January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Charles Deslondes captured

On January 8, 1811 Charles Deslondes had led a rebellion of some 500 enslaved black people in New Orleans.  Deslondes’s background was that after black people in Haiti won their independence from the French in 1804 following a thirteen-year war, many white planters relocated from Haiti to the area of New Orleans Territory . The planters brought their slaves. Charles Deslondes was one of them. In early January 1811, Charles Deslondes led the plan for an anti-slavery rebellion. The rebellion began with an attack on a plantation attack. One white man died. The rebels then traveled along the Mississippi River, attacking plantations and recruiting more fighters. Some enslaved blacks joined the rebels, while others warned their masters and tried to avert plantation attacks. Many whites escape.

On January 11, 1811 a militia of white planters confronted Charles Deslondes and the rebels in a brief battle, killing many and forcing others to flee. Deslondes and his supporters were captured. Some were returned to their plantations; others were tried and executed, their corpses publicly displayed as warning against future uprisings. The final death toll included two whites and ninety-five blacks. The territorial legislature later voted to financially compensate whites whose enslaved black laborers had been killed. (next BH & SR, see March 6, 1815; or see SR for expanded slave revolt chronology)

Robert Mallard

January 11, 1949: the trial of accused William Howell was set to begin. The other accused Robert Clifton had obtained a severance of trial. Mallard testified that her husband and their family turned off on a side road leading to their home and were stopped by a gang of “about twenty men, wearing white stuff and all carrying pistols.” She testified that she recognized Howell among the members of the mob, and also recognized Clifton’s automobile. During her testimony Mallard became hysterical and fell from the witness chair to the floor, kneeling with her hands in the air. She exclaimed, “It was so horrible! Why did they kill him? He was so good to us. . . . I’m so sick.”

Howell testified that he spent the night with friends, and his friends corroborated this story. The defense sought to imply that Amy Mallard had a pistol that night. Defense lawyers further claimed that outside influences were trying to control the verdict.

After  twenty-five minutes of deliberation, the jury acquitted Howell, and the courthouse crowd cheered in jubilation. The judge granted the county attorney’s motion to dismiss the indictment against Clifton, since the evidence against Clifton was weaker than that against Howell. After the trial, defense attorney Sharpe said of Goldwasser, “That roaring lion from Judea is a disgrace to the Jewish race. He wouldn’t even make catfish bait in the Altamaha River!” (BH & RM, see July 4)

Georgia deprives funds to integrated schools

January 11, 1960: Georgia Governor Ernest Vandiver, Jr threatened to withhold funds from integrated schools.

After the US Supreme Court struck down public school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education, many Southern states rushed to implement new laws to circumvent the ruling. In 1955 and 1956, the Georgia legislature passed a series of laws that prevented any integrated school system in the state from receiving or spending state funds.

Georgians elected Ernest Vandiver, Jr., a staunch opponent of integration, Governor of Georgia in 1958. Maintaining segregation within the school system was so core to his candidacy that his election motto was “No, not one,” referring to the number of black children that should be allowed to attend schools alongside white children. During the Vandiver administration, a federal court in Calhoun v. Latimer found that the Atlanta school system remained unlawfully segregated and ordered the school district to integrate. Vandiver defied the court order and continued Georgia’s policy of school segregation, stating that he would comply with existing state law and withhold funds from the offending school district rather than see segregation end.  (BH & SD, see Jan 18)

Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore

During the search for the bodies of civil rights workers Mickey Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman, the bodies of Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore were found and initially mistaken for two of the three workers.

An FBI investigation led to the arrests of James Seale and Charles Edwards. On January 11, 1965, on the recommendation of the State District Attorney, the charges were dismissed. Not until . After the dismissal of state charges, the FBI actively continued to investigate the murders to no avail. (seeDee/Moore for expanded chronology; next BH, see Jan 18)

George Whitmore, Jr

January 11, 1966: Justice Davidson sentenced Richard Robles to life in prison. (BH, see Jan 11; Robles, see, November 1986; see Whitmore for expanded chronology)

Vernon Dahmer Sr

January 11, 1966: Vernon Dahmer Sr. died a day after the Ku Klux Klan attacked him and his family in their home near Hattiesburg, Miss. Fourteen men were arrested in the late 1960s, with one conviction and several mistrials. Sam Bowers served six years in prison for the murders of civil rights workers Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner. (BH, see Jan 12; Dahmer, see June 23)

Medgar Evers

January 11, 2017: the National Park Service named the Evers home a national historic landmark. (next BH, see June 17; see ME for expanded Evers chronology)

Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner

January 11, 2018: Edgar Ray Killen, the former Klansman who was sentenced to a 60-year prison term in 2005 for arranging the murders of three young civil rights workers outside Philadelphia, Miss., in 1964 during the Freedom Summer drive to register Southern black voters, died in prison in Parchman, Miss. He was 92. (next BH, see Mar 15; see Murders for expanded chronology)

Antwon Rose

January 11, 2019: Allegheny County Judge Alexander Bicket decided to unseal the transcript of a closed hearing the previous week related to the criminal case against former police officer Michael Rosfeld.

