August 11 – 24, 1962: “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” by Neil Sedaka #1 Billboard Hot 100. Sedaka co-worte the song with Howard Greenfield. Sedaka recorded this song twice, in 1962 and 1975, in two vastly different arrangements. The song is his signature song.
Jivin’ Gene and the Jokers had recorded a song by the same name in 1959. (Wikipedia article)
Both of Neil’s versions…
The slow version…
August 11 Music et al
The Beatles
A Hard Day’s Night
August 11, 1964: Beatles first film, A Hard Day’s Night, opened in America and was a huge hit. Shown in 500 theaters across U.S., it earns $1.3 million in the first week. Some 15,000 prints made for world-wide distribution – historical first in film industry. (see Aug 12)
Help!
August 11, 1965, The Beatles: the Beatles’ movie “Help!” premiered in the New York. (see Aug 13)
Here is a revised (and more ominous) trailer for the film. Enjoy.
August 11 Music et al
The [bumpy] Road to Bethel
Monday 11 August 1969
John Roberts packed for trip to Bethel. As of that afternoon’s accounting, Woodstock Ventures had posted receipt of advance ticket sales totaling $1,107,936. Woodstock Ventures (John Roberts) had spent nearly twice that sum.
telephone poles bolted into place around stage, but it is discovered that many are split or rotten.Woodstock Ventures came to agreement with William Filippini for use of Filippini Pond for $5,000. (see Chronology for more)
August 11, 1884: federal troops drove out some 1,200 jobless workers from Washington D.C. Led by unemployed activist Charles “Hobo” Kelly, the group’s “soldiers” included young journalist Jack London and William Haywood, a young miner-cowboy called “Big Bill.” (LH, see February 26, 1885; Haywood, see August 17, 1918)
August 11 Peace Love Art Activism
BLACK HISTORY
Jim Peck
August 11, 1943: conscientious objectors at the Danbury Federal Prison in Connecticut, incarcerated for refusing to cooperate with the draft during World War II, staged a hunger strike to protest racial segregation of the dining hall. The strike, which began on this day, lasted 135 days, ending on December 23, 1943, when the warden announced that the dining hall would soon be integrated.
The protesters included Jim Peck, who served three years in Danbury and who had the distinction of participating in both the 1947 freedom ride challenging race discrimination in interstate bus travel in the South (the Journey of Reconciliation), and the famous 1961 Freedom Ride that began on May 4, 1961. Peck was brutally assaulted on May 14, 1961 in that Freedom Ride, and on December 9, 1983 was awarded $25,000 in damages from the FBI for its failure to protect him in that incident. (BH, see February 3, 1944; Peck, see May 14, 1961)
Albany Movement
August 11, 1962: Albany, GA shut down its three public parks and two public libraries after small groups sought to desegregate them. (see Albany for expanded story)
James Hood
August 11, 1963: after a brief, dispiriting stay at Alabama, James Hood left the University of Alabama. He had lived in a dorm room on a floor where the only other occupants were federal marshals. A dead black cat was mailed to him and university officials sought his expulsion for a speech attacking them and Wallace. He was also distraught because his father had cancer. He left “to avoid a complete mental and physical breakdown.”
He obtained a bachelor’s degree from Wayne State University in Detroit and a master’s degree from Michigan State, concentrating in criminal justice and sociology. He was a deputy police chief in Detroit and the chairman of the police science program at the Madison Area Technical College in Wisconsin. (BH, see Aug 18; U of A, see Nov 19)
Johnnie May Chappell
August 11, 1964: five months after the murder of Johnnie May Chappell (see March 24, 1964) Jacksonville, Florida detectives Lee Cody and Donald Coleman were approached on two separate occasions by a young man named Wayne Chessman, who said he wanted to help the detectives. [According to Lee Cody and Donald Coleman nobody within the local police force had ever been assigned to investigate the crime.]
