Category Archives: LGBTQ

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

Feminism

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

September 22, 1692: Ann Pudeator, Martha Corey (whose husband had been pressed to death on September 19), Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Mary Parker, Wilmott Redd, Margaret Scott and Samuel Wardwell were hanged for witchcraft; the Rev. Nicholas Noyes called them “eight firebrands of hell.”  It was the last executions in the Salem witch craze of 1692. [Streets of Salem article] (see October)

September 22 Peace Love Activism September 22 Peace Love Activism September 22 Peace Love Activism
 September 22 Peace Love Activism  September 22 Peace Love Activism  September 22 Peace Love Activism
September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Emancipation Proclamation

September 22, 1862: motivated by his growing concern for the inhumanity of slavery as well as practical political concerns, President Abraham Lincoln changed the course of the Civil War by issuing the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

The measure did not technically free any slaves, but it expanded the Union’s war aim from reunification to include the abolition of slavery. The proclamation announced that all slaves in territory that was still in rebellion as of January 1, 1863, would be free. (see January 1, 1863)

Atlanta massacre

September 22 Peace Love Activism

September 22, 1906: after local newspapers reported alleged assaults on four white women by black men, mobs of angry white men gathered in Atlanta, Georgia, streets with the goal of attacking and killing any black man they found. The mobs seized upon street cars, trapped black male passengers, and killed the men by shooting them or brutally beating them to death. When the street cars stopped running, the rioters ransacked black businesses, beating or killing the people inside. The armed white men also chased black men through hotels and white-owned businesses, shooting and killing them in the hallways. The police and fire departments were called upon to quell the unrest but failed, as did the militia.

When asked what he could do to end the violence, Atlanta Mayor James Woodward replied, “The only remedy is to remove the cause. As long as the black brutes assault our white women, just so long will they be unceremoniously dealt with.” Woodward’s ambivalence empowered the mobs and the massacre continued. For a total of four days, black people were chased, beaten, shot, and hung throughout Atlanta and its surroundings. When black citizens of Brownville, a nearby suburb, attempted to arm themselves in defense, Georgia troops raided their homes, taking weapons and arresting those in possession of them. After four days of riots, between 25 and 40 people were dead and countless more were injured. (Georgia encyclopedia article)

Lugenia Burns Hope

September 22 Peace Love Activism

In 1908: Lugenia Burns Hope created the Neighborhood Union, the first woman-run social welfare agency for African Americans in Atlanta, which provided medical, recreational, employment, and educational services and became known for its community building and race and gender activism. [Georgia Encyclopedia article] (see Feb  10)

Black Power

September 22 Peace Love Activism

September 22, 1954: Richard Wright’s book, Black Power, published. It is a non-fiction account of Wright’s trip to Africa’s Gold Coast before it became the free nation of Ghana.

It is the first known use of the phrase Black Power. [Kirkus review] (see “in October”)

Freedom Riders

September 22, 1961: the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) issued a ruling enforcing the desegregation of interstate travel. The ruling removed “whites only” signs from terminals and enforced the end of segregated seating on interstate bus transit effective November 1, 1961. [related Oyez aticle]  (BH, see Sept 25; Freedom Riders, see Nov 1)

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAYS

Bulgaria

September 22 Peace Love Activism

September 22, 1908: Bulgaria independent from the Ottoman Empire. (see December 29, 1911)

Mali

September 22 Peace Love Activism

September 22, 1960: Mali independent from France. (see ID for the many other 1960s Independence days)

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Immigration History

September 22, 1922: the Cable Act, (the Married Women’s Independent Nationality Act) significantly improved gender equality in nationality law by providing that American women would no longer lose their U.S. citizenship upon marriage to a foreigner—a reversal of the 1907 Expatriation Act, which had essentially declared American women’s citizenship dependent upon their husbands’.  [NWP article] (Feminism, see Nov 21; next IH, see Feb 19; Cabel Act, see May 24, 1934)

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

September 22, 1940:  France’s Vichy government (the German collaborators) signed an armistice with Germany. The allied Germany and Japan allowed Vichy France to controlled most French overseas possessions, including Indochina. Japan agreed to allow Japan to station soldiers in Tonkin. During World War II Japan stationed a large number of soldiers and sailors in Vietnam although the French administrative structure was allowed to continue to function. (see Dec 23)

My Lai Massacre

September 22 Peace Love Activism

September 22, 1971: Captain Ernest Medina was acquitted of all charges [murder, manslaughter, and assault ] relating to the My Lai massacre of March 1968. His unit, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry, 11th Infantry Brigade (Light) of the 23rd (Americal) Division, was charged with the murder of over 200 Vietnamese civilians, including women and children, at My Lai 4, a cluster of hamlets that made up Son My village in Son Tinh District in Quang Ngai Province in the coastal lowlands of I Corps Tactical Zone.

