January 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Black History

Charles Deslondes

January 8, 1811: Charles Deslondes led a rebellion of some 500 enslaved black people in New Orleans, Louisiana, in what became known as the German Coast Uprising. After black people in Haiti won their independence from the French in 1804 following a thirteen-year war, surviving white planters relocated from Haiti to Orleans Territory (now the State of Louisiana). Many brought with them enslaved black laborers, including Charles Deslondes, who had been born into slavery in Haiti. Orleans Territory’s black population tripled between 1803 and 1811, leaving whites fearful of a black rebellion.

In early January 1811, Charles Deslondes convened a meeting of enslaved black people to plan an anti-slavery rebellion in New Orleans. The rebellion began on January 8, 1811, with a plantation attack that left one white man dead. 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 escaped across the river.  On January 11, 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.  (NPR story) (see Jan 11)

Voting Rights

January 8, 1867: Congress overrode President Andrew Johnson’s veto of a bill granting all adult male citizens of the District of Columbia the right to vote. It was the first law in American history that granted African-American men the right to vote. According to terms of the legislation, every male citizen of the city 21 years of age or older has the right to vote, except…

welfare or charity recipients, those under guardianship, men convicted of major crimes, or men who voluntarily sheltered Confederate troops or spies during the Civil War. (see July 9, 1868)

African National Congress

January 8, 1912: the African National Congress was founded in Bloemfontein, South Africa. (see September 10, 1944)

National Guardsmen indicted

January 8, 1964: five Alabama National Guardsmen were indicted for explosions set off near the University of Alabama campus the previous October. (BH see Jan 31; U of A, see May 30, 1965)

Integration lawsuit settled

January 8, 1989: the oldest integration law suit in the US was settled when the St. Helena Parish schools were officially integrated. The suit was originally filed by a John Hall and the NAACP in 1952. (BH, see Jan 16, SD, see January 15, 1991)

Church burned

January 8, 1996: in Knoxville, Tenn.,  a fire destroyed the sanctuary of the Inner City Baptist Church and racial slurs were painted on the walls. Molotov cocktails, cans of kerosene and gunpowder were discovered in the rubble. (see Feb 1)

Presidential Citizens Medals

January 8,  2001: President Bill Clinton awarded the Presidential Citizens Medals to Muhammad Ali, Irene Morgan Kirkaldy and others.  (see August 10, 2007)

Presidential Medal of Freedom

January 8, 2005:  President G W Bush awarded Muhammad Ali the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian honor. (BH, see Jan 13; Ali, see July 27, 2012)

Vernon Dahmer

January 8, 2016: Mississippi lawmakers honored Vernon Dahmer  Sr. 50 years after the civil rights leader was killed when Ku Klux Klansmen firebombed his family’s home near Hattiesburg.   Dahmer’s widow, Ellie, and several relatives received a standing ovation in the state Senate. Dahmer defied the white segregationist power structure by registering black voters in the 1960s. (see May 13)

DEATH PENALTY

January 8, 2018: saying that a capital trial in Georgia may have been marred by a juror’s racism, the Supreme Court gave a death row inmate a fresh chance to argue that he should receive a new trial.

The inmate, Keith Tharpe, was convicted of killing his estranged wife’s sister, Jaquelin Freeman, in the process of ambushing, kidnapping and raping his wife. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1991.

Seven years later, a white juror, Barney Gattie, signed an affidavit explaining his reasoning. He said he had drawn a distinction between Mr. Tharpe and his victim, both of whom were black.

“Because I knew the victim and her husband’s family and knew them all to be good black folks, I felt Tharpe, who wasn’t in the ‘good’ black folks category in my book, should get the electric chair for what he did,” Mr. Gattie wrote. (BH, see Jan 11; DP, see Mar 15)

January 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Susan B. Anthony

January 8, 1868: Susan B. Anthony published the women’s rights weekly journal The Revolution. Its motto was: “The true republic—men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less.” (see July 9)

Emma Goldman

January 8, 1917: a New York court acquitted Emma Goldman of the charge of circulating birth control information. (see Emma Goldman for expanded story)

Ella Grasso

 

January 8, 1975:  Ella Grasso became Governor of Connecticut, the first female U.S. governor who did not succeed her husband. (see Oct 7)

January 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

January 8, 1889: the tabulating machine was patented by Dr. Herman Hollerith. His firm, Tabulating Machine Company, later became International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). (see Nov 23)

January 8 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Great Steel Strike ends

January 8, 1920: the AFL Iron and Steel Organizing Committee ends the “Great Steel Strike.” Some 350,000 to 400,000 steelworkers had been striking for more than three months, demanding union recognition. The strike failed. (see Mar 23)

Supreme Court supports unions

January 8, 1945: the US Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a Texas law that limited labor union organizing by requiring union organizers to obtain an organizer’s card before they could solicit people to join a union.

