March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Charleston, S.C

March 27, 1861: just weeks before the beginning of the Civil War, free African Americans in Charleston, S.C., staged “ride-ins” over being denied access to streetcars. (BH, see Apr 16; Charleston, see May 1)

President Andrew Johnson

March 27, 1866:  President Andrew Johnson vetoed a civil rights bill that would later become the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, conferring full US citizenship on all slaves. (see May 1)

United States v. Cruikshank

March 27, 1876: the Supreme Court had heard arguments in United States v. Cruikshank on March 31 and April 1, 1875. In its ruling on this day, the Supreme Court dismissed the charges against the three white men, ruling that the Fourteenth Amendment protects only against intentionally discriminatory state acts, not the acts of one citizen towards another not clearly motivated by racial animus. This ruling severely limited the federal government’s role in protecting black citizens from racially-motivated violence, especially at the hands of white terrorist groups intent on restoring whites’ racial dominance in the post-civil war South. (US Constitution dot org article) (see June 17)

Louis Lundy shot

March 27, 1908: Alabama Representative James Thomas Heflin shot Louis Lundy, a Black man, after he allegedly cursed in front of a white woman while riding on a Washington, D.C. streetcar. The congressman claimed that Mr. Lundy’s cursing was “raising a disturbance,” and received an outpouring of support from the white public and his fellow representatives after shooting Mr. Lundy through his neck. He was never held accountable for shooting Mr. Lundy. [EJI article] (next BH, see Mar 30)

”SCOTTSBORO BOYS”

March 27, 1933: Haywood Patterson’s second trial began before another all-white jury. Ruby Bates testified that neither she nor Victoria Price had been raped on the Southern Railway. (see Scottsboro for expanded story)

Montgomery Bus Boycott

March 27, 1956: the Alabama Attorney General filed a motion urging dismissal of the Browder v. Gayle federal suit. (B v G, see June 5; see Montgomery for expanded story)

Rev. Billy Graham

March 27, 1956: Rev. Billy Graham, a conservative Protestant minister from North Carolina, was just beginning to emerge as the unofficial “minister” to U.S. presidents. On this day, he advised President Dwight D. Eisenhower to “stay out” of the growing civil rights controversy. Eisenhower did not need much persuading, as he did not support the Supreme Court’s historic Brown v. Board of Education decision of May 17, 1954. (Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, on September 25, 1957, to ensure the integration of Central High School, but he did so only because of the violent resistance to a lawful court order. (see Mar 29)

School Desegregation

March 27, 1962: Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel of Louisiana, called for all Roman Catholic schools in New Orleans to end their segregation policies. (Know Louisiana dot org article on Rummel) (BH, see Apr 3; SD, see September 2, 1963)

Rev. James Orange

March 27, 1965: a group of about 200 protesters, black and white, led by the Rev. James Orange of the SCLC marched to the Dallas County courthouse in Selma. The Rev. James Bevel told them, “[Viola Liuzzo] gave her life that freedom might be saved throughout this land.” (BH, see Apr 2; see Viola for expanded story)

Alton B. Sterling

March 27, 2018: Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced that police officers would not be prosecuted by the state authorities in the fatal shooting of a  Alton B. Sterling on July 5, 2016.

Landry’s statements were similar to the Justice Department’s findings (see May 2, 2017) and defended the conduct of the officers, saying, for example, that their efforts to gain control of Sterling’s hands were “well-founded and reasonable under the circumstances and under Louisiana law.” Landry also said the officers were justified in their concern about whether Mr. Sterling was armed. (Sterling, see Mar 30)

Stephon Clark

March 27, 2018: hundreds of protesters temporarily took over the main foyer at Sacramento City Hall to protest the death of Stephon Clark, who was fatally shot by two Sacramento police officers in his grandmother’s backyard while they investigated a vandalism complaint.

Xavier Becerra, the state’s attorney general, announced that his office would oversee the investigation into Clark’s death and would review the department’s training and protocols. (B & S and SC, see Mar 30)

March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Feminism

March 27, 1904: Colorado state authorities ordered Mary Harris “Mother” Jones to leave the state. She was accused of stirring up striking coal miners. (Labor, see Apr 25; Feminism, see March 2, 1907)

March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

see March 27 Music et al for expanded blog

Roots of Rock

Sun Records

March 27, 1952: Sam Phillips began Sun Records, a division of Sun Entertainment Corp, as an American independent record label. (see January 4, 1954)

Technological Milestone

March 27, 1958: CBS Laboratories announced a new stereophonic record that was playable on ordinary LP phonographs, meaning, monaural. In stereo, on the proper equipment, a new rich and fuller sound was heard. It eventually became a standard for record and equipment buyers. (see December 10, 1959)

Bob Dylan

March 27, 1965: Dylan released Bringing It All Back Home, his fifth studio album. He had recorded  between January 13 – 15, 1965

