Category Archives: Black history

Lynching, Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

November 8 Peace Love Art Activism

November 8, 2015 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

November 8 Peace Love Art Activism

November 8 Presidential Elections

Before 1845, states determined Election Day, but since then Election Day has officially been the first Tuesday after the first Monday. Thus November 8 is the latest that an election day can be.

By why Tuesday? In the 19th century most people still lived on farms and had to travel to vote. Traveling on Sunday was “forbidden” for many Christians and Wednesday was typically market day. Tuesday it was.

We have had six November 8 presidential elections since then:

1864	Abraham Lincoln defeated	George B. McClellan
1892	Grover Cleveland defeated	Benjamin Harrison
1904	Theodore Roosevelt defeated	Alton B. Parker
1932	Franklin D Roosevelt defeated	Herbert Hoover
1960	John F Kennedy defeated	Richard M Nixon
1988	George H W Bush defeated	Michael Dukakis

November 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

November 8, 1895: physicist Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen became the first person to observe X-rays, a significant scientific advancement that would ultimately benefit a variety of fields, most of all medicine, by making the invisible visible. Rontgen’s discovery occurred accidentally in his Wurzburg, Germany, lab, where he was testing whether cathode rays could pass through glass when he noticed a glow coming from a nearby chemically coated screen. He dubbed the rays that caused this glow X-rays because of their unknown nature. (see Dec 28)

November 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Black History

Owen Anderson lynched

November 8, 1889: group of 40 white men took 18-year-old black Orion “Owen” Anderson from jail in Leesburg, Virginia and lynched him. Anderson was alleged to have worn a sack on his head and frightened the daughter of a prominent white man on her walk to school.

Though there were no witnesses to the “incident” and the girl could not identify her “attacker,” Anderson was arrested after a sack was found near him. He was jailed under accusation of attempted assault, and later reports claimed he confessed.

The vigilante group all wore wore. They took Anderson from his cell, carried him to the freight depot of the Richmond & Danville Railroad, hanged him, and shot his body full of bullets.

Leesburg’s newspaper, the Mirror, reported the lynching on November 14th, calling it “a terrible warning,” and stating, “The fate of the self-confessed author of the outrage should serve as a terrible admonition to the violators of the law for the protection of female virtue.” [EJI article] (next BH, see July 10, 1890; see 19th century for expanded lynching chronology)

Domestic terrorism

Report of Willmington race riot from The New York Herald

November 8, 1898: in two days of racial violence, a mob of whites, led by some of Wilmington NC’s most respected and influential citizens, destroyed the state’s only daily African American newspaper. Coroner reports confirmed nine blacks were killed; some estimate hundreds died. Scores of others were driven from their homes.

Originally described as a race riot, it is now observed as a coup d’etat with insurgents having overthrown the legitimately elected local government, the only such event in US history.

Two days after the election of a Fusionist white Mayor and biracial city council, Democratic Party white supremacists illegally seized power from the elected government. More than 1500 white men participated in an attack on the black newspaper, burning down the building. They ran officials and community leaders out of the city, and killed many blacks in widespread attacks, but especially destroyed the Brooklyn neighborhood. They took photographs of each other during the events. T

he Wilmington Light Infantry and federal Naval Reserves, told to quell the riot, used rapid-fire weapons and killed several black men in the Brooklyn neighborhood. Both black and white residents later appealed for help after the riot to President William McKinley, who did not respond. More than 2,000 blacks left the city permanently, turning it from a black-majority to a white-majority city. (next BH, see April 23, 1899; RR, see August 14, 1908)

Edward W. Brooke

November 8, 1965: Edward W. Brooke (R-Massachusetts) became the first African American elected to Senate. (see Nov 30)

Harold Washington

November 8, 1983: Harold Washington elected first African American mayor of Chicago. (see Nov 18)

November 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

General J Lawton “Lightning Joe” Collins

November 8, 1954: General J Lawton “Lightning Joe” Collins arrived in Saigon from Washington with the rank of ambassador. (se February 23, 1955)

South Vietnam

November 8, 1964: the US Government recognized the new South Vietnam government. (Vietnam, see Nov 15; South Vietnam leadership, see June 14, 1965)

November 8 Peace Love Art Activism

ADA

Franklin D. Roosevelt

November 8, 1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt elected president. After he helped found the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (now known as the March of Dimes). His leadership in this organization is one reason he is commemorated on the dime.

