August 15 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Cincinnati Riots

August 15 – 29, 1829: in Cincinnati, Ohio, mobs of 200-300 ethnic whites attacked the black areas of the predominantly Black First Ward, wanting to push blacks out of the city. Many of the whites were Irish men

Some blacks moved away, but others organized to defend themselves. The town officials did little to defend the blacks until 24 August. On that day the Mayor, Jacob Burnet, dismissed charges against ten blacks who had been arrested; he imposed fines on eight whites.

By the end of August, 1100 to 1500 blacks had left the city: some as refugees from the violence, seeking shelter anywhere in the area. Another group, which had already been considering emigration, organized to relocate to Canada. [Black Past article] (Cincinnati, see April 11, 1836)

Nat Turner

In 1830:  Nat Turner was moved to the home of Joseph Travis, the new husband of Thomas Moore’s widow. His official owner was Putnum Moore, still a young child. Turner described Travis as a kind master, against whom he had no complaints. (see NT for an expanded chronology)

Dred Scott

In 1830: after Peter Blow’s failure to farm in Alabama, he moved to Missouri with his slaves (including Dred Scott). (see DS for expanded chronology; next BH, see Jan 1)

Springfield, IL Riot, Day 2

August 15, 1908: at nightfall white rioters regrouped in downtown Springfield, IL. The new mob marched west to the state arsenal, hoping to get at several hundred blacks who had taken refuge there, but they were driven off by state troops who charged the crowd with bayonets fixed to their rifles. The crowd then marched to a predominantly white, middle-class neighborhood and seized and hung an elderly wealthy black resident. After this second killing, enough troops arrived in the capital to prevent further mass attacks. Nonetheless, what the press called “guerilla-style” hit-and-run attacks against black residents continued through August and into September.  (next BH, see Dec 26: next RR, see May 28, 1917; next Lynching, see February 12, 1905; for for expanded chronology, see American Lynching 2)

Shady Grove Baptist Church

August 15, 1962: the Shady Grove Baptist Church, in Leesburg, GA 10 miles from Albany, GA, and served as the center for a voter registration campaign was bombed and destroyed by fire before dawn. Later that day the City Commission rebuffed a delegation’s demands for desegregation of Albany’s public facilities. (see Albany for expanded story)

SOUTH AFRICA/APARTHEID

August 15, 1989: F. W. de Klerk is sworn in as acting president of South Africa, replacing Mr. Botha. Saying the country is about to enter an era of change, Mr. de Klerk reaffirmed an earlier promise to phase out white rule. (see Oct 15)

August 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

…let them eat grass or their own dung

August 15, 1862: when two other bands of the Dakota, the southern Mdewakanton and the Wahpekute, turned to the Lower Sioux Agency for supplies, they were rejected. Indian Agent (and Minnesota State Senator) Thomas Galbraith managed the area and would not distribute food without payment.

At a meeting of the Dakota, the U.S. government, and local traders, the Dakota representatives asked the representative of the government traders, Andrew Jackson Myrick, to sell them food on credit. His response was said to be, “So far as I am concerned, if they are hungry let them eat grass or their own dung.”  [US-Dakota War dot org article] (see August 18, 1862)

Gold on Sioux land

August 15, 1876: US law removed Indians from Black Hills after gold was found. Sioux leaders Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull led their warriors to protect their lands from invasion by prospectors following the discovery of gold. This led to the Great Sioux Campaign staged from Fort Laramie.

Gold was discovered in Deadwood in the Dakota territory by Quebec brothers Fred and Moses Manuel. The mine was incorporated in California on Nov 5, 1877, as the Homestake Mining Company. [Wikipedia article] (see February 28, 1877)

Public Law 280

August 15, 1953: Public Law 280 established “a method whereby States might assume jurisdiction over reservation Indians.” [UCI site] (see August 10, 1961)

August 15 Peace Love Art Activism

FEMINISM

Voting Rights

August 15, 1918: first group of Lafayette Park protesters (arrested Aug. 6) tried, convicted, and sentenced to 10 to 15 days in old District workhouse. Denied demand for treatment as political prisoners, 24 women begin hunger strikes. (see Aug 20)

