Category Archives: Music et al

Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

December 16 Peace Love Art Activism

December 16, 2016 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

December 16 Peace Love Art Activism

BILL OF RIGHTS

December 16, 1689, : the English “Bill of Rights” went into effect. (see October 19, 1765)

December 16 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Short family murdered

December 16, 1945: in Fontana, California, the home of the Short family erupted in flames, killing Mrs Helen Short and her two children, Barry, 9, and Carol Ann, 7. Mr O’day H. Short survived the explosion The Shorts were the first and only black family living in the neighborhood.

Initially organized as a collection of chicken farms and citrus groves in the early twentieth century, by the early 1940s the small San Bernardino County town of Fontana was transformed into an industrial center with the opening of a wartime steel mill. As the community population grew in numbers and diversity, strict segregation lines emerged: black families moving out of the overcrowded Los Angeles area were relegated to living in the rocky plains of “North Fontana,” and working in the dirtiest departments of the mill. Ku Klux Klan activity also surged throughout Southern California during this time period, with white supremacists poised to terrorize black and Chicano veterans of WWII returning with militant ideas of racial equality.

This was reality in fall 1945, when O’day H. Short – a Mississippi native and Los Angeles civil rights activist – purchased a tract of land “in town” with intentions of moving his family to Fontana’s white section. As the Shorts built their modest home and prepared to live in it full time, local forces of all kinds tried to stop them. In early December 1945, “vigilantes” visited Mr. Short and ordered him to move or risk harm to his family; he refused and reported the threats to the FBI and local sheriff. Sheriff’s deputies did not offer protection and instead reiterated the warning that Short should leave before his family was harmed. Shortly after, members of the Fontana Chamber of Commerce visited the home, encouraging Mr. Short to move to the North Fontana area, and offering to buy his home. He refused.

Just days later, an explosion “of unusual intensity” destroyed the home, killing Mr. Short’s wife and children. He survived for two weeks, shielded from the knowledge of the other deaths, but died in January 1946 after the local D.A. bluntly informed him of his family’s fate during an investigative interview.

Local officials initially concluded that the fire was an accident, caused by Mr. Short’s own lighting of an outdoor lamp. After surviving family members, the black press, and the Los Angeles NAACP protested, a formal inquest was held, at which an independent arson investigator obtained by the NAACP testified that the fire had clearly been intentionally set. Despite this testimony, and evidence of the harassment the Short family had endured in the weeks leading to the fire, local officials again concluded it an accident and closed the case. No criminal investigation was ever opened, no arrests or prosecutions were made, and residential segregation persisted in Fontana for over 25 more years.

Women’s Political Council

In 1946, The Women’s Political Council formed as a civic organization for African-American professional women in Montgomery, Alabama. It was inspired by the Atlanta Neighborhood Union. Many of its middle-class women were active in education; most of WPC’s members were educators at Alabama State College or Montgomery’s public schools. About forty women attended the first organizational meeting. Mary Fair Burks, who was head of Alabama State’s English department, was the group’s first president. (Black History, see Feb 12; Feminism, see July 9, 1947)

Albany Movement

December 16, 1961: New York Times: The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 264 other Negroes and one white youth were arrested today as they marched on City Hall for a prayer demonstration. All were jailed. There was no violence, despite the tension aroused by week-long racial controversy and the breakdown of negotiations between white and Negro leaders aimed at restoring this city of 56,000 persons to normal. (see Albany Movement for the long sad story)

Medgar Evers assassination

December 16, 1992: a divided Mississippi Supreme Court refused to block the trial of Byron De La Beckwith, paving the way for him to be tried for the third time for the 1963 murder of the civil rights leader Medgar Evers. The court voted 4 to 3 to deny Mr. Beckwith’s claim that the case should be dismissed without going to trial. (see Dec 23)

