January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Dred Scott

The US Supreme Court will eventually side against Dred Scott’s freedom, but on January 12, 1850, the St. Louis Circuit Court charged the jury that Scott’s residence in free jurisdictions would destroy his status as a slave, and if the jurors determined he had in fact lived in a free state or territory, they should find him free. The jury sided with Scott and his family.

The jury concluded that Scott’s residence in a free state and a free territory had made him free. This result was consistent with Missouri precedents dating from 1824. Irene Emerson, reluctant to lose her four slaves, appealed this decision to the Missouri Supreme Court.(see Dred Scott for more; next Black History, see April)

Patrick & Charlotte “Lottie” Morris murdered

January 12, 1896: a mob of twenty men gathered around the home of Patrick and Charlotte “Lottie” Morris in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, and set it ablaze. Mr. Morris, a white railroad hand, and his wife, a black woman, had garnered the ill will of the community “on account of their difference in color” as well as their operation of a gathering place and hotel for black people.

The mob first attempted to burn down the Morris’ home at 11:00 that night, but Mr. Morris discovered the fire and extinguished it. By midnight, the mob set a fire that could not be controlled. When the couple attempted to escape the flames through the front door of their home they were met with a barrage of gunfire. Mrs. Morris was shot and killed at the doorstep while Mr. Morris was maimed by a shot to his leg.

The Morris’ twelve-year-old son witnessed the events and escaped through the back door of the home. As the boy ran for safety, the mob shot into the darkness after him but missed. Patrick Morris Jr. spent the night hiding underneath a nearby home in the neighborhood.

The next morning, community members found that much of the Morris’s home had been destroyed by the fire. Mr. and Mrs. Morris’s charred remains were found on their bed inside the home. A coroner’s examination revealed that one of the bodies had been decapitated, though it was unclear whether this act was carried out before or after death. Charlotte Morris was sixty-eight years old and Patrick Morris was fifty-eight years old. (next BH, see May 18; next Lynching, see July 4 see Never Forget for expanded article)

Marcus Garvey

January 12, 1922: federal authorities arrest Marcus Garvey for fraudulent use of mails and held on a $2,500 bond pending presentation of his case to a federal grand jury. Garvey was  s proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements. (next BH, see Jan 26; see Garvey for expanded chronology)

Raymond Gunn lynched

January 12, 1931: authorities arrested Raymond Gunn, an African American man,  and accused him of killing a white school teacher.

Following his arrest, police took Gunn to jail in a neighboring county due to threats of lynching. Lynch mobs still formed and attempted to seize Gunn from jail, so officials transported him to another prison with reinforcement from firemen and a tank company of the Missouri National Guard.

On January 12, the morning of Gunn’s arraignment, a mob of about two thousand white men, women, and children gathered outside the courthouse. Despite the previous attacks, the local sheriff did not request assistance from the National Guard. With little resistance from local law enforcement, and sixty members of the National Guard at ease in an armory one block from the courthouse, Mr. Gunn was seized by the mob and burned on the roof of the schoolhouse. [EJI article]  (next BH & Lynching, see Jan 14; see AL3 for expanded chronology of early 20th century lynching)

Sipuel v. Board of Regents of University of Oklahoma

January 12, 1948: the U.S. Supreme Court, in Sipuel v. Board of Regents of University of Oklahoma, ruled that state law schools could not discriminate against applicants on the basis of race. “The State must provide [such education] … in conformity with the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and provide it as soon as it does for applicants of any other group.” (see July 26)

Montgomery Bus Boycott

January 12, 1956: in response to the Montgomery’s rejection of its most recent offer to end the boycott, the MIA executive board decided to boycott the buses indefinitely. (next BH, see Jan 24; see Montgomery for more)

Motown Records

January 12, 1959:  Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Records (originally Tamla Records) in Detroit. (next BH, see Mar 5)

Charlayne Hunter

January 12, 1961: Charlayne Hunter, 18, was whisked away from the University of Georgia campus in a state patrol car when students staged an uprising against the integration. She graduated in 1963.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault became an American journalist and former foreign correspondent for National Public Radio, and the Public Broadcasting Service. (see Jan 21)

Albany Movement

January 12, 1962: police arrested Albany State College student Ola May Quarterman who refused to move from the front of a city bus. The Albany Movement organized a boycott of the city buses. (see Albany for expanded chronology)

Medgar Evers assassination

January 12, 1966: Byron De La Beckwith, twice tried for the murder of Medgar W. Evers, appeared before a Congressional committee and refused to answer charges that he had participated in Ku Klux Klan intimidation since his release from jail. (BH, see Jan 13; Evers, see September 27, 1973)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism/Voting Rights

No to women’s suffrage

January 12, 1915: US House of Representatives voted for first time on federal woman suffrage amendment, defeating the measure. (see Oct 23)

Hattie W. Caraway

January 12, 1932: Hattie W. Caraway, a Democrat from Arkansas, became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate. (see March 4, 1933)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

January 12, 1942: President Franklin D. Roosevelt revived the National War Labor Board (NWLB) for World War II. In order to prevent wartime labor stoppages, the NWLB was set up to arbitrate labor disputes that arose during the war. The NWLB also managed wage controls over the airplane, automobile, shipping, mining, telegraph, and railway industries during the war.(see February 27, 1943)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