The plaintiff, Thomas, was president of the United Automobile Workers (UAW), and was convicted of speaking at a union organizing meeting without a card. The court, in Thomas v. Collins, declared the law a prior restraint on freedom of speech. (Labor, see June 11, 1945; FS, see July 20, 1948)

January 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Red Scare

January 8, 1954: President Eisenhower proposed stripping convicted Communists of their U.S. citizenship. (see Jan 12)

January 8 Peace Love Art Activism

see January 8 Music et al for more

Hullabaloo

January 8, 1965: In response to ABC-TV’s Shindig!, Hullabaloo premieres on NBC. The first show included performances by The New Christy Minstrels, comedian Woody Allen, actress Joey Heatherton and a segment from London in which Brian Epstein introduced The Zombies and Gerry & the Pacemakers. (see Hullabaloo for more)

Shindig!

January 8, 1966: ABC’s Shindig!’s last show. (see Jan 12)

San Francisco Acid Test

January 8, 1966: a San Francisco Acid Test by Ken Kesey at the Fillmore Auditorium. Michael Rossman (S.F. Chronicle, 1/66): Up at the Fillmore Auditorium, Ken Kesey’s Acid test event was in action when I got there around the middle of the evening. The people were like the backstage crowd at the California Hall dance (that the Airplane played the same night). The costumes were, wow! a strobe light was flickering at a very high frequency in one corner of the hall and a group of people were bouncing a golden balloon up and down in it. It was a most perturbing frequency. in one corner there was a piece of metal, tubular sculpture by Ron Boise, a thumping machine. If you hit it, you got different sounds if you hit it in different places. There was a lot of electronic equipment which sent out a low reverberation that resonated throughout the hall. and the whole place was filled with streamers and balloons. There were tV cameras and a tV screen, and you could see yourself in it. Onstage there was a rock group; anybody could play with them. It was a kind of social Jam session. a guy in a white mechanic’s suit with a black cross on the front, and on the back a sign saying ‘Please Don’t Believe in Magic’, ran up and down all night. Oh wow! Periodically the lights went out and everybody cheered. Giant Frisbees, balloons like basketballs, acrobats, girls in felt eyelashes four inches long, people with eyes painted on their foreheads, glasses low on the nose with eyes painted on them, men with foxes on their shoulders! Wow! (LSD, see Jan 15; RV, see February)

Rubber Soul

January 8 – February 18, 1966: Rubber Soul the Billboard #1 album. (see Rubber Soul for more)

We Can Work It Out

January 8 – 21, 1966, The Beatles: “We Can Work It Out” #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. (see Mar 4)

January 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Operation Crimp

 

January 8, 1966: U.S. forces launch Operation Crimp. Deploying nearly 8,000 troops, it is the largest American operation of the war. The goal of the campaign was to capture the Vietcong’s headquarters for the Saigon area, which was believed to be located in the district of Chu Chi. Though the area in Chu Chi was razed and repeatedly patrolled, American forces failed to locate any significant Vietcong base. (see Jan 18)

Operation Cedar Falls

January 8, 1967: America forces begin Operation Cedar Falls, which generals intended to drive Vietcong forces from the Iron Triangle, a 60 square mile area lying between the Saigon River and Route 13. Nearly 16,000 American troops and 14,000 soldiers of the South Vietnamese Army moved into the Iron Triangle, but they encounter no major resistance. Huge quantities of enemy supplies were captured. Over 19 days, 72 Americans are killed, victims mostly of snipers emerging from concealed tunnels and booby traps. Seven hundred and twenty Vietcong are killed. (see Jan 11)

Vietman Peace Talks

January 8, 1973: North Vietnam and the United States resume peace talks in Paris. (see Jan 15)

January 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Watergate Scandal

January 8, 1973: in Washington, DC, the trial opened of seven men accused of bugging Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex. (see Watergate for expanded story)

January 8 Peace Love Art Activism

ADA

January 8, 1974: the People First movement began in Salem, Oregon, with the purpose of organizing a convention where people with developmental disabilities could speak for themselves and share ideas, friendship and information. (see October 1974)

January 8 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Harvey Milk

January 8, 1978: gay activist, Harvey Milk, sworn in as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. (see Jan 10)

Mississippi

January 8, 2018:  the U.S. Supreme Court ended the first legal challenge to a Republican-backed Mississippi law that permitted  businesses and government employees to refuse to serve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people because of their religious beliefs.