The album’s cover photographed by Daniel Kramer features Sally Grossman (wife of Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman) lounging in the background. There are also artifacts scattered around the room, including LPs by The Impressions (Keep on Pushing), Robert Johnson (King of the Delta Blues Singers), Ravi Shankar (India’s Master Musician), Lotte Lenya (Sings Berlin Theatre Songs by Kurt Weill) and Eric Von Schmidt (The Folk Blues of Eric Von Schmidt). Dylan had “met” Schmidt “one day in the green pastures of Harvard University” and would later mimic his album cover pose (tipping his hat) for his own Nashville Skyline four years later. (see Apr 12)

Supremes

March 27 – April 9, 1965: “Stop! In the Name of Love” by the Supremes #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Fear of Rock

March 27, 1971: New York radio station WNBC banned the song ‘One Toke Over the Line’ by Brewer & Shipley because of its alleged drug references. Other stations around the country followed. (see April 28, 1982)

Jerry Garcia

March 27, 1973: police arrested Jerry Garcia after finding cocaine and LSD in his car after being busted for speeding in New Jersey. (see January 7, 1979)

March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

March 27, 1953: the ban on manufacturing of color TVs (due to conflict in Korea) was lifted.  (see Apr 7)

March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

Dalton Trumbo

 

March 27, 1957: “Robert Rich” won the Academy Award for Best Original Story for the 1956 film, The Brave One. At the Oscars ceremony, however, no “Mr. Rich” appeared to accept the award. “Rich” was the pseudonym for Dalton Trumbo, who had been blacklisted because of his political views and his refusal to answer questions before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), on October 28, 1947. While blacklisted, Trumbo wrote a number of screenplays anonymously or under pseudonyms. (San Francisco Chronicle obituary) (Red Scare & Trumbo, see May 2) 

March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

March 27, 1973: Marlon Brando boycotted the Academy Award ceremonies and sent Sacheen Littlefeather, a Native American activist who presented a speech on his behalf for his performance in The Godfather as a protest of the treatment of Native Americans by the film industry. There was a mixed reaction to her/Brando’s letter. (2013 article on Littlefeather)

Clint Eastwood later poked fun at the statement

March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Fourth Amendment

Tennessee v. Garner

March 27, 1985: the US Supreme Court held that, under the Fourth Amendment, when a law enforcement officer is pursuing a fleeing suspect, the officer may not use deadly force to prevent escape unless “the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.” (Oyez article) (see June 20, 1991)

March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Calvin Graham

March 27, 1988: Too Young to be a Hero, a made-for-TV movie, starring Rick Schroder (age 17), tells the story of Calvin Graham. Graham received $50,000, but 50% went to two agents, and 20% went to a writer of an unpublished book. (see Graham for expanded story)

March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

Sen John McCain

March 27, 2007:  Sen John McCain claimed progress in Iraq. McCain tells CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: “General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed humvee. I think you oughta catch up. You are giving the old line of three months ago. I understand it. We certainly don’t get it through the filter of some of the media.” He later acknowledges, “There is no unarmored humvees. Obviously, that’s the case.” [CBS, 4/8/07] (see April 1)

March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

March 27, 2012: Msgr. William J. Lynn, 61, went on trial. He was the first Roman Catholic supervisor in the country to be tried on felony charges of endangering children and conspiracy — not on allegations that he molested children himself, but that he protected suspect priests and reassigned them to jobs where they continued to rape, grope or otherwise abuse boys and girls. (see Mar 29)

March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Religion and Public Education

In God We Trust

March 27, 2012:  Bradley Johnson, Petitioner v. Poway Unified School District, et al. The US Supreme Court declined to hear (thus upheld) a Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision re a San Diego County school district’s ordering a high school math teacher to remove large banners declaring “In God We Trust” and “God Shed His Grace on Thee.” On September 13, 2011 in a 3-0 ruling the appeals court said that those inscriptions and others that teacher Bradley Johnson displayed on his classroom wall amounted to a statement of religious views that the Poway Unified School District was entitled to disavow. (Law dot Justia dot com article)

Nampa Classical Academy vs. Gosling

March 27, 2012:  Nampa Classical Academy vs. Gosling, 11-786. The US Supreme Court declined to hear (thus upheld) a Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals decision that ruled that Idaho’s Public Charter School Commission acted legally when it prohibited a charter school from using religious materials as textbooks. The Nampa Classical Academy said it was using the Bible and other spiritual texts for cultural education, not religious indoctrination. But the appeals court said the state was entitled to ban the books as texts in order to avoid “governmental promotion of religion.” (see November 19, 2013)

March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

March 27, 2017: saying the time was not right to outlaw nuclear arms, the United States led a group of dozens of United Nations members that boycotted talks at the global organization for a treaty that would ban the weapons.