The detectives were initially unsure what Chessman was talking about, but after seeing Chessman leave their second encounter in a car that matched the one that carried Chappell’s murderer, the detectives decided to question Chessman at the police station. During the subsequent interview, Chessman provided a detailed account of Chappell’s murder and implicated 3 other men: Elmer Kato, the driver of the car, James Alex Davis, who sat in the back seat with Chessman that night, and 22-year-old J.W. Rich, the shooter.
On August 11, under questioning, Kato and Rich confessed to the crime, although Rich claimed that it was an accident. (BH, see Aug 25, Chappell, see Sept 25)
Watts Riots
August 11 – 15, 1965: Watts Riots in Los Angeles: 34 deaths, more than 1000 injuries, more than 4000 arrests, and estimated $40 million in damages. Local officials blamed outside agitators. A State commission found that it was due to longstanding local grievances that local officials ignored. [PBS story] (see Aug 13)
BLACK & SHOT
August 11, 2014: Los Angeles police conducted “an investigative stop” and interrogated unarmed 25-year-old Ezell Ford. At some point, gang enforcement officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villega shot and killed Ford.
An LAPD statement said, “During the stop a struggle ensued, which resulted in an officer-involved-shooting.” But witnesses told The Huffington Post that police shouted, “Shoot him,” moments before three bullets hit Ford, who was on the ground. The case remains under investigation. (B & S, see Sept 10; Ford, see June 9, 2015)
Kamala Harris
August 11, 2020: former Vice President Joe Biden picked Sen. Kamala Harris of California as his running mate.
The selection made Harris the third woman and first Black and first Asian American candidate to be nominated for vice president by a major political party.
“These aren’t normal times,” Biden said in an email to supporters Tuesday afternoon, referencing the coronavirus pandemic and calls for racial justice. “I need someone working alongside me who is smart, tough, and ready to lead. Kamala is that person.”
Harris tweeted that she’s “honored” to join the ticket, saying Biden can “unify the American people because he’s spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he’ll build an America that lives up to our ideals.” [NPR story] (next BH, see Aug 19; next Feminism, see Aug 18)
August 11 Peace Love Art Activism
Vietnam
French Vietnam war ends
August 11, 1954: a formal peace took hold in Indochina, ending more than seven years of fighting between the French and the Communist Vietminh. [NYT article] (see Oct 24)
Last US ground troops
August 11, 1972: the last U.S. ground combat unit in South Vietnam, the Third Battalion, Twenty-First Infantry, departed for the United States. The unit had been guarding the U.S. air base at Da Nang. This left only 43,500 advisors, airmen, and support troops left in-country. This number did not include the sailors of the Seventh Fleet on station in the South China Sea or the air force personnel in Thailand and Guam. NYT article (see Aug 22)
August 11. 1961: the Justice Department ordered an end to seizures by U.S. Customs of the famous Henry Miller novel Tropic of Cancer and two of his other novels, Tropic of Capricorn and Plexus. What most officials found offensive about Tropic of Cancer was Miller’s quite liberal use of the word “fuck” throughout the novel. Grove Press, owned by Barney Rosset had begun importing the book in June.
Although the Justice Department ended its ban, the novel still faced more than 60 efforts to ban it or prosecute its publisher in local communities. Tropic of Cancer was finally declared not obscene by the Supreme Court on June 22, 1964. [Independent article] (see Oct 4)
Voting rights & free speech
August 11, 2015: U.S. District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro struck down a New Hampshire law barring voters from sharing photos of their filled-out ballots online, saying the statute violated constitutional free speech laws.
New Hampshire’s so-called “ballot selfie” law was enacted ahead of the 2014 election. It was intended to revise laws passed about a century ago when vote-buying was relatively widespread and voters shared their marked ballot to redeem promises of cash or other inducements.
Barbadoro sided with the American Civil Liberties Union in ruling that the ban on posting images of marked ballots on social media websites served largely to restrict voters’ political expression rather than combat vote-rigging.