The justices left in place a June ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the plaintiffs – same-sex couples, civil rights advocates including the head of the state NAACP chapter, a church and others – did not have legal standing to bring the lawsuit. (see Jan 10)

TERRORISM

Ramzi Yousef

January 8, 1998:  Ramzi Yousef sentenced to life in prison for planning the first World Trade Center bombing. (NYT article) (see Aug 7)

Gabrielle Giffords shot

January 8, 2011: Jared Lee Loughner shot and critically wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. Lee opened fire as the congresswoman met with constituents in Tucson; six people were killed and 12 others were injured. (NYT article) (see May 1)

January 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Clinton Impeachment

January 8, 1999: the Senate unanimously agreed on a process for continuing the trial, but put off a decision on a key sticking point — whether to call witnesses. (see Clinton for expanded story)

January 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

January 8, 2002: Vatican published guidelines on how to deal with pedophile priests, saying all cases should be reported to Rome. (see Jan 9)

January 8 Peace Love Art Activism

No Child Left Behind Act

January 8, 2002 President George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act, intended to improve America’s educational system.

 Stop and Frisk/Fourth Amendment

January 8, 2013: Judge Shira A. Scheindlin of Federal District Court in Manhattan, said officers were routinely stopping people outside the buildings without reasonable suspicion that they were trespassing. The decision was the first federal ruling to find that the practice under the Bloomberg administration violated the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure and focused on police stops conducted in front of several thousand private residential buildings in the Bronx enrolled in the Trespass Affidavit Program. Property managers in that program have asked the police to patrol their buildings and to arrest trespassers.  (S & F, see Feb 11; 4^th, see Mar 24)

January 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

El Salvadorans

January 8, 2017: government officials announced that the nearly 200,000 people from El Salvador who had been allowed to live in the United States for more than a decade must leave the country. It was the Trump administration’s latest reversal of years of immigration policies and one of the most consequential to date.

Homeland security officials said that they were ending a humanitarian program, known as Temporary Protected Status, for Salvadorans who had been allowed to live and work legally in the US since a pair of devastating earthquakes struck their country in 2001.

Salvadorans were by far the largest group of foreigners benefiting from temporary protected status, which shielded them from deportation if they had arrived in the United States illegally. (see Jan 9)

Trump’s Wall

January 8, 2019: President Trump made a national address  on the escalating controversy over U.S.-Mexico border wall funding, which was continued to cause a partial federal government shutdown.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer delivered a response.

(next IH & TW, see Jan 9; see TW for expanded wall chronology)

Court allows Wall funding

January 8, 2020: in a 2-1 ruling, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the Trump administration to use a certain set of Defense Department funds for the construction of the border wall after a lower court blocked the administration from dipping into them on December 10.

The ruling marked a victory for President Donald Trump, who had sought to shore up funds for his signature border wall. The money was separate from other funds that the Supreme Court allowed to be used last year on July 26, 2019. The case was still ongoing. (next Immigration, see Jan 13; next TW see Jan 19 or see W for expanded wall chronology)

January 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

January 8, 2018: federal regulators rejected a proposal by Energy Secretary Rick Perry to subsidize struggling coal and nuclear plants, in a major blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to revive America’s declining coal industry.

Critics argued that Mr. Perry’s proposal would upend competition in the nation’s electricity markets, which had been deregulated in much of the country since the 1990s and  tended to favor the lowest-cost sources of power.