 “There is nothing I want more for my family than a world with no nuclear weapons,” Ambassador Nikki R. Haley of the United States told reporters outside the General Assembly as the talks began. “But we have to be realistic. Is there anyone who thinks that North Korea would ban nuclear weapons?”

  The talks, supported by more than 120 countries, were first announced in October and were led by Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, South Africa and Sweden. Disarmament groups strongly support the effort. (see Mar 29)

March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

March 27, 2017: the Supreme Court tightened its rules on capital punishment ruling that Texas — the nation’s leader in executions — could not use a decades-old definition of intellectual disability to determine who lives and who dies.

The 5-3 decision was another in a series of high court rulings intended to eliminate differences in how states decide who is disabled — and therefore ineligible for the death penalty under a 2002 precedent — and who is not.

The case involved a Bobby James Moore. His case dated back to 1980, when he shot and killed a grocery store clerk during a botched robbery. He was twice convicted, then found to be intellectually disabled, but Texas’ highest criminal court overturned that finding, citing its own precedent, which is based on a 1992 definition of intellectual disability. His case now returns to Texas for further consideration. (see Apr 14)

March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

New Jersey 1

March 27, 2018: NJ Gov. Phil Murphy announced major changes to the State’s medical marijuana system. The system had been limited to such conditions as multiple sclerosis, ALS, epilepsy, cancer, AIDS and others.

Murphy added anxiety, migraines, chronic pain and tourette’s to the list. He lowered the cost of participation from $200 to $100, or just $20 for veterans, seniors and the disabled. He also took a number of steps to expand access to, and the number of, dispensaries. (see Mar 29)

New Jersey 2

March 27, 2019: the New Jersey State Appeals Court ruled that New Jersey employers could not fire workers because they were medical marijuana patients. The Court said that such patients—as long as they were not using the drug or under the influence at work—were protected by the State’s law against discrimination.

The decision was based on a discrimination lawsuit filed by Justin Wild, 41, a man diagnosed with cancer who was fired from his director’s job at the Feeney Funeral Home in Ridgewood, NJ in 2016.

Appellate Court Judge Clarkson Fisher Jr  said that the state Law Against Discrimination did require employers to accommodate people with disabilities, like Wild, whose doctor approved his use of medical cannabis.

He wrote in the decision, “It would be ironic indeed if the Compassionate Use Act limited the Law Against Discrimination to permit an employer’s termination of a cancer patient’s employment by discriminating without compassion,”

The NJ Superior Court had ruled that the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, the 2010 state law creating the program, did not require employers to make accommodations on the job. (see Cannabis for expanded cannabis history)

March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History/Census

March 27, 2018: at least 12 states signaled that they would sue to block the Trump administration from adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 census, arguing that the change would cause fewer Americans to be counted and violate the Constitution.

The New York State attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, said he was leading a multi-state lawsuit to stop the move, and officials in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington said they would join the effort. California had filed a separate lawsuit on March 26. (IH, see Mar 29; Census, see January 15, 2019)

March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Healthcare

March 27, 2019:  Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia struck down a major health care priority for President Trump’s administration when Boasberg ruled that requiring Medicaid enrollees to work in order to qualify for benefits violates the purpose of the health care program for low-income people

On January 11, 2018, the Trump administration invited states to impose these requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries for the first time. Since then, the federal government had approved work requirements in eight states and was considering applications in seven more.

In two opinions issued Boasberg sided with plaintiffs who argued that work requirements do not further the Medicaid program’s statutory purpose, which is to provide access to health care for people with low incomes.  (see Apr 1)

March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

March 27 2019:  James Fields, who was convicted of killing Heather Heyer by ramming his car into a crowd protesting a white supremacist rally in Charlotteville, Virginia on August 12, 2017, pleaded guilty  in his federal hate crimes case.

Fields, 21, pleaded guilty to 28 federal counts of hate crime acts causing bodily injury and involving an attempt to kill, and one count of a hate crime act that resulted in the death of Heather Heyer.

Each count carried a maximum sentence of life in prison. Under the plea agreement, U.S. prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty. (see May 23)

March 27 Peace Love Art Activism

March 25 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Anti-Labor Injunction

Mar 25, 1893: a federal court issued the first injunction against a union under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The case, brought against the Workingman’s Amalgamated Council of New Orleans for interfering with the movement of commerce, hands managers a potent legal weapon. (see June 20)