“As the complaints of the voters who are now under investigation reveal, the people who are most likely to be ensnared by the new law are those who wish to use images of their completed ballots to make a political point,” Barbadoro wrote in the ruling. [Reuters article] (FS, see March 24, 2016; VR, see April 4, 2016)
Marion County Record
August 11, 2023: in Marion, Kansas, local law enforcement seized computers, cellphones and reporting materials from the Marion County Record office, the newspaper’s reporters, and the publisher’s home.
Eric Meyer, owner and publisher of the newspaper, said police were motivated by a confidential source who leaked sensitive documents to the newspaper, and the message was clear: “Mind your own business or we’re going to step on you.”
The city’s entire five-officer police force and two sheriff’s deputies took “everything we have,” [Kansas Reflector article](next FS, see Aug 29)
August 11 Peace Love Art Activism
August 11 Music et al
Neil Sedaka
August 11 – 24, 1962: “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” by Neil Sedaka #1 Billboard Hot 100. (see Aug 25)
A Hard Day’s Night
August 11, 1964: Beatles first film, A Hard Day’s Night, opened in America and was a huge hit. Shown in 500 theaters across U.S., it earns $1.3 million in the first week. Some 15,000 prints made for world-wide distribution – historical first in film industry. (see Aug 12)
Help!
August 11, 1965, The Beatles: the Beatles’ movie “Help!” premiered in the New York. (see Aug 13) Here is a revised (and more ominous) trailer for the film. Enjoy. (see Aug 13)
The [bumpy] Road to Bethel
Monday 11 August 1969
John Roberts packed for trip to Bethel. As of that afternoon’s accounting, Woodstock Ventures had posted receipt of advance ticket sales totaling $1,107,936. Woodstock Ventures (John Roberts) had spent nearly twice that sum.
telephone poles bolted into place around stage, but it is discovered that many are split or rotten.Woodstock Ventures cames to agreement with William Filippini for use of Filippini Pond for $5,000. (see Chronology for expanded story)
August 11 Peace Love Art Activism
Fair Housing
August 11, 1968: Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, enacted. It established the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA), or Ginnie Mae to expand availability of mortgage funds for moderate income families using government-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities. In doing so the new entity was split from the former Federal National Mortgage Association [“Fannie Mae”], which retained other functionality under that same name. The new entity was under the purview of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and its Federal Housing Administration. (see January 22, 1969)
August 11 Peace Love Art Activism
Native Americans
August 11, 1978: The American Indian Religious Freedom Act enacted to protect and preserve the traditional religious rights and cultural practices of American Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts, and Native Hawaiians. These rights included, but were not limited to, access of sacred sites, freedom to worship through ceremonial and traditional rights and use and possession of objects considered sacred.
The Act required policies of all governmental agencies to eliminate interference with the free exercise of Native religion, based on the First Amendment, and to accommodate access to and use of religious sites to the extent that the use is practicable and is not inconsistent with an agency’s essential functions. It also acknowledges the prior violation of that right. (see November 8, 1978)
August 11 Peace Love Art Activism
Religion and Public Education
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
August 11, 1984: President Ronald Reagan signed the Equal Access Act into law. It required public schools receiving federal financial aid (which in effect means all public schools) to grant access to school facilities during non-school hours on an equal basis and without regard to the views of an organization. At issue in the law was the question of whether religious groups could have access to school facilities for meetings and events, or whether that would violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and the separation of church and state. The law divided civil libertarians between the advocates of free speech and the advocates of separation of church and state. (Religion & Separation, see June 4, 1985)
August 11 Peace Love Art Activism
The Cold War
August 11, 1984: a joke about “outlawing” the Soviet Union by President Ronald Reagan turned into an international embarrassment. The president’s flippant remarks caused consternation among America’s allies and provided grist for the Soviet propaganda mill. As he prepared for his weekly radio address, President Reagan was asked to make a voice check. Reagan obliged, declaring, “My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.” Since the voice check was not actually broadcast, it was not until after he delivered his radio address that news of his “joke” began to leak out.