January 12, 1950: the general public was introduced to color television for the very first time when CBS demonstrated its “field sequential” color system on eight television sets in the Walker Building, in Washington. By the end of 1950, 9% of American homes have a TV set. (see June 25, 1951)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical Weapons

John Foster Dulles

January 12, 1954: Secretary of State John Foster Dulles announced a doctrine of massive retaliation which could entail the use of nuclear weapons against communist aggression.  (Red Scare, see Mar 4; NN, see Jan 21)

Iran’s nuclear program

January 12, 2014: American and Iranian officials said that Iran and six world powers had agreed on how to put in place an accord that would temporarily freeze much of Iran’s nuclear program. That accord would go into effect on Jan. 20. (next N/C N,  see in Feb; next Iran, see January 25, 2015)

Iran again

January 12, 2018: President Trump again stopped short of reimposing punitive sanctions on Iran that would have broken its nuclear deal with world powers, but Trump gave European allies only 120 days to agree to an overhaul of the deal or administration officials said he would pull the United States out of it. (next N/C N, see Jan 13; next Iran, see May 8)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

January 12, 1956: in the District Court for the Southern District of New York, a jury found Samuel Roth guilty of 4 counts of a 26-count indictment charging him with mailing obscene circulars and advertising, and an obscene book, in violation of the federal obscenity statute.”

The judge sentenced Roth to five years for each count (to run concurrently) in the Lewisburg Penitentiary and fined $5,000.(FS, see June 17, 1957; Roth, see June 24, 1957)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Operation Chopper

January 12, 1962: in Operation Chopper, helicopters flown by U.S. Army pilots ferry 1,000 South Vietnamese soldiers to sweep a NLF stronghold near Saigon.

Operation Ranch Hand

During the early part of 1962 Operation Ranchhand began. The goal of Ranchhand was to clear vegetation alongside highways, making it more difficult for the Vietcong to conceal themselves for ambushes.

As the war continued, the scope of Ranchhand increased. Vast tracts of forest were sprayed with “Agent Orange,” an herbicide containing the deadly chemical Dioxin. Guerrilla trails and base areas were exposed, and crops that might feed Vietcong units were destroyed. (see Jan 15)

Rev. Philip Berrigan

January 12, 1971: a federal grand jury indicted Rev. Philip Berrigan and 5 others, including a nun and two priests, on charges of plotting to kidnap Henry Kissinger. Because the charges were filed in Harrisburg, Pa, the group became known as the “Harrisburg Six.” On 5 September 1972 the Justice Department dropped all charges.  (see Jan 14)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

January 12 Music et al

Fear of Rock

January 12, 1958: the NY Times reported that “One St Louis radio stion is in revolt against rock ‘n’ roll music.” On January 13, station KWK would play such music records once and then snap it in two near a mic so listeners could hear it beinb broken. Robert T Convey, the station president, said that rock “has dominated the music field long enough.”  (see January 26, 1962)

Berry Gordy, Jr

January 12, 1959:  Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Records (originally Tamla Records) in Detroit. (see Motown Records Begins for full story) (next BH, see Apr 18)

Go Away Little Girl

January 12 – 25, 1963: written by written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King “Go Away Little Girl” by Steve Lawrence #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was Goffin/King’s third #1 hit (Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow in 1960 and Take Good Care of My Baby in 1962)

Teenage Culture

January 12, 1966: ABC-TV’s replacement for Shindig broadcast: Batman. (see Aug 29)

Beatle summit

January 12, 1969: in an attempt to sort out the problems within The Beatles following George Harrison’s sudden departure two days earlier, all four met at Brookfield House, Ringo Starr’s Tudor mansion in Elstead, Surrey.

The meeting was not a success. The feud between Harrison and John Lennon remained unresolved, and Harrison left early without agreeing to rejoin The Beatles. (see Jan 13)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Consumer Protection

January 12, 1966: in his State of the Union address, President Johnson stated: Our people have a right to feel secure in their homes and on their streets–and that right just must be secured.Nor can we fail to arrest the destruction of life and property on our highways.I will propose a Highway Safety Act of 1966 to seek an end to this mounting tragedy. (see Feb 10)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

IRAQ War I

January 12, 1991: a deeply divided Congress gave President George H.W. Bush the authority to use force to expel Iraq from Kuwait. (The Senate vote was 52-47; the House followed suit 250-183.) (see Jan 15)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

January 12, 2005:  U.S. intelligence official told CNN that U.S. inspectors ended their search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. (see Jan 14)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

Sister Helen Prejean

January 12, 1996: the film, Dead Man Walking, released. In 1994, Sister Helen Prejean released her book titled Dead Man Walking about her role as spiritual advisor for two death row inmates. The popularity of the film led to increased levels of public discourse on the morality of the death penalty. (see Jan 25)

Hurst v. Florida

January 12, 2016: the US Supreme Court held in Hurst v. Florida that Florida’s capital sentencing scheme was unconstitutional because it does not require the jury to make the critical findings necessary to impose the death penalty. Because Alabama has the same sentencing scheme as Florida, the Court’s decision will apply to cases in Alabama as well. (see Mar 3)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

January 12, 1998: Linda Tripp contacted the office of Whitewater Independent Counsel Ken Starr to talk about Lewinsky and the tapes she made of their conversations. The tapes allegedly have Lewinsky detailing an affair with Clinton and indicated that Clinton and Clinton friend Vernon Jordan told Lewinsky to lie about the alleged affair under oath. (see Clinton for much more)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Haitian Earthquake

January 12, 2010: 7.0 earthquake in Haiti. The Haitian government reported that an estimated 316,000 people had died, 300,000 had been injured and 1,000,000 made homeless. The government of Haiti also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged. [2020 NPR report]

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

Cuba releases prisoners 

January 12, 2015: U.S. officials announced that Cuba had released all 53 prisoners it had promised to free, a major step toward détente with Washington.