All charges were dropped when the military judge at the Medina’s court martial made an error in instructing the jury. (next Vietnam, see Oct 29; see Mai Lai for expanded story)

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

McCarran Act

September 22, 1950: although vetoed by President Truman, the Senate overrode his veto 89 – 11 and the McCarran Act, or Internal Security Act of 1950 became law.  Among other things, it authorized the creation of concentration camps “for emergency situations.” (Encyclopedia dot com article) (see Dec 9)

Peace Corps

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

September 22, 1961: in an important victory for his Cold War foreign policy, President John F. Kennedy signed legislation establishing the Peace Corps as a permanent government agency. Kennedy believed that the Peace Corps could provide a new and unique weapon in the war against communism. [Peace Corps site] (see Oct 4 – 9)

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Oliver W. Sipple

September 22 Peace Love Art ActivismSeptember 22, 1975: President Gerald Ford survived a second assassination attempt. Sara Jane Moore had stood among a crowd outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco and was about 40 feet away from Mr. Ford as she aimed a .38-caliber pistol at him. Oliver W. Sipple, a former marine who was standing next to her, knocked her arm upward as she fired, sending the bullet well over Mr. Ford’s head; it ricocheted off a building and slightly injured a person in the crowd. (see Sipple for more about his story)

Domestic partnership statute

September 22, 1999: California became the first state to create a domestic partnership statute, allowing same-sex couples to receive some, but not all, of the protections afforded by marriage. The statute has been expanded over time to include more of the protections afforded to different-sex couples, although it is no substitute for marriage itself. [Overall history]  (see Dec 9)

Louisiana

September 22, 2014: Louisiana state Judge Edward Rubin ruled that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, in part because it violated equal protection rights. Rubin said the ban violated the 14th Amendment and the constitutional requirement that states give “full faith and credit” to each other’s laws. His ruling came in same-sex adoption case of Angela Costanza and her partner, Chasity Brewer.

The judge said Constanza could adopt her partner’s son and be listed as a parent on his birth certificate. The couple’s lawsuit said the state should recognize their marriage, which took place in California.

Laura Gerdes, a spokeswoman for the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, said the office disagreed with the ruling and started the appeals process. [NOLA article] (see Oct 6)

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

IRAQ

September 22, 1980: the command council of Iraq ordered its army to “deliver its fatal blow on Iranian military targets,” initiating the Iran–Iraq War. (see June 7, 1981)

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

September 22, 1985: first Farm Aid Concert was held at Champaign, Illinois. The concert was staged to “raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land” and  featured a performers from the worlds of country, folk and rootsy rock music. There were the three main organizers: Bob Dylan, for instance, along with Hoyt Axton, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, Loretta Lynn, Joni Mitchell and Charley Pride. But the first Farm Aid, more than any of the annual Farm Aid concerts since, was a bit of a stylistic free-for-all, featuring artists united only by their interest in supporting a good cause. “As soon as I read in the paper that there was gonna be such a thing,” Sammy Hagar told MTV’s cameras on the day of the show, “I called my manager and said, ‘I wanna do it.’ And he said, ‘It’s all country.’ I said, ‘I don’t care. It’s America. I wanna do it.’ If there was anything more surprising than hearing Hagar perform his hard-rock anthem “I Can’t Drive 55″ on the same stage that had earlier featured the quiet folk of Arlo Guthrie, it was hearing Lou Reed perform “Walk On The Wild Side” on a stage that had featured John Denver. (see Oct 13)

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Irish Troubles

September 22, 1989: Deal barracks bombing: An IRA bomb explodes at the Royal Marine School of Music in Deal, Kent, United Kingdom, leaving 11 dead and 22 injured. (see Troubles for expanded story)