SOUTH AFRICA/APARTHEID

December 16, 1961: Nelson Mandela and other A.N.C. leaders form a military wing called Umkhonto we Sizwe, or Spear of the Nation. Mr. Mandela becomes the first commander in chief of the guerrilla army. He will train to fight, work to obtain weapons for the group, and come to be known as the Black Pimpernel, but he will never see combat. (see August 5, 1962)

Amadou Diallo

December 16, 1999: a NY appellate court ordered a change of venue to Albany, stating that pretrial publicity had made a fair trial in New York City impossible. (see February 25, 2000)

Colin Powell

December 16, 2000: President-elect George W. Bush selected Colin Powell to become the first African-American secretary of state.(see January 21, 2001)

Tulsa “Good Friday” Shootings

December 16, 2013: On April 6, 2012 Jacob England and Alvin Watts had gone on a shooting spree that left three people dead and terrorized Tulsa’s black community. On this date, the two men were each sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. The men were sentenced after pleading guilty to three first-degree murder charges and two shooting with intent to kill charges. England, 19, and Watts, 33, were also sentenced to one year in the county jail for the misdemeanor charge of malicious intimidation, the state of Oklahoma’s equivalent of a hate crime offense.

On December 16, 2013, Jacob England and Alvin Watts, the two suspects in Tulsa’s so-called “Good Friday” murders, were each sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. The men were sentenced after pleading guilty to three first-degree murder charges and two shooting with intent to kill charges. England, 19, and Watts, 33, were also sentenced to one year in the county jail for the misdemeanor charge of malicious intimidation, the state of Oklahoma’s equivalent of a hate crime offense.

BLACK & SHOT

December 16, 2015: Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke was indicted on first-degree murder charges in the shooting of Laquan McDonald. (B & S, see Dec 27; McDonald, see Jan 22)

Emmett Till

December 16, 2016: President Obama signed the Emmett Till Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016. The Act allowed the Department of Justice and the FBI to reopen unsolved civil rights crimes.committed before 1980. The legislation is an expansion of a previous bill of a similar name signed into law in 2008. (BH, see January 10, 2017; ET, see January 23, 2017)

Trayvon Martin Shooting

December 16, 2017: George Zimmerman took a verbal shot at rapper JAY-Z threatening to “beat” the rapper and feed him to “an alligator” over Jay-Z’s role in a Trayvon Martin documentary.

Zimmerman, said he has a score to settle with JAY-Z over the way a camera crew treated the Zimmerman family. Zimmerman complained that a production team made unannounced visits to the homes of his parents and an uncle in Florida and said JAY-Z and executive producer Michael Gesparro indirectly “harassed” his family.

“I know how to handle people who f–k with me,” Zimmerman added “I have since February 2012.”

Negro Leagues Recognized

December 16, 2020: Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred declared that seven Negro leagues that operated between 1920 and 1948 would be recognized as official major leagues, with their records and statistics counted in baseball’s record books.

“All of us who love baseball have long known that the Negro Leagues produced many of our game’s best players, innovations and triumphs against a backdrop of injustice,” Manfred said in a statement. “We are now grateful to count the players of the Negro Leagues where they belong: as Major Leaguers within the official historical record.” [NYT article] (next BH, see Dec 17)

December 16 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

Korea

December 16, 1950: President Harry S. Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency during the Korean War in response to Chinese intervention.

Survival Under Atomic Attack

In 1951, the US Government released a film, “Survival Under Atomic Attack” (NN, see Jan 27; Red Scare, see March 29, 1951)

LSD & the US Government

In 1951: the CIA became aware of and began experimenting with LSD. (next Red Scare, see March 29)

LSD & Al Hubbard

In 1951: Al Hubbard first tried LSD. Hubbard was an early proponent for the drug during the 1950s. He is reputed to have been the “Johnny Appleseed of LSD” and the first person to emphasize LSD’s potential as a visionary or transcendental drug. Hubbard may have introduced more than 6,000 people to LSD, including scientists, politicians, intelligence officials, diplomats, and church figures. Hubbard, then forty-nine years old, eagerly sought out others familiar with hallucinogenic drugs, including Aldous Huxley, the eminent British novelist who for years had been preoccupied with the specter of drug-induced thought control.

