for full story

June 21, 1994: at a ceremony in Arlington, Texas Secretary of the Navy, John Dalton presented Graham’s Purple Heart to his widow.

June 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis & AIDS

June 21, 2006: the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted to support access to medical marijuana for people who have a doctor’s recommendation. “This resolution declares support for the medicinal use of cannabis sativa (also known as marijuana), and directs the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to actively urge the Federal government to amend and adopt such laws as will allow the benefits of marijuana treatment for such diseases as cancer, AIDS, and muscular dystrophy.” [ProCon article] (Marijuana, see Cannabis for expanded chronology; AIDS, see “in December 2007”)

June 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Occupy Wall Street

June 21, 2011: residents of “Bloombergville,” an encampment outside New York City Hall to protest deep budget cuts to education and other public services, issues a declaration which states:

We stand with all those struggling against austerity around the world.

We are in active solidarity with those refusing any and all cuts when solutions to deficits are clearly available.  The solution demands a reorientation of the fundamental priorities of our countries.  We reject our money going to war, tax breaks for the rich, and subsides to banks.

No library should close.  No teacher or worker laid off.  No tuition raised.  No fire station closed.  No unaffordable housing.  And no social services ended.

By increasing taxes on the wealthy and ending the wars and occupations the US engages in, we could help those most affected by the budget cuts: working people, people of color, women, students, the homeless, among others.  The solution is clear, and will only come from collective struggle.

Bloombergville is an encampment to intensify and strengthen the struggle against austerity in New York City.  It is a site of struggle and a community of resistance.  We have drawn our inspiration from similar actions around the world, and we hope to inspire others.

We are the supporters and participants of Bloombergville. (see July 13)

June 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

June 21, 2017: “We’re thinking about building the wall as a solar wall so it creates energy and pays for itself and this way Mexico will have to pay much less money, and that’s good, right? Is that good?” Trump told a crowd in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The solar wall idea was later abandoned. (IH see June 26;  see TW for expanded post)

June 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment/Death Penalty

June 21, 2019: in Flowers v Mississippi, the Supreme Court ruled that Curtis Flowers, tried six times for murder, deserved a seventh chance because of a prosecutor’s discrimination.

The decision in favor of the death-row inmate reflected a consensus among both liberal and conservative justices that potential jurors cannot be struck based on their race.

Flowers’s lawyers argued that that was what district attorney Doug Evans allegedly had done in each of Flowers’ six trials dating back two decades. Evans eliminated 41 of 43 potential black jurors for whom he was allowed to issue peremptory strikes.

Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the 7-2 opinion and was joined by the court’s four liberals as well as Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito. Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch dissented. (C & P, see July 2; DP, see July 25)

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Student Rights

June 22, 2021: the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the N.C.A.A. could not bar relatively modest payments to student-athletes, a decision that underscored the growing challenges to a college sports system that generated huge sums for schools but provided little or no compensation to the players.

The decision concerned only payments and other benefits related to education. But its logic suggested that the court might be open to a head-on challenge to the ban by the National Collegiate Athletic Association on paying athletes for their participation in sports that bring billions of dollars in revenue to American colleges and universities.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh seemed to invite such a challenge. “Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate,” Justice Kavanaugh wrote. “And under ordinary principles of antitrust law, it is not evident why college sports should be any different. The N.C.A.A. is not above the law.”  [NYT article] (next SR, see)

Fair Housing

June 21, 2022: the Department of Justice announced that it had obtained a settlement agreement resolving allegations that Meta Platforms Inc., formerly known as Facebook Inc., had engaged in discriminatory advertising in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA). The proposed agreement resolved a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging that Meta’s housing advertising system discriminated against Facebook users based on their race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status and national origin. The settlement would not take effect until approved by the court.

Among other things, the complaint alleged that Meta uses algorithms in determining which Facebook users received housing ads, and that those algorithms relied, in part, on characteristics protected under the FHA. This was the department’s first case challenging algorithmic bias under the Fair Housing Act. [DoJ article] (next FH, see Oct 20)

June 21 Peace Love Art Activism