Coxey’s Army

March 25, 1894: during the depression of 1894, Coxey’s Army, a group of unemployed set out on a march to Washington, D.C. It was the only one of several groups that had set out for the U.S. capital to actually reach its destination. Led by Jacob S. Coxey, a businessman, it left Massillon, Ohio, on March 25, 1894, with about 100 men and arrived in Washington on May 1 with about 500. Coxey hoped to persuade Congress to authorize a vast program of public works, financed by a substantial increase of the money in circulation, to provide jobs for the unemployed, but, despite the publicity his group received, it had no impact on public policy. The venture came to an ignominious end when Coxey and some of his followers were arrested for trespassing on the lawns at the Capitol. (Ohio History Central article) (see May 11)

March 25 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History & Feminism

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

March 25, 1911: Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, more than one hundred shirtwaist makers (most of them young immigrant women) either died in the fire that broke out on the eighth floor of the factory or jumped to their deaths. Many of the workers were unable to escape because owners had locked the doors on their floors to prevent them from stealing or taking unauthorized breaks. Later, more than 100,000 people participated in the funeral march for the victims. (Cornell University article) (LH, see Apr 8; Feminism, see January > March 1912)

United Farm Workers

March 25, 1972: A New York Times article reported that “a well organized, well-financed campaign has been mounted against the United Farm Workers Union by a loose coalition that included the American Farm Bureau Federation, large corporate growers and shippers, right-to-work committees—and a variety of other conservative organizations. (see May 11 – June 4, 1972)

Pregnancy discrimination

March 25, 2015:  the Supreme Court revived a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit against United Parcel Service, saying that lower courts had used the wrong standard to determine whether the company had discriminated against one of its drivers.

The case concerned Peggy Young, a UPS worker whose doctor recommended that she avoid lifting anything heavy after she became pregnant. The company refused to give her lighter duties to accommodate her and placed her on unpaid leave in 2006.

Ms. Young sued under the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which required employers to treat “women affected by pregnancy” the same as “other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work.”

Her lawsuit was dismissed, with a unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va., saying the pregnancy law does not give pregnant women “a ‘most favored nation’ status.” “One may characterize the UPS policy as insufficiently charitable,” Judge Allyson Kay Duncan wrote for that court, “but a lack of charity does not amount to discriminatory animus directed at a protected class of employees.”

The Supreme Court, by a 6-to-3 vote, vacated that decision and said Ms. Young deserved another shot at trying to prove that the company had treated her differently from “a large percentage of nonpregnant workers” who may have been offered accommodations.

UPS had since changed its policy to offer light duty to pregnant women. (Labor, see Apr 1; Feminism, see Apr 30)

March 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Cultural Milestone

March 25, 1913: the home of vaudeville, the Palace Theatre, opened  in New York City. (see May 9, 1914)

March 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Black History

Scottsboro Nine

March 25, 1931: nine black youths were “hoboing” on a freight train with several white males and two white women. A fight began between the white and black groups near the Lookout Mountain tunnel, and the whites were kicked off the train. The whites complained to authorities. A posse stopped the Southern Railroad train in Paint Rock, Alabama.  Police arrested them on charges of assault.  Rape charges were added against all nine boys after accusations were made by Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, the two girls on the train.

The youths arrested were Olen Montgomery (age 17), Clarence Norris (age 19), Haywood Patterson (age 18), Ozie Powell (age 16), Willie Roberson (age 16), Charlie Weems (age 16), Eugene Williams (age 13), and brothers Andy (age 19) and Roy Wright (age 12). (see Scottsboro for expanded story)

March to Montgomery

March 25, 1965:  following the end of the march by 25,000 civil rights supporters from Selma to Montgomery after four days and nights on the road under the protection of Army troops and federalized Alabama National Guardmen. They were refused permission to give a petition to Governor Wallace which said: “We have come not only five days and 50 miles but we have come from three centuries of suffering and hardship. We have come to you, the Governor of Alabama, to declare that we must have our freedom NOW. We must have the right to vote; we must have equal protection of the law and an end to police brutality.”

During the rally that followed the refusal by the Govenor of Alabama, Governor Wallace. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated “We are not about to turn around. We, are on the move now. Yes, we are on the move and no wave of racism can stop us.”  The speech became known as the “How long? Not Long” speech or as, “Our God is Marching On.” (BH & March, see MM for expanded chronology; MLK, see Mar 30)

Viola Liuzzo and  Leroy Moton

March 25, 1965: Detroit homemaker 39-year-old white Viola Liuzzo and  Leroy Moton, a 19-year-old Black had marched and assisted with the March to Montgomery. After the march, Liuzzo helped shuttle people from Montgomery back to Selma. Leroy Moton went with her. After dropping passengers in Selma, she and Moton headed back to Montgomery. On the way another car  pulled alongside and a passenger in that car shot directly at Liuzzo, hitting her twice in the head, and killing her instantly. Moton was uninjured. Within 24 hours President Lyndon Johnson appeared on national TV  to announce the arrest of Collie Wilkins (21), William Eaton (41) and Eugene Thomas (41) and an FBI informant Gary Rowe (34). Johnson stated, “Mrs. Liuzzo went to Alabama to serve the struggle for justice. She was murdered by the enemies of justice, who for decades have used the rope and the gun and the tar and feathers to terrorize their neighbors.” [Rowe was not indicted,and served as a witness.] (see Liuzzo for expanded chronology)

News Music: in 2008, Liuzzo’s story was memorialized in a song, “Color Blind Angel” by Robin Rogers. (next NM, see July 28)

George Whitmore, Jr.