The release of the remaining prisoners set a positive tone for historic talks aimed at normalizing relations after decades of hostility. Officials described the Cuban government’s release over the weekend of the last detainees on the list as a milestone but said they would keep pressing Havana to free more people the United States considers political prisoners.

The officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, did not say how many prisoners were released over the weekend or identify them. But the White House will provide the names of all 53 to Congress and expects lawmakers to make them public, the officials added. (NYT article) (see Jan 15)

Cuban refugee status changes

January 12, 2017: President Obama announced that he was terminating the 22-year-old policy that allowed Cubans who arrived on United States soil without visas to remain in the country and gain legal residency.

“Effective immediately, Cuban nationals who attempt to enter the United States illegally and do not qualify for humanitarian relief will be subject to removal, consistent with U.S. law and enforcement priorities,” Mr. Obama said in a statement. “By taking this step, we are treating Cuban migrants the same way we treat migrants from other countries.”  (NYT article) (see Nov 8)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Louisiana’s ban stays in place

January 12, 2015: the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take an early look at a challenge to Louisiana’s state ban.

In addition, the court took no action on four other pending cases concerning gay marriage bans in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee,

The decision not to hear the Louisiana case was not unexpected as gay rights advocates had sought to skip the regular judicial process by seeking Supreme Court review before the case had been decided by an appeals court. Gay rights advocates representing the Louisiana plaintiffs said in court papers there is a “pressing need” to resolve the issue once and for all.

South Dakota’s ban overruled

January 12, 2015: U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier ruled against South Dakota’s constitutional amendment banning marriage equality.

South Dakota legislation passed in 1996 banned same-sex marriages in the state. In 2006, state voters passed a constitutional amendment stating only a marriage between a man and a woman.

Private attorneys and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) sued the state on behalf of six same-sex couples who argue that South Dakota’s ban on marriage equality violated the U.S. Constitution.

Schreier stayed the decision pending appeal. (NYT article) (see Jan 15)

Adoptions denied

January 12, 2021: with little more than a week left to the Trump administration, the Department of Health and Human Services finalized a rule permitting social-service providers that receive government funds to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

According to the 77-page release Obama-era requirements that agencies refrain from discrimination on the basis of sex, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity and recognize same-sex marriages as legally valid violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. [NBC News article] (next LGBTQ, see Jan 20)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

January 12, 2021: the NY Times reported that the loss of tribal elders had swelled into a cultural crisis as the COVID pandemic had killed American Indians and Alaska Natives at nearly twice the rate of white people, deepening what critics call the deadly toll of a tattered health system and generations of harm and broken promises by the U.S. government. (next NA, see Mar 15)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

2020 Census

January 12, 2021: despite President Trump’s demands since the summer of 2020, the Commerce Department inspector general, Peggy E. Gustafson questioned an order to deliver the estimates before Trump leaves office, after whistle-blowers warned that the rush would imperil their accuracy.

Gustafson said in a letter that two White House political appointees were the “driving forces” behind the order, which required census experts to deliver counts of unauthorized immigrants by January 15, five days before Inauguration Day.

Her letter stated that Steven Dillingha, the Census Bureau director appointed by Mr. Trump, had designated the estimates a top priority for the bureau’s data experts, even though completion of the 2020 census itself had fallen months behind schedule because of the coronavirus pandemic. The letter said Dillingham had discussed offering cash bonuses for producing the estimates quickly.

Dillingham backed off his order this week, according to bureau employees who refused to be named for fear of retaliation. [NYT article] (next 2020 Census, see Jan 18)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration/Trump’s Wall

January 12, 2021: a week before the end of his term, President Trump traveled to Alamo, Texas, near the border, to mark the completion of more than 450 miles of the border wall.

The wall, which Trump repeatedly cited over the last four years as an accomplishment, cost US taxpayers — not Mexico — billions and became emblematic of the President’s restrictionist immigration policies, which largely sealed the US off from immigrants and refugees.

During a brief speech near the wall, Trump listed off a series of those policies, citing them as accomplishments and calling them “historic.”

Many of the policies rolled out over the last four years were unprecedented, including requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico until their immigration court date in the US and swiftly removing migrants arriving at the southern border under a public health order. Immigrant advocates and lawyers had challenged the policies in court, arguing that they put migrants in harm’s way. [CNN article] [next IH & TW, see Jan 20)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

January 12, 2021: the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s request to reinstate in-person abortion medication requirements during the pandemic.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations require mifepristone, which is used in medication abortion, to be dispensed at a clinic, hospital or medical office. Lower courts had blocked the requirements this past summer, finding them to be a “substantial obstacle.”

