September 11 Peace Love Art Activism
BLACK HISTORY
Christiana Riot
September 11, 1851: in Christiana, Pa., a group of African Americans and white abolitionists skirmished with a Maryland posse intent on capturing four fugitive slaves hidden in the town. The violence came a year after Congress passed the second fugitive slave law, requiring the return of all escaped slaves to their owners in the South. One member of the posse, landowner Edward Gorsuch, was killed and two others wounded during the fight. In the aftermath of the so-called Christiana Riot, 37 African Americans and one white man were arrested and charged with treason under the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law. Most were acquitted. [Black Past article] (see Oct 1)
SOUTH AFRICA/APARTHEID
September 11, 1977: a guard found Steve Biko semiconscious and foaming at the mouth. A doctor ordered him transported to a prison hospital in Pretoria. [Overcoming Apartheid article] (see Sept 12)
September 11 Peace Love Art Activism
US Labor History
September 11, 1897: 75,000 coal miners in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia ended a 10-week strike after winning an 8-hour day, semi-monthly pay and the abolition of overpriced company-owned stores where they had been forced to shop. (see February 28, 1898)
September 11 Peace Love Art Activism
Emma Goldman
September 11, 1917: Goldman was prevented from speaking at the Kessler Theater by the New York City police. Goldman was out on bail at the time, having been arrested on June 15, 1917, for violating the Espionage Act by opposing U.S. involvement in World War I. To protest the ban, she appeared on stage at the Kessler Theater on this day with a gag over her mouth. She was later convicted and sent prison. Upon her release two years later, she was deported to the Soviet Union, on December 21, 1919 (see Goldman for expanded story)
September 11 Peace Love Art Activism
Vietnam
September 11, 1945
Lt Col A Peter Dewey
- The first members of the US OSS team landed at Saigon led by Lieutenant Colonel A Peter Dewey. His mission was to care for American prisoners-of-war, protect American property, and gather information about enemy atrocities. [History dot com article]
Gen. Douglas Gracey
- In accordance with the Potsdam Agreements at the end of World War II, 5,000 British troops of the 20th Indian Division, commanded by Gen. Douglas Gracey, arrived in southern Indochina to disarm the defeated Japanese forces Gracey detested the Viet Minh and rearmed some 1,400 French soldiers who had been imprisoned by the Japanese. This effectively was the first step in the re-establishment of French colonial rule and set the stage for the conflict between the French and the Viet Minh that led to a nine-year war. [MHN article] (see Sept 23)
1st Cavalry Division
September 11, 1965: the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) began to arrive in South Vietnam at Qui Nhon, bringing U.S. troop strength in South Vietnam to more than 125,000. The unit, which had a long and storied history, was the first full U.S. Army division deployed to Vietnam. The division consisted of nine battalions of airmobile infantry, an air reconnaissance squadron, and six battalions of artillery. The division also included the 11th Aviation Group, made up of three aviation battalions consisting of 11 companies of assault helicopters, assault support helicopters, and gunships. [First Team article] (see Sept 15)
September 11 Peace Love Art Activism
LGBTQ
September 11, 1961: KQED in San Francisco broadcast The Rejected, a made-for-television documentary film about homosexuality. The Rejected was the first documentary program on homosexuality on American television. Experts interviewed for the program included Margaret Mead who spoke from an anthropological standpoint. Mead referred to the positive roles that homosexuality had played in the cultures of Ancient Greece, the South Sea Islands, and in Inuit and Native American societies. Mead noted that it was society and not the individual that determined how homosexuality and homosexual behavior were viewed. (see October 17, 1963)
Please note: copyright to The Rejected is held by WNET. All rights reserved. WNET is the premier public media provider of the New York metropolitan area and parent of public television stations THIRTEEN and WLIW21. The Rejected was originally produced by KQED for National Educational Television (NET) - the predecessor of WNET - and first aired on September 11th 1961, on KQED Ch.9 in the Bay Area
September 11 Peace Love Art Activism
September 11 Music et al
Beatles
September 11, 1962: finally recorded their first single, “Love Me Do” and “P.S. I Love You,” at EMI studios in London. (see Oct 5)
Beatles demand audience integration
September 11, 1964: the management of the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., where had stated firmly that the stadium would be segregated. The Beatles said they would refuse to play if the stadium were segregated. The day before the concert they were assured that the show would be fully integrated. (BH, see Oct 14; Beatles, see Nov 13)
Help! album
September 11 – November 12, 1965, The Beatles: the soundtrack Help! the Billboard #1 album. On each album cover, the Beatles hold their arms in semaphore-like letters, as if spelling out H E L P, but on the UK release (below left) the letters are R U J V and on the US release (bottom right) the letters are N V U J (see Sept 12)
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The accurate arm placements would be:
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| H | E | L | P |
Magical Mystery Tour
September 11, 1967: Beatles began filming ‘Magical Mystery Tour’. There was no script, nor a very clear idea of exactly what was to be accomplished, not even a clear direction about where the bus was supposed to go. The bus set off for the West Country in England stopping for the night in Teignmouth, Devon where hundreds of fans greeted The Beatles at their hotel. (see Sept 29)
September 11 Peace Love Art Activism
Victor Jara
September 11, 1973: a CIA-backed military coup in Santiago led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet overthrows democratically elected Pres. Salvadore Allende of Chile, who commits suicide with a rifle given to him by Fidel Castro. [History dot com article] (see Victor Jara for expanded chronology)
September 11 Peace Love Art Activism
Dissolution of the USSR
September 11, 1988: 300,000 demonstrate for independence in Estonia. (see USSR for expanded chronology)
September 11 Peace Love Art Activism
IRAQ War I
September 11, 1990: President George H W Bush delivered a nationally televised speech in which he threatened the use of force to remove Iraqi soldiers from Kuwait. (see Nov 29)
September 11 Peace Love Art Activism
CLINTON IMPEACHMENT
September 11, 1998: the House of Representative votes to receive the Starr report. The House Judiciary Committee takes possession of the 18 boxes of materials and promptly releases the first 445 pages to the public. (see Clinton for expanded story)
September 11 Peace Love Art Activism
TERRORISM
World Trade Center
September 11, 2001: terrorists associated with al Qaeda hijacked four US commercial airliners, two of which were crashed into the World Trade Center Towers in New York City, with a third hitting the Pentagon in Washington DC. The fourth plane went down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The attacks spawned an immediate tightening of aviation security regulations and in October 2001 led to Congressional passage of the controversial USA PATRIOT Act, giving the executive broad new national security powers. (Terrorism, see Sept 18, WTC, see December 19, 2003)
Terry Jones acquiesces
September 11, 2010: Jones told NBC’s “Today” show that he would not burn Korans on the September 11 anniversary or at any point in the future.