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

AIDS

September 22, 1995: CDC reviews Syringe Exchange Programs — United States, 1994-1995. The National Academy of Sciences concluded that syringe exchange programs should be regarded as an effective component of a comprehensive strategy to prevent infectious disease. (see Dec 6)

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

STAND YOUR GROUND LAW

September 22, 2012: Kalispell, Montana. Dan Fredenberg, upset with Brice Harper’s romantic involvement with Fredenberg wife, walked through Mr. Harper’s open garage door. Harper aimed a gun at the unarmed Mr. Fredenberg, fired and struck him three times. Fredenberg was dead before morning. (see Oct 9)

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH & Colin Kaepernick

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

September 22, 2016: Time magazine featured Colin Kaepernick on the cover in its October 3 issue.

It featured Kaepernick kneeling in his full 49ers uniform. The issue included a cover story from Sean Gregory, where Kaepernick’s protest was a centerpiece in a larger conversation among athletes regarding sports activism and patriotism.

Also on September 22, Houston Texan’s Duane Brown raised a fist while standing during the national anthem

Brown didn’t play due to an injury, but did participate in the protest for the first time that season. He had been vocal about recent police shootings. [Time article] (FS & CK, see Oct 1)

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Right to Die

September 22, 2020: The NY Times reported that the Vatican reiterated the Roman Catholic Church’s opposition to assisted suicide and euthanasia, which it called “intrinsically evil” acts, “in every situation or circumstance.”

The Vatican’s condemnation did not break new ground, but came as legislation in favor of allowing the ending of lives to relieve suffering has been in discussion or been adopted by a growing number of governments around the world, including in traditionally Catholic countries.

“Euthanasia is a crime,” stated the document, written by the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with Pope Francis’ explicit endorsement. The document accuses lawmakers who approve legislation allowing euthanasia or assisted suicide of being “accomplices of a grave sin that others will execute.” (next RtD, see March 28, 2022 )

September 22 Peace Love Art Activism

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Christiana Riot

September 11, 1851: in Christiana, Pa., a group of African Americans and white abolitionists skirmished with a Maryland posse intent on capturing four fugitive slaves hidden in the town. The violence came a year after Congress passed the second fugitive slave law, requiring the return of all escaped slaves to their owners in the South. One member of the posse, landowner Edward Gorsuch, was killed and two others wounded during the fight. In the aftermath of the so-called Christiana Riot, 37 African Americans and one white man were arrested and charged with treason under the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law. Most were acquitted. [Black Past article] (see Oct 1)

SOUTH AFRICA/APARTHEID

September 11, 1977: a guard found Steve Biko semiconscious and foaming at the mouth. A doctor ordered him transported to a prison hospital in Pretoria. [Overcoming Apartheid article] (see Sept 12)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

September 11, 1897: 75,000 coal miners in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia ended a 10-week strike after winning an 8-hour day, semi-monthly pay and the abolition of overpriced company-owned stores where they had been forced to shop. (see February 28, 1898)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Emma Goldman

September 11, 1917: Goldman was prevented from speaking at the Kessler Theater by the New York City police. Goldman was out on bail at the time, having been arrested on June 15, 1917, for violating the Espionage Act by opposing U.S. involvement in World War I. To protest the ban, she appeared on stage at the Kessler Theater on this day with a gag over her mouth. She was later convicted and sent prison. Upon her release two years later, she was deported to the Soviet Union, on December 21, 1919 (see Goldman for expanded story)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

September 11, 1945
Lt Col A Peter Dewey
  • The first members of the US OSS team landed at Saigon led by Lieutenant Colonel A Peter Dewey. His mission was to care for American prisoners-of-war, protect American property, and gather information about enemy atrocities. [History dot com article]
Gen. Douglas Gracey
  • In accordance with the Potsdam Agreements at the end of World War II, 5,000 British troops of the 20th Indian Division, commanded by Gen. Douglas Gracey, arrived in southern Indochina to disarm the defeated Japanese forces  Gracey detested the Viet Minh and rearmed some 1,400 French soldiers who had been imprisoned by the Japanese. This effectively was the first step in the re-establishment of French colonial rule and set the stage for the conflict between the French and the Viet Minh that led to a nine-year war. [MHN article] (see Sept 23)
1st Cavalry Division