“The question before us is not whether the requirements for dispensing mifepristone impose an undue burden on a woman’s right to an abortion as a general matter,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts in the opinion.

“The question is instead whether the District Court properly ordered the Food and Drug Administration to lift those established requirements because of the court’s own evaluation of the impact of the COVID–19 pandemic,” Roberts continued.

In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor raised concerns about patients’ ability to access abortion pills amid an ongoing public health emergency.

“The FDA’s policy imposes an unnecessary, unjustifiable, irrational, and undue burden on women seeking an abortion during the current pandemic,” Sotomayor argued. [HealthCare News article] (next WH, see Feb 18)

January 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

January 12, 2024:  the Biden administration announced new moves to curb the release from oil and gas facilities of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is responsible for more than a quarter of the warming the planet is currently experiencing.

Under the new plan, oil and gas companies would be required for the first time to pay a fee for emitting methane. The resulting penalties could total millions of dollars for the companies. [NYT article] (next EI, see Mar 1)

Cannabis

January 12, 2024: the U.S. government released hundreds of pages of documents related to its ongoing review of marijuana’s status under federal law, officially confirming for the first time that health officials had recommended the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) place cannabis in Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

The 252 pages of documents from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) explained that cannabis “has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States” and has a “potential for abuse less than the drugs or other substances in Schedules I and II.”

Federal health officials said their review found that more than 30,000 healthcare professionals “across 43 U.S. jurisdictions are authorized to recommend the medical use of marijuana for more than six million registered patients for at least 15 medical conditions.”  [MM article] (next Cannabis, see Apr 30, or see CAC for expanded chronology)

January 4 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Deconstruction

January 4, 1876: the Mississippi legislature of 1876, the first former-Confederate-controlled legislature since the start of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, successfully campaigned on a promise to restore law and order through harsher penalties for “black lawlessness” in the state. They were encouraged by the recent success of convict-leasing pioneer Edmond Richardson in the Yazoo Delta region, who in 1868 had entered into a contract with the state to lease prisoners as labor to rebuild his lost cotton fortune. Many legislators saw the model as a perfect solution: convict leasing would simultaneously provide workers to the state’s labor-starved employers, earn revenue for depleted state coffers that could not otherwise afford to maintain the state prison, and provide a means of controlling the state’s recently-freed and largely impoverished black majority.

One of the new legislature’s first acts was to pass the “Pig Law,” which broadened “grand larceny” – an offense punishable by up to five years in state prison – to include theft of any farm animal or any property valued at ten dollars or more. White legislators knew the law would disproportionately affect the state’s black citizens, many of whom remained unemployed and resorted to robbing farms to feed themselves and their families. Within three years, the number of state convicts tripled, from 272 in 1874 to 1,072 in 1877.

The Mississippi legislature soon also passed the Leasing Law, authorizing state prisoners to be leased to “work outside the penitentiary in building railroads, levees or in any private labor or employment.” The law formally codified the practice of convict leasing, and the legislature soon proceeded to lease more than 1000 of its prisoners – the vast majority of them black – in contracts to employers across the state.

Convicts leased to private employers regularly did hard, dangerous work in appalling conditions, sleeping on bare ground and often wearing nothing more than the tattered clothing in which they arrived. Like masters over slaves, employers had broad authority to whip convicts for offenses such as “slow hoeing,” “sorry planting,” and “being light with cotton.” Those who tried to escape were whipped until blood ran down their legs, and sometimes even had metal spurs riveted to their feet.

Under the lease system, employers also had little incentive care for the convicts; if one dropped dead of disease or exhaustion, a replacement was easily obtained from the local jail. “Before the war we owned the negroes,” one Southern employer explained in 1883. “If a man had a good [slave], he could afford to take care of him; if he was sick, get a doctor . . . But these convicts: we don’t own ‘em. One dies, get another.” In the 1880s, the annual mortality rate for Mississippi’s convict population was sometimes as high as 16 percent. (see Mar 27)

Negro National League

January 4, 1920: Andrew Rube Foster organized the first black baseball league, the Negro National League. (see Jan 23)

Dyer anti-lynching bill

January 4, 1922: debate on the Dyer anti-lynching bill got under way in the House despite a determined filibuster on the part of its Democratic opponents. Three hours were spent in roll-calls demanded by Representative Garrett of Tennessee, the Democratic leader, in a futile attempt to head off discussion. (BH, see Jan 12; Dyer bill, see Jan 26; see AL3 for expanded chronology of early 20th century lynching)

Rosewood Florida riots

January 4, 1923: hundreds of white men began the burning of Rosewood, Fla. Within three days, the entire African-American town had been burned to the ground. By the time the violence ended, six African Americans and two whites had died. No one was ever prosecuted. Survivors later recounted that Fannie Taylor had made false accusations against Jesse Hunter to conceal her extramarital affair with a white man. In 1994, the Florida Legislature voted to compensate victims and their families. (next BH, see Feb 7; next Lynching, see Feb 19; next RR see March 19, 1935; see AL3 for expanded chronology of early 20th century lynching)

Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner

January 4, 2014: Edgar Ray Killen, convicted in 2005 for the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to look again at his motion for a new trial. (see Murders for expanded chronology)

January 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

January 4, 1904: the Supreme Court, in Gonzales v. Williams, ruled that Puerto Ricans were not aliens and could enter the United States freely; however, the court stopped short of declaring them U.S. citizens. (see February 23, 1904)

January 4 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Farmers Holiday Association

January 4, 1933: angered by increasing farm foreclosures, members of Iowa’s Farmers Holiday Association threatened to lynch banking representatives and law officials who instituted foreclosure proceedings for the duration of the Great Depression. (see Mar 4)

Alphabet Workers Union

January 4, 2021: after years of growing activism at one of the world’s largest companies,.more than 225 Google engineers and other workers announced that they had formed a union

The union’s creation was highly unusual for the tech industry, which had long resisted efforts to organize its largely white-collar work force. It followed increasing demands by employees at Google for policy overhauls on pay, harassment and ethics, and was likely to escalate tensions with top leadership.

The new union called itself the Alphabet Workers Union after Google’s parent company, Alphabet, was organized in secret for the better part of a year, and elected  its leadership in December 2020. The group is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America, a union that represents workers in telecommunications and media in the United States and Canada. [NYT article]  (next LH, see  Apr 9)

January 4 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

Dirk De Jonge

January 4, 1937: a member of the Communist Party, Dirk De Jonge had organized a public meeting on July 27, 1934, where he was arrested. He was then convicted of violating the Oregon Criminal Syndicalism statute, which prohibited advocating the overthrow of the government.

In De Jonge v Oregon, The Supreme Court ruled that convicting him for simply conducting a meeting violated the First Amendment.

In retrospect, the decision on this day was an early sign that the Supreme Court was beginning the process of becoming a strong defender of civil liberties, which it did under the “Roosevelt Court” from 1937 to 1945.(see April 26, 1938)

STUDENT ACTIVISM 

January 4, 1965: the Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley, held its first “legal” rally after a long series of protests, demonstrations, and arrests in the fall of 1964. See especially October 1, 1964, and December 2, 1964, for two of the most important events in the dramatic struggle in the fall of 1964. The FSM had been sparked by the university’s promise to “strictly enforce” its ban on on-campus recruiting for off-campus political activity on September 16, 1964. The rally on this day was “legal” in the sense that the university had agreed to abandon the policy and respect the free speech rights of students. Folk singer Joan Baez performed at the rally. (FS, see April 26; SA, see Dec 16)(see Student Free Speech Movement for more)

January 4 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

January 4 1948: Burma independent from the United Kingdom. (see Feb 4)

January 4 Peace Love Art Activism

see January 4 Music et al for more

Elvis Presley

January 4, 1954: while still working as a truck driver, Elvis Presley went to the Sam Phillips’s Memphis Recording Service in Memphis, TN, to record a song for his mother’s birthday which was many months away. He recorded “It Wouldn’t Be The Same Without You” and “I’ll Never Stand In Your Way.” This was this recording that would lead Phillips to call Presley back to record for his Sun Records label. The receipt is dated Jan. 6, but the date of the recording was Jan. 4 (see Apr 12)

El Paso

January 4 – 17, 1960: “El Paso” by Marty Robbins #1 Billboard Hot 100. First of three #1 songs in a row in which a person or persons die.

South Pacific

January 4 – 10, 1960: the Soundtrack to South Pacific is the Billboard #1 stereo album.

Kingston Trio

January 4 – February 14, 1960: the Kingston Trio’s Here We Go Again album is Billboard’s #1 mono album.

Bobby Vinton

January 4 – 31, 1964, “There! I’ve Said It Again” by Bobby Vinton #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The Doors

January 4, 1967: The Doors release first album, The Doors.

January 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestones

Hand-held calculator

January 4, 1972: the first scientific hand-held calculator (HP-35) is introduced (price $395).

Color TVs

By the end of 1972: more than half (52.6%) of American households had a color TV set. (see April 3, 1973)

Burj Khalifa

January 4, 2010: Dubai opened the world’s tallest skyscraper, the 2,717-foot Burj Khalifa. It cost $1.5 billion. (see Jan 27)

January 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Watergate Scandal

January 4, 1974: citing executive privilege, Nixon refused to surrender 500 tapes and documents which have been subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee. (see Watergate for much more)

January 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

January 4, 1975: The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. Congress passed the Native American Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act which repudiated the policy of tribal termination that began on August 1, 1953. Termination was a policy by which Native-American tribes were dissolved as independent nations, their status before termination. The policy of termination was intended to help Native-Americans assimilate into the mainstream of American life. President Richard Nixon repudiated the tribal termination policy on July 8, 1970. (next Native Americans see June 26, 1975)

January 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Irish Troubles

January 4, 1976: the Ulster Volunteer Force killed six Irish Catholic civilians in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The next day 10 Protestant civilians are murdered in retaliation. (see Troubles for expanded chronology)

January 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Kent State Killings

January 4. 1979: an out-of-court settlement was reached in the civil cases and approved by the Ohio State Controlling Board with a vote of 6-to-1. Shortly after the board announced its decision, the judge in the U.S. District Court in Cleveland dismissed a jury that had been called to hear testimony in a second trial against the state.