Women’s Health

August 15, 1930: Lambeth Conference (a decennial assembly of Anglican bishops), one of the Resolution 15 approved of limited contraception. It read: Where there is clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, the method must be decided on Christian principles. The primary and obvious method is complete abstinence from intercourse (as far as may be necessary) in a life of discipline and self-control lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless in those cases where there is such a clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, and where there is a morally sound reason for avoiding complete abstinence, the Conference agrees that other methods may be used, provided that this is done in the light of the same Christian principles. The Conference records its strong condemnation of the use of any methods of conception control from motives of selfishness, luxury, or mere convenience. [Lambeth conference site] (see December 31, 1930)

August 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Fair Housing

August 15, 1936: Techwood Homes opened. It was the first public housing project in the United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia, it replaced a shantytown known as Tanyard Bottom or Tech Flats. The apartments included bathtubs and electric ranges in each unit, 189 of which had garages. Central laundry facilities, a kindergarten and a library were also provided. (see September 1, 1937)

By 1996, homeownership totaled 66.3 million American households, the largest number ever. Except for a few historic buildings, Techwood Homes was demolished in 1996 before the 1996 Summer Olympics.

In 1998, HUD opened Enforcement Center to take action against HUD-assisted multifamily property owners and other HUD fund recipients who violate laws and regulations. Congress approved Public Housing reforms to reduce segregation by race and income, encourage and reward work, bring more working families into public housing, and increase the availability of subsidized housing for very poor families.

By the year 2000, America’s homeownership rate reaches a new record-high of 67.7 percent in the third quarter of 2000. A total of 71.6 million American families own their homes – more than at any time in American history. [Living New Deal article] (see July 19, 2013)

August 15 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAYS

South Korea

 

August 15, 1945:  South Korea independent from Japan. (see Aug 17)

India

August 15, 1947:  India independent from the United Kingdom. (see January 4, 1948)

Republic of the Congo

August 15, 1960: Republic of the Congo independent from France. (see ID for list of 1960s Independence Days)

Bahrain

August 15, 1971: Bahrain independent of the United Kingdom. (see Dec 2)

August 15 Peace Love Art Activism

August 15 Music et al

Dean Martin

August 15 – 21, 1964: “Everybody Loves Somebody” by Dean Martin #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. (see Aug 19)

The Beatles @ Shea Stadium

August 15, 1965:  at 8 pm EST The Beatles took the stage at Shea Stadium in New York City, marking the very first time a rock band would headline a stadium concert and a major victory for promoter Sid Bernstein, who had arranged the gig after his gamble of booking the then-unknown group at Carnegie Hall had paid off. Tickets for the show, sold merely by word of mouth created by kids who asked Bernstein about the next Beatles show while he strolled in Central Park, sold out in just three weeks, beating the stadium’s old seating record with 56,000 seats sold.

The security force numbered two thousand . The concert, filmed  by both BBC and NBC, also featured openers Brenda Holloway, The King Curtis Band, and The Young Rascals. (see Aug 24)

Bob Dylan

August 15, 1969: despite the constant rumor at the Woodstock festival site that Dylan would appear there, Dylan and his family boarded the Queen Elizabeth 2 for the United Kingdom and to perform at the Isle of Wight. His son, Jesse, hit his head on a doorknob and the family left the ship. Jesse was OK and the family flew to England instead.

In mid-July, he had signed in mid-July to play the festival. (see Isle of Wight, August 30 – 31)

see Woodstock Music and Art Fair for more

Jefferson Airplane

August 15, 1966: Jefferson Airplane released their debut album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. The personnel differed from the later “classic” lineup and the music is more folk-rock than the harder psychedelic sound for which the band later became famous. Signe Toly Anderson was the female vocalist and Skip Spence played drums. Both left the group shortly after the album’s release and were replaced by Grace Slick and Spencer Dryden, respectively.( Jorma Kaukonen (age 25), Paul Kantner (age 25), Jack Casady (age 22), Marty Balin (age 24), Grace Slick (age 26), Spencer Dryden (age 28).

Quill

In 1967, the band Quill formed in Boston and performed mainly throughout the mid-east. (see in April)

August 15: day one of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, Bethel, NY.

Woostock Music and Art Fair, Bethel, NY

Day 1 featured:

• Richie Havens
• Swami Satchidananda
• Sweetwater
• Bert Sommer
• Tim Hardin
• Ravi Shankar
• Melanie
• Arlo Guthrie
• Joan Baez

August 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

August 15, 1973: the U.S. bombing of Cambodia ended, officially halting 12 years of combat activity in Southeast Asia. (see January 1974)

Bob Dole

August 15, 1996: Bob Dole nominated for President and Jack Kemp for Vice President, at the Republican National Convention in San Diego.