September 11, 1965: the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) began to arrive in South Vietnam at Qui Nhon, bringing U.S. troop strength in South Vietnam to more than 125,000. The unit, which had a long and storied history, was the first full U.S. Army division deployed to Vietnam. The division consisted of nine battalions of airmobile infantry, an air reconnaissance squadron, and six battalions of artillery. The division also included the 11th Aviation Group, made up of three aviation battalions consisting of 11 companies of assault helicopters, assault support helicopters, and gunships. [First Team article] (see Sept 15)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

September 11, 1961:  KQED in San Francisco broadcast The Rejected, a made-for-television documentary film about homosexuality. The Rejected was the first documentary program on homosexuality on American television. Experts interviewed for the program included Margaret Mead who spoke from an anthropological standpoint. Mead referred to the positive roles that homosexuality had played in the cultures of Ancient Greece, the South Sea Islands, and in Inuit and Native American societies. Mead noted that it was society and not the individual that determined how homosexuality and homosexual behavior were viewed. (see October 17, 1963)

Please note: copyright to The Rejected is held by WNET. All rights reserved. WNET is the premier public media provider of the New York metropolitan area and parent of public television stations THIRTEEN and WLIW21. The Rejected was originally produced by KQED for National Educational Television (NET) - the predecessor of WNET - and first aired on September 11th 1961, on KQED Ch.9 in the Bay Area
September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

September 11 Music et al

Beatles

September 11, 1962: finally recorded their first single, “Love Me Do” and “P.S. I Love You,” at EMI studios in London. (see Oct 5)

Beatles demand audience integration

September 11, 1964: the management of the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., where had stated firmly that the stadium would be segregated. The Beatles said they would refuse to play if the stadium were segregated. The day before the concert they were assured that the show would be fully integrated. (BH, see Oct 14; Beatles, see Nov 13)

Help!  album

September 11 – November 12, 1965, The Beatles: the soundtrack Help! the Billboard #1 album. On each album cover, the Beatles hold their arms in semaphore-like letters, as if spelling out H E L P, but on the UK release (below left) the letters are R U J V and on the US release (bottom right) the letters are N  V U  J (see Sept 12)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

The accurate arm placements would be:

September 11 Peace Love Activism   September 11 Peace Love Activism  September 11 Peace Love Activism
H E L P
Magical Mystery Tour

September 11, 1967: Beatles began filming ‘Magical Mystery Tour’. There was no script, nor a very clear idea of exactly what was to be accomplished, not even a clear direction about where the bus was supposed to go. The bus set off for the West Country in England stopping for the night in Teignmouth, Devon where hundreds of fans greeted The Beatles at their hotel. (see Sept 29)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Victor Jara

September 11, 1973: a CIA-backed military coup in Santiago led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet overthrows democratically elected Pres. Salvadore Allende of Chile, who commits suicide with a rifle given to him by Fidel Castro. [History dot com article] (see Victor Jara for expanded chronology)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Dissolution of the USSR

September 11, 1988: 300,000 demonstrate for independence in Estonia. (see USSR for expanded chronology)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

IRAQ War I

September 11, 1990: President George H W Bush delivered a nationally televised speech in which he threatened the use of force to remove Iraqi soldiers from Kuwait. (see Nov 29)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

September 11, 1998: the House of Representative votes to receive the Starr report. The House Judiciary Committee takes possession of the 18 boxes of materials and promptly releases the first 445 pages to the public. (see Clinton for expanded story)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

World Trade Center

September 11, 2001: terrorists associated with al Qaeda hijacked four US commercial airliners, two of which were crashed into the World Trade Center Towers in New York City, with a third hitting the Pentagon in Washington DC. The fourth plane went down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The attacks spawned an immediate tightening of aviation security regulations and in October 2001 led to Congressional passage of the controversial USA PATRIOT Act, giving the executive broad new national security powers. (Terrorism, see Sept 18, WTC, see December 19, 2003)

Terry Jones acquiesces

September 11, 2010:  Jones told NBC’s “Today” show that he would not burn Korans on the September 11 anniversary or at any point in the future.