The plaintiffs receive $675,000 for injuries received in 1970 and this compensation is accompanied by a statement from the defendants, which reads in part, “In retrospect the tragedy of May 4, 1970, should not have occurred…We deeply regret those events and are profoundly saddened by the deaths of four students and the wounding of nine others which resulted.”

The settlement, according to the plaintiffs, “accomplished to the greatest extent possible under present law” their main objectives, not the least of which was financial support for Dean Kahler, who has been paralyzed.

Also sought by plaintiffs was a statement signed by Rhodes and 27 National Guardsmen who were defendants in the case.

The statement, read in court, said: “In retrospect, the tragedy of May 4, 1970 should not have occurred.” It also noted that students protesting the Cambodian invasion by U.S. troops “may have believed they were right” in continuing their protests in spite of a university ban on rallies and an order for the students to disperse. The statement went on to note that those orders had been upheld as “lawful” by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The statement continued: “Some of the guardsmen on Blanket Hill (the campus area where the violence occurred), fearful and anxious from prior events, may have believed in their own minds that their lives were danger. Hindsight suggests another method would have resolved the confrontation. Better ways must be found to deal with such confrontations.

“We devoutly wish that a means had been found to avoid the May 4 events culminating in the Guard shootings and the irreversible deaths and injuries. We deeply regret those events, and are profoundly saddened by the deaths of four students and wounding of nine others which resulted. We hope that the agreement to end this litigation will help assuage the tragic moments regarding that sad day.”

Settlement of monies were distributed as follows:

Dean Kahler, $350,000 Joseph Lewis, $42,500 Thomas Grace, $37,500 Donald MacKenzie, $27,500 John Cleary, $22,500

Alan Canfora, Douglas Wrentmore, Robert Stamps, James Russell, $15,000 each Families of the four students slain, $15,000 each Attorneys fees and expenses, $75,000.

January 4 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ & AIDS

January 4, 1982: at a meeting in his living room in New York City, playwright and gay rights activist Larry Kramer and a small group of friends decided to form the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) organization to address the emerging HIV/AIDS epidemic. When someone said, “We have a gay men’s health crisis,” Kramer reportedly exclaimed, “That’s our name!” (GMHC timeline)  (LGBTQ, see Jan 28; AIDS, see Apr 13)

January 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

January 4, 2007: the Spokane diocese in Washington agreed to pay at least $48 m as compensation to people abused by priests. (see July 15)

January 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

January 4, 2007: the number of women serving in the U.S. Senate reached an all-time high of 16 and Nancy Pelosi was sworn in as Speaker of the House , the first woman ever to hold the post. (NBC News article) (see August 8, 2009)

January 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

January 4, 2017:  Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Justice Department had withdrawn federal guidelines that effectively limited prosecutions of businesses and individuals who sold pot in a legal manner under state law, even though the drug remains illegal under federal law. Sessions said future prosecutions would be up to individual U.S. attorneys.

The memo reminded prosecutors that “marijuana activity is a serious crime…[and]that] stricter enforcement by prosecutors will help tackle the growing drug crisis, and thwart violent crime across our country.”

Republican Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, where voters approved recreational marijuana in 2012, and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, where pot was decriminalized in 2003 and legalized recreationally since 2014, both denounced the Sessions announcement. (next Marijuana, see Jan 11;  expanded Cannabis chronology, see CCC; Justice Department, see April 13, 2018)

January 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

January 4, 2017: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke proposed a sweeping new offshore drilling plan aimed at opening huge swaths of the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific oceans to oil exploration.

The draft plan released includes 25 of 26 offshore planning areas and mafr available for lease roughly 90 percent of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. The administration had identified 47 potential lease sales, including 19 off the coast of Alaska and 12 in the Gulf of Mexico, Zinke told reporters (see Jan 8)

January 4 Peace Love Art Activism

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

William Tucker

January 3, 1624: the baptism of William Tucker, the first African-American birth recorded in Jamestown, VA.  His parents, simply Anthony and Isabella, were two of the first Africans brought to North America in 1619 (perhaps as indentured servants). They married and in 1624, gave birth to the first black child born in English America. He was named after his family’s master, Captain William Tucker.(see September 17, 1630)

NAACP report

January 3, 1947: an NAACP report said 1946 was “one of the grimmest years in the history of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.” The report deplored “reports of blow torch killing and eye-gouging of Negro veterans freshly returned from a war to end torture and racial extermination” and said “Negroes in America have been disillusioned over the wave of lynchings, brutality and official recession from all of the flamboyant promises of post war democracy and decency.” (next BH, see Jan 15; next Lynching, see July 14, 1948; for expanded chronology of lynching, see also AL4)

Montgomery Bus Boycott

January 3, 1956: because of drastically reduced ridership during the boycott, Montgomery City Lines suggested to the city commission that unless fares were doubled, it would have to shut down because it was losing as much as twenty-two cents a mile.  The Commission approved the fare increase the following day. (see Montgomery for much more)

Samuel Younge Jr

January 3, 1966: twenty-one-year-old Tuskegee Institute student activist and veteran Samuel Younge Jr spent the day registering black voters in Macon County, Alabama. He stopped at a gas station to use the restroom. The white attendant, 68-year-old Marvin Segrest, directed him to the “colored” restroom out back. When Younge said he wanted to use the regular public restroom, Segrest threatened to shoot him.