League for the Physically Handicapped

In 1935, to protest the fact that their requests for employment with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) have been stamped ‘PH’ (physically handicapped), 300 members of the League for the Physically Handicapped stage a nine-day sit in at the Home Relief Bureau of New York City. Eventually, they help secure several thousand jobs nationwide. The League of the Physically Handicapped is accepted as the first organization of people with disabilities by people with disabilities. (see August 14, 1935)

Mental Health, Americans with Disabilities

November 8, 2013: the Obama administration required insurers to cover care for mental health and addiction just like physical illnesses when it issued regulations defining parity in benefits and treatment. (NYT article) (see December 19, 2014)

November 8 Peace Love Art Activism

November 8 Music et al

Cynthia Lennon

November 8, 1968: Cynthia Lennon granted divorce from John. (see CL for more; next Beatles, see Nov 11)

Laura Nyro

November 8 – 28, 1969: “Wedding Bell Blues” by The Fifth Dimension #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Laura Nyro wrote and recorded the song in 1966. The harmonica in the beginning of hers sounds like somebody’s cell phone went off during the recording. Guess not, eh?

November 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Cultural Milestone

November 8, 1972: the premium cable TV network HBO (Home Box Office) made its debut. The first program and film broadcast on the channel, the 1971 movie Sometimes a Great Notion. It was transmitted that evening to 325 Service Electric subscribers in Wilkes-Barre (a plaque commemorating this event is located at Public Square in downtown Wilkes-Barre).

Home Box Office broadcast its first sports event immediately after the film: an NHL game between the New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks from Madison Square Garden. (see February 9, 1973)

November 8 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Harvey Milk

November 8, 1977, LGBT: Harvey Milk won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and was responsible for introducing a gay rights ordinance protecting gays and lesbians from being fired from their jobs. Milk also led a successful campaign against Proposition 6, an initiative forbidding homosexual teachers. (see November 18, 1977

Proposition 2

November 8, 2005: Proposition 2 passed in Texas, constitutionally excluding same-sex couples from marriage. (Election results article from NYT) (see January 20, 2006)

Workers rights

November 8, 2007: the House of Representatives approved a bill ensuring equal rights in the workplace for gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals. (NYT article) (see February 1, 2008)

November 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

November 8, 1978: The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA) enacted. It governed jurisdiction over the removal of Native American children from their families.

The ICWA was enacted because of the high removal rate of Indian children from their traditional homes and essentially from Indian culture as a whole. Before enactment, as many as 25 to 35 percent of all Indian children were being removed from their Indian homes and placed in non-Indian homes, with presumably the absence of Indian culture. In some cases, the Bureau of Indian Affairs paid the states to remove Indian children and to place them with non-Indian families and religious groups.

As Louis La Rose (Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska) testified: “I think the cruelest trick that the white man has ever done to Indian children is to take them into adoption court, erase all of their records and send them off to some nebulous family … residing in a white community and he goes back to the reservation and he has absolutely no idea who his relatives are, and they effectively make him a non-person and I think … they destroy him.” (click for more information >>> ICWA) (Native Americans, see July 2, 1979; Supreme Court decision re the ICWA, see June 25, 2013 or June 15, 2023)

November 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Irish Troubles

November 8, 1987: a bomb planted by the Irish Republican Army exploded as crowds gathered in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, for a ceremony honoring Britain’s war dead, killing 11 people. (see Troubles for expanded story)

November 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Assisted suicide, Oregon

November 8, 1994: Oregon became the first state to legalize assisted suicide when voters passed a Death with Dignity Act, but legal appeals kept the law from taking effect until 1997. (NYT article) (see Nov 26)

November 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

November 8, 2006: Donald Rumsfeld announced he would resign as Secretary of Defense. (see Nov 9)

November 8 Peace Love Art Activism

The Cold War

November 8, 2017: the Trump administration tightened the economic embargo on Cuba, restricting Americans from access to hotels, stores and other businesses tied to the Cuban military.

A lengthy list of rules, which President Trump had promised in June to punish the communist government in Havana, came just as Mr. Trump was visiting leaders of the communist government in Beijing and pushing business deals there. The announcement was part of the administration’s gradual unwinding of parts of the Obama administration’s détente with the Cuban government.

Americans wishing to visit Cuba will once again have to go through authorized tour operators, and tour guides will have to accompany the groups — making such trips more expensive. [CNN article] (see January 17, 2018)

November 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

November 8, 2018: the Associated Press reported that Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of the Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri announced that thirty-three priests or religious were “credibly accused” and/or removed from the ministry over sexual abuse of minors.