Terry Jones arrested

September 11, 2013: sheriff deputies arrested pastor Terry Jones  and his associate pastor, Marvin Sap, they  drove to a park to set fire to nearly 3,000 Qur’ans to mark the September 11 terrorist attacks.

They were charged with unlawful conveyance of fuel as they traveled in a pickup truck towing a large barbecue-style grill filled with Qur’ans soaked in kerosene. Sheriff’s officials said that Jones was also charged with the unlawful open-carry of a firearm and that Sapp faced a charge of having no valid registration for the trailer. (see Oct 15)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH & Colin Kaepernick

September 11, 2016: NFL Seahawks, Dolphins, Chiefs and Patriots players demonstrated during nation anthem

The first Sunday of the NFL season took place on the 15th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. This made the national anthem ceremonies on that day particularly emotional. Four Dolphins players — running back Arian Foster, safety Michael Thomas, wide receiver Kenny Stills and linebacker Jelani Jenkins — took a knee during the anthem after standing up for a 9/11 acknowledgment.

After the game, Foster explained that he loves the country and the rights it affords him. He later tweeted “don’t let the love for a symbol overrule the love for your fellow human.”

No Seahawks players took a knee during the anthem, but the entire team did link arms as a way of honoring the flag and continuing the conversation that Kaepernick started.

The Kansas Chiefs locked arms before kickoff of their game with the San Diego Chargers. Cornerback Marcus Peters held up a fist, saying he supported Kaepernick’s efforts to raise awareness to the justice system.

Prior to Sunday Night Football, Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett and safety Devin McCourty also raised their fists after the national anthem. [Huff Post article] (FS & CK, see Sept 12)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

September 11, 2019:  the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to bar most Central American migrants from seeking asylum in the United States, while the legal fight plays out in the courts.

The Court, in a brief, unsigned order, said the administration may enforce new rules that generally forbid asylum applications from migrants who have traveled through another country on their way to the United States without being denied asylum in that country.

The court’s order effectively barred most migration across the nation’s southwestern border by Hondurans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans and others. Mexican migrants, who need not travel through another country to reach the United States, were not affected by the new policy.  (see Sept 27)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Consumer Protection

September 11, 2019: the Trump administration said that it would ban the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes, at a time when hundreds of people had been sickened by mysterious lung illnesses and teenage vaping continued to rise.

Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, said that the Food and Drug Administration would outline a plan within the coming weeks for removing flavored e-cigarettes and nicotine pods from the market, excluding tobacco flavors. The ban would include mint and menthol, popular varieties that manufacturers have argued should not be considered flavors. (e-cigarette ban, see Nov 18; next CP, see Nov 18)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

Inmate firefighters

September 11, 2020:  California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill allowing inmate firefighters to have their records expunged, clearing the path for them to be eligible for firefighting jobs upon release.

The bill, sponsored by Democratic Assemblywoman Eloise Reyes, let prisoners who received “valuable training and [placed] themselves in danger assisting firefighters to defend the life and property of Californians” to petition the courts to dismiss their convictions after completing their sentences.

That will make them eligible to receive EMT certification, a hiring requirement of municipal firefighting departments.  [NPR story] (next C & P, see Oct 14)

Voting rights

September 11, 2020: in a significant reversal, the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta ruled that a Florida law requiring people with serious criminal convictions to pay court fines and fees before they can register to vote was constitutional.

The decision overturned a ruling by a lower court in May that found the law discriminated against the majority of felons, many of whom were indigent, by imposing an unlawful “pay-to-vote system.”

The ruling, if upheld, would put new hurdles in place for people convicted of crimes who are seeking to vote, after Florida’s voters had amended the state’s Constitution in 2018 to end the disenfranchisement of those convicted of felonies, except for murder and sexual offenses.  [NYT article] (next VR, see Oct 28; next C &P, see Oct 14)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Avondale Mine disaster

September 6, 1869: one of the worst disasters in the history of U.S. anthracite mining occurred at the Avondale Mine, near Scranton, Pa., when a fire originating from a furnace at the bottom of a 237-foot shaft roared up the shaft, killing 110 miners. (see Dec 28)