That hearing hearing was closed and all information within the hearing was sealed, but WPXI-TV and the Post-Gazette had lawyers in court arguing the public was entitled to know the details of that hearing. (B & S and AR, see Jan 14)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Feminism/Lawrence textile strike

January 11 > March 1912: Lawrence textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, often known as the “Bread and Roses” strike. Dozens of different immigrant communities united under the leadership of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in a largely successful strike led to a large extent by women. The strike is credited with inventing the moving picket line, a tactic devised to keep strikers from being arrested for loitering.

It also adopted a tactic used before in Europe, but never in the United States, of sending children to sympathizers in other cities when they could not be cared for by strike funds On 24 February 1912, women attempting to put their children on a train out of town were beaten by police. (LH, see Feb 8; Feminism, see Mar 12)

GM sit-down strike

January 11, 1937: nearly two weeks into a sit-down strike by General Motors (GM) auto workers at the Fisher Body Plant No. 2 in Flint, Michigan, a riot broke out when police try to prevent the strikers from receiving food deliveries from supporters on the outside. Strikers and police officers alike were injured in the melee, which was later nicknamed the “Battle of the Running Bulls.” After riot, Michigan governor Frank Murphy called in the National Guard to surround the plant. However, the governor, who wanted to preserve his reputation as a friend to the workingman, decided against ordering troops into the plant. (see Feb 11)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

January 11, 1936: following a protest by the local Ministerial Association, the Tulsa, Oklahoma government banned the play Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell. The play was based on Caldwell’s 1933 novel of the same name. Both the novel and the play were censored in cities around the country because of their treatment of sexuality. The play was also banned in Newark, Chicago, Detroit and Albuquerque for being “immoral.”

Two other Erskine Caldwell novels were banned or challenged over the years: God’s Little Acre (1933) and Tragic Ground (1944). (see January 4, 1937)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

January 11 Music et al

Howlin’ Wolf

January 11, 1962: Howlin’ Wolf released Howlin’ Wolf album. (see  Howlin’ Wolf for more).

Please Please Me

January 11, 1963: recorded on 26 November 1962, the Beatles released their second single in the UK: “Please Please Me.” The song’s title also became the title of their first LP.

John Lennon: ” ‘Please Please Me’ is my song completely. It was my attempt at writing a Roy Orbison song, would you believe it? I wrote it in the bedroom in my house at Menlove Avenue, which was my auntie’s place“. (David Sheff. John Lennon: All We Are Saying).

The single reached No. 1 on the New Musical Express (the most recognized chart at the time) on 22 February 1963, as well as the Melody Maker where it was Number 1 for two weeks. However, it only reached No. 2 on the Record Retailer chart, which subsequently evolved into the UK Singles Chart and because of this it was not included on the multi-million selling Beatles compilation, 1.  (see Please Please Me)  (Beatles, see Jan 25; Please Please Me, see Feb 22)

SOUTH AFRICA/APARTHEID

January 11, 1992: Paul Simon was the first major artist to tour South Africa after the end of the cultural boycott. (see October 15, 1993)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Consumer Protection

January 11, 1964: U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued “Smoking and Health,” a report by an advisory committee which concluded that “cigarette smoking contributes substantially to mortality from certain specific diseases and to the overall death rate.” (NYT article) (see May 10)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

January 11, 1967: the Justice Department had asked the Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of the law prohibiting draft card burning. Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall said that the law was “an appropriate regulatory measure designed to preserve a document which plays an important role in the administration of the Selective Service System.”  (next Vietnam, see Jan 12; see Draft Card Burning for expanded story)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Dissolution of the USSR

January 11, 1990: in Lithuania, 300,000 demonstrated for independence. (see Jan 16)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

January 11, 1992: Berkeley, CA declared 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ landing in America, “The Year of Indigenous People.”  The idea of abandoning Columbus Day was initiated by the Berkeley chapter of the Resistance 500 task force, a group dedicated to publicizing the belief that Columbus was responsible for the genocide of American Indians. (see February 11 – July 15, 1994)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

