September 18, 1850: Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers. This was one of the most controversial acts of the 1850 compromise and heightened Northern fears of a “slave power conspiracy”. It declared that all runaway slaves were, upon capture, to be returned to their masters. Abolitionists nicknamed it the “Bloodhound Law” for the dogs that were used to track down runaway slaves. (Britanica article) (Slave Revolts and Black History, see Apr 3)
School Desegregation
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. [NPR story re Frank Sinatra and Gary desegregation] (BH & SD, see Nov 1)
September 18 Peace Love Art Activism
Feminism
Harvard Law School
September 18, 1950: Harvard Law School admitted women for the first time. Thirteen female students were admitted. [Harvard Law article]
Jo Ann Robinson
In 1953: Jo Ann Robinson (of Montgomery’s Women’s Political Council) and other local black leaders met with the three commissioners of Montgomery. Robinson’s group complained that the city did not hire any black bus drivers, said that segregation of seating was unjust, and that bus stops in black neighborhoods were farther apart than in white ones, although blacks were the majority of the riders. The commissioners refused to change anything. Robinson and other WPC members met with bus company officials on their own. The segregation issue was deflected, as bus company officials said that segregation was city and state law. The WPC achieved a small victory, as the bus company officials agreed to have the buses stop at every corner in black neighborhoods, as was the practice in white neighborhoods. [Black Past article] (BH, see June 8; Feminism, see May 18, 1954; Montgomery, see March 2, 1955)
Justice Ginsburg
September 18, 2020: The New York Times reported the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court and a pioneering advocate for women’s rights, who in her ninth decade became a much younger generation’s unlikely cultural icon/ She died at her home in Washington. She was 87.
The cause was complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer, the Supreme Court said. (next Feminism and Ginsberg, see Sept 25)
September 18 Peace Love Art Activism
September 18 Music et al
Bobby Vee
September 18 – October 8, 1961: “Take Good Care of My Baby” by Bobby Vee #1 Billboard Hot 100.
Judy Garland
September 18 – December 17, 1961: Judy Garland’s Judy at Carnegie Hall Billboard #1 album.
Jimi Hendrix
September 18, 1970: Hendrix, age 27, died in London. (NYT article) (see Oct 4)
September 18, 1975: S.L.A. members Patty Hearst, Bill and Emily Harris and Wendy Yoshimura arrested in San Francisco. When asked for her occupation while being booked, Hearst says, “urban guerrilla.” [FBI report] (see March 11, 1976)
September 18 Peace Love Art Activism
CLINTON IMPEACHMENT
September 18, 1998: over Democrats’ objections, the House Judiciary Committee agreed to release President Clinton’s videotaped grand jury testimony and more than 3,000 pages of supporting material from the Starr report, including sexually explicit testimony from Monica Lewinsky. (see Clinton for expanded story)
September 18 Peace Love Art Activism
TERRORISM
September 18 2001: the 2001 anthrax attacks commenced as letters containing anthrax spores are mailed from Princeton, New Jersey to ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, the New York Post, and the National Enquirer. 22 in total are exposed; 5 of them die. [NPR story] (Terrorism, see Oct 26; Anthrax, see April 11, 2007)
September 18 Peace Love Art Activism
US Labor History
September 18, 2012: the Chicago Teachers Union agreed to end its strike allowing 350,000 children to return to classes. The terms, which appeared to provide some victories for both sides, gave annual raises to teachers, lengthened the school day, and allow ed teachers to be evaluated, in part, with student test scores. The school system would also aim to guide laid-off teachers with strong ratings into at least half of any new job openings in the schools. [NYT article] (see January 26, 2014)
September 18 Peace Love Art Activism
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
September 18, 2014: the US Air Force reversed its policy requiring new recruits and those reenlisting to conclude a swearing-in oath with “So help me God.”
The trouble for the Air Force had started when a Tech. Sgt. at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada with 10 years’ service wanted to reenlist. As an atheist, he didn’t see why he had to swear an oath to a deity he didn’t believe in. It seemed to violate the religious establishment clause of the US Constitution. No other branches of the US military required it, nor did the honor code at the US Air Force Academy.