McKnight released a complete list of the names that followed an internal investigation begun in February 2018. The list included 25 priests from the diocese, three priests from other areas who previously served in the Jefferson City diocese, and five members of a religious order. (see Nov 12)

November 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

November 8, 2022: Election day: Maryland approved recreational use of cannabis, while voters in Arkansas, North Dakota, and South Dakota defeated proposed legalization. [MM article] (next Cannabis, see Nov 23, or see CAC for larger chronology)

November 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Lynching, Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

November 4, 2015 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

November 4, 1646: the Massachusetts General Court approved a law requiring all members of the colony to recognize the Bible as the Word of God, under penalty of death. (DP, see May 27, 1647; Separation, see April 21, 1649)

Rose Bird defeated

November 4, 1986: California Chief Justice Rose Bird and two other ‘liberal’ members of the state supreme court were ousted in a retention election. The election followed a bitter campaign that centered on the three justices’ records in death penalty cases. [NYT article] (see November 1987)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Benjamin Ryan Tillman

November 4, 1890: Benjamin Ryan Tillman was elected governor of South Carolina. An outspoken white supremacist, Tillman advocated for violence against African American voters and staunchly opposed educational access for black people.

Tillman’s political career catapulted to success after his involvement in the 1876 Hamburg Massacre, where white men rioted and killed nine people in a predominantly African American town in South Carolina. In his gubernatorial campaign, Tillman promised to keep the state’s African American population in a position of permanent inferiority. In his inaugural address and throughout his administration, he emphasized white supremacy and the necessity to revoke African Americans’ rights. Concerning the education of African Americans, Tillman argued, “when you educate a Negro, you educate a candidate for the penitentiary or spoil a good field hand.”

He served two terms as governor and played a critical role in the 1895 South Carolina Constitutional Convention. In order to vote under the revised constitution, a man had to own property, pay a poll tax, pass a literacy test, and meet certain educational standards. The 1895 constitution disenfranchised African American voters and served as a model for other southern states.

Tillman was elected United States Senator for South Carolina in 1895, and he served in this capacity for twenty-four years. Throughout his tenure, he opposed African American equality, women’s suffrage, and any federal interference in state government. Tillman’s philosophy helped shape the era of oppression and abuse of African Americans throughout the South. A statue honoring Tillman still stands on the grounds of South Carolina’s State Capitol and as with many statues today, there are many who feel that such recognition is undeserved. (Charleston City Paper article) (see September 1, 1891)

National Equal Rights League

November 4, 1922: the National Equal Rights League presented a petition signed by thousands of people from fifteen States calling for Congress to consider the Dyer Anti-Lynching bill. [Black Past article] (see Nov 28)

Statue of Liberty plot

November 4, 1965: Federal Judge William Herlands sentenced Robert Collier to 5 years in prison; Walter Bowe received a three-year sentence; and Khaleel Sayyed received an 18-month sentence for their conspiracy to blow up the Statue of Liberty on June 14, 1965. [NYT article] (next BH, see Nov 8; next Terrorism, see September 5 – 6, 1972)

George Whitmore, Jr

November 4, 1988: Richard Robles, who had served 24 years in the famous ”career girls” murder case, was denied parole for a second time. Robles, 45 years old, was given a life sentence for the killing of Janice Wylie, a Newsweek researcher, and Emily Hoffert, an elementary-school teacher, in an East Side apartment on Aug 28, 1963. ( see Whitmore for expanded story)

Autherine Lucy Foster

In 1989: Autherine Lucy Foster again enrolled at the University of Alabama. Her daughter Grazia also was a student at the time. (BH, see Feb 10; U of A, see May 9, 1992)

Barak Obama

November 4, 2008: Barack Obama elected President. First Black American elected President of the US. (click for transcript of Obama’s victory speech >>> Victory speech) (see Nov 5)

Murders of Three Civil Rights Workers

November 4, 2013: the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Edgar Ray Killen, convicted of manslaughter in 2005 for the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers in what became known as the “Mississippi Burning” case. The decision means the justices won’t review lower-court rulings that found no violations of Killen’s constitutional rights during his trial in Mississippi. [CBS News article] (see January 4, 2014)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

November 4 Music et al

Bob Dylan/Carnegie Chapter Hall

November 4, 1961: Dylan played a concert at Carnegie Chapter Hall, a smaller room than the famous bigger room. There are varying reports on how many people attended the concert. The number ranges between 47 and 53, pretty much all friends and family. (see Nov 20)

Newsweek/Dylan

November 4, 1963: Newsweek magazine carried an article that mocked Dylan’s self made image and pointed out that he had grown up in a middle class family in Hibbing, MN.