August 15 Peace Love Art Activism

August 14 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Race Revolt

August 14, 1908: a race revolt broke out in the Illinois capital of Springfield. Angry over reports that a black man had sexually assaulted a white woman, a white mob wanted to take a recently arrested suspect from the city jail and kill him. They also wanted Joe James, an out-of-town black who was accused of killing a white railroad engineer, Clergy Ballard, a month earlier.

Late that afternoon, a crowd gathered in front of the jail in the city’s downtown and demanded that the police hand over the two men to them. But the police had secretly taken the prisoners out the back door into a waiting automobile and out of town to safety. When the crowd discovered that the prisoners were gone, they rioted. First they attacked and destroyed a restaurant owned by a wealthy white citizen, Harry Loper, who had provided the automobile that the sheriff used to get the two men out of harm’s way. The crowd completed its work by setting fire to the automobile, which was parked in front of the restaurant.

The rioters next methodically destroyed a small black business district downtown, breaking windows and doors, stealing or destroying merchandise, and wrecking furniture and equipment. The mob’s third and last effort that night was to destroy a nearby poor black neighborhood called the Badlands. Most blacks had fled the city, but as the mob swept through the area, they captured and lynched a black barber, Scott Burton, who had stayed behind to protect his home. [Black Past article] (BH, RR, & Lynching, continued on Aug 15; for for expanded chronology, see American Lynching 2)

Dyer Anti-Lynching bill

August 14, 1922: a delegation of Black women met with President Harding to urge final Congressional action on the Dyer Anti-Lynching bill. He expressed doubt about the bill’s passage. (see Sept 24)

August 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism & Voting Rights

“Kaiser Wilson” banner

August 14, 1917:  pickets carry new banner–famous “Kaiser Wilson” banner, comparing President Wilson to German emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II. Banner accuses Wilson of being autocrat over women lacking a voice in government. Angry mob attacks pickets, destroys banners, and fires gun at National Women’s Party headquarters. Police do little to intervene. (see Aug 17)

Lafayette Park demonstration

August 14, 1918: two more suffrage demonstrations held in Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C. Thirty women arrested and released; return that evening to protest and are rearrested. (see Aug 15)

August 14 Peace Love Art Activism

ADA

Social Security

August 14, 1935: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, establishing a program of permanent assistance to adults with disabilities. [SSA article] (see January 3, 1938)

Nazi euthanasia

In  1939 at the onset of World War II Adolph Hitler ordered widespread “mercy killing” of the sick and disabled. Code-named Aktion T4, the Nazi euthanasia program is instituted to eliminate “life unworthy of life.” Between 75,000 to 250,000 people with intellectual or physical disabilities are systematically killed from 1939 to 1941.

Rosemary Kennedy

In  1941, John F. Kennedy’s twenty-three year old sister Rosemary underwent a prefrontal lobotomy as a “cure” for lifelong mild retardation and aggressive behavior that surfaced in late adolescence. The operation fails, resulting in total incapacity. To avoid scandal, Rosemary was moved permanently to the St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children in Wisconsin.

1950s

Barrier-free movement

In the 1950s, disabled veterans and people with disabilities begin the barrier-free movement. The combined efforts of the Veterans Administration, The President’s Committee on Employment of the Handicapped, and the National Easter Seals Society, among others, results in the development of national standards for “barrier-free” buildings.

Association for Retarded Citizens

In 1950,  parents of youth diagnosed with mental retardation found the Association for Retarded Citizens (ARC). The association works to change the public’s ideas about mental retardation. Its members educate parents and others, demonstrating that individuals with mental retardation have the ability to succeed in life. [The ARC site] (ARC, see December 31, 1998)

Dr. Howard A. Rusk

In  1948  Dr. Howard A. Rusk founded the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine in New York City, where he developed techniques to improve the health of injured veterans from World War II. His theory focused on treating the emotional, psychological and social aspects of individuals with disabilities and later became the basis for modern rehabilitation medicine. [NYT obit]

Clemens Benda

In 1953 Clemens Benda, clinical director at the Fernald School in Waltham, Massachusetts, an institution for boys with mental retardation, invited 100 teenage students to participate in a “science club” in which they will be privy to special outings and extra snacks.