March 25, 1965: DA Frank Hogan dismissed first-degree murder charges against two drifters — James Stewart, 24, and R. L. Douglas, 32 — who had been charged with the hammer-slaying of John Walshinsky, a derelict — a crime to which Stewart and Douglas confessed. The men said  that the confessions were beaten out of them.

A year later, on March 25, 1966, Whitmore was convicted for a second time in the Elba Borrero attmpted rape and assault case. (see Whitmore for expanded story)

Clarence David Stallworth

March 26, 1966: the Southern Courier, a newspaper documenting the civil rights movement, reported that, after driving in Beatrice, Alabama, Clarence David Stallworth was beaten and pistol-whipped by a group of whites that included the town mayor.

While  Stallworth, a black man, was driving through the town, a white man in another car signaled for him to stop, saying that the passenger in the white man’s car wanted to speak with him. When Stallworth stopped his car and walked around to the passenger side of the other vehicle, Mayor T.A. Black got out and hit him in the head with a pistol while the other men in the car exited and began kicking and beating Stallworth. After the attack, Stallworth was refused medical treatment from several different hospitals before finally being admitted to a hospital in Montgomery, more than eighty miles away.

Members of the black community rallied to force County Probate Judge David Nettles to sign the warrants for the arrest of the men involved in the attack. Nettles initially refused, but relented after organizers threatened to initiate a mass protest in support of Stallworth.

“I honestly feel that I am committing a wrong here,” Nettles said when contemplating authorizing the arrests of the men who had beaten Mr. Stallworth. “[But] I’ll sign that warrant tomorrow.” (see Mar 28)

Linda Brown

March 25, 2018: Linda Brown died. It was her father who objected when she was not allowed to attend an all-white school in her neighborhood and who thus came to symbolize one of the most transformative court proceedings in American history, the school desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education  in Topeka, Kan. She was 75. (see Apr 12)

March 25 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

“Lavender Scare”

March 25, 1952: the U.S. State Department announced that it had removed 126 “perverts” from employment since the beginning of the year. The actions were part of a wave of homophobia that swept Washington, D.C. and the rest of the government in the 1950s, and has been labeled the “Lavender Scare.” Senator Joe McCarthy, in particular, charged there were many homosexuals in the State Department. The New York Times article on the story used the word “perverts” in the headline. President Dwight Eisenhower contributed to the panic by revising President Truman Federal Loyalty Program on April 27, 1953, to include “immoral” behavior and “sexual perversion.” (Out History site article)

Dale Jennings

In the spring 1952: police arrested Dale Jennings, a member of the Mattachine Society, for allegedly soliciting a police officer. (see April 1952)

Richard Adams & Anthony Sullivan

March 25, 1975: in what some people regard as the first same-sex marriage in the U.S., Richard Adams, his partner Anthony Sullivan, and five other gay couples were granted marriage licenses in Boulder, Colorado, on this day. The licenses were  issued by County Clerk Clela Rorex, until the state attorney general ordered her to stop.

Later in 1975, Adams and his partner/spouse Tony Sullivan applied to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to obtain permanent resident status for Sullivan, who had immigrated to the U.S. The application was denied, and the letter from INS declared that they had “failed to establish that a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two faggots.”  (2016 PBS article) (see Sept 16) 

March 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Beat Generation

Free Speech

March 25, 1957: U.S. Customs seized 520 copies of Allen Ginsberg’s  Howl. 

The publisher of the poem, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and a colleague, were arrested and prosecuted in San Francisco for publishing Howl (see June 3, 1957 for the arrest, and October 3, 1957 for the acquittal).

The offending line in the poem may have been,  “ . . . who let themselves be fucked in the ass by saintly motorcyclists, and screamed with joy . . . .”

Howl is now widely regarded as one of the great American poems, and the classic statement of the 1950s Beat Generation. Ginsburg first read Howl publicly on October 6, 1955.

Ferlinghetti was the founder/owner of City Lights Bookstore and the publisher of City Lights Books. City Lights Bookstore is still selling books in San Francisco, and has been designated a historical landmark in the city. Ferlinghetti, moreover, is himself an acclaimed Beat Generation poet. (BG/Howl, see Apr 3; FS, see June 3)

March 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Teach-in

On March 24, 1965 the Students for a Democratic Society had organized the first Vietnam War teach-in at University of Michigan. Two hundred faculty members participated by holding special anti-war seminars. Regular classes were canceled, and rallies and speeches dominated for 12 hours. The next day, March 25, 1965,  there was a similar teach-in at Columbia University in New York City; this form of protest eventually spread to many colleges and universities.