Opponents of Mr. Perry’s proposal had also pointed out that blackouts usually occurred because of problems with transmission lines — not because power plants had insufficient fuel on site. (see Jan 15)

January 8 Peace Love Art Activism

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestones

Jean-Pierre Blanchard & John Jeffries

January 7, 1785:  Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries traveled in a gas balloon from Dover, England, to Calais, France becoming the first to cross the English Channel by air. The two men nearly crashed into the Channel along the way, however, as their balloon was weighed down by extraneous supplies such as anchors, a nonfunctional hand-operated propeller, and silk-covered oars with which they hoped they could row their way through the air. Just before reaching the French coast, the two balloonists were forced to throw nearly everything out of the balloon. Blanchard even threw his trousers over the side in a desperate, but apparently successful, attempt to lighten the ship. (see December 21, 1790)

Transatlantic telephone service

January 7, 1927: commercial transatlantic telephone service inaugurated between New York and London. (see Sept 7)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Mine explosion

January 7, 1892: when an untrained worker accidentally set off  explosives the resulting explosion at Osage Coal and Mining Company’s Mine Number 11 near Krebs, Okla., killed 100 and injured 150 (see July 6)

Tear gas used again strikers and their families

On January 6, 1916 eight thousand workers went on at Youngstown Sheet & Tube. 

On January 7, 1916 wives and other family members of the Youngstown Sheet & Tube strikers join in the protest. Company guards use tear gas bombs and fired into the crowd; three strikers are killed, 25 wounded. (see Apr 15)

Tom Mooney

January 7, 1939: radical labor activist Tom Mooney, accused of a murder by bombing in San Francisco, was pardoned and freed after 22 years in San Quentin. During his time in prison, labor, socialist, communist, and other activists campaigned worldwide to free him. (NYT article) (see Feb 27)

Unions try to re-organize

January 7, 2009: the presidents of 12 of the nation’s largest unions met and called for reuniting the American labor movement, which split into two factions in 2005 when seven unions left the AFL-CIO and formed a rival federation. The meeting followed signals from President-elect Barack Obama that he would prefer dealing with a united movement, rather than a fractured one that often had two competing voices. Unions from both sides of the split participated in the meeting. The reunification effort failed, but by mid-2013 four of the unions had rejoined the AFL-CIO.  (see Jan 29)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear and Chemical Weapons

H-bomb

January 7, 1953: in his final State of the Union address before Congress, President Harry S. Truman announced that the United States had developed a hydrogen bomb. (see June 19)

NY Indian Point nuclear plant

January 7, 2017: it was announced that the Indian Point nuclear plant would shut down by April 2021 under an agreement New York State reached with Entergy, the utility company that owned the facility in Westchester County.

Under the terms of the agreement, one of the two nuclear reactors at Indian Point would permanently cease operations by April 2020, while the other must be closed by April 2021. The shutdown had long been a priority for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who — though supportive of upstate nuclear plants — had repeatedly called for shutting down Indian Point, which he says posed too great a risk to New York City, less than 30 miles to the south. (see Jan 28)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Feminism

January 7, 1955:  Marian Anderson became the first African American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera. (NYT article) (BH, see March 2; Feminism; see March 9, 1959)

 Tuskegee protest

January 7, 1966: 250 black students staged a march through downtown Tuskegee to protest the January 3 murder of Samuel “Sammy” Younge Jr. The march ended with a rally on the steps of the local jail where Younge’s accused killer, Martin Segrest, was being held. The shooting brought to a head growing tensions in Tuskegee between African Americans and pro-segregation whites. The day following the shooting, Tuskegee University students launched protests that would last for weeks. Segrest was indicted and tried on second degree murder charges later that year, but acquitted by an all-white jury on December 8, 1966.  (BH, see Jan 10; Younge, see Dec 8)

Maynard Jackson

January 7, 1974:  Maynard Jackson became the 1st African-American mayor of Atlanta. He served three terms, two consecutive terms from 1974 until 1982 and a third term from 1990 to 1994. [Black Then article] (next BH, see Jan 19)

Marco Proano

January 7, 2019: the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of a Chicago police officer Marco Proano who was serving a five-year prison sentence for shooting into a car full of teenagers in December 2013, wounding two.

The Court concluded in a 23-page opinion that the “brazenness” of Marco Proano’s actions that night was enough to support the conclusion that, “despite the car not threatening anyone’s safety, Proano fired 16 shots at it, including several after the car began idling.” [CST article] (next B & S, see Jan 11)

BLACK & SHOT/Tyre Nichols

January 7, 2023: Memphis police officers attacked Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old black man, He died on January 10.