In a letter requesting parental consent, Benda mentioned an experiment in which “blood samples are taken after a special breakfast meal containing a certain amount of calcium,” but makes no mention of the inclusion of radioactive substances that are fed to the boys in their oatmeal.  [CBS story about school] (Benda, see October 17, 1995)

American Standards Association

In 1961 the American Standards Association, later known as the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), publishes the first accessibility standard titled, Making Buildings Accessible to and Usable by the Physically Handicapped. Forty-nine states adapt accessibility legislation by 1973. [ANSI site]

Ed Roberts

In 1962 Ed Roberts, a student with polio,  enrolled at the University of California, Berkele, but later his admission was rejected. He fought to get the decision overturned. He became the father of the Independent Living Movement and helped establish the first Center for Independent Living (CIL). He earned B.A. (1964) and M.A. (1966) degrees from UC Berkeley in Political Science. Roberts died on March 14, 1995, at the age of 56. [Smithsonian article] (see  October 31, 1963)

August 14 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

Rainey Bethea

August 14, 1936: at 5:45 AM, Rainey Bethea became the last person to be publicly executed in the US. Bethea was hanged for raping and murdering a 70-year-old woman in Owensboro, Kentucky. The execution garnered significant media and public attention because it was the first hanging in the US to be conducted by a woman. At least 20,000 people witnessed Bethea’s hanging, which reporters called the “carnival in Owensboro.” Several scholars believe Bethea’s execution was an important contributor to the eventual ban on public executions in America. [2011 New Haven Register article] (see June 16, 1944)

First fentanyl execution 

August 14, 2018: Nebraska executed Carey Dean Moore,  its first prisoner since 1997, after a federal three-judge panel denied a drug company’s request to halt the lethal injection over concerns about whether the drugs were obtained improperly by the state.

The execution of Moore was also the first time the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl had been used in a lethal injection in the U.S.

The primary legal challenge had come from German pharmaceutical company Fresenius Kabi, which made potassium chloride and cisatracurium besylate, two of the four drugs in the protocol.  [NPR article] (see Oct 11)

August 14 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

August 14, 1947: Pakistan independent from the United Kingdom. [time and date dot com article] (see Aug 15)

August 14 Peace Love Art Activism

August 14 Music et al

Pete Best fired

August 14, 1962: The Beatles and their manager Brian Epstein decided to fire Pete Best. Best played his last gig the following night at The Cavern, Liverpool. Ringo Starr, who was nearing the end of a three-month engagement with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes at a Butlin’s holiday camp,  received a telephone call from John Lennon, asking him to join The Beatles. Ringo gave Rory Storm three days notice A series of drummers would become part of Rory Storm’s band including Keef Hartley.  (see Aug 18)

Beatles last live Ed Sullivan appearance

August 14, 1965, The Beatles: appeared live on the Ed Sullivan Show for the last time. [I Feel Fine >  I’m Down > Act Naturally (next Beatles, see Aug 15; taped performance, see Sept 12)

“I Got You Babe”

August 14 – September 3, 1965: “I Got You Babe” by Sonny and Cher #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The [bumpy] Road to Bethel

Thursday 14 August 1969

• NY State Police continue to randomly stop and frisk young drivers at Harriman interchange. 150 arrests made.
• Bill Handley’s sound system erected. “According to one expert’s cumulative eye, the hi-fi equipment in the bowl represented the most expensive sound system ever assembled at one time in any given location.”
• although warned not to, about 270 NYC police show up but insist on being paid in cash without receipts. They work using aliases and were paid more than the agreed amount.
• Food For Love demanded all profits after repaying the initial $75,00 fee. Woodstock Ventures agreed.
• film deal reached: 50% split. Warner Brothers and Woodstock Ventures after negative costs. On Friday, Michael Wadleigh signed on as director.the Diamond Horseshoe, where nearly 200 Woodstock staff had been staying, caught fire. The fire was extinguished by hotel staff because the fire department couldn’t get through. (see Woodstock Day 1)

August 14 Peace Love Art Activism

United Farm Workers

August 14, 1973: UFW member, Nagi Daifullah, a 24-year old picket captain of Yemanese descent, died after being struck in the skull by a police flashlight. [Alarabiya article] (see Aug 17, 1973)

August 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Presidential nominations

Jimmy Carter

August 14, 1980, Jimmy Carter renominated at the Democratic National Convention in New York City.

Al Gore

August 14 – 17, 2000, the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles nominated VP Al Gore for President and Sen Joe Lieberman for Vice President.