Alice Herz

On March 16, 1965 Quaker Alice Herz, 82, had immolated herself in Detroit in protest of the Vietnam war. On March 25, 1965, she died. (Vietnam, see April; see Immolation for other stories)

Protests

March 25, 1966: anti-Vietnam war protests in NY bring out 25,000 on 5th Ave. Other protests in 7 US cities and 7 foreign cities. (see Mar 31)

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR

March 25, 1967:  King led a march of 5,000 antiwar demonstrators in Chicago. In an address to the demonstrators, King declared that the Vietnam War was “a blasphemy against all that America stands for.” King first began speaking out against American involvement in Vietnam in the summer of 1965. In addition to his moral objections to the war, he argued that the war diverted money and attention from domestic programs to aid the black poor. He was strongly criticized by other prominent civil rights leaders for attempting to link civil rights and the antiwar movement. (Vietnam, see Mar 28, MLK, see Apr 4)

Johnson’s “Wise Men”

March 25, 1968: after being told by Defense Secretary Clark Clifford that the Vietnam War is a “real loser,” President Johnson, still uncertain about his course of action, decided to convene a nine-man panel of retired presidential advisors. The group, which became known as the “Wise Men,” included the respected generals Omar Bradley and Matthew Ridgway, distinguished State Department figures like Dean Acheson and George Ball, and McGeorge Bundy, National Security advisor to both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. After two days of deliberation the group reached a consensus: they advised against any further troop increases and recommended that the administration seek a negotiated peace. Although Johnson was initially furious at their conclusions, he quickly came to believe that they were right.  (Politico article) (see Mar 31)

Hue Falls

March 25, 1975: Hue, South Vietnam’s third largest city fell to the North Vietnamese Army (see April 2)

March 25 Peace Love Art Activism

March 25 Music et al

LSD

Life magazine

March 25, 1966: Life magazine published cover article on LSD. “LSD: The Exploding Threat of the Mind Drug that Got Out of Control.” (shroomery dot org article) (see in April)

Acid Test

March 25, 1966:  Acid Test at the Troupers Club in Los Angeles. (see in April)

The Who and Cream

March 25, 1967: The Who and Cream made their US concert debuts at the same concert. New York DJ, Murray the K used to put on concerts. On this bill, which would run from March 25 to April 2, there were 5 shows a day, starting at 10am and going well past midnight.

The Who destroyed their instruments at each performance. Pete Townsend said: “We were smashing our instruments up five times a day. We did two songs – the act was twelve minutes long and we used to play “Substitute” and “My Generation” with the gear – smashing it at the end, and then we’d spend the twenty minutes between shows trying to rebuild everything so we could smash it up again.” (see June 10 – 11)

Happy Together

March 25 – April 14, 1967: “Happy Together” by the Turtles #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Bed-In”

March 25 – 31, 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono host a “Bed-In” for peace in their room at the Amsterdam Hilton, turning their honeymoon into an antiwar event. (Beatles, see Mar 31; Lennon, see May 26; Vietnam, see Mar 26)

Jimi Hendrix

March 25, 1970: release of “Band of Gypsys” LP, It was a live album by Jimi Hendrix and the first without his original group, The Jimi Hendrix Experience. He recorded it at the Fillmore East in New York City with Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums. This grouping is frequently referred to as the Band of Gypsys. It contained previously unreleased songs and was the last full-length Hendrix album released before his death. (see Aug 26)

Soul Train

March 25, 2006: TV show, Soul Train, ended after nearly a 35 year run. (see March 13, 2012)

March 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Symbionese Liberation Army

March 25, 1974: Food given away to 30,000 people in P.I.N.’s fifth and final distribution. (see Patti Hearst for expanded story)

March 25 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

March 25, 1998: Marcia Lewis, Monica Lewinsky’s mother, failed to persuade a federal judge to excuse her from a third day of testimony. Starr subpoenaed records from Kramerbooks & Afterwords on Monica Lewinsky’s purchases at the store. One of her purchases was reportedly Nicholson Baker’s “Vox,” a novel about phone sex. Jodie Torkelson testified. (see Clinton for expanded story)

March 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Kandahar massacre

March 25, 2012: Afghan and American officials said that the US government had given $50,000 to each of the families of the 16 Afghan villagers killed by Staff Sgt. Rober. (see June 1)

March 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Voting Rights

Alabama

March 25, 2015: the Supreme Court sided with black and Democratic lawmakers in Alabama who said the State Legislature had relied too heavily on race in its 2012 state redistricting by maintaining high concentrations of black voters in some districts.