The sergeant had scratched out that last line in the Air Force enlistment/reenlistment document, which read in full: “I, [insert name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.” [Guardian article] (see Oct 6)
September 18 Peace Love Art Activism
FREE SPEECH & Colin Kaepernick
September 18, 2016: more San Francisco 49ers joined Kaepernick, Dolphins continued protest
Kaepernick’s teammates Antoine Bethea, Eli Harold, Jaquiski Tartt and Rashard Robinson joined in protesting during the national anthem by raising their right fists ahead of San Francisco’s game vs. the Carolina Panthers.
Meanwhile in Foxboro three of the same Miami Dolphins players continued their protest. Arian Foster, safety Michael Thomas and wide receiver Kenny Stills all kneeled during the anthem. [USA Today article] (FS & CK, see Sept 19)
“The ruling was a long time coming, but I knew the courts would eventually rule in our favor,” said Baker. “Over the years, many legal scholars have reviewed our case and concluded that the law was on our side.” (next LGBTQ, see Oct 4; Baker/McConnell, see February 16, 2019)
September 18 Peace Love Art Activism
Environmental Issues
September 18, 2019: the Trump administration revoked California’s authority to set auto emissions rules that were stricter than federal standards.
Lawyers said the action took the administration into uncharted legal territory in its battle with the state, which vowed to fight the change all the way to the Supreme Court.
“This is unprecedented and a tremendously big deal,” said Richard L. Revesz, a professor of environmental law at New York University, noting that no administration has ever revoked a state’s authority to regulate its own air quality in the past.
September 17, 1630: the Virginia Assembly sentenced Hugh Davis, a white man, to be whipped for having a relationship with a black woman. According to records, the Assembly asserted that Mr. Davis “abus[ed] himself to the dishonor of God and shame of Christians, by defiling his body in lying with a Negress.” Mr. Davis was sentenced to public whipping in front of an audience of black people, which some historians argue was intended to serve as an example to the black population. [EJI article] (see March 8, 1665)
Dred Scott
September 17, 1858: Scott did not live very long to enjoy his freedom. He died of tuberculosis less than two years after he achieved freedom. (see Dred Scott for expanded story; BH, see February 14, 1859)
Louis Armstrong
September 17, 1957: jazz musician Louis Armstrong angrily announced that he would not participate in a U.S. government-sponsored tour of the Soviet Union. Armstrong was furious over developments in Little Rock, Arkansas, where mobs of white citizens and armed National Guardsmen had recently blocked the entrance of nine African-American students into the all-white Central High School. [2007 NYT article] (BH, see Sept 25; CW, see Nov 7)
High Hopes Baptist Church
September 17, 1962: High Hopes Baptist Church near Dawson, Georgia was burned to the ground. It is the 4th “Negro Church” to be set ablaze. Three white men later admitted burning the church. They were sentenced to seven-year prison terms.. The homes of five Black families had also been burned. (see BH, see Sept 20; see Albany for expanded story; Church Burning, see Sept 25)
Weather Underground
September 17, 1971: the Weathermen launched a retaliatory attack on the New York Department of Corrections, exploding a bomb near Correctional Services Commissioner Russell G. Oswald’s office. The communique accompanying the attack called the prison system ‘how a society run by white racists maintains its control,’ with white supremacy being the ‘main question white people have to face'” and saying that the Attica riots are blamed on Gov. Nelson Rockefeller. (NYT article) (BH, see Oct 2; APR, see December 30, 1976; WU, see January 29, 1975)
George Wallace
September 17, 1998: George Wallace buried. James Hood traveled from his home in Madison, Wis., to attend the funeral in Montgomery, Alabama. [NYT obit] (BH, see February 23, 1999; U of A, see Oct 13, 2005)
September 17 Peace Love Art Activism
Feminism/US Labor History
September 17, 1868: at a New York convention of the National Labor Congress, Susan B. Anthony called for the formation of a Working Women’s Association. As a delegate to the Congress, she persuaded the committee on female labor to call for votes for women and equal pay for equal work, but male delegates deleted the reference to the vote.