August 14 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ & BSA

August 14, 2003: a Sebastopol, CA troop lost its Boy Scouts of America charter for refusing to drop an anti-discrimination statement that Scouting officials said conflicts with the organization’s national policy banning homosexuals. Bev Buswell, led adviser to the 16-member Venture Crew 488, said her application for charter renewal was denied because it included a statement she wrote pledging the crew would not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation and other factors. [scouter dot com article] (LGBTQ, see Nov 18; BSA, see March 30, 2005)

August 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Stop and Frisk Policy

August 14, 2009: The New York Civil Liberties Union said the NYPD was on pace to break last year’s record for stop and frisk encounters. In the first half of 2009, the NYPD made 311,000 stops. [ACLU app for S & F incidents] (see September 2009)

August 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

August 14, 2015: U.S. District Myron Thompson blocked an Alabama abortion regulation that would have permanently closed the state’s busiest abortion clinic. Thompson said  that the rule was unnecessary to protect women.

Thompson had issued a temporary restraining order blocking the regulation the previous week, saying that the closure of the West Alabama Women’s Center in Tuscaloosa would prevent women from obtaining abortions. He followed up the order with an 81-page opinion issued on this date.

The 2007 health regulation requires clinics to hire a physician with hospital-admitting privileges to handle patient complications. The clinic filed a lawsuit challenging it.

The clinic was one of five abortion providers in Alabama, but performed about 40 percent of the state’s abortions in 2013, according to court records. It was also one of two clinics that provide abortions in the middle of the second trimester.

“For all Alabama women, the closure of the largest abortion provider in the state, one of two providers in the state that administers abortions after 16 weeks, has reduced the number of abortions that can be provided here. Finally, and as chillingly recounted above, closing the Center has increased the risk that women will take their abortion into their own hands,” Thompson wrote. [Tuscaloosa news article] (see Aug 24)

August 14 Peace Love Art Activism

The Cold War

August 14, 2015: Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Cuba and raised the American flag above the U.S. Embassy for the first time in 54 years. “Thank you for joining us at this truly historic moment as we prepare to raise the flag … symbolizing the restoration of diplomatic relations after 54 years,” Kerry said at the ceremony, addressing the crowd in both English and Spanish. (CW & Cuba, see Feb 16)

August 14 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH & Colin Kaepernick

August 14 & August 20, 2016: injured San Francisco 49er quarterback Kaepernick went unnoticed while sitting during the anthem. Kaepernick wasn’t in uniform and didn’t play during these first two games. (FS & CK, see Aug 26)

August 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

August 14, 2018: according to a report issued by a grand jury, bishops and other leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania covered up child sexual abuse by more than 300 priests over a period of 70 years, persuading victims not to report the abuse and police officers not to investigate it.

The report, which covered six of the state’s eight Catholic dioceses and found more than 1,000 identifiable victims, was the broadest examination yet by a government agency in the United States of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. There had been ten previous reports by grand juries and attorneys general in the United States, according to the research and advocacy group BishopAccountability.org, but those examined single dioceses or counties. [CNN article] (see Aug 20)

Environmental Issues

August 14, 2023: a group of young people in Montana [the plaintiffs ranged in age from 5 to 22] won a landmark lawsuit when a judge ruled that the state’s failure to consider climate change when approving fossil fuel projects was unconstitutional.

The decision in the suit, Held v. Montana, coming during a summer of record heat and deadly wildfires, marked a victory in the expanding fight against government support for oil, gas and coal, the burning of which has rapidly warmed the planet.

“As fires rage in the West, fueled by fossil fuel pollution, today’s ruling in Montana is a game-changer that marks a turning point in this generation’s efforts to save the planet from the devastating effects of human-caused climate chaos,” said Julia Olson, the founder of Our Children’s Trust, a legal nonprofit group that brought the case on behalf of the young people. “This is a huge win for Montana, for youth, for democracy, and for our climate. More rulings like this will certainly come.” [NYT article] (next EI, see Sept 6)

August 14 Peace Love Art Activism

August 7 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Northwest Ordinance

August 7, 1789: President George Washington signed the Northwest Ordinance The primary effect of the ordinance was the creation of the Northwest Territory [the region south of the Great Lakes, north and west of the Ohio River, and east of the Mississippi River] and  one of its provisions was the prohibition of slavery in the territory which had the practical effect of establishing the Ohio River as the boundary between free and slave territory in the region between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. This division helped set the stage for national competition over admitting free and slave states, the basis of a critical question in American politics in the 19th century until the Civil War. (BH, see February 11, 1790)

Dred Scott

c 1800: Scott born a slave in Virginia. (next BH, see Aug 30)

In 1830: after Peter Blow’s failure to farm in Alabama, he moved to Missouri with his slaves (including Dred Scott). (BH, see May 30, 1822)

In 1832, Peter Blow died.