The vote was 5 to 4, with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy joining the court’s four more liberal members to form a majority. Justice Stephen G. Breyer, writing for the majority, said a lower court had erred in considering the case on a statewide basis rather than district by district. He added that the lower court had placed too much emphasis on making sure that districts had equal populations and had been “too mechanical” in maintaining existing percentages of black voters.

The Supreme Court vacated the lower court’s ruling and sent the two consolidated cases — Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama, No. 13-895, and Alabama Democratic Conference v. Alabama, No. 13-1138 — back to it for reconsideration. (see Apr 6)

March 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Affordable Care Act

American Health Care Act

March 25, 2017: President Donald Trump announced that the House of Representatives would postpone a planned vote on the American Health Care Act. The announcement came while a debate over the bill was still playing out in the House chamber, with GOP leaders realizing they lacked the votes to prevail. It was not clear when or if Congress planned to resume consideration of repeal. (see May 4)

Trump requests complete invalidation

March 25, 2019: the Trump told a federal appeals court that it now believed the entire Affordable Car Act should be invalidated.

In the letter, the Justice Department said the court should affirm a judgment (see December 14, 2018) by Judge Reed O’Connor of the Federal District Court in Fort Worth.

O’Connor said that the individual mandate requiring people to have health insurance “can no longer be sustained as an exercise of Congress’s tax power” because Congress had eliminated the tax penalty for people who go without health insurance.

Accordingly, O’Connor said, “the individual mandate is unconstitutional” and the remaining provisions of the Affordable Care Act are also invalid. (next Health-related, see Mar 27; next ACA, see Apr 1)

March 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

March 25, 2019: NJ reform advocates experienced a setback after bill to legalize cannabis in New Jersey was pulled from the agenda due to a lack of votes to pass the legislation in the Senate.

The proposal would have allowed adults 21 and older to possess, consume and purchase marijuana from licensed retailers. It included a number of social equity provisions meant to encourage participation in the industry by individuals from communities most harmed by the war on drugs, and it also would’ve created a pathway for expedited expungements for prior cannabis convictions. (see Mar 27 or see CCC for expanded chronology)

March 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

NC law unconstitutionsal

March 25, 2019: U.S. District Judge William Osteen  ruled that a North Carolina law making it harder for women to get an abortion after 20 weeks was unconstitutional.

The law, which had been on the books since 1973, banned abortion after 20 weeks with only certain exceptions to protect the life of the mother. A 2015 amendment tightened those exceptions, criminalizing abortion unless the woman’s life or a “major bodily function” were at immediate risk. Pro-abortion rights groups challenged the law, and Osteen sided with them.

“The Supreme Court has clearly advised that a state legislature may never fix viability at a specific week but must instead leave this determination to doctors,” Osteen wrote. (see Apr 12)

Clinic burned

March 25, 2022:  Lorna Roxanne Green broke into Wellspring Health Access, poured gasoline on its floors,  and lit it on fire, causing an estimated $290,000 in damage. The clinic’s opening would be delayed until April 2 [WyoFile article] (next WH, see Oct 20; next Green, see September 28, 2023).

March 25 Peace Love Art Activism

March 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Anarchism

March 10, 1919: U.S. Supreme Court upheld the espionage conviction of labor leader and socialist Eugene V. Debs. Debs was jailed for speaking out against World War I. Campaigning for president from his Atlanta jail cell, he won 3.4 percent of the vote—nearly a million votes. (C-Span site video) (Anarchism, see Apr 30; Debs, see December 25, 1921)

March 10 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

”SCOTTSBORO BOYS”

March 10, 1933: Roy Wright told New York Times reporter Raymond Daniell, “They whipped me and it seemed like they was going to kill me. All the time they kept saying, “now will you tell?” and finally it seemed like I couldn’t stand no more and I said yes. Then I went back into the courtroom and they put me up on the chair in front of the judge and began asking a lot of questions, and I said I had seen Charlie Weems and Clarence Norris with the white girls.” (see Scottsboro for expanded story)

James Earl Ray

March 10, 1969: James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis, Tenn., to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (1998 NYT obit)  (see Mar 20)

March 10 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Transport Workers Union

March 10, 1941: New York City bus drivers, members of the Transport Workers Union,  went on strike. After 12 days of no buses—and a large show of force by Irish-American strikers at the St. Patrick’s Day parade—Mayor Fiorello La Guardia ordered arbitration. (see May 29)

César E. Chávez

March 10, 1968: United Farm Workers leader César Chávez broke his 24-day fast, by doctor’s order, at a mass in Delano, California’s public park. Several thousand supporters were at his side, including Sen. Robert Kennedy. Chavez called it “a fast for non-violence and a call to sacrifice” (UPI article) (see June 5, 1968)

March 10 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

Sacher v. United States

March 10, 1952: the Supreme Court, in Sacher v. United States, on this day upheld the contempt citations of six attorneys who had represented Communist Party leaders in the famous Smith Act trial (November 1, 1948). At the end of the trial, the Party leaders were convicted of violating the Smith Act (June 29, 1940), which prohibited advocating the overthrow of the government. (The Supreme Court upheld the Smith Act and their convictions, in Dennis v. United States, on June 4, 1951.) Judge Harold Medina also cited the six defense lawyers for contempt of court because of their conduct during the trial. On this day, the Supreme Court upheld the contempt convictions, and as a result all the lawyers served time in prison.