The article showed him as a vain and self-promoting.

“Why Dylan—he picked the name in admiration for Dylan Thomas—should bother to deny his past is a mystery. Perhaps he feels it would spoil the image he works so hard to cultivate—with his dress, with his talk, with the deliberately atrocious grammar and pronunciation in his songs” (see Dec 13)

The Beatles/Royal Variety Show

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism — The Beatles greet the Queen Mother

November 4, 1963: The Beatles performed their legendary Royal Command Performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London, before the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. Technically The Beatles were 7th on a 19-act bill, but there was no doubt that they were, in fact, the main attraction. The Beatles called upon their masterful showmanship to put on a stunning four-song performance. They began playing their first song, “From Me to You”, before the curtain opened. John and Paul, at the end of the first song, moved their microphones nearer to the audience. After playing their second song, “She Loves You”, The Beatles bowed to the audience. A nervous Paul cracked a joke about Sophie Tucker being The Beatles’ favorite American group, then they performed “Till There Was You”.

At the end of that song, Paul and John moved their microphone stands back to their original position. After waiting for the applause to die down, John introduced “Twist and Shout”, requesting that persons in the cheaper seats join in by clapping their hands, while everyone else should just “rattle your jewelry”. At the end of “Twist and Shout”, Ringo came down from his drum kit and joined the others; as the curtain closed behind them, they bowed to the audience, then they bowed to the royal box, and then they ran off the stage to thunderous applause.

The show was taped for later broadcast on both television and radio. Their entire performance was broadcast on television, by ATV, on November 10. BBC radio broadcast all but “She Loves You”, also on November 10. The Beatles were a sensation all across Britain, the Royal Command Performance brought a huge triumph for them. (see Nov 11 – 12)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvBCmY7wAAU

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

November 4, 1964: NYC police arrested comedian Lenny Bruce for obscenity. He was arrested many times in his career on charges of obscenity (October 4, 1961). His style of humor, radical for its time, savagely attacked American hypocrisy on sex, religion and race. Many believe that his arrests were provoked more by his attacks on the Catholic Church than for the dirty words in his routines. (see Dec 2)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

November 4, 1968: the Christian Science Monitor asked the White House to confirm or deny a story from their Saigon correspondent that said “political encouragement from the Richard Nixon camp: had been “a significant factor” in President Thieus”s sudden decision to stay home.

LBJ did not know of the October 22 messages between Nixon and Haldeman and decided not to confirm the story despite his strong suspicion that Nixon had tried to undermine the negations. (see Nov 5)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran hostage crisis

November 4, 1979, : Iran hostage crisis begins: 3,000 Iranian radicals, mostly students, invade the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and take 90 hostages (53 of whom are American). They demand that the United States send the former Shah of Iran back to stand trial. (click >>> NYT article re Students invade embassy) (see Nov 12)

USS Cole

November 4, 2002: Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, a suspected al-Qaeda operative, who was believed to have planned the Cole attack, was killed by the CIA using an AGM-114 Hellfire missile launched from an MQ-1 Predator drone. (NYT article) (see Nov 25)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Ronald Reagan elected President

November 4, 1980: Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent President Jimmy Carter, exactly 1 year after the beginning of the Iran hostage crisis. (click >>> “After the celebrations over Ronald Reagan’s spectacular victory, come the hangovers.”)

Jack Kevorkian

November 4, 1996: Kevorkian’s lawyer announced a previously unreported assisted suicide of a 54-year-old woman. This brings the total number of his assisted suicides, since 1990, to 46. (see JK for expanded story)

LGBTQ

November 4, 2008: California voters approved a ban on same-sex marriage called Proposition 8. The attorney general of California, Jerry Brown, asked the state’s Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of Proposition 8.

The ban threw into question the validity of the more than 18,000 marriages already performed, but Attorney General Brown reiterated in a news release that he believed the same-sex marriages performed in California before November 4 should remain valid and the California Supreme Court, which upheld the ban in May 2009, agreed, allowing those couples married under the old law to remain that way; also, voters in Arizona, and Florida approved the passage of measures that ban same-sex marriage. Arkansas passed a measure intended to bar gay men and lesbians from adopting children. (click for article re day before California vote >>> Rush to marry) (see Nov 12)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

Michigan

November 4, 2008: “Sixty-three percent of Michigan voters approved Proposal 1 (the law took effect on December 4, 2008). It removed state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of marijuana by patients who possess written documentation from their physicians authorizing the medical use of marijuana.” (see February 25, 2009)