Daughters of St. Crispin
In 1869 first national female union was organized, Daughters of St. Crispin. It held a convention in Lynn, Massachusetts and elected Carrie Wilson as president. [Wikipedia article] (next LH, see Jan 5)
Matilda Josyln Gage
Women Sufferage Association
In 1869: Gage helped found New York State Woman Suffrage Association; served as president for nine years. (next Feminism, see April 1869)
Woman as Inventor
In 1870: Gage researched and published “Woman as Inventor.” In it, Gage credited the invention of the cotton gin to a woman, Catherine Littlefield Greene. Gage claimed that Greene suggested to Whitney the use of a brush-like component instrumental in separating out the seeds and cotton. [Gage provided no source for this claim and to date there has been no independent verification of Greene’s role in the invention of the gin. However, many believe that Eli Whitney received the patent for the gin and the sole credit in history textbooks for its invention only because social norms inhibited women from registering for patents.] (Gage, see “in the 1970s)
Gage/Native Americans
In the 1870s: Gage wrote a series of articles speaking out against United States’ unjust treatment of American Indians and describing superior position of native women. “The division of power between the sexes in this Indian republic was nearly equal,” Gage wrote of the Iroquois. In matters of government, “…its women exercised controlling power in peace and war … no sale of lands was valid without consent” of the women, while “the family relation among the Iroquois demonstrated woman’s superiority in power … in the home, the wife was absolute … if the Iroquois husband and wife separated, the wife took with her all the property she had brought … the children also accompanied the mother, whose right to them was recognized as supreme.” “Never was justice more perfect, never civilization higher,” Gage concluded. (next Feminsim, see February 3, 1870; NA, see June 18; Gage, see May 10, 1876)
Technological Milestone
September 17, 1931: RCA Victor demonstrated the first long-playing record, a 33 1/3 rpm recording, was demonstrated at the Savoy Plaza Hotel in New York. The venture was doomed to fail however due to the high price of the record players, which started around $95. [Vinyland article] (see Nov 26)
September 17 Peace Love Art Activism
September 17 Music et al
News Music
September 17, 1965: Time magazine launched its coverage of antiwar songs in the article, “Rock ‘n’ Roll: Message Time,” which quoted from the nineteen-year-old P. F. Sloan’s best-selling song “Eve of Destruction.”
Barry McGuire, the former lead singer for the New Christy Minstrels, recorded the song, and in late August, his record had begun to appear in the pop charts. Within a few weeks, it had reached Number 1, and then began to fade. Protest had seemingly become fashionable. Sloan would later recall, “The media frenzy over the song tore me up and seemed to tear the country apart,”. Josh Dunson, a member of the Broadside group, interpreted the broader impact: ‘Eve of Destruction’ is the first protest song dealing in specifics to reach the non-college-educated sector of the population. It is awkward and full of holes, but the earnestness with which it was bought by hundreds of thousands and blocked by dozens of stations might indicate a large segment of the young population other than college students is dissatisfied with our war policy abroad and double standard at home. [2017 Time article] (see Sept 24)
Musical Cultural Milestone: Doors
September 17, 1967: The Doors appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and performed “Light My Fire”. Sullivan had requested that the line “Girl we couldn’t get much higher” be changed for the show. Jim Morrison agreed, but ended up performing it the way it was written and The Doors are banned from the show.
