Category Archives: Today in history

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Chinese Exclusion Act

May 6, 1882: President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act, barring Chinese laborers from entering the US for 10 years and prohibiting courts from granting US citizenship to Chinese. (see July 18, 1884)

Connecticut Senator Joseph Hawley spoke out against the Act in these words: Let the proposed statue be read 100 years hence, dug out of the dust of ages and forgotten as it will be except for a line of sneer by some historian, and ask the young man not well read in the history of this country what was the reason for excluding these men and he would not be able to find it in the law. (text from Our Documents dot gov)(see Aug 3)

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

Margaret Sanger’s film, Birth Control

May 6, 1917: about 200 people watched a private showing of birth control advocate Margaret Sanger’s film, Birth Control. They were the only people ever to see the film. It was scheduled to open in the Park Theater the following night, but New York officials banned it as obscene and it was never shown publicly. No copy of the film is known to exist today.

The film depicted episodes drawn from Sanger’s own career as a nurse. In one, an impoverished woman begged her doctor for information about birth control, but he declined saying, truthfully, that it would be illegal. She begged nurse Sanger for information. Apparently, she did not receive the information and later, unable to prevent another pregnancy, died during the birth of child. Such personal experiences inspired Sanger to launch her birth control crusade.  (see BC for expanded story)

Rhythm Method

In the 1920s, scientists working independently in Japan (1924) and Austria (1927) devise the “Rhythm Method” of birth control. After figuring out that women are fertile approximately midway through the average menstrual cycle, they conclude that pregnancy can be avoided by abstaining from sex during that fertile period. (see November 1, 1921)

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

FEMINISM

 Voting Rights

May 6, 1918: Democratic Senator Aristieus Jones, New Mexico, called up suffrage bill on Senate calendar. Opposition forces postponement of vote. (see June 27)

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Works Progress Administration

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

May 6, 1933: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unemployed people (mostly unskilled men) to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads. (see April 12, 1934)

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

Lady Chatterley’s Lover

May 6, 1959: the New York Post office impounded 24 packages from Grove Press containing 164 copies of [unexpurgated] editions of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. A hearing is held on May 28th to determine the mailability of the books. The judge declined to rule the book obscene and referred the decision to the Post Master General (P.O.D. Docket No. M-18). On June 11th, the Postmaster banned Lady Chaterley’s Lover from the mails. Barney Rosset immediately sued in the Federal District Court asking that the ruling of the Postmaster be laid aside. (see June 21)

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Civil Rights Act of 1960

May 6, 1960: Pres Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960 into law establishing federal inspection of local voter registration polls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone’s attempt to register to vote or actually vote. It served to eliminate certain loopholes left by the Civil Rights Act of 1957. (Black Perspectives article) (BH, see May 19; VR, see Nov 14)

George Whitmore, Jr

May 6, 1964: Whitmore indicted in New York County for the Wylie-Hoffert crime. (BH, see May 25; see Whitmore for expanded story) 

Viola Liuzzo  

May 6, 1965: during his final arguments at the Viola Liuzzo trial the defendants’ lawyer, Matt Murphy made blatantly racist comments, including calling Liuzzo a “white nigger,” in order to sway the jury. The tactic was successful enough to result in a mistrial the following day (10-2 in favor of conviction) (see Liuzzo for expanded story)

Cheyney State College

May 6, 1967: four hundred students seized administration building at Cheyney State College. The demonstration was set off by student demands fro “better curriculum, a better faculty, and a better system of finances.” (see May 11)

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

USS Ethan Allen

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

May 6, 1962: the first U.S. nuclear warhead fired from a Polaris submarine was launched. The submerged USS Ethan Allen (SSBN-608) test-fired a Polaris A-2 missile with a live nuclear warhead across the Pacific Ocean toward Christmas Island, 1,700 miles (2,700 km) away. The test, code-named Frigate Bird, was the only one the U.S. ever conducted of any nuclear ballistic missile from launch through detonation. After a 12.5-minute, 1,200-mile flight, the warhead exploded in the air between 10,000 and 15,000-ft (3,000 and 4,600-m) high with a yield of 600 kilotons. (Nuclear Weapon Archive dot org article) (see June 27)