In Paris, a leading newspaper expressed its dismay, and stated that only trained psychologists could know whether Reagan’s remarks were “a statement of repressed desire or the exorcism of a dreaded phantom.” A Dutch news service remarked, “Hopefully, the man tests his missiles more carefully.” Other foreign newspapers and news services called Reagan “an irresponsible old man,” and declared that his comments were “totally unbecoming” for a man in his position (see November 19, 1985)
August 11 Peace Love Art Activism
CLINTON IMPEACHMENT
August 11, 1998: Hollywood producer and Clinton friend Harry Thomason testifies before the grand jury. (see Clinton for expanded story)
August 11 Peace Love Art Activism
Marijuana
August 11, 2015: NJ Administrative Law Judge John Kennedy ruled that a Genny Barbour could not use medical marijuana in school to help control her seizure disorder. In the ruling, Kennedy said the Maple Shade school district and the Larc School in Bellmawr were mandated to comply with a state law designed to ban drug use in school zones. The suit filed by Roger and Lora Barbour sought to require a nurse at their 16-year-old daughter’s school to administer cannabis oil. The girl had long suffered from seizures caused by a severe form of epilepsy, and her parents turned to medical marijuana as a treatment. Roger Barbour told NJ.com that he would appeal the ruling. (see Sept 15)
August 10, 1898: a white mob seized Will Sanders, Rilla Weaver, Dennis Ricord, and Manse Castle from a jail in Clarendon, Arkansas, and lynched them before they could stand trial.
A few weeks prior, a white woman named Erneze Orr allegedly hired the four to kill her husband, John T. Orr. After the four were arrested for this alleged offense, a mob of white community members quickly formed—and on three separate occasions, the mob convened at the jail intent on lynching them. Despite these repeated threats, officers refused to move the group to a safer location as they awaited trial.
On August 10, the white mob stormed the jail a final time. Rather than protecting the people in his custody, the sheriff turned the jail keys over to the mob. Newspapers reported that he had been persuaded to open the jail doors and let the mob enter “by their earnestness.”
Mrs. Orr, the white woman who allegedly orchestrated her husband’s murder, was also being held at the jail. She reportedly poisoned herself shortly before the mob’s arrival. Though contemporary reports note that she was still alive when the mob stormed the jail, the mob left her and took only the four Black people from the jail.
The mob hung Mr. Sanders, Ms. Weaver, Mr. Ricord, and Mr. Castle from the tramway of a nearby sawmill with signs affixed to them that read “This is the penalty for murder and rape.” Their bodies were then left on display for hours to terrorize the entire Black community. [EJI article] (next BH, see “In September” ; next Lynching, see April 23, 1899 or see NF for expanded 19th century chronology)
Mamie Smith and Perry Bradford
August 10, 1920: Mamie Smith and Perry Bradford recorded a new song by Bradford called “Crazy Blues.” The song was a cry of outrage by a woman driven mad by mistreatment and spoke with urgency to Black listeners across the country who had been ravaged by the abuses of race-hate groups, the police and military forces in the preceding year — the notorious “Red Summer” of 1919.