Musical Cultural Milestone: The Who
September 17, 1966: that same night The Who appeared on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. They played 2 songs, “I Can See For Miles” and “My Generation”. At the end of “My Generation”, Pete Townshend started smashing his amp and Keith Moon had his drum set rigged to explode which did cut Moon’s leg & singed Pete Townshend’s hair, along with doing damage to Townshend’s hearing. (Rolling Stone magazine article)(next CM, see October 2, 1967; see Who for expanded story)
September 17 Peace Love Art Activism
Vietnam
September 17, 1966: Joint Chiefs of Staff issued the execute order (next Vietnam, see Sept 29; see Popeye for expanded story)
M.A.S.H
September 17, 1972:”M.A.S.H.” premiered on CBS. Though set during the Korean War, its stories obviously paralleled and often mocked the ongoing Vietnam war. (see Sept 26)
September 17 Peace Love Art Activism
Native Americans & Russell C Means
September 17, 1974: Federal District Court Judge Fred Nicol reprimanded the prosecution, the Justice Department and particularly the Federal Bureau of investigation and then dismissed the charges against’ Russell C Means and Dennis J Banks. (Wounded Knee, see January 30, 1989; Native Americans, see January 4, 1975)
September 17 Peace Love Art Activism
Feminism
Vanessa Williams
September 17, 1983: Vanessa Williams became the first African American Miss America. Midway through her reign, on July 23, 1984, Williams relinquished her crown due to controversy over nude photographs of her that appeared in Penthouse magazine. [2017 Washington Post article] (see July 19, 1984)
Malala Yousafzai
September 17, 2015: police reported that Saeed Naeem Khan, who was a public prosecutor in the Malala Yousufzai attack case, escaped an attempt on his life on in Saidu Sharif in Swat district. (Feminism, see Dec 3; Malala, see April 10, 2017)
September 17 Peace Love Art Activism
Jack Kevorkian
September 17, 1998: videotapes appear of the voluntary euthanasia of Thomas Youk, 52, who was in the final stages of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. (see JK for expanded story)
September 17, 2003: President Bush conceded there was no evidence linking Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to the September 11, 2001 attacks. [2005 CFR article] (see Oct 19)
September 17 Peace Love Art Activism
Occupy Wall Street
Beginning…
September 17, 2011, Occupy Wall Street began. Approximately one thousand protesters marched on Wall Street in response to high unemployment, record executive bonuses, and extensive bailouts of the financial system. It was a Saturday and as usual, Wall Street was mostly closed. By the afternoon Zuccotti Park became the central location and camp for the protesters. The “people’s mic” became an effective way to communicate to the large groups, i.e. a speaker talks, those closest to the speaker repeat loudly what is said, those in back of the front repeat again, and so forth. (see Sept 20)
One year later…
September 17, 2012: from the NY Times: More than 100 arrests were reported on Monday, the first anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement, as protesters converged near the New York Stock Exchange and tried to block access to the exchange. (see Sept 26)
September 17 Peace Love Art Activism
Stop and Frisk Policy
September 17, 2013: Judge Shira Scheindlin said she would not put an overhaul of the New York City police department’s controversial stop-and-frisk program on hold because of an appeal. Scheindlin ordered changes after finding the program discriminates against minorities. She said that granting the city’s request would send the wrong signal. (see Oct 31)
September 17 Peace Love Art Activism
FREE SPEECH
Student Rights
September 17, 2014: rejecting free speech arguments from parents, Republican lawmakers, and conservative groups, a federal appeals court refused to reconsider a ruling that found a South Bay high school had the legal right to order students wearing American-flag adorned shirts to turn them inside out during a 2010 Cinco de Mayo celebration.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals let stand its February ruling in favor of Live Oak High School administrators, who argued that a history of problems on the Mexican holiday justified the decision to act against the American flag-wearing students. Officials at the Morgan Hill school ordered the students to either cover up the shirts or go home, citing past threats and campus strife between Latino and white students that raised fears of violence.
A unanimous three-judge panel had found that the school’s actions were reasonable given the safety concerns, which outweighed the students’ First Amendment claims. “Our role is not to second-guess the decision to have a Cinco de Mayo celebration or the precautions put in place to avoid violence,” the judges ruled.
The 9th Circuit decision relied heavily on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1969 precedent on when schools can cite safety concerns to justify taking action that might violate student free-speech rights. (FS, see Dec 22; SR, see March 30, 2015)
Colin Kaepernick
September 17, 2016: Howard University (Washington, DC) cheerleaders knelt during the national anthem
Before Howard took on Hampton University at the AT&T Nation’s Football Classic, Howard University’s cheerleaders took a knee during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Howard’s players did not kneel, but raised their fists instead. (FS & CK, see Sept 18)
September 17 Peace Love Art Activism
TERRORISM
September 17, 2016: Ahmad Khan Rahimi placed a bomb in a garbage can at the finish line of a United States Marine Corps charity race in Seaside Park, N.J. The race’s start time was delayed, however, and no one was hurt when the bomb exploded.