The lawyers were Abraham J. Isserman, Harry Sacher, Richard Gladstein, George Crockett, Louis McCabe, and Eugene Dennis (who as General Secretary of the Communist Party was one of the defendants in the trial and had acted as his own attorney). Isserman, for example, served four months in prison in 1952 and was disbarred. The disbarment of the lawyers seriously crippled the left-wing bar in the United States and had the effect of scaring away many attorneys across the country from serving as lawyers for Communists or other political radicals.  (Red Scare, see Apr 10; FS, see May 26)

Student Rights

March 10, 2014: the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a school district’s appeal over an attempt by school officials to ban breast cancer awareness bracelets bearing the message “I (heart sign) boobies,” handing victory to of students Brianna Hawk and Kayla Martinez who challenged the decision on free speech grounds.

The court’s decision not to take up the case means that an August 2013 ruling by the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of students was left intact. (Constitution Center article) (FS, see Sept 17; SR, see Mar 26)

March 10 Peace Love Art Activism

March 10 Music et al

Bruce Channel

March 10 – 30, 1962: “Hey Baby” by Bruce Channel #1 Billboard Hot 100.

Aretha Franklin

March 10, 1967: Aretha Franklin released I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You album. ( see AF for expanded story)

March 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

My Lai Massacre

March 10, 1970: the U.S. Army accused Capt. Ernest Medina and four other soldiers of committing crimes at My Lai in March 1968. The charges ranged from premeditated murder to rape and the “maiming” of a suspect under interrogation. Medina was the company commander of Lt. William Calley and other soldiers charged with murder and numerous crimes at My Lai. (see My Lai for expanded story; see Time magazine article for text and pictures)

March 10 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

AIDS

March 10, 1987:  AIDS advocacy group ACT UP (The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) was formed in response to the devastating affects the disease has had on the gay and lesbian community in New York. The group holds demonstrations against pharmaceutical companies profiteering from AIDS-related drugs as well as the lack of AIDS policies protecting patients from outrageous prescription prices. (AIDS, see Mar 20; LGBTQ, see August)

Westboro Baptist Church\

March 10, 2006: Members of the Westboro Baptist Church picketed the funeral of Marine Lance Corporal Matthew A. Snyder in Westminster, Maryland. The picket was held in a location cordoned off by the police, approximately 1000 feet from the Church, for about 30 minutes before the funeral began. (see January 26, 2008)

March 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health/Domestic terrorism

Dr. David Gunn

March 10, 1993: Michael Griffin shouted “Don’t kill any more babies” then shot and killed Dr. David Gunn during an anti-abortion protest at the Pensacola Women’s Medical Services clinic. Dr. Gunn performed abortions at several clinics in Florida and Alabama and was getting out of his car in the clinic’s parking lot when Michael Griffin shot the doctor three times in the back. Griffin immediately surrendered to a nearby police officer. (see Aug 19)

March 10 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

March 10, 1998: Kathleen Willey, a former White House volunteer who accused the president of fondling her, testifies before the grand jury for four hours. (see Clinton for expanded story)

March 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History & Trump’s Wall

March 10, 2019: President Trump requested $8.6 billion in the annual budget proposal for a border wall. He also asked Congress for another $3.6 billion to replenish military construction funds he had diverted to begin work on the wall by declaring a national emergency, for a total of $12.2 billion. (IH & TW, see Mar 14; or see Wall for expanded post)

March 10 Peace Love Art Activism

2020 Census

March 10, 2022: the Census Bureau said that the 2020 census seriously undercounted the number of Hispanic, Black and Native American residents even though its overall population count was largely accurate.

At the same time, the census overcounted white and Asian American residents, the bureau said.

In essence, the bureau’s report said, minority groups — mostly concentrated in cities and tribal areas — were underrepresented in census figures, even though the total population count in those areas often was fairly accurate. That could affect those groups’ political clout, and conceivably could sway decisions by businesses and governments over the next decade, from the allocation of city services to locations of stores.

Some minority advocacy groups threatened to challenge the results in court, but remedying the undercounts would be difficult if not impossible, experts said. [NYT article]

March 10 Peace Love Art Activism