“Crazy Blues” became a hit record of unmatched proportions and profound impact. Within a month of its release, it sold some 75,000 copies and would be reported to sell more than two million over time. It established the blues as a popular art and prepared the way for a century of Black expression in the fiery core of American music. [NYT article] (next BH, see March 1, 1921)
Athens, Alabama Race Riot
August 10, 1946: in Athens, Alabama, a mob of white men and teenagers, estimated at 2,000 people, rioted after two white men had been jailed for an unprovoked attack on a black man the day before. Breaking into smaller groups, the mob went into town and began beating any African-American seen the street. State troops, sent by the Governor, arrived at 4:00 pm and restored order by midnight. Nobody was killed, but more than 50 black persons were injured. Sixteen white suspects were later indicted by a county grand jury for the violence. [Trove article] (BH, see “in September”; RR, see July 16, 1964)
Albany Movement
August 10 1962: King agreed to leave Albany, ending his involvement in the Albany Movement. Almost all of Albany’s public facilities remained segregated after King’s departure. (see Albany for expanded story)
Medgar Evers assassination
August 10, 1963: a state judge ordered Byron De La Beckwith released from a mental hospital and transferred to jail to await trial for murder. (BH, see Aug 11; see Evers for expanded chronology)
Irene Morgan Kirkaldy
August 10, 2007, Irene Morgan Kirkaldy died in Gloucester County, Virginia. [NYT obit] (BH, see Sept 27; Morgan, see June 16, 1944)
August 10, 1937: the United States Patent Office awarded patent #2,089.171 to G.D. Beauchamp for the electric guitar. It would revolutionize jazz, blues and country music and made the later rise of rock and roll possible. It was known as the Rickenbacker Frying Pan.
Inventor G.D. Beauchamp, partner with Adolph Rickenbacher in the Electro String Instrument Corporation of Los Angeles, California, spent more than five years pursuing his patent on the Frying Pan. It was a process delayed by several areas of concern, including the electric guitar’s reliance on an engineering innovation that dated to the 19th century. When a vibrating string is placed within a magnetic field, it is possible to “pick up” the sound waves created by that string’s vibrations and convert those waves into electric current. Replace the word “string” with the word “membrane” in that sentence, however, and you also have a description of how a telephone works. For this reason, Beauchamp’s patent application had to be revised multiple times to clarify which of his individual claims were truly novel and which were merely new applications of existing patents. (see April 1, 1938)
August 10 Peace Love Art Activism
Cold War
August 10, 1949: President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Bill, which established the Department of Defense. As the Cold War heated up, the Department of Defense became the cornerstone of America’s military effort to contain the expansion of communism. [Cornell U article] (see Aug 27)
August 10 Peace Love Art Activism
Native Americans
August 10, 1961: National Indian Youth Council (NIYC) organized following the American Indian Charter Convention in Chicago to encourage greater self-sufficiency and autonomy. [site] (see March 5, 1962)
August 10 Peace Love Art Activism
August 10 Music et al
Fingertips-Pt 2
August 10 – 30, 1963, recorded in June 1962 during a Motortown Revue performance at the Regal Theater in Chicago, “Fingertips-Pt 2” by Little Stevie Wonder was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Wonder was 13-years-old.
Wheels of Fire
August 10 – September 6, 1968: Cream’s Wheels of Fire the Billboard #1 album.
The [bumpy] Road to Bethel
Sunday 10 August 1969
Chris Langhart assisted by a corps of technical people he knew from summer theaters in Syracuse, began constructing a footbridge over the increasingly congested West Shore Road.
Howard Hirsch and Peter Leeds begin setting up the exhibition of amateur artists along the festival’s northwestern perimeter.