January 11, 1999: President Clinton’s defense team denied the charges against the president in a 13-page answer to a Senate summons. House prosecutors submit a pre-trial memo outlining their case. (see CI for expanded chronology)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

January 11, 2002: the first planeload of al-Qaida prisoners from Afghanistan arrived at a U.S. military detention camp in Guantanamo, Cuba. [CNN report] (see Jan 16)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

January 11, 2003: calling the death penalty process “arbitrary and capricious, and therefore immoral,” Illinois Gov. George Ryan commuted the sentences of 167 condemned inmates, clearing his state’s death row two days before leaving office. (see June 24, 2004)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

AIDS

January 11, 2010: the New Jersey Legislature approved a measure made it the 14th in the nation to legalize the use of marijuana to help patients with chronic illnesses. The measure allowed patients diagnosed with severe illnesses like cancer, AIDS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis to have access to marijuana grown and distributed through state-monitored dispensaries — was passed by the General Assembly and State Senate on the final day of the legislative session. (NYT article) (next Cannabis, see Feb 7 or see CCC for expanded chronology; next AIDS, see July 27)

Vermont

January 11, 2018:  Vermont lawmakers approved legalizing recreational marijuana. The bill would go to the state’s Republican governor, who said he would sign it.

The bill allowed possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, or two mature plants. It did not allow a regulated retail market, such as California’s or Colorado’s.

The “yes” vote in the Vermont State House marked the first time legalization had been approved by a Legislature. The eight other states that made pot legal had done so by citizen referendum.

Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman said the bill was a good first step to a regulated market for marijuana in the Green Mountains. (next Cannabis, see Jan 16 or see CCC for expanded chronology; Vermont, see Jan 22)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

West Virginia

January 11, 2014: as hundreds of thousands of residents faced a third day without water because of a chemical spill in a local river. Jeff McIntyre, president of West Virginia American Water said that it could be days before it was safe for them to drink tap water again. Officials had set up four labs to test the amount of chemical in the water, but that it might take days to provide enough samples to determine whether the water was safe. (NYT article) (see Jan 19)

Reduced Air Pollution

January 11, 2021: according to an estimate published  by the Rhodium Group. America’s greenhouse gas emissions from energy and industry plummeted more than 10 percent in 2020, reaching their lowest levels in at least three decades as the coronavirus pandemic slammed the brakes on the nation’s economy,

The steep drop, however, was the result of extraordinary circumstances and experts warned that the country still faced enormous challenges in getting its planet-warming pollution under control. In the years ahead, United States emissions were widely expected to bounce back once the pandemic receded and the economy rumbled back to life — unless policymakers take stronger action to clean up the country’s power plants, factories, cars and trucks. [NYT article] (next EI, see Jan 13)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Who Pays?

January 11, 2017: after repeating many times that Mexico would pay for the wall and in what would turn out to be the first of many contentious press conferences, President Trump clarified that Mexico might not be paying the upfront costs for the wall after all.

“I want to get the wall started. I don’t want to wait a year and a half until I make my deal with Mexico. They will reimburse us for the cost of the wall, whether it’s a tax or whether it’s a payment. Probably less likely that it’s a payment.” (IH & TW, see Jan 25)

See through wall

January 11, 2018: Trump explained to The Wall Street Journal that border officials told him “they need see-through” and indicated a concrete wall might be the wrong thing because of that.

“We need a form of fence or window,” Trump said.

“If you have a wall this thick and it’s solid concrete from ground to 32 feet high, which is a high wall, much higher than people planned. You go 32 feet up and you don’t know who’s over here,” he explained. “If you don’t know who’s there, you’ve got a problem.”

He also said the wall did not need to run the course of the entire border because of natural barriers. But he also insisted “the wall’s identical” to what he promised on the campaign trail. (next TW, see Jan 18 or see Wall for expanded chronology)

Haitian immigrants

January 11, 2018: President Trump balked at an immigration deal that would include protections for people from Haiti and some nations in Africa, demanding to know at a White House meeting why he should accept immigrants from “shithole countries” rather than from places like Norway.

Later, Trump denied using the phrase. (IH, see Jan 22; Temporary Protected Status see Jan 31)

Feminism

January 11, 2024: when St. Paul City Council President Mitra Jalali looked out at her fellow council members at their initial meeting she saw all the members’ seats were occupied by women — a first for Minnesota’s capital city.