National textile strike of 1934

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

September 6, 1934: strikebreakers and special deputies opened fire on the 300 textile workers picketing the Chiquola Mill in Honea Path, South Carolina, killing six people and wounding dozens of others; a seventh man died the next day from his wounds. The national textile strike of 1934 saw nearly half a million textile workers from New England, the Mid Atlantic, and the South walk off the job to demand better wages and working conditions. (see Sept 12)

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Anarchism in the US

September 6, 1901: Leon Czolgosz, a Polish citizen associated with the Anarchist movement  shot President William McKinley twice in the stomach while McKinley was attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley had been greeting the public in a receiving line. Czolgosz later confessed to the crime, signing a statement saying that the last public speaker he had heard was Emma Goldman, but added she had never told him to kill the president. (Biography article) (see Sept 10, 1901)

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Cultural Milestone

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

September 6, 1916: Clarence Saunders opened the first self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, in Memphis, Tenn. [Piggly Wiggly site] (see October 28, 1919)

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

12 Prisoners suffocated

September 6, 1913: twelve Black men held at a prison farm in Richmond, Texas, were placed in an underground cell as punishment for not picking cotton fast enough. Eight of those men died of asphyxiation. The cell was nine feet long, seven feet wide, and seven feet high, and temperatures outside neared 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The only ventilation in the cell came from four small holes connected to pipes in the ceiling that were “just large enough to admit a quarter.” The next day, inspectors found that one of the holes had been plugged. [EJI story] (next BH, see March 31, 1914)

Emmett Till

September 6, 1955: Emmett Till was buried at Burr Oak Cemetery. The same day, a grand jury in Mississippi indicted Milam and Bryant for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till. They both plead innocent. They will be held in jail until the start of the trial.  (see Emmett Till)

Mississippi Southern College

September 6, 1965: after previous failed attempts, Clyde Kennard, Raylawn Young Branch, and Elaine Armstrong became the first African-American students enrolled at Mississippi Southern College (now University of Southern Mississippi). Branch had served as Forrest County NAACP secretary and as an active member of SNCC, CORE and SCLC. [more on Clyde Kennard] (see Sept 8)

Atlanta revolt

September 6, 1966: 4 days of rioting in Atlanta, GA. Authorities blamed without evidence SNCC and its leader Stockley Carmichael. (BH, see Sept 12; RR, see June 2, 1967)

Equal Justice Initiative

September 6, 2010: in September 2010, lawyers at the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a nonprofit civil rights law firm in Montgomery, Alabama, mailed a copy of Slavery by Another Name to client Mark Melvin, then incarcerated at Kilby Correctional Facility. Written by award-winning journalist Douglas Blackmon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning book documents the little known history of convict leasing in Alabama in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As the book’s title suggests, the exploitative and inhumane convict leasing system strongly resembled slavery. Under the pretext of criminal punishment, African Americans arrested on frivolous charges were sold to plantations, turpentine farms, mining companies, and railroads and forced to work in perilous conditions to pay off “debt” accumulated from unjust court costs and fines.

Deciding that the book’s title was “too provocative,” Kilby prison officials prohibited Mark Melvin from receiving Slavery by Another Name when it arrived in the mail. When Melvin used the internal grievance process to appeal the book’s banning, prison officials defended their decision and insisted the book was properly banned under a rule prohibiting material that incites “violence based on race, religion, sex, creed, or nationality, or disobedience toward law enforcement officials or correctional staff.” Alabama prison officials had previously limited prisoners’ access to portrayals of Southern racial history; in the early 2000s, wardens in some Alabama prisons prohibited prisoners from watching a re-broadcast of the Roots miniseries.

In September 2011, represented by EJI lawyers, Mark Melvin sued the Alabama Department of Corrections to be able to read Slavery By Another Name. The civil litigation was settled in February 2013, when state officials finally agreed to allow prisoners to read the book.  [EJI site] (see Nov 15)

BLACK & SHOT

September 6, 2018: Dallas police officer Amber Guyger fatally shot Botham Shem Jean, a neighbor inside his apartment. Police said that Guyger claimed that she mistook his apartment for her own and believed he was an intruder.

After completing her shift, Guyger, still in her uniform, went to her apartment building across the street from the Dallas Police Department’s headquarters, but she  did not go to her own unit and instead tried to enter the residence of Jean.