“Most people are walking in their sleep,” Hubbard said. “Turn them around, start them in the opposite direction and they wouldn’t even know the difference. [but] give them a good dose of LSD and let them see themselves for what they are.”

LSD & Charles Savage

In 1952: Charles Savage published the first study on the use of LSD to treat depression.

LSD & Dr. Humphry Osmond

In 1953: Dr. Humphry Osmond began treating alcoholics with LSD.

First LSD conferences

In 1955: first conferences focusing on LSD and mescaline took place in Atlantic City and Princeton, N.J.

LSD & Aldous Huxley

In 1955: with Al Hubbard’s assistance, novelist Aldous Huxley first took LSD. (see March 14, 1957)

LSD/relating to Nature

December 16, 2019: the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health published an article in which they said, “We found a strong relationship between the amount of lifetime use of psychedelics and nature relatedness, as well as increases in nature relatedness from before to after psychedelic use.” (next LSD, see November 3, 2020)

December 16 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Overt Homosexuality

December 16, 1963: the NY State Liquor Authority announced the revocation of the liquor licenses of two NYC bars. In a NY Times article, NYC Police Commissioner said, “Homosexuality is another one of the many problems confronting law enforcement…the underlying factors in homosexuality are not criminal but rather medical and sociological.” In the same NYT article, a Dr Irvin Bieber stated, “Public acceptance, [of homosexuality] if based on the concept of homosexuality as an illness, could be useful. If, by a magic wand, one could eliminate overnight all the manifestations of hostility I think there would be a gradual, important reduction in the incidence of homosexuality.” (see May 19, 1964)

Rev Frank Schaefer

December 16, 2013: Rev. Frank Schaefer, a United Methodist minister who was suspended for officiating at his son’s gay marriage, said he would not voluntarily surrender his religious credentials even though he cannot uphold his church’s doctrines on issues relating to same-sex marriage.

Schaefer was convicted of violating church doctrine by performing a same-sex marriage when he officiated at his son’s nuptials in 2007 in Massachusetts. On Nov. 19, he was suspended for 30 days and asked to agree to abide by church doctrine, as outlined in the Methodist Book of Discipline, or to surrender his ministerial credentials. (see Dec 19)

December 16 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam & STUDENT ACTIVISM

December 16, 1965: in Des Moines, Iowa John F. Tinker (15), John’s younger sister Mary Beth Tinker (13), and their friend Christopher Eckhardt (16) decided to wear black armbands to their schools (high school for John and Christopher, junior high for Mary Beth) in protest of the Vietnam War and supporting the Robert Kennedy’s proposed extension of the Viet Cong’s proposed Christmas Eve truce. Two days earlier, the principals of the Des Moines schools adopted a policy that banned the wearing of armbands to school. Any student violating the policy would be suspended and allowed to return to school only after agreeing to comply with the policy. Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt chose to violate this policy, and the next day John Tinker also did so. Both were suspended from school until after January 1, 1966, when their protest had been scheduled to end. (for more, see Tinker v Des Moines ; Student Activism, see February 27, 1969; Tinker, see February 24, 1969; Vietnam, see Dec 18)

December 16 Peace Love Art Activism

December 16 Music et al

The Beatles

December 16, 1966: release of Beatles Fourth Christmas Record — Pantomime: Everywhere It’s Christmas to fan club members. (next Beatles, see Dec 18)

John & Yoko

December 16, 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono put up eleven billboards in major cities worldwide with the slogan: War Is Over! (Lennon, see Dec 19; Vietnam see February 18, 1970)

December 16 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

December 16, 1971, Bangladesh war of independence ends in victory. (NYT article)

December 16, 1991: Kazakhstan declared its independence from the Soviet Union. (USSR, see Dec 24; ID, see March 1, 1992)

December 16 Peace Love Art Activism

Sara Jane Moore

December 16, 1975, a federal court accepted Sara Jane Moore’s plea of guilty of attempting to assassinate President Ford. (see Sarah Jane for more)

December 16 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

December 16, 1989: a powerful explosion killed Federal Judge Robert Vance after he opened a mail bomb in his house near Birmingham, Alabama. His wife, Helen, was seriously injured.