Younge reported Segrest to the police, then returned to the gas station and told Segrest the police were coming. The two men argued and Segrest shot at Younge, who hid in a bus. When he exited the bus, Segrest shot him in the head, killing him.

The shooting exacerbated tensions in Tuskegee between African Americans and pro-segregation whites. The day after the shooting, Tuskegee students launched protests that lasted for weeks.

In December 1966 an all-white jury took 70 minutes to acquit Segrest.

Today Younge’s name is carved on the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, a tribute to the 40 people who were slain between 1954 (the year the U.S. Supreme Court banned school segregation) and 1968 (the year of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination). (see Jan 7)

Shirley Chisholm

January 3, 1969: Shirley Chisholm, became the first black woman in Congress. (see Jan 23)

SOUTH AFRICA/APARTHEID

January 3, 1994: more than 7 million people received South African citizenship that had previously been denied under Apartheid policies. (see Apr 27)

Hurricane Katrina

January 3, 2007: seven New Orleans policemen charged in a deadly bridge shooting in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina turned themselves in at the city jail, and more than 200 supporters met them in a show of solidarity. Each of the indicted men faces at least one charge of murder or attempted murder in the Sept. 4, 2005, shootings on the Danziger Bridge less than a week after the hurricane hit New Orleans. Two people died and four were wounded in the shooting. (see Katrina for expanded chronology)

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

In the late 1800s, the United States government sought to “Americanize” the Indian population by forcing Native American children into white schools, often far from their homes and families. In 1887, the government established Keams Canyon Boarding School and pressured Native American parents from the Hopi tribe to enroll their children. Hopi families that complied with the government’s order and sent their children to school were deemed “Friendlies,” while those who refused were branded “Hostiles.” When most parents refused to part with their children voluntarily, the government resorted to force, sending soldiers to round up children and send them to Keams Canyon.

At the same time, tensions were rising regarding the limited land that the government had allotted to Indian tribes. In October 1894, fifty Hopi returned to farm on land that had traditionally belonged to their tribe. The U.S. government, claiming to act in defense of the rights of Friendlies, responded by ordering troops to arrest the Hopi leaders. Justifying the order for military involvement, one government official wrote that “[t]he Friendlies must be protected in their rights and encouraged to continue in the Washington way. . .”

On January 3, 1895, the US govern met imprisoned nineteen leaders from the Hopi tribe  on Alcatraz Island,  in the San Francisco Bay.  The government charged them with sedition for opposing the program of forced education and assimilation. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that “[n]ineteen murderous-looking Apache Indians” had been arrested and taken to Alcatraz, “because they would not let their children go to school.” The paper added that they “have not hardship aside from the fact that they have been rudely snatched from the bosom of their families and are prisoners and prisoners they shall stay until they have learned to appreciate the advantage of education.” The Hopi leaders were imprisoned in the wooden cells of Alcatraz for nearly one year. (see May 18, 1896)

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

ADA

National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis

January 3, 1938, President Franklin D Roosevelt [a victim of polio at age 39 and paralyzed from the waist down and forced to use leg braces and a wheelchair for the rest of his life] helped found the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, later renamed the March of Dimes. The organization was responsible for funding much of the research concerning the disease, including the Salk vaccine trials. (polio, see April 26, 1954)

Hitler’s so-called mercy killings

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.

Rusk Institute

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.

Committee on Employment of the Handicapped

In 1950: 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.

Fernald School

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 mentions 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. (Waltham testing, see (see December 31, 1998; radiation testing, see October 17, 1995)

American National Standards Institute

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.

Ed Roberts

In 1962: Ed Roberts, a student with polio, will enroll at the University of California, Berkeley. After 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. (see  October 31, 1963)

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

January 3 Music et al

Sam Phillips

January 3, 1950: Sam Phillips opened the Memphis Recording Service at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee. The Memphis Recording Service let amateurs perform, which drew performers such as B.B. King, Junior Parker, and Howlin’ Wolf. Phillips then would sell their performances to larger record labels. In addition to musical performances, Phillips recorded events such as weddings and funerals, selling the recordings. (see Memphis Recording Service for more) (see March 3 or 5, 1951)

Beatles on Jack Parr

January 3, 1964: the “The Jack Paar Show,” aired a filmed Beatles’ performance of “She Loves You” from England.  It was the first complete Beatles song shown on American TV, and for many in America, the first time they saw the Beatles. (see Jan 10)

Psychedelic Shop

January 3, 1966: the Psychedelic Shop head shop opens on Haight Street, S.F.  (see Head Shop for more)

 Bob Dylan

With The Band

January 3, 1974: following on the release of his and The Band’s Planet Waves album, the Tour ’74 began. The tour began in Chicago. (see May 9)

William Zantzinger

January 3, 2009: William Zantzinger died. In 2001, Zantzinger had discussed Dylan’s song Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll with Howard Sounes for Down the Highway, the Life of Bob Dylan. Zantzinger dismissed the song as a “total lie” and claimed “It’s actually had no effect upon my life,” but expressed scorn for Dylan, saying, “He’s a no-account son of a bitch, he’s just like a scum of a scum bag of the earth, I should have sued him and put him in jail.” [LA Times obit] (see October 16, 2016)

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

The Cold War

January 3, 1961: President Dwight D. Eisenhower closed the American embassy in Havana and severed diplomatic relations. The action signaled that the US was prepared to take extreme measures to oppose Castro’s regime, which U.S. officials worried was a beachhead of communism in the western hemisphere.(see Feb 18)

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

Nuclear accident

January 3, 1961: Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. A steam explosion in reactor SL-1 during preparation for start-up destroyed a small US Army experimental reactor and killed three operators. (see Jan 24)

START

January 3, 1993: George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin signed the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). (see Jan 19)

Iran

January 3, 2020:  BBC News reported that Iran had resumed enriching uranium to 20% purity, in its most significant breach yet of the 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers.