The officers, all members of the Memphis Police Department (MPD) SCORPION unit, pulled Nichols from his car before pepper spraying and tasering him. Nichols broke free and ran toward his mother’s house, which was less than a mile (1.6 km) away. Five black officers caught up with Nichols near the house, where they punched, kicked and pepper sprayed him, and struck him with a baton. Medics on the scene failed to administer care for 16 minutes after arriving. Nichols was admitted to the hospital in critical condition. [NYT article] (next B & S, see Jan 24; next Nichols, see Sept 12)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

January 7, 1959: U.S. recognized Cuba’s new provisional government. Despite fears that Fidel Castro might have communist leanings, the U.S. government believed that it could work with the new regime and protect American interests in Cuba.(see Feb 16)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

January 7, 1966: Time Magazine chose General William Westmoreland as 1965’s ‘Man of the Year.’ (see Jan 8)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

January 7 Music et al

Phil Ochs

January 7, 1968,: the “Stop The Draft” benefit with Phil Ochs, The Loading Zone, Blue Cheer, Mad River, Mt Rushmore and The Committee at The Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco. (Vietnam, see Jan 16; DCB, see May 27, 1968)

Max Yasgur sued

January 7, 1970: Max Yasgur’s neighbors  sued him for $35,000 for property damage caused by the August 1969 Woodstock Festival. (NYT article) (see March 26, 1970)

Dead in the Garden

January 7, 1979: the Grateful Dead played for the first time at NYD’s Madison Square Garden. It was the first of 52 shows they would play there between 1979 and 1994. (see Grateful Dead Play Madison Square Garden) (see July 10, 1986)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

January 7, 1974: a federal court on this day acquitted an Army soldier, Pfc. Walter McNair, charged with wearing a turban while on military duty, citing the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment. McNair and another soldier had converted to the Sikh religion while serving in Germany. The two were also charged with wearing long hair and beards. The Army had convicted them, sentenced them to three months at hard labor, and given them general discharges. (NYT article) (see September 8, 1981)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

AIDS

January 7, 1983: CDC reported cases of AIDS in female sexual partners of males with AIDS. (see Mar 4)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

Monica  Lewinsky

January 7, 1998: Monica  Lewinsky filed an affidavit in the Jones case in which she denied ever having a sexual relationship with President Clinton.

Impeachment begins

January 7, 1999: with ceremonial flourishes, the perjury and obstruction of justice trial of President Bill Clinton began in the Senate, with the swearing in of Chief Justice William Rehnquist to preside and the senators as jurors. (see Clinton for expanded chronology)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

January 7, 2013: the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a challenge to federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research brought by two researchers who said the U.S. National Institutes of Health rules on such studies violated federal law. (see Feb 11)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

January 7, 2013: after a court settlement reached between the federal government and the American Civil Liberties Union, gay and lesbian veterans discharged from the military under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would get full separation pay. (see Jan 28)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

January 7, 2015: a study, published in The Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, indicated that hydraulic fracturing built up subterranean pressures that repeatedly caused slippage in an existing fault as close as a half-mile beneath wells near Youngstown, Ohio. The study concluded that the earthquakes were not isolated events, but merely the largest of scores of quakes that rattled the area around the wells for more than a week. (see Jan 17)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

January 7, 2020: after a 10-day period in which five inmates died, two inmates escaped, and videos and photos of fires and blood-smeared walls shot by inmates on smuggled cellphones had spread across social media, Representative Bennie G. Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, and a roster of state civil rights groups asked the Justice Department to open a civil rights investigation into the state’s prison system.

In a 23-page letter, they described “extreme” staff vacancies despite the third-highest incarceration rate in the country. The letter also described a long record of violence, escapes, uprisings, inadequate health care and institutions where criminal gangs were tolerated. At one prison, the letter noted, gang members who dominate the kitchen withhold food to punish disfavored prisoners, and control who gets a mattress or blanket. [NYT article] (next C &P, see Apr 3)

January 7 Peace Love Art Activism

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Slaves petition for freedom

January 6, 1773: Massachusetts slaves petitioned legislature for freedom. There were 8 such petitions during the Revolutionary War period. (Slave Revolts, see August 22, 1791; BH, see April 14, 1775)

Mildred and Richard Loving

January 6, 1959: Mildred and Richard Loving  pleaded guilty to violating a Virginia law against interracial marriage. They had been rousted out of bed by sheriff’s deputies on July 11, 1958, and arrested for their “crime” of being married. A judge sentenced them to one year in prison.  He suspended the sentence on the condition that they leave the state — they moved to Washington, D.C. Mildred later wrote to Attorney General Robert Kennedy, asking for legal assistance. Kennedy felt there was nothing he could do, but he referred the case to the local ACLU chapter, which took the case, eventually to the Supreme Court. (next BH, see Jan 12; Loving, see June 12, 1967)

Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter

January 6, 1961: a federal judge ordered the University of Georgia to admit Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter. They will become the first Black graduates of U of G. (see Jan 10)

Mamie Till Mobley

January 6, 2003: Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley, died of heart failure, at age 81. Her death came just two weeks before The Murder of Emmett Till was to premiere nationally on PBS. [NYT obit] (BH, see Feb 28; ET, see February 13, 2013)

1964 Murders of Three Civil Rights Workers

January 6, 2005: 41 years later, the State of Mississippi charged 79-year-old former Klan preacher Edgar Ray Killen with murder in connection with the slayings of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.  Police arrested Killen at his home following a grand jury session, according to Neshoba County Sheriff Larry Myers.  Convicted Klan conspirator Billy Wayne Posey expressed anger at Killen’s arrest: “After 40 years to come back and do something like this is ridiculous…like a nightmare.”  Carolyn Goodman, the 89-year-old mother of victim Andrew Goodman was pleased with the news.  She hoped the killers would someday be “behind bars and think about what they’ve done.” (NYT article) (BH, see Jan 8; see Murders for expanded chronology)

Johnnie Mae Chappell

January 6, 2006: Florida Gov Jeb Bush issued an executive order appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the 1964 murder of Johnnie Mae Chappell, a woman slain in a drive-by shooting in northwest Jacksonville in 1964. JW Rich, the shooter, was convicted of manslaughter and served three years in prison.

In his order, Bush wrote: “… I have determined that the ends of justice will be best served if the honorable William Cervone, State Attorney for the 8th Judicial Circuit of Florida, reviews the findings of this investigation.” Cervone’s 8th Circuit serves the Gainesville area. He was given one year to investigate and prosecute the case. Cervone said he was just beginning to learn about the case, saying that calling a grand jury in the case is one possibility.

“I would assume that the investigative techniques used many, many years ago would not be nearly as sophisticated as might be available now,” Cervone told Channel 4. “Not only do you have that kind of problem the age of the case creates, but you also have the problem inherent with people of people and/or tangible objects disappearing, losing memories, all those kinds of issues.”

Fourth Circuit State Attorney Harry Shorstein, released a statement saying it was highly unusual that the governor removed the case that he [Shorstein] had be involved with for several years from his jurisdiction.

“… It is outrageous to relieve someone who has as strong a record of civil rights prosecution and trial advocacy … as I have exhibited in my career,” Shorstein wrote. “It is wrong for the governor, without any justification, to assign the decision-making authority in this case to another state attorney.”

On May 9 that criminal investigation ended.

William Cervone, who’s 8th Circuit served the Gainesville area, was given one year to investigate and prosecute the case, but reported his findings after a five-month revision of the Investigation

Cervone released a statement saying after “reviewing the investigation into the murder of Johnnie Mae Chappell in Duval County in 1964 … my conclusions … are that no additional investigation is warranted and that no prosecution is legally possible.”

Cervone went on to state that the statute of limitations has run out on anything but first degree murder, and that there was not enough evidence to prosecute the three co-defendants on that charge simply because they were in the car when JW Rich shot and killed Chappell.

In addition, Cervone said Florida law prevents them from being recharged due to speedy trial constraints.

State Attorney Harry Shorstein issued a statement: “This was a tragic chapter in the history of our city and I understand the Chappell family’s desire to find justice. I regret that a few have used the Chappell family’s great suffering for personal, professional, or political gain.” Shorstein also commended Cervone for a comprehensive, thorough and professional investigation.(BH, see “February”; Chappell, see May 9)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

January 6, 1838: Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrated his telegraph, in Morristown, N.J. (see January 2, 1839)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Anarchism

January 6, 1907: Emma Goldman arrested while speaking on “The Misconceptions of Anarchism” at an afternoon meeting of 600 people in New York City. (see Goldman for her expanded chronology)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Youngstown Sheet & Tube

January 6, 1916: eight thousand workers went on strike at Youngstown Sheet & Tube. The next day  wives and other family members joined in the protest. Company guards used tear gas bombs and fire into the crowd killing three strikers and wounding 25. (see Jan 7)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

New York Times v. Sullivan

January 6, 1964: the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the free speech/free press case of New York Times v. Sullivan. (FS, see Jan 23; NYT, see Mar 9)