Experts who track women in politics said St. Paul, with a population of about 300,000 people, was the first large U.S. city they know of with an all-female city council.

“We’re a multifaith, multicultural group of women. Our professional experiences are what people trusted as much as our personal ones. … And we have a clear policy vision that we got elected on,” Jalali said in an interview. [AP article] (next Feminism, see Feb 13)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

January 10 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Pemberton Mill collapse

January 10, 1860: the Pemberton Mill – a five-story brick textile factory in Lawrence, Massachusetts – collapsed from excessive load, killing dozens of workers instantly and trapping many more in the rubble. An estimated 145 workers died and 166 were injured in the collapse and subsequent fire that broke out, the majority of whom were young Irish women. (see January 28, 1861)

Joe Hill framed

January 10, 1914: someone shot  and killed Utah grocer John G. Morrison, 47, and his son Arling, 17,  in their Salt Lake City store. Despite evidence suggesting another man was responsible, police arrested labor activist Joe Hill, who will be executed for the murders.  (see Joe Hill for expanded chronology; LH, see Feb 13)

January 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism 

Voting Rights/Susan B. Anthony

January 10, 1878: Senator A. A. Sargent of California introduced a women’s suffrage amendment drafted by Susan B. Anthony. The text of the amendment will remain unchanged through its ratification forty-four years later as the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. (see February 15, 1879)

Alice Paul

After President Wilson delayed for two weeks meeting a delegation of suffragists and then cut the meeting short and walked out on them.  The next day,  January 10, 1917, suffrage leader Alice Paul began leading picketers (whom they called “Silent Sentinels”) in front of the White House gates demanding a constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote. Carrie Chapman Catt, President of the National American Women’s Suffrage Assocation (NAWSA), the larger and moderate suffrage group, stated that picketing the White House was “an error” on the part of Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party. (next Feminism & Voting Rights, see Mar 4)

House approves women’s suffrage

January 10, 1918,:  exactly a year later, the US House of Representatives voted for second time on federal woman suffrage amendment, passing measure by vote of 274 yeas to 136 nays. The Senate will not vote to pass the amendment until June 4, 1919. (see Feb 3)

Malala Yousafzai

January 10, 2013: France awarded Malala Yousufzai the Simone de Beauvoir Prize for Womens’ Freedom.(Feminism, see Jan 23; Yousufazi, see Feb 2)

January 10 Peace Love Art Activism

January 10 Music et al

January 10, 1947: Finian’s Rainbow opened on Broadway. Among its songs was “When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich” written by Yip Harburg. (see Finian’s for more)

When the idle poor become the idle rich,  You’ll never know just who is who or who is which, Won’t it be rich when everyone’s poor relative becomes a Rockefellertive, And palms no longer itch, what a switch, When we all have ermine and plastic teeth, How will we determine who’s who underneath? And when all your neighbors are upper class, You won’t know your Joneses from your Astors, Let’s toast the day, The day we drink that drinkie up, But with the little pinkie up, The day on which, the idle poor become the idle rich.

“Talking Atom (Old Man Atom)”

In 1948: Pete Seeger recorded the 1945 Vern Partlow song “Talking Atom (Old Man Atom)” which expressed a fear of atomic energy and its possible consequences. (see News for additional mid-century examples)

Introducing the Beatles

January 10, 1964: although it had originally been scheduled for a July 22, 1963 release, the US label Vee-Jay finally released the Introducing The Beatles LP on this day. Legal and business issues plagued the album. By late fall, it sold more than 1.3 million copies. (see Jan 18)

George Harrison quits Beatles

January 10, 1969,: just as Ringo Starr had temporarily quit The Beatles in August 1968, George Harrison walked out, unable to tolerate any longer the tensions within the group. (see Beatles Officially Legally End) (next Beatles, see Jan 12)

January 10 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

SCLC

January 10, 1957: Black leaders formed the  Southern Christian Leadership Conference. following the Montgomery Bus Boycott victory and consultations with Bayard Rustin, Ella Baker, and others, Dr. Marthin Luther King, Jr. invited about 60 black ministers and leaders to Ebenezer Church in Atlanta. Their goal was to form an organization to coordinate and support nonviolent direct action as a method of desegregating bus systems across the South. In addition to Rustin and Baker, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth of Birmingham, Rev Joseph Lowery of Mobile, Rev Ralph Abernathy of Montgomery, Rev C.K. Steele of Tallahassee, all played key roles in this meeting.(BH, see Jan 13; SCLC, see Feb 14)

Vernon Dahmer home fire-bombed

January 10, 1966: Klansmen firebombed Vernon Dahmer‘s home and attacked his store in Kelly Settlement, Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Dahmer was the President of the NAACP chapter in Hattiesburg, and had been helping black voters by letting them pay their poll tax at his store.