Government spokesman Ali Rabiei told Mehr news agency that the process had started at the underground Fordo plant. Iran had suspended a number of commitments since the US abandoned the nuclear deal and reinstated sanctions. (next N/C N, see Jan 15)

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Politics

January 3, 1964: Senator Barry Goldwater announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for President.

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Jack Ruby

January 3, 1967: waiting in prison for a retrial date, Jack Ruby died of lung cancer.

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

Witherspoon v. Illinois

January 3, 1968: in Witherspoon v. Illinois  the Supreme Court ruled that the practice of excluding prospective jurors who have reservations about the death penalty from capital trials resulted in juries whose sentencing decisions could be considered biased and therefore unconstitutional. (see February 18, 1972)

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

January 3, 1968: Senator Eugene McCarthy (D-Minnesota) announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. McCarthy had been a contender to be President Lyndon B. Johnson’s running mate in the 1964 election, but since then he had become increasingly disenchanted with Johnson’s policies in Vietnam and the escalation of the war. In 1967, he had published The Limits of Power, an assessment of U.S. foreign policy that was very critical of the Johnson administration. When announcing his candidacy, McCarthy said he hoped to harness the growing antiwar sentiment in the country, particularly among the young. (see Jan 5)

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Japanese Internment Camps

January 3, 1975: the US Government had interned Norman Minetta, as a child as part of the Japanese-American evacuation and internment during World War II. On this date, Minetta took his seat in the House of Representatives. representing the San Jose, California area. He served in the House until 1995 and later served as Secretary of Commerce under President Bill Clinton (2000–2001) and then Secretary of Transportation under President George W. Bush (2001–2006). (see JI for expanded chronology)

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

January 3, 1996:  the first mobile flip phone, the Motorola StarTAC, goes on sale. (see April 20, 1999)

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

Medical Marijuana Act

January 3, 2006: Rhode Island’s Senate Bill 0710 (the Edward O. Hawkins and Thomas C. Slater Medical Marijuana Act) tooks effect immediately upon passage on January 3, 2006. The law removed state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of marijuana by patients who possess “written certification” from their physician… [and] establishes a mandatory, confidential state-run patient registry that issues identification cards to qualifying patients.(see April 20 or see CCC for expanded modern chronology)

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

January 3, 2007: death toll of U.S. soldiers in Iraq reaches 3,000. (see Jan 10)

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Volunteerism

January 3, 2008: the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported that about 60.8 million people volunteered through or for an organization at least once between September 2006 and September 2007,

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Occupy Wall Street

January 3, 2012: approximately 200 Occupy protesters performed a flash mob at the main concourse of New York’s Grand Central Terminal in protest against President Obama’s signing the National Defense Authorization Act. Video (see Jan 25)

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

January 3, 2013: British doctors discharged fifteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai, who was shot by the Taliban in October and brought to Britain for treatment, She was due to be re-admitted in late January or early February for reconstructive surgery to her skull. (Feminism, see Jan 9; Yousufzai, see Jan 10)

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

STAND YOUR GROUND LAWS

January 3, 2013: research from Texas A&M University reported that over a 10-year period there was an 8 percent increase in homicides in the states that passed Stand Your Ground laws. The law did not deter burglary, robbery or assault either. “These laws lower the cost of using lethal force,” said Mark Hoekstra, an economist with Texas A&M University who examined stand your ground laws. “Our study finds that, as a result, you get more of it.” (see Feb 4)

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

January 3, 2014: the U.S. government asked the Supreme Court not to allow Roman Catholic-affiliated groups a temporary exemption from a part of the Obamacare healthcare law that requires employers to provide insurance policies covering contraception. Now that the court has received the government’s filing, Sotomayor – or the nine justices if she chose to refer it to the whole court – would decide whether the injunction should be extended while the case continues in lower courts. There was no deadline by which the court has to act. (see Jan 14)

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

January 3, 2017: Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued Motel 6, alleging motel employees gave private information on thousands of guests to U.S. immigration authorities.

Ferguson told reporters that employees of the national budget chain divulged the names, birth dates, driver’s license numbers, license-plate numbers and room numbers of more than 9,000 guests to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The agents did not have warrants.

The lawsuit said the motel employees’ actions violated state consumer-protection law.

Washington’s Supreme Court established that guest-registry information is private, Ferguson said, and Motel 6 violated the law each time it gave out private information. (next IH, see Jan 8; Motel 6, see April 4, 2019)

January 3 Peace Love Art Activism