Terry Jones arrested
September 11, 2013: sheriff deputies arrested pastor Terry Jones and his associate pastor, Marvin Sap, they drove to a park to set fire to nearly 3,000 Qur’ans to mark the September 11 terrorist attacks.
They were charged with unlawful conveyance of fuel as they traveled in a pickup truck towing a large barbecue-style grill filled with Qur’ans soaked in kerosene. Sheriff’s officials said that Jones was also charged with the unlawful open-carry of a firearm and that Sapp faced a charge of having no valid registration for the trailer. (see Oct 15)
September 11 Peace Love Art Activism
FREE SPEECH & Colin Kaepernick
September 11, 2016: NFL Seahawks, Dolphins, Chiefs and Patriots players demonstrated during nation anthem
The first Sunday of the NFL season took place on the 15th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. This made the national anthem ceremonies on that day particularly emotional. Four Dolphins players — running back Arian Foster, safety Michael Thomas, wide receiver Kenny Stills and linebacker Jelani Jenkins — took a knee during the anthem after standing up for a 9/11 acknowledgment.
After the game, Foster explained that he loves the country and the rights it affords him. He later tweeted “don’t let the love for a symbol overrule the love for your fellow human.”
No Seahawks players took a knee during the anthem, but the entire team did link arms as a way of honoring the flag and continuing the conversation that Kaepernick started.
The Kansas Chiefs locked arms before kickoff of their game with the San Diego Chargers. Cornerback Marcus Peters held up a fist, saying he supported Kaepernick’s efforts to raise awareness to the justice system.
Prior to Sunday Night Football, Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett and safety Devin McCourty also raised their fists after the national anthem. [Huff Post article] (FS & CK, see Sept 12)
September 11 Peace Love Art Activism
Immigration History
September 11, 2019: the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to bar most Central American migrants from seeking asylum in the United States, while the legal fight plays out in the courts.
The Court, in a brief, unsigned order, said the administration may enforce new rules that generally forbid asylum applications from migrants who have traveled through another country on their way to the United States without being denied asylum in that country.
The court’s order effectively barred most migration across the nation’s southwestern border by Hondurans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans and others. Mexican migrants, who need not travel through another country to reach the United States, were not affected by the new policy. (see Sept 27)
September 11 Peace Love Art Activism
Consumer Protection
September 11, 2019: the Trump administration said that it would ban the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes, at a time when hundreds of people had been sickened by mysterious lung illnesses and teenage vaping continued to rise.
Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, said that the Food and Drug Administration would outline a plan within the coming weeks for removing flavored e-cigarettes and nicotine pods from the market, excluding tobacco flavors. The ban would include mint and menthol, popular varieties that manufacturers have argued should not be considered flavors. (e-cigarette ban, see Nov 18; next CP, see Nov 18)
September 11 Peace Love Art Activism
Crime and Punishment
Inmate firefighters
September 11, 2020: California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill allowing inmate firefighters to have their records expunged, clearing the path for them to be eligible for firefighting jobs upon release.
The bill, sponsored by Democratic Assemblywoman Eloise Reyes, let prisoners who received “valuable training and [placed] themselves in danger assisting firefighters to defend the life and property of Californians” to petition the courts to dismiss their convictions after completing their sentences.
That will make them eligible to receive EMT certification, a hiring requirement of municipal firefighting departments. [NPR story] (next C & P, see Oct 14)
Voting rights
September 11, 2020: in a significant reversal, the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta ruled that a Florida law requiring people with serious criminal convictions to pay court fines and fees before they can register to vote was constitutional.
The decision overturned a ruling by a lower court in May that found the law discriminated against the majority of felons, many of whom were indigent, by imposing an unlawful “pay-to-vote system.”
The ruling, if upheld, would put new hurdles in place for people convicted of crimes who are seeking to vote, after Florida’s voters had amended the state’s Constitution in 2018 to end the disenfranchisement of those convicted of felonies, except for murder and sexual offenses. [NYT article] (next VR, see Oct 28; next C &P, see Oct 14)