Dahmer helped get his family out of the structure, but was severely burned from the waist up. The fire destroyed their home, grocery store, and car. Dahmer died in the hospital due to his lungs being severely burned and smoke inhalation.

Four of Dahmer’s sons were serving overseas and had protective escort from the airport to attend funeral services.(BH, see Jan 11; Dahmer, see March 8, 1968)

Edward W Brooke elected

January 10, 1967:  Republican Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts, the first black elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote, took his seat. (see Jan 27)

Terrorism

January 10, 2017: a federal jury sentenced Dylann S. Roof to death. Dylann was the unrepentant white supremacist who killed nine African-American churchgoers in a racial rampage.  (NYT article) (BH, see Jan 11; T, see Feb 22)

January 10 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Diane Feinstein

January 10, 1978: Diane Feinstein was elected president of the 11-member SF Board of Supervisors. Harvey Milk and Dan White took their seats on the board for the first time. Milk began his term by sponsoring a civil rights bill that outlawed sexual orientation discrimination. Only one supervisor votes against it. Mayor Moscone signed it into law. (see Nov 7)

Obama admin approves Utah same-sex marriages

January 10, 2014:  the Obama administration said it would recognize same-sex marriages in Utah – even though the state will not do so – and would provide federal benefits to about 1,400 gay couples who wed there before the Supreme Court halted the nuptials this week.

President Barack Obama’s Justice Department took the step two days after Gary Herbert, the Republican governor of the conservative, predominantly Mormon state, said Utah would not recognize, at least for now, the marriages of gay couples who rushed to wed after a federal judge’s December 20 ruling briefly allowed such marriages. “These marriages will be recognized as lawful and considered eligible for all relevant federal benefits on the same terms as other same-sex marriages,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.

“These families should not be asked to endure uncertainty regarding their status as the litigation unfolds,” Holder said.

The National Organization for Marriage, which opposed same-sex marriages, condemned Holder’s move as an overreach of federal authority. (see Jan 14)

Ashton Whitake

January 10, 2018: the the Kenosha Unified School District in Wisconsin has agreed to pay $800,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by Ashton Whitake, a transgender student who said he was forbidden from using boys bathrooms at his high school and felt degraded by administrators.

The school board’s decision meant that the matter will not be taken up by the United States Supreme Court.

Whitaker filed the lawsuit was filed in 2016, as a rising senior. Court documents showed that Mr. Whitaker, 18, began to openly identify as a boy when he was a freshman at the high school. After teachers and administrators there told him he could not use the boys restrooms, he sued the school district. (see Jan 10)

Costa Rica

January 10, 2018: a ruling supporting same-sex marriage by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in a marriage equality case out of Costa Rica was binding not just for Costa Rica but ruling also set a precedent for 19 other countries who had agreed to abide by the court’s decisions.

Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay already recognized same-sex marriages as did several states in Mexico. Chile and Ecuador currently recognize same-sex civil unions but not marriages.

The ruling was legally binding in Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Uruguay.

In the Western Hemisphere, homosexuality was criminalized in Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. Dominica, Grenada and Jamaica do not submit to the rulings of the court. (see Jan 13)

January 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical news

January 10, 2003: North Korea withdrew from a global treaty had barred it from making nuclear weapons. (see Dec 19)

January 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

January 10, 2007:  President George W. Bush announced he would send a “surge“ of 21,500 U.S. forces to Iraq. (see Feb 2)

January 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

West Virginia

January 10, 2014: federal prosecutors opened an investigation into a chemical spill in West Virginia that had contaminated drinking water used by more than 200,000 residents. State officials said it remained unclear when tap water would be safe to use.

According to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, the spill that has affected Charleston and the nine surrounding counties was discovered around noon January 9 at a storage facility owned by on the Elk River, where a 48,000-gallon tank began leaking 4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol, or MCHM, a compound used to wash coal of impurities. [NYT report] (see Jan 11)

Ocean warming

January 10, 2019: a new analysis, published in the journal Science, found that the oceans were heating up 40 percent faster on average than a United Nations panel estimated five years ago. The researchers also concluded that ocean temperatures had broken records for several straight years.