Rahimi then traveled to Manhattan from his home in Elizabeth, N.J. pulling suitcases on rollers with each hand. He placed a homemade bomb — packed into a pressure cooker and wired to a flip-phone detonator — on a stretch of the Chelsea neighborhood’s West 23rd Street, busy with pedestrians on a warm Saturday night. The blast from that device sent glass and shrapnel flying and launched a construction waste container across the street. More than 30 people were injured.
He then placed a second bomb on West 27th Street, but a passer-by on edge from the blast four blocks away noticed it and called the police, and the bomb squad took the device away without incidentHe had planned more attacks.
The day after the Chelsea explosion, Mr. Rahimi returned to New Jersey and left a backpack containing six pipe bombs in an Elizabeth, N.J., train station. One exploded after it was detonated by a police robot, but the bombs caused no injuries. (T, see January 10, 2017; Rahimi, see October 16, 2017)
September 16, 1928: a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 140 miles per hour made landfall in Palm Beach County, Florida. The hurricane destroyed a levee that protected a number of small farming communities from the waters of Lake Okeechobee. Most of the residents of these low-lying communities were black migrant farm workers. When the levee was destroyed, water from Lake Okeechobee rushed into these communities, killing thousands. After the hurricane, black survivors were forced to recover the bodies of those killed. The officials in charge of the recovery effort ordered that food would be provided only to those who worked and some who refused to work were shot. The bodies of white storm victims were buried in coffins in local cemeteries, but local officials refused to provide coffins or proper burials for black victims. Instead, the bodies of many black victims were stacked in piles by the side of the roads doused in fuel oil, and burned. Authorities bulldozed the bodies of 674 black victims into a mass grave in West Palm Beach. The mass grave was not marked and the site was later sold for private industrial use; it later was used as a garbage dump, a slaughterhouse, and a sewage treatment plant. The city of West Palm Beach did not purchase the land until 2000. In 2008, on the 80th anniversary of the storm, a plaque and historical marker was erected at the mass grave site. [2003 Sun Sentinel article]
Black and Blue
In 1929: composed by Fats Waller with lyrics by Harry Brooks and Andy Razaf, Edith Wilson (1896 – 1981) sang “(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue.”. It is a protest song that did not speak of how something should change so much as it spoke of what life was like for those who suffered inequities.
Out in the street, shufflin’ feet,
Couples passing two by two,
While here am I, left high and dry,
Black and ’cause I’m black I’m blue.
Browns and yell’ers all have fell’ers
Gentlemen prefer them light,
I’m just another spade who can’t make the grade,
Nothing but dark days in sight:
With a cold, empty bed, springs hard as lead,
Pains in my head, feel like old Ned.
What did I do, to be so black and blue?
No joys for me, no company,
Even the mouse ran from my house,
All my life through, I’ve been so black and blue.
I’m white inside, that don’t help my case
‘Cause I can’t hide, what is in my face, oh!
I’m so alone, Life’s just a thorn,
My heart is torn, Why was I born?
What did I do, to be so black and blue?
Just ’cause you’re black, boys think you lack
They laugh at you, and scorn you too,
What did I do, to be so black and blue?
When I draws near, they laugh and sneer,
I’m set aside, always denied,
All my life through, I’ve been so black and blue?
How sad I am, and each day the situation gets worse,
My mark of Ham seems to be a curse! Oh!
How will it end? Can’t get a boyfriend,
Yet my only sin lies in my skin.
What did I do, to be so black and blue?
September 16 – 17, 1986: in addition to his own account of the November 12, 1984 incident, Graham presented the testimony of William Berry and Officer Townes. Graham also sought to introduce expert testimony by Dr. Robert Meadows on the subject of proper police training.