Washington, DC protest

May 6, 1979: over 65,000 anti-nuclear power demonstrators marched on the capitol in protest against more nuclear power plants. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader described nuclear power as “our countries technological Vietnam.” (see June 18)

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

South Vietnam Leadership

May 6, 1963: President Ngô Đình Diệm issued a proclamation banning the flying of all religious flags throughtout the country. He said he found their use “disorderly,” but his actual aim was to keep the flags from becoming symbols of resistance to his regime. (V & SVL, see May 8; flags see June 16)

Kent State aftermath

May 6, 1970: hundreds of colleges and universities across the nation shut down as thousands of students join a nationwide campus protest. Governor Ronald Reagan closed down the entire California university and college system until May 11, which affected more than 280,000 students on 28 campuses. Elsewhere, faculty and administrators joined students in active dissent and 536 campuses were shut down completely, 51 for the rest of the academic year. A National Student Association spokesman reported students from more than 300 campuses were boycotting classes. The protests were a reaction to the shooting of four students at Kent State University by National Guardsmen during a campus demonstration about President Nixon’s decision to send U.S. and South Vietnamese troops into Cambodia.

Vice-President Spiro Agnew stated, “We have listened to these elitists laugh at honesty and thrift and hard work and prudence and logic and respect and self –denial. Why then are we surprised to discover we have traitors and thieves and perverts and irrational and illogical people in our midst?” (Vietnam & Cambodian Invasion, see May 8; Free Speech see May 10)

Vietnam Memorial

May 6, 1981: a jury of international architects and sculptors unanimously selected Maya Ying Lin‘s entry for the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. (see January 24, 1982)

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

 May 6 Music et al

LSD

May 6 1963 : because Timothy Leary, lecturer on clinical psychology, had failed to keep his classroom appointments and had absented himself from Cambridge without permission, the Harvard Corporation voted  to relieve him from further teaching duty and to terminate his salary retroactively to April 30, 1963. (see May 28)

The Road to Bethel

May 6, 1969: Wes Pomeroy met Stanley Goldstein about concert security. Pomeroy agreed to look at site and discuss plans. 

Woodstock Ventures offices

In mid-May, 1969: Roberts, Rosenman, Kornfeld, and Lang visited the Woodstock Ventures offices. Roberts and Rosenman had never seen such a layout. Kornfeld and Lang were happy with its laid back set-up. (see Woodstock for expanded chronology)

Beatles memorabilia

May 6, 2004: sale at Christie’s in London, England became the most successful pop auction in the company’s history after Beatles memorabilia sold for a record £788,643. The auction included a leather collar worn by John Lennon which sold for £117,250. A signed copy of a management deal with The Beatles and manager Brian Epstein sold for £122,850. A Vox Kensington guitar used by Lennon and Harrison went for £100,000. Also sold – a coloured felt-pen drawing by Lennon (£10,000), a letter with his signature (£5,500), and a pen-and-ink drawing called Happy Fish (£9,500). (see November 22, 2008)

 

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Irish Troubles

May 6, 1981:  the day after Bobby Sands’ death, the British government sent 600 extra British troops into Northern Ireland. (see Troubles for expanded story)

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

The Cold War

May 6, 1992: in an event steeped in symbolism, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev reviewed the Cold War in a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri—the site of  Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech 46 years before. Gorbachev mixed praise for the end of the Cold War with some pointed criticisms of U.S. policy. (National Churchill Museum article) (see April 28, 1994)

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

May 6, 1998: Clinton’s personal attorney, David Kendall, accused Starr’s office of “flagrant leaks,” citing a Fox News report that claimed information on Clinton’s executive-privilege decision came from the independent counsel’s office. (see Clinton for expanded story)

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Maine

May 6, 2009:  Gov. John Baldacci of Maine legalized same-sex marriage; however, citizens voted to overturn that law when they went to the polls in November. (NYT article) (see May 26)

Roy S. Moore

May 6, 2016: an Alabama judicial oversight body filed a formal complaint against Roy S. Moore, the chief justice of the state’s Supreme Court, charging that he had “flagrantly disregarded and abused his authority” in ordering the state’s probate judges to refuse applications for marriage licenses by same-sex couples.