The federal government charged Walter Leroy Moody, Jr., with the murders of Judge Vance and of Robert E. Robinson, a black civil-rights attorney in Savannah, Georgia, who had been killed in a separate explosion at his office on December 18. Moody was also charged with mailing bombs that were defused at the Eleventh Circuit’s headquarters in Atlanta and at the Jacksonville office of the NAACP.

Moody was sentenced to seven federal life terms. (see Dec 18)

December 16 Peace Love Art Activism

IRAQ

Weapon discovery

December 16, 1995: Iraqi scuba divers, under the direction of the United Nations Special Commission, dredge the Tigris near Baghdad. The divers find over 200 prohibited Russian-made missile instruments and components. (see August 31, 1996)

U.S. and British forces attack Iraq v Clinton Impeachment

December 16, 1998: in a coordinated strike, U.S. and British forces attack Iraq in retaliation for its failure to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors. Because of the military action, House Republican leaders delay a planned impeachment debate and vote set to begin Thursday, December 17. (see Clinton Impeachment: Iraq, see October 2, 2002)

December 16 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

December 16, 2006: the Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $60m to settle to 45 cases of alleged sexual abuse by priests. (see January 4, 2007)

December 16 Peace Love Art Activism

STAND YOUR GROUND LAW

December 16, 2012: Tampa, FL. Michael Jock was waiting in line at a Little Caesars when another customer, Randall White, complained about the slow service. The men exchanged words, which turned into a shoving match. Jock pulled out a revolver and fired it at White, striking him in the torso. The two struggled and White was shot a second time. Jock claimed the action was justified under Florida’s “stand your ground” law.

However, according to the Tampa Bay Times, police determined that the incident “did not reach a level where deadly force was required.” The officers charged Jock with aggravated battery with a weapon and shooting within a building. He was later released on $20,000 bail. (see January 3, 2013)

December 16 Peace Love Art Activism

Stop and Frisk Policy

December 16, 2013: the Civilian Complaint Review Board went after officer Roman Goris after an alleged wrongful stop and frisk in 2011. The NYPD disciplinary trial of marked the first time the NYPD’s independent watchdog prosecuted an officer for a stop and frisk violation itself. (see Dec 19)

December 16 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

December 16, 2014: drug Policy Alliance lobbyist Bill Piper told the Los Angeles Times “the war on medical marijuana is over” after President Obama signed the $1.1 trillion “Cromnibus” bill with a small provision tucked away inside that prohibited the federal government from interfering with states that legalized it. (see Dec 18 or see CCC for expanded chronology)

December 16 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

December 16, 2021: the federal government permanently lifted a major restriction on access to abortion pills. It allowed patients to receive the medication by mail instead of requiring them to obtain the pills in person from specially certified health providers.

The Food and Drug Administration’s action meant that medication abortion, an increasingly common method authorized in the United States for pregnancies up to 10 weeks’ gestation, would become more available to women who found it difficult to travel to an abortion provider or prefer to terminate a pregnancy in their homes. It allowed patients to have a telemedicine appointment with a provider who could prescribe abortion pills and send them to the patient by mail. [NYT article] (next WH, see March 25, 2022)

December 16 Peace Love Art Activism

Music et al, Music of the 60s, Today in history

December 15 Music et al

December 15, 2016 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

December 15 Music et al

The First Family

December 15, 1962 – March 8, 1963: Vaughn Meader’s comedy album, The First Family Billboard #1 album.

On it, Meader and others parodied the President John F Kennedy and the rest of the extended first family. Released in November 1962 (two years after JFK’s election), the album sold at a rate more than one million copies per week for the first 6 1/2 weeks. By January it had sold more than 7 million copies. The two main writers were Bob Booker and Earle Doud. In fact, the actual name of the album is: “Bob Booker & Earle Doud Present The First Family.” Before release, there were some who felt that such comedy was degrading to the Presidency, but its sales hushed those detractors.