Following the presentation of plaintiff’s case, all defendants moved for a directed verdict pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 50. Upon consideration of the motions, the district court first concluded that a reasonable jury, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to plaintiff, could not find that the infliction of force by the police officers was constitutionally excessive. The court also found that Graham’s allegation of improper or inadequate police training by the City of Charlotte was refuted by the testimony of his own expert witness. Finally, the court rejected the claim of handicap discrimination based on Sec. 504 of the Rehabilitation Act on the ground that the statute did not reach misconduct of the sort alleged by Graham. Accordingly, the district court granted all motions for a directed verdict as to all counts of the plaintiff’s complaint.
The ruling in favor of the Charlotte police will be confirmed on appeal. (C & P, see Oct 27; Graham, see May 15, 1989)
BLACK & SHOT
September 16, 2016: white police officer Betty Shelby shot and killed Terence Crutcher, a 40-year-old black man, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Crutcher was unarmed during the encounter, in which he was standing near his vehicle in the middle of a street. [2017 CNN acquittal article] (B & S, see ; Crutcher, see May 17, 2017)
September 16 Peace Love Art Activism
Early “News Music”
What Did I Do…
In 1929: composed by Fats Waller with lyrics by Harry Brooks and Andy Razaf, Edith Wilson (1896 – 1981) sang “(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue.”. It is a protest song that did not speak of how something should change so much as it spoke of what life was like for those who suffered inequities.
“How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?”
In 1929 Blind Alfred Reed (1880 – 1956) wrote “How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?” The song describes life during the Great Depression.
‘Which Side Are You On?’
In 1931, Florence Reece (1900-1986) “was a writer and social activist whose song ‘Which Side Are You On?’ became an anthem for the labor movement. Borrowing from the melody of the old hymn ”Lay the Lily Low,” Mrs. Reece wrote the union song…to describe the plight of mine workers who were organizing a strike in Harlan County, Ky. Mrs. Reece’s husband, Sam, who died in 1978, was one of those workers. Pete Seeger, the folk singer, recorded the song in 1941. It has since been used worldwide by groups espousing labor and social issues.” — New York Times Obituaries, August 6, 1986. (Labor, see March 3; Feminism, see Dec 10)
Brother Can You Spare a Dime
Also in 1931: “Brother Can You Spare a Dime” by lyricist E. Y. “Yip” Harburg and composer Jay Gorney., the song asked why the men who built the nation – built the railroads, built the skyscrapers – who fought in the war (World War I), who tilled the earth, who did what their nation asked of them should, now that the work is done and their labor no longer necessary, find themselves abandoned, in bread lines.
Harburg believed that “songs are an anodyne against tyranny and terror and that the artist has historically always been on the side of humanity.” As a committed socialist, he spent three years in Uruguay to avoid being involved in WWI, as he felt that capitalism was responsible for the destruction of the human spirit, and he refused to fight its wars. A longtime friend of Ira Gershwin, Harburg started writing lyrics after he lost his business in the Crash of 1929. (see Yip Harburg for more about him)
“Bourgeois Blues”
In 1932 Jimmie Rogers (1897 – 1933) was born in Meridian, Mississippi worked on the railroad as his father did but at the age of 27 contracted tuberculosis and had to quit. He loved entertaining and eventually found a job singing on WWNC radio, Asheville, North Carolina (April 18, 1927). Later he began recording his songs. The tuberculosis worsened and he died in 1933 while recording songs in New York. In 1932 he recorded “Hobo’s Meditation.”
In 1938, Lead Belly (born Huddie William Ledbetter) (1888 – 1949) sang about his visit to Washington, DC with his wife and their treatment while in the nation’s capitol in his song, “Bourgeois Blues”. (BH, see Nov 22)
“Do Re Mi.”
In 1939: during the Great Depression, Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) wrote many songs reflecting the plight of farmers and migrant workers caught between the Dust Bowl drought and farm foreclosure. One of the best known of these songs is his “Do Re Mi.”
Tom Joad
In 1940 Woody Guthrie wrote Tom Joad, a song whose character is based on John Steinbeck’s character in The Grapes of Wrath.