In 1833 US Army Surgeon Dr John Emerson purchased Scott and went with him to Fort Armstrong in Illinois, a free state (admitted as a state on December 3, 1818). (next BH, see October 21, 1835; see Dred Scott for full story}

Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith

August 7, 1930: a white mob lynched Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marion, Indiana. The two young black men, 18 and 19 years old respectively, had been arrested that afternoon. They were accused of attacking a young white couple, beating and fatally shooting the man, and attempting to assault the woman. Once the men were detained, word of the charges spread and a growing mob of angry white residents gathered outside the county jail.

Around 9:30 p.m., the mob attempted to rush the jail, but was repelled by tear gas. An hour later, they successfully barreled past the sheriff and three deputies, grabbed Shipp and Smith from their cells as they prayed, and dragged them into the street. By then numbering between 5000 and 10,000 people (half the white population of Grant County) the mob beat, tortured, and hung both men from trees in the courthouse yard, brutally executing them without benefit of trial or legal proof of guilt. As the men’s bodies hung, members of the mob re-entered the jail and grabbed 16-year-old James Cameron, another youth being held for the crime. The mob beat Cameron severely and were preparing to hang him alongside the others when a member of the crowd intervened and insisted he was innocent. Cameron was released and the mob later dispersed.

Enraged by the lynching, the NAACP traveled to Marion to investigate, and later provided United States Attorney General James Ogden with the names of 27 people believed to have participated. Though the lynching and its spectators were photographed, local residents claimed not to recognize anyone pictured and no one was charged or tried in connection with the killings. A photograph of Shipp’s and Smith’s battered corpses hanging lifeless from a tree, with white spectators proudly standing below, remains one of the most iconic lynching photographs. After seeing the photo in 1937, New York schoolteacher Abe Meeropol was inspired to write “Strange Fruit,” a haunting poem about lynching that later became a famous song recorded by Billie Holiday.  [Black Past article] (next BH & Lynching, see Nov 20; see AL3 for expanded chronology of early 20th century lynching)

Race Revolt

August 7, 1966: race revolts occur in Lansing, Michigan. [Lansing article] (BH, see Aug 31; RR, see Sept 6)

Black Panthers

August 7, 1970: George Jackson’s [see Aug 21, 1971] 17-year-old brother Jonathan Jackson, burst into a Marin County courtroom with an automatic weapon, freed prisoners James McClain, William A. Christmas and Ruchell Magee, and took Judge Harold Haley, Deputy District Attorney Gary Thomas, and three jurors hostage to demand the release of the “Soledad Brothers.” Haley, Jackson, Christmas and McClain were killed as they attempted to drive away from the courthouse. Activist Angela Davis was indicted for supplying the weapons to Jackson (BH, see Sept 10 ; BP, see August 21, 1971; Davis, see June 4, 1972)

African National Congress

August 7, 1990: The African National Congress announced that it ordered the immediate suspension of its guerrilla campaign against apartheid, which started in the early 1960s. While the war between the A.N.C. and the government had operated on a low level for years, the announcement was significant because it gives Mr. de Klerk political ammunition to use against the right-wing opposition to negotiations. [AFC site] (SA/A, see Oct 15; Mandela, see December 20, 1991)

James C. Anderson

August 7, 2011: CNN broadcasts a security video showing the Anderson incident. The murder, whose race-based implications had been slow to surface, shot to national prominence with the video’s release. (see Aug 20)

August 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Emma Goldman

August 7, 1915: Goldman and Ben Reitman were fined $100 for having distributed birth control information the day before. Goldman speaks that evening on “The Intermediate Sex (A Discussion of Homosexuality)” at Turn Hall. In the audience were policemen in plain clothes, a deputy district attorney, and a deputy city attorney. She was not arrested. (see February 8, 1916)

August 7 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

August 7, 1934:  the Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision that James Joyce’s Ulysses was not obscene. (see April 22, 1935)