Howl

January 6, 1988: for the third time in its controversial history, Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl ran into censorship issues. On this day, a number of radio stations planned to broadcast a reading of the poem as part of an Open Ears/Open Minds series. The Pacifica stations, a group of independent, nonprofit stations, refused to broadcast the reading, however, because of the Supreme Court’s decision in FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (July 3, 1978). In that case, the Court held that the FCC could ban the “seven dirty words” that were a part of a monologue by comedian George Carlin. (NYT article) (see Feb 24)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

January 6 Music et al

Beatles

January 6, 1967: UK release of soundtrack to The Family Way movie with music written by Paul McCartney and George Martin.  (Beatles, see Jan 31; Family Way, see June 12; solo Beatle album, see November 1, 1968 )

Magical Mystery Tour

January 6 – March 1, 1968: Magical Mystery Tour the Billboard #1 album. (see Feb 16)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Religion and Public Education

 

January 6, 1983: protests from parents followed the enactment of a New Jersey law that required all public school classes to begin the day with a “moment of silence.” The New Jersey ACLU announced that it would challenge the law in court on the grounds that it violated the separation of church and state. Several states adopted similar laws in an effort to evade the Supreme Court ruling that a mandatory prayer in public schools violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court declared an Alabama moment-of-silence law unconstitutional in Wallace v. Jaffree on June 4, 1985, thereby invalidating the New Jersey law.(Separation, see Feb 3; Religion, see June 9; Moment of silence, see March 1, 1984)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran–Contra Affair

January 6, 1987: the U.S. Senate voted 88-4 to establish an eleven-member panel to hold public hearings on the Iran-Contra affair. (see Jan 9)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

January 6, 2010: a federal grand jury in Michigan charged the Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, with attempted murder on a plane, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and related offenses. (Terrorism, see Jan 29; Abdulmutallab, see Sept 14)

January 6 Insurrection

January 6, 2021: President Trump had declared a “Save America March” for January 6, 2021, the day that Congress would formally count the electoral votes and officially declare the next President.

On that day, President Trump, Donald Trump, Jr, and Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani spoke to the crowd. Trump continued to prevaricate and repeat debunked claims of widespread election fraud. He incited the crowd with statements like, “We will never give up, we will never concede.”

Only seven minutes into the 75 minute speech, the crowd chanted: Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump!

His inflammatory words pushed an already embittered and combative crowd to their successful, if temporary, violent takeover of the Capitol building forcing the members of Congress into hiding within. Five  people died, including a Capitol police officer. [Moyers timeline article] (next T, see Jan 27)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Utah same-sex marriage

January 6, 2013: the Supreme Court blocked further same-sex marriages in Utah while state officials appeal a decision allowing such unions. (see Jan 10)

Roy Moore

January 6, 2016: Alabama Supreme Court’s Chief Justice Roy Moore issued an administrative order (NYT article) barring state judges from issuing same-sex marriage licenses, in contravention of the broadly accepted meaning of the June 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Moore forbade probate judges in the state from issuing marriage licenses that violate the state’s laws prohibiting same-sex marriage, “until further decision by the Alabama Supreme Court.”

Moore argued that the U.S. Supreme Court had only explicitly struck down same-sex marriage bans in Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee in its landmark decision Obergefell v. Hodges, though the ruling may be interpreted to apply to other states’ bans based on precedent. (see Mar 4)

Hubert Edward Spires

January 6, 2017: the Air Force Board for the Correction of Military Records agreed to change the status of 91-year-old Hubert Edward Spires from “undesirable” on his  1940s discharge records to “honorable.” The Air Force had kicked out Spires because he was gay. (see Jan 24)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

January 6, 2015: Summit Midstream Partners announced that almost 3 million gallons of saltwater drilling waste spilled from a North Dakota pipeline earlier, a spill that was called the state’s largest since the North Dakota oil boom began. The brine, which leaked from a ruptured pipeline about 15 miles from the city of Williston, affected two creeks, but it doesn’t currently pose a threat to drinking water or public health. (see Jan 7)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

January 6, 2016: North Korea declared that it had detonated its first hydrogen bomb. [NYT report] (see Feb – Aug)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

January 6, 2019: with the partial government shutdown continuing, President Trump tweeted, “”We are now planning a Steel Barrier rather than concrete. It is both stronger & less obtrusive. Good solution, and made in the U.S.A.”  (IH & TW, see Jan 8)

January 6 Peace Love Art Activism