As a result of the charges, Chief Justice Moore, 69, was immediately suspended from the bench and faced a potential hearing before the state’s Court of the Judiciary, a panel of judges, lawyers and other appointees. Among possible outcomes at such a hearing would be his removal from office. (NYT article) (LGBTQ, see May 12; Moore, see June 7)

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

May 6, 2013:  the Vatican revealed that over the past decade, it had defrocked 848 priests who raped or molested children and sanctioned another 2,572 with lesser penalties, providing the first ever breakdown of how it handled the more than 3,400 cases of abuse reported to the Holy See since 2004.

The Vatican’s U.N. ambassador in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, released the figures during a second day of grilling by a U.N. committee monitoring implementation of the U.N. treaty against torture.

Tomasi insisted that the Holy See was only obliged to abide by the torture treaty inside the tiny Vatican City State, which has a population of only a few hundred people.

But significantly, he didn’t dispute the committee’s contention that sexual violence against children can be considered torture. Legal experts have said that classifying sexual abuse as torture could expose the Catholic Church to a new wave of lawsuits since torture cases in much of the world don’t carry statutes of limitations. (Guardian article) (see Sept 23)

May 6 Peace Love Art Activism

May 5 Music et al

May 5 Music et al

Cultural Milestone

Carnegie Hall

May 5, 1891: Carnegie Hall (then named Music Hall) opened in New York City. (see June 9, 1902)

Roots of Rock

May 5, 1956:  Elvis Presley’s album “Elvis” went to #1 on the Billboard chart. It was the first Rock and Roll album to ever reach #1. It stayed there for 10 weeks and it was also the first Rock and Roll LP to sell one million copies. (see June 2)

May 5 Music et al

The Beatles

May 5 Music et alMay 5, 1960: The Quarry Men became The Silver Beetles. (next Beatles, see May 10)

The Shirelles

May 5 Music et alMay 5 – 25, 1962: “Soldier Boy” by The Shirelles #1 Billboard Hot 100.  Luther Dixon and Florence Greenberg wrote the song.

West Side Story

May 5 – June 22, 1962: soundtrack to West Side Story was the Billboard #1 album.

May 5 Music et al

Dick Rowe

May 5 Music et al

May 5, 1963: on a recommendation by George Harrison, Dick Rowe Head of A&R at Decca records (and the man who had turned down The Beatles–“Guitar groups are on their way out, Mr Epstein.” ) went to see The Rolling Stones play at Crawdaddy Club, London. The band were signed to the label within a week. (2012 Independent article) (see May 7)

Grateful Dead

May 5, 1965: the Warlocks  played their first show at Magoo’s Pizza Parlor in Menlo Park, California. (Poster Trip article) (see Nov 27)

Roots of Rock

May 5 Music et alMay 5, 1986: thanks to a groundswell of public support and a $65 million commitment from city officials, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation chose Cleveland as the winning site, over locales such as New York, San Francisco, Memphis and Chicago where the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame would be built. (R & R Hall of Fame article) (next Roots, see May 7, 1991)

May 5 Music et al

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

Sitting Bull

May 5, 1877: nearly a year after the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Sitting Bull and a band of followers abandoned their traditional homeland in Montana and went north across the border into Canada hoping to find safe haven from the U.S. Army. Sitting Bull and his band stayed in the Grandmother’s Country-so called in honor of the British Queen Victoria-for the next four years. (Canadian Encyclopedia article) (see Oct 5)

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

see May 5 Music et al for more

Cultural Milestone

May 5, 1891: Carnegie Hall (then named Music Hall) opened in New York City.  (Carnegie Hall dot org article) (see June 9, 1902)

Roots of Rock

May 5, 1956:  Elvis Presley’s album “Elvis” went to #1 on the Billboard chart. It was the first Rock and Roll album to ever reach #1. It stayed there for 10 weeks and it was also the first Rock and Roll LP to sell one million copies. (see June 2)

The Beatles

May 5, 1960: The Quarry Men became The Silver Beetles. (see May 10)

The Shirelles

May 5 – 25, 1962: “Soldier Boy” by The Shirelles #1 Billboard Hot 100.