November 4, 2014

Oregon voters approved Measure 91, a proposal which would legalize the possession of up to eight ounces of cannabis, a limit that was eight times higher than that of Washington and Colorado. The initiative would also allow everyone 21 and older to cultivate up to four plants, and purchase cannabis from state-licensed outlets, which would open by 2016.
In Alaska, Ballot Measure 2 was approved with 52% of the vote. This initiative legalized the possession of up to an ounce of cannabis, as well as the private cultivation of up to six plants. The proposal also allowed for cannabis retail outlets. (see February 24, 2015)
In Washington D.C voters approved Initiative 71. Once it takes effect – after a 30-day congressional review period – the proposal would legalize the possession of up to two ounces of cannabis for those 21 and older, in addition to allowing for the private cultivation of up to six plants. Although the initiative did not allow for cannabis retail outlets, the district’s Council was considering legislation to change that.
In Florida, Amendment 2 (legalization of medical cannabis ) was defeated, failing to garner the 60% required to be passed into law.
In Maine, voters in South Portland passed an initiative to legalize up to an ounce of cannabis, joining Portland which approved a similar initiative last year. A legalization initiative was rejected in Lewiston (see Dec 13)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

November 4, 2013: the US Supreme Court left intact a state court decision invalidating an Oklahoma law that effectively banned the so-called abortion pill RU-486. [Reuters article] (see Nov 26)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Trump Impeachment Inquiry

November 4, 2019: four top White House officials who were supposed to testify for the House’s impeachment inquiry declined to appear. John Eisenberg, the top lawyer at the National Security Council, failed to show up on Capitol Hill for his scheduled deposition time. He is believed to have made the call to lock down records of President Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a special system.

Eisenberg’s deputy, Michael Ellis, Rob Blair, who served as an adviser to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on national security issues, and Brian McCormack, an energy official at the White House Office of Management and Budget, also did not testify.

The inquiry also hundreds of pages of transcripts from Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, who testified on Oct. 11, and Michael McKinley, a former adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who testified Oct. 16. [NPR story] (see TII for expanded chronology)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Paris Climate Accord announcement

November 4, 2019: the Trump administration announced that it would begin formally withdrawing the US from the Paris climate accord, the first step in a year-long process to leave the landmark agreement to reduce emissions of planet-warming gases.

“Today the United States began the process to withdraw from the Paris Agreement,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. “Per the terms of the Agreement, the United States submitted formal notification of its withdrawal to the United Nations. The withdrawal will take effect one year from delivery of the notification.” [CNN story] (next EI, see Nov 7)

Paris Climate Accord exit

November 4, 2020: the US became the first country to officially exit the Paris climate accord , but depending on the result of the presidential election, the US could swiftly rejoin with Democratic candidate Joe Biden pledging to reverse President Donald Trump’s decision to abandon the accord which was ratified by 189 countries.

After a year that’s seen record-breaking wildfires and a seemingly unending stream of hurricanes strike the Gulf Coast, the US became the only country to formally pull out of the deal since it was adopted in 2015.

Under the rules of the agreement, a country couldt officially leave for one full year after notifying the UN of its intent to withdraw. The countdown to the US’ exit began on November 4, 2019, when the US sent notice of its plans to leave. [CNN story] (next EI, see Nov 21)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Lynching, Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

November 1, 2015 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Nation’s First General Strike

November 1, 1835: in the nation’s first general strike for a 10-hour day, 300 armed Irish longshoremen marched through the streets of Philadelphia calling on other workers to join them. Some 20,000 did, from clerks to bricklayers to city employees and other occupations. The city announced a 10-hour workday within the week; private employers followed suit three weeks later. [Ency of Philadelphia article] (see March 31, 1840)

Portland, OR Teacher Strike

November 1, 2023: teachers and other school employees in Portland, Oregon went on strike canceling school for tens of thousands of children in Oregon’s largest school district.

The Portland Association of Teachers, which represents about 3,700 teachers, school counselors and other employees in the negotiations, is asking for higher wages, more time to plan lessons and a cap on class sizes, among other issues. They say that students’ emotional and academic needs have skyrocketed since the pandemic, and that employees are under strain and undersupported.