stage construction progressed to the point where builders were ready to put the deck on top. (see Chronology for expanded story)
August 10 Peace Love Art Activism
Fair Housing
August 10, 1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson signed The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965. It was a major revision to federal housing policy in the United States which instituted several major expansions in federal housing programs. Johnson called it “the single most important breakthrough” in federal housing policy since the 1920s. The legislation greatly expanded funding for existing federal housing programs, and added new programs to provide rent subsidies for the elderly and disabled; housing rehabilitation grants to poor homeowners; provisions for veterans to make very low down-payments to obtain mortgages; new authority for families qualifying for public housing to be placed in empty private housing (along with subsidies to landlords); and matching grants to localities for the construction of water and sewer facilities, construction of community centers in low-income areas, and urban beautification. [LBJ Library article] (see September 9, 1965)
August 10 Peace Love Art Activism
Vietnam/Operation Popeye
August 10, 1966: the Joint Chiefs of Staff proposed a weather modification program for selected areas of Laos. The Command of US Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (COMUSMACV) and the Commander in Chief of US Pacific Command (CINCPAC) concurred. (see Global Security dot com for more) (see Popeye for expanded story)
Manson Family
August 10, 1969: the Manson Family killed Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, wealthy Los Angeles business people. [2017 Guardian obit] (see January 25, 1971)
August 10 Peace Love Art Activism
Feminism
Equal Rights Amendment
August 10, 1970: The Equal Rights Amendment passed the U.S. House of Representative by a vote of 350 to 15. The proposed amendment provided for equal rights under the constitution regardless of sex. NYT article (Feminism, see Aug 26; ERA, see March 22, 1972)
Women’s Health
August 10, 2015: Oklahoma District Judge Patricia Parrish struck down an Oklahoma law that required doctors to follow label instructions when prescribing abortion-inducing drugs, finding the rule was unconstitutional because it did not apply to other kinds of medication.
A lawsuit argued the law placed unconstitutional restrictions on non-surgical abortion in the earliest weeks of pregnancy and interfered with doctors’ discretion. Opponents contend lower dosages can make the abortion-inducing drugs more effective later in a pregnancy. [NEWSOK article] (see Aug 14)
August 10 Peace Love Art Activism
Japanese Internment Camps
August 10, 1988: Civil Liberties Act of 1988, signed by President Reagan and passed by Congress, provided for a Presidential apology and appropriates $1.25 billion for reparations of $20,000 to most internees, evacuees, and others of Japanese ancestry who lost liberty or property because of discriminatory wartime actions by the government. Civil Liberties Public Education Fund created to help teach the public about the internment period. (see Internment for expanded story)
August 10 Peace Love Art Activism
Domestic Terrorism
Oklahoma City Explosion
August 10, 1995: a grand jury indicted Timothy McVeigh on 11 federal counts, including conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, use of a weapon of mass destruction, destruction by explosives and eight counts of first-degree murder. (see February 20, 1996)
North Valley Jewish Community Center
August 10, 1999: Buford O. Furrow, Jr. walked into the lobby of the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills and opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon, fired 70 shots into the complex. The gunfire wounded five people: three children, a teenage counselor, and an office worker. Shortly thereafter, Furrow murdered a mail carrier, fled the state. [Daily News photo link] (see January 24, 2001)
August 10 Peace Love Art Activism
LGBTQ
August 10, 2015
The Ohio Supreme Court’s Board for Professional Conduct said that Ohio judges who perform civil marriages may not refuse to conduct a ceremony for a gay couple, nor may they refuse to do all marriages based on personal beliefs opposing gay marriage. The ruling follows the refusal by a judge in Toledo to conduct a same-sex ceremony for a couple in July, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage was a right in all states. Toledo Municipal Judge C. Allen McConnell said in a written statement he was following his personal and Christian beliefs. But the professional conduct board, in an advisory opinion issued Friday and announced Monday, said refusing to perform the ceremony on that basis amounts to a violation of a judge’s oath of office. [Cleveland dot com article]
Federal Judge Richard Gergel ordered South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson to pay more than $135,000 in legal fees for a couple who challenged the state ban on same-sex marriage. Wilson must reimburse seven attorneys a total of $130,600 for 390 hours of work, or nearly 90 percent of what they requested. Gergel also awarded them the full $4,700 they sought in other court costs and fees, according to court documents. Wilson’s office is reviewing the ruling to decide what to do next, spokesman Mark Powell said. It has 28 days to respond. Gergel called the hours spent on the case reasonable and necessary. Colleen Condon and her partner, Nichols Bleckley, sued last October to get a marriage license. [AP article] (see Aug 12)
August 10 Peace Love Art Activism
What's so funny about peace, love, art, and activism?