West Side Story

May 5 – June 22, 1962: soundtrack to West Side Story was the Billboard #1 album.

Dick Rowe

May 5, 1963: on a recommendation by George Harrison, Dick Rowe Head of A&R at Decca records, (and the man who turned down The Beatles), went to see The Rolling Stones play at Crawdaddy Club, London. The band were signed to the label within a week. (see May 7)

Grateful Dead

May 5, 1965: the Warlocks  played their first show at Magoo’s Pizza Parlor in Menlo Park, California. (see Nov 27)

Roots of Rock

May 5, 1986: it was announced that Cleveland had been chosen as the city where the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame would be built. (see May 7, 1991)

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Chinese Exclusion Act

 May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

May 5, 1892: four years after its enactment, the US Congress extended the Chinese Exclusion Act (May 6, 1882) for 10 more years. (text via Our Documents) (IH, see March 28, 1898 ; Act, see December 17, 1943)

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Milwaukee Iron Co Massacre

May 5, 1896: approximately 14,000 building trades workers and laborers, demanding an 8-hour work day, gathered at the Milwaukee Iron Co. rolling mill in Bay View, Wisc. When they approached the mill 250 National Guardsmen, under orders from the governor to shoot to kill, fired on them. Seven die, including a 13-year-old boy.  (Wisconsin Labor History Society article) (see January 26, 1897)

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Birth Control

Emma Goldman

 May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

May 5, 1916: recently released from prison for speaking about birth control, Goldman spoke at a birth control meeting at Carnegie Hall, NYC.  After the meeting, Rose Stokes stood on the stage and distributed birth control information. (see Goldman for expanded story)

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Eugene Bullard

May 5, 1917: Eugene Bullard became the first African-American combat pilot. Bullard, who came to France to escape racism, served in the French Flying Corps. After the United States joined the war, he attempted to join the U.S. military but was barred because of race. He became one of France’s most decorated war heroes, earning the French Legion of Honor. (Georgia Encyclopedia article) (see May 28)

SCOTTSBORO BOYS

May 5, 1933: Ruby Bates, one of the two girls who initially claimed to have been raped by the “Scottsboro Boys” and appeared as a defense witness, declared at a public appearance the “the Scottsboro boys are innocent.” (see Scottsboro for expanded story)

California Bans Interracial Marriages

May 5, 1943: a new law went into effect in California, requiring that all marriage licenses indicate the race of the parties to be married. This law, passed unanimously by the all-white, all-male state legislature, was designed to help the state enforce its existing ban on interracial marriage. As California law declared at that time: “no license may be issued authorizing the marriage of a white person with a Negro, mulatto, Mongolian, or member of the Malay race.” Any interracial couple who defied the statute, or any clerk who provided a marriage license to an interracial couple, faced a fine of up to $10,000 or up to 10 years in prison. [EJI article] (next BH, see May 8)

Malcolm X

May 5, 1962: Malcolm X speech, “Who Taught You to Hate Yourselfs.” (next BH, see July 28; next MX, see August 28, 1963)

George Whitmore, Jr

May 5, 1964: Whitmore indicted in Kings County for the attempted rape and assault of Elba Borrero. 