The album won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1963. In March 1963 a second album, The First Family Volume Two, had a combination of spoken-word comedy and songs. It peaked at #4 on the album chart in June 1963.

Immediately upon Kennedy’s assassination, Cadence Records pulled both albums from stores and destroyed all unsold copies. Not until 1999 did the albums appear again.

December 15 Music et al

Beatles ’65

On December 15, 1964, Capital released The Beatles Beatles ’65. In two weeks it became the 9^th biggest selling album of 1964.

It was the fifth album Capital issued, the Beatles’ seventh American album overall. Like many early Beatle albums, Beatles ’65 was not a UK release, but a collection of songs many of which had already appeared on UK releases.

For Beatles ’65 the songs were mainly from the UK Beatles For Sale, but also the UK Hard Day’s Night. The tracks were:

Side 1

No Reply*
I’m a Loser*
Baby’s In Black*
Rock and Roll Music
I’ll Follow the Sun*
Mr Moonlight

Side 2

Honey Don’t
I’ll Be Back*
She’s a Woman*
I Feel Fine*
Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby

*written by Lennon/McCartney

Beatle success always influenced the music industry even including album titles. During 1965 the following artists released their own ’65 album:

Frank Sinatra, Sinatra ’65
Duke Ellington, Ellington ’65
Sergio Mendes, Brasil ’65

December 15 Music et al

Plastic Ono Band

On December 15, 1969 John Lennon gave what turned out to be his last live performance in England. His Plastic Ono Band played at the UNICEF “Peace for Christmas” charity concert at the Lyceum Ballroom in London.

Surprised by the announcement that UNICEF had scheduled him, but wanted to take advantage of the publicity to promote his War Is Over campaign, Lennon quickly invited those who had participated in September’s Toronto Rock and Roll Revival: Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, and Alan White, and Billy Preston.

On December 15, however, Clapton arrived with almost all of Delaney & Bonnie’s touring band, which at the time included George Harrison. Because of Harrison’s participation, it was the first time since the Beatles last show on August 29, 1966 that Lennon and Harrison performed in a concert together.

The full line-up, playing before a huge “War is over” backdrop, was: Lennon, Harrison, Clapton and Delaney Bramlett, Ono, Bonnie Bramlett, Alan White, im Gordon, Billy Preston, Klaus Voormann, Bobby Keys, and Jim Price. Lennon later referred to it as the Plastic Ono Supergroup.

Don’t Worry Kyoko

The band played two songs. For the first Lennon said, “We’d like to do a number. This song’s about pain” and then played “Cold Turkey.” The second song was “Don’t Worry Kyoko” which lasted nearly 40 minutes. Geoff Emerick recorded the songs and he had to switch tape reels twice. Drummers Alan White and Jimmy Gordon eventually sped up their drumming to the point that the band simply had to run out of steam. Many in the audience had already walked out. Those who remained were, according to Lennon, “in a trance.”

The songs remained unreleased until the 2005 reissue of Lennon’s Some Time in New York City. “Don’t Worry Kyoko” was severely trimmed. (Songfact article)

The concert also featured the Young Rascals, Desmond Dekker and the Aces, and Blue Mink and Black Velvet. Emperor Rosko was the disc jockey between performances.

The next day, John and Yoko flew to Toronto to begin the next stage of their peace campaign.

December 15 Music et al

Lynching, Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

December 15 Peace Love Art Activism

December 15, 2016 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

December 15 Peace Love Art Activism

BILL OF RIGHTS

December 15, 1791: Virginia became the last state to ratify the Bill of Rights, making the first ten amendments to the Constitution law and completing the revolutionary reforms begun by the Declaration of Independence. Anti-Federalist critics of the document, who were afraid that a too-strong federal government would become just another sort of the monarchical regime from which they had recently been freed, believed that the Constitution gave too much power to the federal government by outlining its rights but failing to delineate the rights of the individuals living under it.