After hearing it, Steinbeck reportedly said, “ That f****** little b******! In 17 verses he got the entire story of a thing that took me two years to write.” * (see Feb 23)
September 16 Peace Love Art Activism
September 16 Music et al
“She Loves You”
September 16, 1963: the US release of “She Loves You.” The song wasn’t a hit at first. Capitol – EMI’s US counterpart – refused to release it, and Vee Jay – which had released Please Please Me and From Me To You to little effect – also declined. Desperate for a stateside hit, Brian Epstein licensed the song to Swan Records, based in Philadelphia, although it was picked up by very few of the crucial US radio stations. (see Oct 4)
Teenage Culture
September 16, 1964: Shindig! premiered on ABC. Produced as a replacement for Hootenanny which fizzled out with the British Invasion. Shindig! will become one of a few shows providing a venue for pop music. The opener featured Sam Cooke, the Everly Brothers, the Wellingtons, Jackie and Gayle, Donna Loren, Bobby Sherman and the Righteous Brothers.
In 1965: Time Magazine called young people the “generation of conformists” (see Jan 8)
Grateful Dead
September 16, 1966: Dead poster for a show at the Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco. Undoubtedly the most famous poster from the 60’s as well as the most recognized image ever used by the Grateful Dead. The central image is a drawing done by Edward Joseph Sullivan, a late 19th and early 20th century artist. Sullivan created this drawing to illustrate one of the quatrains of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Mouse and Kelley added the color, as the original drawing was in black and white. A thorough examination of this poster shows the excellent lettering, fine use of the ribbon motif an ideal choice of coloring and perfect framing and balance in the design. [from Professor Poster] (see October 2, 1967)
Are You Experienced
September 16, 1967: ‘Are You Experienced?‘ entered the Billboard Hot 200 album chart, where it stayed for 106 weeks, including 77 weeks in the Top 40.
In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it No.15 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and two years later it was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress in the United States. (see November 16 – 29, 1968)
Last live Jimi Hendrix
September 16, 1970: Hendrix joined Eric Burdon on stage at Ronnie Scotts in London for what would become the guitarist’s last ever public appearance. (see Sept 18)
Victor Jara
September 16, 1973: Allende supporter, Victor Jara, was tortured and executed. His last words, “A song has meaning when it beats in the veins of a man who will die singing. “ Jara thought American folksingers were spoiled and immature. Many have dedicated songs to Jara or referred to him in a song’s lyrics. (see Jara for more)
September 16 Peace Love Art Activism
US Labor History
UFW/AWOC
September 16 1965: César E. Chávez’s National Farm Workers Association voted to join Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) grape strike. [UFW article] (see October 1965)
With the two sides far apart in the talks, U.A.W. regional leaders in Detroit voted unanimously to authorize the strike, the union’s first such walkout since 2007. It began at midnight, after the union’s current bargaining agreement expired on Saturday.
“Today, we stand strong and say with one voice, we are standing up for our members and for the fundamental rights of working-class people in this nation,” Terry Dittes, a union vice president, said after the meeting.
The U.A.W. was pushing G.M. to improve wages, reopen idled plants, add jobs at others and close or narrow the difference between pay rates for new hires and veteran workers. G.M. wants employees to pay a greater portion of their health care costs, and to increase work-force productivity and flexibility in factories. (see Oct 16)
September 16 Peace Love Art Activism
Vietnam
September 16, 1974: President Ford offered conditional amnesty to thousands of Vietnam era draft evaders and military deserters who agreed to work for up to two years in public service jobs.
“My sincere hope,” he said in a statement, “is that this is a constructive step toward calmer and cooler appreciation of our individual rights and responsibilities and our common purpose as a nation whose future is always more important than its past.”
In his proclamation, the President declared that “desertion in time of war is a major, serious offense,” and that draft evasion “is also a serious offense.” Such actions, he said, need not “be condoned.” “Yet,” he continued, “reconciliation calls for an act of mercy to bind the nation’s wounds and to heal the scars of divisiveness.”