“2018 is going to be the warmest year on record for the Earth’s oceans,” said Zeke Hausfather, an energy systems analyst at the independent climate research group Berkeley Earth and an author of the study. “As 2017 was the warmest year, and 2016 was the warmest year.” [NYT article] (see Feb 6)

January 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Immigration raids

January 10, 2018: federal immigration agents descended on dozens of 7-Eleven convenience stores across the country before daybreak arresting undocumented workers and demanding paperwork from managers, in what the Trump administration described as its largest enforcement operation against employers so far.

The sweeps of 98 stores in 17 states, from California to Florida, resulted in 21 arrests, according to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which signaled intensified efforts against businesses that hire unauthorized workers.

“Today’s actions send a strong message to U.S. businesses that hire and employ an illegal work force: ICE will enforce the law, and if you are found to be breaking the law, you will be held accountable,” Thomas D. Homan, the acting director of the agency, said in a statement. [US News report] (see Jan 11)

Trump’s Wall

January 10, 2019: as the government shutdown neared the end of its third week, the President Trump left Washington with no additional negotiations scheduled with congressional leaders.

In brief remarks to reporters Trump left open the possibility of declaring a state of emergency, which could allow him to bypass Congress to fund the wall. [NYT article] (next IH, see Jan 15; next TW,  see Jan 19)

Space

January 10, 2024: NASA technicians finally removed the stuck fasteners from the sample return capsule of its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft — which Initially, the team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas was able to access 70.3 grams (2.48 ounces) of material — 10 grams more than the mission’s goal — from the outside of the sampler head, called the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM).

However, the bulk of the asteroid sample material remained trapped inside the capsule when two of the 35 fasteners on TAGSAM could not be removed with existing tools approved for use inside the OSIRIS-REx glovebox, which ensures the asteroid samples are not contaminated during processing. Researchers were able to develop new tools that could tackle the fasteners, according to a statement from NASA. [Space.com article] (next OSIRIS-REX, see Feb 12)

January 10 Peace Love Art Activism

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January 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestones

Jean-Pierre Blanchard

On January 7, 1785 Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries had traveled in a gas balloon from Dover, England, to Calais, France becoming the first to cross the English Channel by air.

On January 9, 1793 Blanchard made the first successful balloon flight in the US. Blanchard’s balloon, filled with hydrogen, took off from Philadelphia, PA, soared to 5,800 feet and eventually wound up some 15 miles away, in Woodbury, NJ. President George Washington was in Philadelphia for the event, along with Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay, Paul Revere, John Adams and others.

Just before takeoff, the President slipped Blanchard a note. The letter was intended to allay the fears and suspicions of local farmers who saw Blanchard drop out of the sky. Rumor has it that Jean-Pierre had a copilot helping him on that historic flight: a little black dog. (see Oct 28)

iTunes

January 9, 2001:  Apple Computer Inc. introduced its iTunes music management software at the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco. (see Jan 15)

iPhone

January 9, 2007:  Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone. (see June 29)

January 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Joseph and Mary Tape

During the week of September 1, 1884, Joseph and Mary Tape, immigrants from China who had lived in the United States for over a decade, attempted to enroll their eight-year-old, American-born daughter, Mamie Tape, in San Francisco’s Spring Valley School. Principal Jennie Hurley denied the Tapes’ request on the basis of their race, and State Education Superintendent William Welcher supported that decision. Welcher justified the denial in part by noting that even the California Constitution described Chinese-Americans as “dangerous to the well-being of the state.”

The Tapes sued.

On January 9, 1885 a California Superior Court judge ruled in the Tapes’ favor, holding that denial of admission would be a violation of California state law and the United States Constitution. The state appealed the ruling to the California Supreme Court, which affirmed the lower court’s ruling and held that Chinese students had a right to public education; the decision did not, however, prohibit the creation of segregated schools.

In response, the California legislature passed a bill requiring public school districts to create separate schools for Chinese-American students and to prohibit Chinese-American students from attending schools attended by white children. When Mamie arrived for school after the California Supreme Court’s decision, she was denied entry because her vaccinations were not up to date. By the time the Tape family was able to comply with the vaccination requirements, a new school had been opened for Chinese-American students and Mamie was forced to enroll there.

The law excluding Chinese-American students from public schools attended by whites, which was passed in the wake of the Mamie Tape case, was enforced until the late 1920s. (see Feb 26)

Trump’s Wall

January 9, 2019:  President Trump stormed out of a White House meeting with congressional leaders after Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would not fund a border wall even if he agreed to reopen the government, escalating a confrontation that had shuttered large portions of the government for 19 days and counting.