First Amendment – Freedom of speech, press, religion, peaceable assembly, and to petition the government
Second Amendment – Right for the people to keep and bear arms, as well as to maintain a militia
Third Amendment – Protection from quartering of troops
Fourth Amendment – Protection from unreasonable search and seizure
Fifth Amendment – Due process, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, private property
Sixth Amendment – Trial by jury and other rights of the accused
Seventh Amendment – Civil trial by jury
Eighth Amendment – Prohibition of excessive bail, as well as cruel and unusual punishment
Ninth Amendment – Protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Bill of Rights.
Tenth Amendment – Powers of states and people.

Fourth Amendment

December 15, 2014: in Heien v. North Carolina the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the police in a case arising from an officer’s “mistake of law.” At issue was a 2009 traffic stop for a single busted brake light that led to the discovery of illegal drugs inside the vehicle. According to state law at the time, however, motor vehicles were required only to have “a stop lamp,” meaning that the officer did not have a lawful reason for the initial traffic stop because it was not a crime to drive around with a single busted brake light. Did that stop therefore violate the 4th Amendment’s guarantee against unreasonable search and seizure? Writing today for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts held that it did not. “Because the officer’s mistake about the brake-light law was reasonable,” Roberts declared, “the stop in this case was lawful under the Fourth Amendment.” (see March 30, 2015)

FREE SPEECH

December 15, 2017: the Trump administration prohibited officials at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agency (CDC) from using a list of seven words or phrases — including “fetus” and “transgender” — in any official documents being prepared for 2018’s budget.

Policy analysts at the Centers were told of the list of forbidden words at a meeting with senior CDC officials who oversee the budget. According to an analyst the forbidden words were “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.”

In some instances, the analysts were given alternative phrases. Instead of “science-based” or “evidence-based,” the suggested phrase is “CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes,” the person said. In other cases, no replacement words were immediately offered. [WP article] (see Dec 21)

December 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

December 15, 1890: Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull and 11 other tribe members were killed in Grand River, S.D., during a clash with Indian police. (see Dec 29)

December 15 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

December 15, 1894: Judge Woods sentenced labor leader and socialist Eugene V. Debs to six months imprisonment for his leadership of the Pullman railroad strike. (see February 4, 1896)

US Labor History & Feminism

December 15, 1921: the Kansas National Guard was called out to subdue from 2,000 to 6,000 protesting women who were going from mine to mine attacking non-striking miners in the Pittsburg coal fields. The women made headlines across the state and the nation: they were christened the “Amazon Army” by the New York Times. (F, see February 27, 1922; Labor, see Dec 19)

December 15, 1967: the Age Discrimination in Employment Act supplemented the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which in Title VII prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin — but did not cover age. The age discrimination act was one of the many major legislative achievements of President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society.

The law: “(b) It is therefore the purpose of this chapter to promote employment of older persons based on their ability rather than age; to prohibit arbitrary age discrimination in employment; to help employers and workers find ways of meeting problems arising from the impact of age on employment.”

Vietnam & US Labor History

December 15, 1967: meeting in its biennial convention, the AFL-CIO declared “unstinting support” for “measures the Administration might deem necessary to halt Communist aggression and secure a just and lasting peace” in Vietnam. (Vietnam, see January 3, 1968; Labor, see March 17, 1968)

December 15 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Tom Waller lynched

December 15, 1897: a group of 30 white men approached a group of black men, including an acquaintance of Charles Lewis (see Dec 10), and coerced him into saying that a man named Tom Waller had also been involved in the crime. Though another man in the group insisted this was not true, the unsubstantiated allegation was enough to seal Mr. Waller’s fate.