Exactly a year later, on May 5, 1965,  DA Aaron Koota said his office would again try George Whitmore, Jr. for the Elba Borrero attempted assault and rape in Brooklyn. (see Whitmore for expanded story)

BLACK & SHOT/Jordan Edwards

May 5, 2017: the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department issued a warrant for the arrest of the officer, Roy D. Oliver II, 37 regarding the shooting death of Jordan Edwards. Oliver turned himself in in Parker County, Tex. (B & S, see May 30, JE, see June 29)

BLACK & SHOT/Ahmaud Arbery

May 5, 2020: a video of the encounter had begun to circulate online. Recorded from inside a vehicle, it showed Ahmaud Arbery running along a shaded two-lane residential road when he came upon a white pickup truck, with a man standing beside its open driver-side door. Another man was in the truck bed. Arbery ran around the vehicle and disappeared briefly from view. Muffled shouting could be heard before Arbery emerges, tussling with the man outside the truck as three shotgun blasts echo.

That same day,  District Attorney Tom Durden of the Atlantic Judicial Circuit.said that he wanted to send the case to a grand jury to decide whether to bring charges. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that night that it would be taking over the case at Durden’s request.  [NYT article]  (next B & S and AA, see May 7 or see AA for expanded chronology)

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

May 5, 1945: Netherlands independent from Nazi Germany. (see Aug 15)

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Space Race

Alan Shepard

 May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

May 5, 1961: Alan Shepard commanded Freedom 7 on the first Mercury mission, becoming the first American in space. His ballistic trajectory during the 15-minute flight takes him to a maximum height of 116.5 statute miles. NASA announces, “The astronaut reports that he is A-OK,” introducing a new phrase into the American lexicon.  (NYT obituary) (see May 25)

InSight

May 5, 2018: NASA launched the InSight spacecraft to Mars to study its deep interior.

“The science that we want to do with this mission, the reason we’re going to Mars, is really the science of understanding the early solar system,” said Bruce Banerdt, the principal investigator in a pre-launch briefing on Thursday. “How planets form, how rocky planets form.” (see Nov 26)

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

DRAFT CARD BURNING

May 5, 1965: several hundred UC Berkeley students march on the Berkeley Draft Board and presented the staff with a black coffin. Forty students burned their draft cards. Students also protested the April 1965 US military invasion of Dominican Republic. (Draft Card Burning, see Aug 31; Vietnam, see May 8)

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Irish Troubles

 May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

May 5, 1981:  Bobby Sands, died aged 27. (see Troubles for expanded story)  

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

President Reagan

May 5, 1985: President Reagan joined German Chancellor Helmut Kohl for a controversial funeral service at a cemetery in Bitburg, Germany, which included the graves of 59 S.S. troops from World War II.

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

May 5, 1993: The Hawaii Supreme Court ruled in Baehr v. Lewin that denying marriage to same-sex couples violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Hawaii Constitution. The case had been filed two years earlier on behalf of three same-sex couples – Ninia Baehr, Genora Dancel, Tammy Rodrigues, Antoinette Pregil, Pat Lagon, and Joseph Melilio. (Justia dot come article) (Hawaii, see November 3, 1998; LGBTQ, see see July 5)

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

May 5, 1998: federal Judge Norma Holloway Johnson ruled against President Clinton’s claim of executive privilege. Clinton confidant Vernon Jordan testified for a third time before the grand jury. (see Clinton for expanded story)

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

World Trade Center

May 5, 2010: preliminary plans for a mosque and cultural center near ground zero in New York were unveiled, setting off a national debate over whether the project was disrespectful to 9/11 victims and whether opposition to it exposed anti-Muslim biases. (2017 NYT article) (see February 29, 2012)

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

Town of Greece v Galloway

May 5, 2014: in the Town of Greece v. Galloway the US Supreme Court upheld the town of Greece, New York’s practice of starting town meetings with official sectarian prayer. The practice was challenged by residents of Greece, N.Y. who objected to hearing government prayers, the vast majority of which were expressly Christian invocations, as a condition of attending public meetings. (Oyez article) (see June 16)

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Consumer Protection

May 5, 2016: the Food and Drug Administration made final sweeping new rules that for the first time extend federal regulatory authority to e-cigarettes, popular nicotine delivery devices that had grown into a multibillion-dollar business with virtually no federal oversight or protections for American consumers. (NYT article) (see March 14, 2017)

May 5 Peace Love Art Activism