Democrats emerged from the meeting in the White House Situation Room declaring that the president had thrown a “temper tantrum” and slammed his hands on the table before leaving with an abrupt “bye-bye.” Republicans disputed the hand slam and blamed Democratic intransigence for prolonging the standoff. [NYT article] (IH & TW, see Jan 10)

January 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Voting Rights

January 9, 1917: President Wilson, after two weeks of delaying, met a deputation of 300 women, who present him with resolutions drafted during Milholland memorial service and ask him to use influence to promote federal woman suffrage amendment. Wilson angrily refused and walked out on delegation. The next day women’s suffrage leader Alice Paul began leading picketers (whom they called “Silent Sentinels”) in front of the White House gates on this day, demanding a constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote.

Carrie Chapman Catt, President of the National American Women’s Suffrage Assocation (NAWSA), the larger and moderate suffrage group, stated that picketing the White House was “an error” on the part of Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party.

Wilson finally voices suffrage support

Exactly a year later on January 9, 1918 President Wilson publicly declared support for federal woman suffrage amendment. Meets privately with 10 members of Congress to encourage their vote for amendment. (see Jan 10)

Women in combat

January 9, 2013: a letter from Gen. Martin E. Dempsey to Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta stated that the armed service chiefs all agreed that “the time has come to rescind the direct combat exclusion rule for women and to eliminate all unnecessary gender-based barriers to service.” (Washington Post article) (next Feminism, see Jan 10; military, see Jan 23)

January 9 Peace Love Art Activism

The Red Scare

January 9, 1948: The Hollywood Ten was a group of screenwriters and directors who refused to answer questions about their political associations at hearings held by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), beginning on October 27, 1947. On this day, they were arraigned on charges of contempt of Congress. Eventually, they were all found guilty, served time in prison, and were blacklisted from working in the movie industry. Members of the Hollywood Ten included writer Dalton Trumbo, Ring Lardner, Jr, and Adrian Scott.

Contempt of Congress indictments became a heavy weapon against alleged subversives during the Cold War. While it had rarely been used before World War II, HUAC issued 21 contempt citations in 1946, 14 in 1947, and 56 in 1950. All other House Committees in those years issued a total of only 6 contempt citations. (see Apr 30)

January 9 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Charlayne Hunter

January 9, 1961: Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes registered at the University of Georgia, becoming the university’s first African American students. Their enrollment came days after federal judge William Bootle ordered the university to admit them, ending a two-year administrative and legal effort to integrate the school.

Despite this landmark victory, Hunter and Holmes registered for classes against the backdrop of nearly 100 protesting white students. The protests escalated into full-scale riots involving nearly 2000 white students, local residents, and Ku Klux Klan members. The rioters set fires outside Hunter’s dormitory, hurled rocks into the dormitory, and yelled racist epithets. At least one student in the dormitory was injured by a flying object. After several hours, campus officers, city police, and local firefighters quelled the riot using tear gas and fire hoses. Nearly twenty rioters were arrested.

Hunter and Holmes were forced to withdraw from the university and were escorted home by Georgia state troopers. White student leaders gloated; one cited the University of Alabama’s violent reaction to the enrollment of Autherine Lucy in 1956 as inspiration for their own demonstration.

Days later, Judge Bootle ordered the university to readmit Hunter and Holmes, and they graduated in 1963, becoming the first African American undergraduate students to graduate from the University of Georgia. (NPR story) [Hunter’s observance of on its 60th anniversary] (see Jan 12)

Albany Movement

January 9, 1962: US District Judge W A Bootle declared unconstitutional racial segregation in voting procedures in Albany and Dougherty County. (see Albany for expanded story)

Julian Bond

January 9, 1967: following his election in 1965, the Georgia House refused to seat Julian Bond after he criticized U.S. involvement in Vietnam. He was re-elected to his “vacant seat,” and the House refused again. He was then re-elected a third time. But not until the U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously in his favor was the Georgia Legislature forced to relent. (see Jan 10)

January 9 Peace Love Art Activism

January 9 Music et al

Frank Sinatra

January 9 – 15, 1961: Frank Sinatra’s Nice ‘n’ Easy returns to Billboard #1

Bert Kaempfert

January 9 – 28, 1961: “Wonderland by Night” by Bert Kaempfert  #1 Billboard Hot 100

Beatles ’65

January 9 – March 12, 1965: Beatles ’65 was the Billboard #1 album. (see March — July 1965)

End of Beatles

On December. 31, 1970, Paul McCartney took the first step in dissolving the Beates by filing a lawsuit against John, George, Ringo, and Apple Corps. On January 9, 1975 a judge ruled in Paul McCartney’s favor and the Beatles were “officially dissolved.”