“We are on strike not just for ourselves, but for our students,” said Angela Bonilla, the union’s president. [NYT article] (next LH, see Nov 9; Portland, see Nov 26)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

The Carlisle Indian School

November 1, 1879: founded by Richard Henry Pratt, The Carlisle Indian School formally opened (in Carlisle, PA) with an enrollment of 147 students. The youngest was six and the eldest twenty-five, but the majority were teenagers. Two-thirds were the children of Plains Indian tribal leaders. The first class was made up of eighty-four Lakota, fifty-two Cheyenne, Kiowa and Pawnee, and eleven Apache. Pratt believed that the only road to success for the Native Americans was to assimilate them to the American culture. He was often quoted as saying “Kill the Indian, save the man”. NPR’s Radio Lab did a piece on the school. The following picture comparisons are from RL’s site. Click for others >>> Radio Lab) (next NA, see July 20, 1881)

Tom Torlino before	Tom Torlino after
Sioux children before	Sioux children after

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Black History

Louisiana Sugar Workers Lynched

November 1, 1887: thirty-seven Black striking Louisiana sugar workers were murdered when Louisiana militia, aided by bands of “prominent citizens,” shoot unarmed workers trying to get a dollar-per-day wage. Two strike leaders are lynched. [Smithsonian article] (next Labor History, see March 12, 1888; next BH & next Lynching, see August 18, 1889; see 19th century for expanded lynching chronology)

Poll Taxes

November 1, 1890: Mississippi adopted a new state constitution aimed at keeping African Americans from voting through poll taxes, literacy tests and other means. The constitution achieved the delegates’ chief aim through instituting mechanisms including poll taxes and literacy tests.

One of the state constitution’s framers, Democrat James K. Vardaman, who would go on to become governor and a US Senator, saw no need to hide his disdain for Black Americans.

“Mississippi’s constitutional convention of 1890 was held for no other purpose than to eliminate the n****r from politics,” he once said.

Many other states followed Mississippi’s lead. (next BH, see Nov 4)

Frank Sinatra/School Desegregation

On September 18, 1945 in Gary, Indiana, mounting pressure from civic groups such as the League of Women Voters, YWCA, and Gary Teacher’s Union to desegregate schools pushed district officials to make another attempt (see September, 1927) at integration. Again, white students took to the streets en masse in an effort to curb integration. On November 1, 1945, in an effort to win over white students against school desegregation, Gary officials invited Frank Sinatra to perform. Though very popular with teenagers, Sinatra’s appeal failed to get students back to school. [Time article] (BH, see Dec 16; SD, see September 1946)

Freedom Riders

November 1, 1961: November 1^st was the day the Interstate Commerce Commission’s new prohibition against segregated bus terminals was to go into effect. This was the ruling won by the Freedom Rides.

The Albany, Georgia bus terminal was located in the Black section of town and on November 1^st — with a neighborhood crowd watching — nine Black students attempted to use the terminal’s “white-only” facilities. As planned, they leave without being arrested when ordered out by the police and then filed immediate complaints with the ICC under the new ruling. (BH, see Nov 9; FR, see Nov 29)

“Freedom Vote”

November 1, 1963: the “Freedom Vote” on this day was a mock election in Mississippi involving officially unregistered African American voters. The event was organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to dramatize the fact that only 7 percent of the potentially eligible African-American voters were actually registered.

The Freedom Vote was considered a success by SNCC leaders, and it inspired the idea for a larger effort in the summer of 1964. This became Freedom Summer, in which about 1,000 white northern college students were recruited to help African-Americans register to vote. (see Nov 19)

SOUTH AFRICA/APARTHEID

November 1, 1995 South Africans voted in their first all-race local government elections, completing the destruction of the apartheid system. (see October 30, 1996)

Kayla Morris

November 1, 2018: Kayla Morris, of Antioch, California and a member of Gold Rush, the San Francisco 49ers cheerleader, appeared to take a knee during the national anthem. It was the first time that an NFL cheerleader had done so. (see February 15, 2019)

Tommie Smith and John Carlos

November 1, 2019: fifty-one years after the U.S. Olympic Committee vilified Tommie Smith and John Carlos for taking a stand against racism and discrimination, banishing them from the Mexico City team and leaving them to face scorn and condemnation at home, it changed its mind. The Committee inducted Smith and Carlos into the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame, an honor bestowed because of their “character, conduct and off-field contributions,” as well as their athletic achievements. [NBC Sports story] (next BH, see Nov 2)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Fair Housing

Rent control

November 1, 1943: the federal Office of Price Administration first established rent control in wartime New York City. [Curbed NY article]