Soon after he was taken into custody, a growing mob of 400 people seized Waller from law enforcement and conducted a “sham trial”; newspapers reported that several men “held court under a tree,” where Waller was interrogated as a rope was placed around his neck. Some men reportedly suggested that the “trial” be delayed a week because the “evidence” was so scant, but the rest of mob rejected that idea and instead insisted that Waller be lynched that night.

Newspapers later explained that the mob preferred to lynch Mr. Waller immediately because waiting “meant standing guard all night in the cold, and most of those present did not relish this at all.”

As the hundreds of white men in the mob grew “hungry,” press accounts described, “a wagon load of provisions” including fish and lobster was brought forward and everyone “indulged in a hearty supper” before continuing their deadly plan.

The mob ultimately hanged Tom Waller on the night of December 15th, on the same hill where Mr. Lewis had been lynched five days earlier, and left his body hanging until 10am the next morning. (next BH, see February 22, 1898; see 19th century for expanded lynching chronology)

Albany Movement

December 15, 1961: going against some of his Southern Christian Leadership Conference advisers, King accepted an invitation to Albany, Georgia and spoke at a rally in support of activists that had be arrested the previous day. (see Albany for expanded chronology)

BLACK & SHOT

December 15, 2015: Chicago Mayor Emanuel announced the creation of the Task Force on Police Accountability, which would study the processes, oversight and training at CPD, and make recommendations. (B & S and L. McDonald, see Dec 16)

December 15 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

December 15, 1950: a Senate report titled “Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts in Government“ is distributed to members of Congress after the federal government had covertly investigated employees’ sexual orientation at the beginning of the Cold War. The report states since homosexuality is a mental illness, homosexuals “constitute security risks” to the nation because “those who engage in overt acts of perversion lack the emotional stability of normal persons.” Over the previous few years, more than 4,380 gay men and women had been discharged from the military and around 500 fired from their jobs with the government. The purging will become known as the “lavender scare.”(see March 25, 1952)

Redefinition

December 15, 1973: in a major breakthrough for lesbian and gay rights, the American Psychiatric Association removed the designation of homosexuality as a mental illness. The designation had been a major stigma on same-sex relations. The American Psychological Association, a different professional group, removed its designation of homosexuality as unhealthy in 1975. (NYT article) (see January 1974)

Washington, D.C.

December 15, 2009: the Washington, D.C. City Council voted to legalize same-sex marriage. [CNN article] (see Dec 18)

December 15 Peace Love Art Activism

December 15 Music et al

December 15 – March 8, 1963 – Vaughn Meader’s comedy album, The First Family Billboard #1 album.

December 15, 1964, The Beatles: Beatles ’65 released. In two weeks it became the 9^th biggest selling album of 1964. (see Dec 18)

John’s last live performance

December 15, 1969: John Lennon gave his last live performance in England. It was a UNICEF benefit in London. (see Dec 16)

December 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Space Race

December 15 – 16, 1965: Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford fly Gemini 6 within a few feet of Borman and Lovell in Gemini 7, for the first true rendezvous in space. (NYT article) (see February 3, 1966)

December 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

December 15, 1969: Nixon administration released “A Matter of Simple Justice,” a report on women’s rights. The 77-page report declared that the federal government “should be as seriously concerned about sex discrimination as with race discrimination.” To that end, it called on the Nixon administration to convene a national conference on women’s rights and for Congress to develop legislation to eliminate all existing forms of sex discrimination. (see February 1, 1970)

First Secret Service females

December 15, 1971: the Secret Service appointed its first five female special agents. [The Hill article]

Phyllis Schlafly Blasts ERA

In 1972 Phyllis Schlafly published “What’s Wrong with ‘Equal Rights’ for Women,” launching the campaign opposing ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Arguing that the ERA would force women into the military, jeopardize benefits under Social Security, and weaken existing legal protections under divorce and marriage laws, Schlafly played a large part in bringing the movement toward ratification of the amendment to a halt. (text) (see Jan 1)

Anita Hill

December 15, 2017: announced that Anita Hill would head the Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace. The Commission was composed of and funded by some of the most powerful names in Hollywood and was created to tackle widespread sexual abuse and harassment in the media and entertainment industries.