August 7 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

August 7, 1960: Ivory Coast independent from France. [BBC article] (see ID for expanded list of the many Independence days during 1960)

August 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

August 7, 1964: the U.S. congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving President Johnson the power to take whatever actions he sees necessary to defend southeast Asia. (see Tonkin for expanded story;next  V, see Sept 13 – 14)

NYT questions strategy

August 7, 1967: in a NYT article, R W Apple, the chief of the paper’s Saigon office, called into question every optimistic assumption about the war the administration and the military had expressed. The article pointed out that 13,000 Americans had died, 75,000 had been wounded, that the war was costing $2 billion a month, that 1.2 million allied troops had been able to secure only a freaction of a country less than one and a half times the size of NY state, and that every time General Westmoreland optimistically states that the South Vietnamese military will soon be able to fight on their own, he asks for more American troops. (see Aug 8)

August 7 Peace Love Art Activism

August 7 Music et al

LSD

August 7, 1965: The Merry Pranksters invited the Hell’s Angels to party with them at the La Honda camp. The party went on for two days, but the police never had sufficient reason to move in. [blog article] (see Aug 24)

Henry the VIII

August 7 – 13, 1965: “I’m Henry the VIII I Am” by Herman’s Hermits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

 

see Hog Farm for more

August 7, 1969: chartered Hog Farm flight from Santa Fe arrived at JFK Airport with 85 members who join other Hog Farm members who’d already arrived. Total festival workforce exceeded 1,500. (see Chronology for expanded story)

August 7 Peace Love Art Activism

World Trade Center

August 7, 1974: after months of preparation, shortly after 7:15 a.m., Philippe Petit stepped off the South Tower and onto his 3/4″ 6×19 IWRC (independent wire rope core) steel cable. He walked the wire for 45 minutes, making eight crossings between the towers, a quarter of a mile above the sidewalks of Manhattan. In addition to walking, he sat on the wire, gave knee salutes and, while lying on the wire, spoke with a gull circling above his head. (NYT article) (see May 26, 1977)

August 7 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

August 7, 1998: a federal appeals court let an investigation of alleged news leaks from Ken Starr’s office continue. (see Clinton for expanded story)

August 7 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

August 7, 1998: bombings of the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya kill 224 people and injure over 4,500; they are linked to terrorist Osama Bin Laden, an exile of Saudi Arabia. [CNN article] (see April 5, 1999)

August 7 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

August 7, 2015: in a decision that surprised many, a jury sentenced James E. Holmes to life in prison with no chance of parole, rejecting the death penalty for the man who carried out a 2012 shooting rampage that killed 12 people in a Colorado movie theater. [NYT article] (see Sept 24)

August 7 Peace Love Art  Activism

Environmental Issues

August 7, 2017: the NY Times obtained a draft report by scientists from 13 federal agencies, which had not yet been made public. It concluded that Americans were feeling the effects of climate change right now. It directly contradicted claims by President Trump and members of his cabinet who said that the human contribution to climate change was uncertain, and that the ability to predict the effects is limited.The average temperature in the United States had risen rapidly and drastically since 1980, and recent decades had been the warmest of the past 1,500 years, according to the federal climate change report. It awaited approval by the Trump administration. [NYT article] (see Oct 9)

August 7 Peace Love Art  Activism

Immigration History

August 7, 2019: federal immigration officials raided several food-processing plants in Mississippi and arrested approximately 680 people believed to be working in the U.S. without authorization.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations conducted the coordinated raids “at seven agricultural processing plants across Mississippi,” according to an ICE statement. In addition to the arrests, agents seized company business records.

More than 600 ICE agents were involved in the raids, surrounding the perimeters of the targeted plants to prevent workers, mainly Latino immigrants, from escaping. The actions were centered onplants near Jackson owned by five companies. [NPR story] [Nov 2019 follow-up story]

Medical deferred action cancelled

August 7, 2019: without any public announcement, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services eliminated a “deferred action” program that had allowed immigrants to avoid deportation while they or their relatives were undergoing lifesaving medical treatment. The agency said that it received 1,000 deferred-action applications related to medical issues each year.

The policy change was the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration to revoke or modify procedures that had allowed certain immigrants to remain in the United States on humanitarian grounds. In addition to those with serious medical conditions, they included crime victims who had helped law enforcement with investigations and caretakers of sick children or relatives.  (next IH, see Aug 21; deferred, see Sept 2)

August 7 Peace Love Art  Activism