McCarthy kickbacks

From 1947 – 1949: Joe McCarthy accepted kickbacks from Pepsi Cola totaling $20,000 in exchange for helping Pepsi to circumvent the post-war sugar rationing. He also received another $10,000 from entrepreneurs in the pre-fabricated housing industry. Shortly thereafter, McCarthy joined the Senate Housing Committee and went on the road to speak out against public housing for veterans, extolling the benefits of the pre-fabricated home and offering it as an alternative. (FH, see May 3, 1948: RS, see Feb 17)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

The Red Scare & the Cold War

Free Speech

November 1, 1948: the famous Smith Act trial began, one of the major events of the Cold War, involved the prosecution of eleven leaders of the Communist Party for violating the Smith Act (enacted on June 29, 1940), which outlawed advocating the overthrow of the government. (FS, see Dec 10; Red Scare, see Nov 2; trial, see October 10, 1949)

H-Bomb

November 1, 1952: U.S. detonated the first hydrogen bomb at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. [Air & Space article] (see Dec 13)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism — The first thermonuclear weapon (hydrogen bomb), code-named Mike, was detonated at Enewetak atoll in the Marshall Islands, Nov. 1, 1952. Photograph taken at an altitude of 3,600 metres (12,000 feet) 80 km (50 miles) from the detonation site.

Women Strike for Peace

November 1, 1961: thousands of women throughout the United States demonstrated in protest against nuclear weapons. The rallies were organized by Women Strike for Peace, founded by Bella Abzug and Dagmar Wilson. WSP’s guiding statement, adopted in 1962: “We are women of all races, creeds and political persuasions. We are dedicated to the purpose of complete and general disarmament. We demand that nuclear tests be banned forever, that the arms race end and the world abolish all weapons of destruction under United Nations safeguards. We cherish the right and accept the responsibility to act to influence the course of goverment for peace. … We join with women throughout the world to challenge the right of any nation or group of nations to hold the power of life and death over the world.” [Swarthmore article] (see May 31, 1962)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

November 1, 1950: two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to force their way into Blair House in Washington to assassinate President Harry S. Truman. One of the assailants was killed. [Truman Library article] (see March 1, 1954)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Algeria

November 1, 1954, Algeria began a rebellion against French rule. [Atlantic article w chronology] (see July 5, 1962)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

November 1, 1954: jointly produced by Texas Instruments and TV accessory manufacturer IDEA (Industrial Development Engineering Associates) Corp, the TR-1 was the first consumer device to employ transistors went on sale at a price of $49.95 (less battery). One year after the release of the TR-1, sales approached the 100,000 mark.

Measuring 5×3×1.25 inches and weighing 12.5 ounces, the Regency TR-1 was designed to receive AM broadcasts only. It kicked off a worldwide demand for small and portable electronic products. (see Dec 23)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

November 1 Music et al

Howl

Allen Ginsberg, far left, reading in San Francisco on Nov. 20, 1955, and center center, in NYC’s Washington Square Park on Aug. 28, 1966.

November 1, 1956, Lawrence Ferlinghetti published Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg. (see Howl judgement for more)

Beatles in trouble

November 1, 1960: furious that The Beatles had made a verbal agreement to play at rival Peter Eckhorn’s Top Ten Club, Kaiserkeller owner Bruno Koschmider terminated their contract. Despite this, they continued to perform at the club for another three weeks. An additonal reason why Koschmider wanted them out: at 17 years of age, George Harrison was too young to be working in the club. Eckhorn’s statement read: I the undersigned hereby give notice to Mr George Harrison and to Beatles’ Band to leave [the Club] on November 30th, 1960. The notice is given to the above by order of the Public Authorities who have discovered that Mr George Harrison is only 17 (seventeen) years of age. (see Nov 20)

News Music/Bob Marley

November 1, 1964: Bob Marley’s Wailers’s first single, ‘Simmer Down‘, reached Number 1 in Jamaica’s JBC Radio Chart.

News Music/Buffy Sainte-Marie

In 1964 Buffy Sainte-Marie’s first album released. It’s My Way (see Dec 22)

“Wild Thing”

November 1, 1965, Jordan Christopher & The Wild Ones release “Wild Thing.” Written by Chip Taylor (born James Wesley Voight, brother of actor Jon Voight; uncle, therefore, of Angelina Jolie). (see July 25, 1966)

“Wonderwall Music”

November 1, 1968: George Harrison became the first member of The Beatles to release a solo project, an LP called “Wonderwall Music.”

Paul McCartney’s January 1967 The Family Way soundtrack recording is sometimes considered to be the first Beatles solo album, but most critics consider Wonderwall Music to be the first, because it was released under George Harrison’s name while The Family Way was credited to George Martin.