Kathleen Kennedy, the president of Lucasfilm; Maria Eitel, the co-chair of the Nike Foundation; the powerhouse attorney Nina Shaw; and Freada Kapor Klein, the venture capitalist who helped pioneer surveys on sexual harassment decades ago spearheaded the Commission whose mission was “tackle the broad culture of abuse and power disparity.” (see March 15, 2018)

Women’s Health

December 15, 2017: Judge Wendy Beetlestone of the Federal District Court in Philadelphia blocked Trump administration rules that made it easier for employers to deny insurance coverage of contraceptives for women.

Beetlestone issued a preliminary injunction, saying the rules contradicted the text of the Affordable Care Act by allowing many employers to opt out of providing contraceptive coverage if they had religious or moral objections.

In the lawsuit, filed by the State of Pennsylvania, the judge said the rules would cause irreparable harm because tens of thousands of women would lose contraceptive coverage. [NYT article] (see Dec 18)

December 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

December 15, 1969: Nixon announced that 50,000 additional U.S. troops would be pulled out of South Vietnam by April 15, 1970. (see Dec 16)

December 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Environment

MV Argo Merchant

December 15, 1976: the oil tanker MV Argo Merchant caused one of the worst marine oil spills in history when it runs aground near Nantucket, Massachusetts. (NYT article) (see May 11, 1977)

Paris Accord

December 15, 2018: diplomats from nearly 200 countries reached a deal to keep the Paris climate agreement alive by adopting a detailed set of rules to implement the pact.

The deal, struck after an all-night bargaining session, would ultimately require every country in the world to follow a uniform set of standards for measuring their planet-warming emissions and tracking their climate policies. And it called on countries to step up their plans to cut emissions ahead of another round of talks in 2020.

It also called on richer countries to be clearer about the aid they intend to offer to help poorer nations install more clean energy or build resilience against natural disasters. And it builds a process in which countries that are struggling to meet their emissions goals can get help in getting back on track. (see January 10, 2019)

NYC Gas Ban

December 15, 2021: New York City’s City Council approved a bill banning gas hookups in new buildings. The bill will ban gas-powered stoves, space heaters and water boilers in all new buildings, a move that would significantly affect real estate development and construction in the nation’s largest city and could influence how cities around the world seek to reduce the burning of fossil fuels, which drives climate change.

The bill effectively required all-electric heating and cooking and the ban would take effect in December 2023 for buildings under seven stories; for taller buildings, developers negotiated a delay until 2027.

Mayor Bill de Blasio had called for the ban two years ago, and wold sign the bill “enthusiastically,” said Ben Furnas, the director of climate and sustainability for the mayor’s office.

“It’s a historic step forward in our efforts to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels,” Mr. Furnas said. “If we can do it here, we can do it anywhere.” [NYT article] (next EI, see )

December 15 Peace Love Art Activism

The Cold War

People’s Republic of China

December 15, 1978: President Jimmy Carter stated that as of January 1, 1979, the United States would formally recognize the communist People’s Republic of China (PRC) and sever relations with Taiwan. (see June 18, 1979)

Dissolution of the USSR

December 15, 1989: a popular uprising began in Romania. [RFE article] (see USSR for expanded chronology)

December 15 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

December 15, 1981: a suicide car bomb killed 61 people at the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon; Iraq’s ambassador to Lebanon was among the casualties. (see April 18, 1983)

December 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Irish Troubles

December 15, 1993: the Downing Street Declaration, issued jointly by UK and the Republic of Ireland, affirmed the UK would transfer Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland only if a majority of Northern Ireland’s people approved. (see Troubles for expanded chronology)

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

December 15, 1998: in a blow to White House hopes, 11 moderate House Republicans announced they would vote to impeach the president. (see CI for expanded chronology)

December 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

December 15, 2009: millions of Iraqis turned out to choose a parliament in a mostly peaceful election. [Aljazeera article] (see February 2, 2006)