The papers making that decision possible had been done on December 29, 1974 (see Beatles Officially Legally End)

January 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Space Race

January 9, 1968: The Surveyor 7 space probe made a soft landing on the moon. It was the last of America’s unmanned explorations of the lunar surface. (NYT article) (see Sept 14)

January 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran-Contra Affair

Memorandum prepared

January 9, 1987:  the White House released a memorandum prepared for President Ronald Reagan in January 1986 that showed a definite link between U.S. arms sales to Iran and the release of American hostages in Lebanon. (see Feb 26)

January 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War I

January 9, 1991: U.S. secretary of state Baker and Iraqi foreign minister Aziz met for 61/2 hours in Geneva, but failed to reach any agreement that would forestall war in the Persian Gulf. (see Jan 12)

January 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Dissolution of Yugoslavia

January 9, 1992: the Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaimed the creation of a new state within Yugoslavia, the Republika Srpska. (see Jan 15)

January 9 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

January 9, 1998: Linda Tripp delivered the taped conversations with Monica Lewinsky to her lawyer, Jim Moody. (see Clinton for expanded story)

January 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

January 9, 2002: Cardinal Law apologized to victims of John Geoghan and promised a tougher line on abusive priests in future. (see Jan 18)

January 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

January 9, 2015:  Michigan’s Court of Appeals upheld a law decriminalizing cannabis in Grand Rapids, ruling that did not violate state law. The law was challenged by Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth, who argued that it unlawfully prohibited Grand Rapids police from enforcing state law.

The ruling upheld a previous ruling by Circuit Court Judge Paul Sullivan. “In sum, the Charter Amendment is not preempted by state law,” justices Mark Boonstra, Pat Donofrio and Elizabeth Gleicher wrote in a six-page opinion. “The parties do not identify a genuine issues as to a material fact in this case, and the trial court did not err in granting summary disposition” in favor of the city. (next C, see Feb 4); see CCC for expanded cannabis chronology)

January 9 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

January 9, 2015: the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Gov. C. L. “Butch” Otter’s request for a review of the court’s 2014 ruling that overturned Idaho’s ban on gay marriage. Otter had requested that an 11-judge panel review the October decision by three judges that Idaho’s same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional.

The 9th Circuit rejected Otter’s request. Three judges dissented from the majority, noting that a 6th Circuit decision upheld similar laws in four states.

“Clearly, the same-sex marriage debate is not over,” the three said in a 25-page dissent, adding that “thoughtful, dedicated jurists” have considered the issue and come up with differing results. The dissenting judges called the issue a “question of exceptional importance” that should have been reviewed.  (LGBTQ see Jan 12; Idaho, see Jan 15)

January 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

January 9, 2018: genomic data from remains of the girl – named “Xach’itee’aanenh T’eede Gaay” (Sunrise Girl-Child) by the local indigenous community –  broadly supported a migration model that scientists had long argued for, while also revealing the existence of an ancient population previously unknown to science.

The findings suggested a revised family tree: a single ancestral Native American group split from East Asians about 35,000 years ago, before later splitting, some 20,000 years ago, into two distinct groups. One was the Ancient Beringians, and the other constituted the ancestors of modern-day Native Americans, who later split into northern and southern populations about 15,700 years ago. (see Jan 29)

January 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

January 9, 2018:  Judge William Alsup of Federal District Court in San Francisco issued a nationwide injunction ordering the Trump administration to start the program back up again.

Saying the decision to kill it was improper, Alsup wrote that the administration must “maintain the DACA program on a nationwide basis” as the legal challenge to the president’s decision went forward. (IH, see Jan 10; DACA, see Feb 13)

January 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Voting Rights

January 9, 2018: a panel of federal judges struck down North Carolina’s congressional map, condemning it as unconstitutional because Republicans had drawn the map seeking a political advantage.

The ruling was the first time that a federal court had blocked a congressional map because of a partisan gerrymander. Judge James A. Wynn Jr., in a biting 191-page opinion, said that Republicans in North Carolina’s Legislature had been “motivated by invidious partisan intent” as they carried out their obligation in 2016 to divide the state into 13 congressional districts, 10 of which were held by Republicans. The result, Judge Wynn wrote, violated the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection. [NYT report] (VR, see Jan 22; NC, see June 25)

January 9 Peace Love Art Activism