The songs, recorded in December 1967 in England, and January 1968 in Bombay, India were virtually all instrumental, except for some non-English vocals and a slowed-down spoken word track. “Wonderwall Music” is notable for being the first official LP release on Apple Records. (see Wonderwall for expanded story) (next Beatles, see Nov 8)

Abbey Road

November 1 – December 26, 1969: Abbey Road the Billboard #1 Album. The Beatles’ Let It Be album will be released on May 8, 1970 and be the Billboard #1 album from June 13 – July 10, 1970. Let It Be was actually recorded in before Abbey Road in February 1968, January – February 1969. Since most of Let It Be was recorded in January 1969, before the recording and release of the album Abbey Road, some critics argue that Abbey Road should be considered the group’s final album and Let It Be the penultimate. (see November 26)

Elvis Presley

November 1 – 7, 1969: after seven years off the top of the charts, Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” is #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It will be his last #1 during his lifetime. (see December 21, 1971)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

United States v. 31 Photographs

November 1, 1957: in the case of United States v. 31 Photographs, a U.S. District Court judge cleared the way for importation of 31 photographs that the Alfred Kinsey had sought to import for his scientific research on sexuality. The judge ruled that the photographs could be brought into the U.S. because they were material for scientific study and not public consumption. The decision ended a three-year battle over the photographs.

While the decision was a victory for Kinsey and his research, it was a very limited one with respect to censorship of sexually related materials, given its narrow focus on research materials. (see May 6, 1959)

MPPA

November 1, 1968: the Motion Picture Producers Association (MPPA), struggling to adapt to both anti-censorship court decisions and more tolerant public attitudes regarding sexuality in the movies — but not willing to abandon all restraints — put into effect a new movie ratings system. The categories were G, PG, R and X. [Wikipedia article] (see Nov 12)

Colin Kaepernick

November 1, 2017: Papa John’s Founder and CEO John Schnatter claimed that the NFL kneeling protests were costing the company lots of money. Papa John’s had been an official NFL sponsor since 2010, but has seen its stock drop 24 percent in 2017

Schnatter blamed NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Schnatter said, ““The NFL has hurt us by not resolving the current debacle to the players’ and owners’ satisfaction … The NFL has hurt Papa John’s shareholders.” [CNN article] (US Labor, see Nov 2; FS & CK, see Nov 14)

NFL cheerleader

November 1, 2018: a San Francisco 49ers cheerleader appeared to take a knee during the national anthem. It was the first time that an NFL cheerleader had done so. (Colin K, see February 15, 2019)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Clarence Earl Gideon

November 1, 1963: in a speech before The New England Conference on the Defense of Indigent Persons accused of Crime, Attorney General Robert Kennedy stated: “If an obscure Florida convict named Clarence Earl Gideon had not sat down in prison with a pencil and paper to write a letter to the Supreme Court, and if the Supreme Court had not taken the trouble to look for merit in that one crude petition among all the bundles of mail it must receive every day, the vast machinery of American law would have gone on functioning undisturbed.” (see Gideon for expanded story)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

South Vietnam Leadership

November 1, 1963: South Vietnamese general Duong Van Minh, acting with the support of the CIA, launched a military coup which removed Ngo Dinh Diem from power. (see Nov 2)

Operation Rolling Thunder

November 1, 1968: after three-and-a-half years, Operation Rolling Thunder comes to an end. In total, the campaign had cost more than 900 American aircraft, 818 pilots dead or missing, and hundreds in captivity. Nearly 120 Vietnamese planes had been destroyed in air combat or accidents, or by friendly fire. According to U.S. estimates, 182,000 North Vietnamese civilians were killed. Twenty thousand Chinese support personnel were also casualties of the bombing. (see Nov 5)

Operation Popeye

November 1, 1968: the southern region of North Vietnam was removed from the Operation concurrent with a halt to conventional bombing of North Vietnam. (see Popeye for expanded story)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

November 1, 1981: Antigua and Barbuda independent of the United Kingdom. (see September 2, 1983)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Early Money Is Like Yeast

November 1, 1986: EMILY‘s (Early Money Is Like Yeast) List was established in 1985 to help elect pro-choice Democratic women to office in the 1986 election. By November 1986, EMILY’s List raised over $350,000 for two Senate candidates. (see Oct 3, 1988)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Maastricht Treaty

November 1, 1993: the Maastricht Treaty took effect, formally establishing the European Union. [Britannica article]

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

November 1, 2010: The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals stays Judge Virginia Phillips’ injunction on Don’t ask, don’t Tell pending appeal. [NYT article] (see Nov 12)