Some questioned Ford’s conditional amnesty compared to his unconditional pardon for Nixon 8 days earlier. (NYT article) (Vietnam, see Dec 26; pardon, see January 21, 1977)
September 16 Peace Love Art Activism
INDEPENDENCE DAY
September 16, 1975: Papua New Guinea independent of Australia. [AG article] (see Nov 11)
September 16 Peace Love Art Activism
LGBTQ
Leonard Matlovich
September 16, 197: attorneys for Sgt. Leonard Matlovich of the Air Force argued that the military was unlawfully trying to impose on him the moral standards of the majority by requiring his discharge for admitting that he was a homosexual. (LGBTQ, see Sept 22; Matlovich, see Oct 22)
Episcopal Church
September 16, 1976, LGBTQ: the Episcopal Church, at its General Convention in Minneapolis, formally approved the ordination of women as priests and bishops. (see January 27, 1977)
September 16 Peace Love Art Activism
Iraq War II
September 16, 2007: employees of Blackwater Security Consulting (since renamed Academi), a private military company, shot at Iraqi civilians killing 17 and injuring 20 in Nisour Square, Baghdad. The killings outraged Iraqis and strained relations between Iraq and the United States. Blackwater guards claimed that the convoy was ambushed and that they fired at the attackers in defense of the convoy. The Iraqi government and Iraqi police investigator Faris Saadi Abdul alleged that the killings were unprovoked [Wikipedia entry] (Iraq, see Dec 30; Blackwater, see October 22, 2014)
September 16 Peace Love Art Activism
Feminism
Malala Yousafzai
September 16, 2013: Amnesty International announced that the recipients for its Ambassador of Conscience Award for 2013 were Malala Yousafzai and American singer, human rights and social justice activist Harry Belafonte. Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International, stated: “Our two new Ambassadors of Conscience are different from each other in many ways, but they share a dedication to the fight for human rights everywhere and for all.” (see Nov 10)
September 16 Peace Love Art Activism
FREE SPEECH & Colin Kaepernick
Garfield High School’s (Seattle)
September 16, 2016: all of Garfield High School’s (Seattle) football players and coaches knelt during the national anthem.
Joined by a few players from the West Seattle Wildcats, Garfield High School’s football players and coaches kneeled during “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which head coach Joey Thomas said would continue for the rest of the season. Speaking with the Seattle Times, Thomas was candid about racial injustice and the team being compelled to protest the anthem, especially after players learned about the song’s racist third verse.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Laguna Creek High School (Sacramento)
September 16, 2016: twelve high school football players from Laguna Creek High School in Sacramento took a knee during the national anthem
According to the Sacramento Bee, a number of parents reportedly told the players to “stand up.” The Elk Grove School District announced in a statement that it would not discipline the students, saying that although it supports standing for the national anthem, it “respects and supports our students’ individual experiences and their right to exercise their freedom of speech and expression protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.” (FS & CK, see Sept 17)
September 16 Peace Love Art Activism
Immigration History
September 16, 2017: California lawmakers passed a “sanctuary state” bill to protect immigrants without legal residency in the U.S., part of a broader push by Democrats to counter expanded deportation orders under the Trump administration.
The legislation by Sen. Kevin De León (D-Los Angeles), the most far-reaching of its kind in the country, would limit state and local law enforcement communication with federal immigration authorities, and prevent officers from questioning and holding people on immigration violations. (see Sept 24)
September 16 Peace Love Art Activism
Cannabis
September 16 2017:in July, Republican Gov. Chris Sununu had signed a bill decriminalizing cannabis in New Hampshire.
The legislation went into effect on this date, meaning that cannabis was decriminalized in all of New England.
Under the new law, people caught possessing up to three-quarters of an ounce of marijuana would receive a $100 fine for their first or second offenses. The punishment would rise to a $300 fine for a third offense within a three-year period. If police find someone possessing small amounts of marijuana a fourth time in that window, they could be charged with a class B misdemeanor.
Until decriminalization, first-time cannabis possession was treated as a criminal misdemeanor punishable by up to one year behind bars and a $2,000 fine. (next C, see Nov 2; for expanded chronology, see CCC)
September 16 Peace Love Art Activism
Environmental Issues
September 16, 2004, Hurricane Ivan passed within 62 miles of theTaylor Energy oil platform , and caused submarine landslides that capsized the drill rig and moved it 560 feet from its original location.
The movement resulted in between 25 and 28 leaking wells being buried beneath the sea floor, approximately 475 feet below the surface.