She then shot him, the authorities said. (B & S and BSJ, see Sept 9)

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

September 6, 1966: Margaret Sanger, the most famous advocate of birth control in American history, died on this day at age 86. She opened the first birth control clinic in the US, on October 16, 1916, and was arrested for doing so a week later, along with her sister. She rejected a plea bargain and served one month in jail. Sanger’s career as a birth control advocate was filled with many dramatic events in addition to her arrest and jailing. Her magazine, Woman Rebel, was banned from the mails.  After her release from jail in 1917, she produced a short film, Birth Control, which had one private showing on May 16, 1917, after which it was banned. No print is known to survive. She was prevented from speaking on a number of occasions. Sanger’s organization, the American Birth Control League, evolved into today’s Planned Parenthood Federation. (NYT obit) (next WH, see April 6, 1967; Sanger, see July 21, 2020)

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

September 6, 1968: Swaziland independent from United Kingdom. [2018 Guardian article on name change] (see IDs for full list of 1960s Independence days)

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

September 6 Music et al

Midwest Pop

September 6, 1969: First Annual Midwest Mini-Pop Festival, (Cleveland Zoo) (see Midwest for more))

Jimi Hendrix

September 6, 1970: Hendrix played at the Love and Peace Festival on the Isle of Fehmarn in Germany. He was supposed to play the day before but couldn’t because of bad weather. The festival was not very successful financially and many of the scheduled bands didn’t perform. Hendrix decided to stick around. He had been paid in advance. There were only about 10,000 people that saw him perform. They did not realize that they were watching history being made. It was the last concert Jimi would ever play. (see JH for more)

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

September 6, 1978: US scientists announced the production of human-type insulin by a strain of E. coli bacteria, that had been genetically engineered after months of creative use of gene-splicing techniques. The work was a joint effort by research teams in California at the biochemical firm, Genentech Inc, San Francisco and the City of Hope National Medical Center, Los Angeles. A normal body’s production of insulin takes place within cells of the pancreas, programmed by certain genes (segments of DNA). The scientists synthesized copies of these genes and inserted them into a weakened lab strain of the intestinal microbe Escherichia coli. In 1982, insulin was the first recombinant DNA drug to be marketed, Humulin by Eli Lilly & Co [Gene dot com article] (see July 2, 1979)

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

September 6, 1988: Administrative law judge Francis Young was asked by the Drug Enforcement Administration in 1988 to comment on the merits of rescheduling marijuana in response to NORML’s 1972 petition. Young suggested that marijuana be rescheduled from schedule I to schedule II for nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy. He also concluded that the evidence was insufficient to warrant the use of crude marijuana for glaucoma or pain. (next Cannabis, see December 30, 1989 or see CCC for expanded chronology)

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

September 6, 2005: the California legislature became the first state legislature to pass a freedom to marry bill. The landmark bill was vetoed soon after passage by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Two years later, the legislature again passed a marriage bill, and again, it was vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger.  [Washington Post article] (California, see May 15, 2008; LGBTQ, see Oct 1, 2005)

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Terry Jones

September 6, 2010:  an Afghan imam in Kabul convened a demonstration in which protesters burn an effigy of Jones and chant “Death to America.” (see Sept 7)

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Stop and Frisk Policy

September 6, 2011: a day after being stopped and detained by the NYPD, City Councilman Jumaane Williams and others urge for reforms to the stop-and-frisk policy. (see Oct 19)

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

September 6, 2023: the Biden administration announced that it would prohibit drilling in 13 million acres of pristine wilderness in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska and cancel all drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The new regulations would ensure what the administration called “maximum protections” for nearly half of the petroleum reserve but would not stop the enormous $8 billion Willow oil drilling project in the same vicinity, which President Biden approved this year. [NYT article]

Hottest Summer on Record

September 6, 2023: according to data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2023’s June to August was the planet’s warmest such period since records began in 1940,.

The global average temperature for the summer was 16.77 degrees Celsius (62.19 Fahrenheit), according to Copernicus, which was 0.66 degrees Celsius above the 1990 to 2020 average – beating the previous record, set in August 2019, by nearly 0.3 degrees Celsius.

Typically these records, which track the average air temperature across the entire world, were broken by hundredths of a degree. [CNN article] (next EI, see Oct 11 )

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism