December 8 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Cordelia Stevenson Raped/Lynched

December 8, 1915: a white mob in New Hope near Columbus, Mississippi, raped and lynched a Black woman named Cordelia Stevenson and left her body hanging for days near a railroad track to terrorize Black residents.

Though the local police had concluded the her son had not been involved in a barn fire months earlier and released Mrs Stevenson and her husband, on December 8, a white mob gathered outside the Stevenson home, forced their way into the house while the couple slept, and kidnapped Mrs. Stevenson. The mob raped and lynched her, then left Mrs. Stevenson’s naked, brutalized body hanging by the railroad track for two days, where she was visible to thousands of people traveling by train.

No one was ever held responsible for her death. [EJI article] (next BH, see March 24, 1916; next Lynching, see May 15, 1916 or see AL2  for expanded Lynching chronology)

Birth of a Nation

On December 8, 1922 New York City officials yielded to protests and denied a permit to the film Birth of a Nation. D.W. Griffith’s film is one of the most important and controversial films in American movie history. It is important in the development of film as an art form because of its many innovations in cinematography and narrative storytelling techniques. The film was and still is controversial because it embraced the racist view of the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War, portraying African-Americans as savages and fools, while presenting the Ku Klux Klan as heroes. The film was protested by civil rights activists when it opened in New York City on March 3, 1915, but it was not banned at that time. (see Dec 12)

Gibbs v. Board of Education

December 8, 1936: the NAACP won in its case, Gibbs v. Board of Education, against the state of Maryland, ensuring that white and black teachers were paid equally.

News Music/Strange Fruit

In 1937: originally a poem written by Abel Meeropol (1903 – 1986) under the pseudonym of Lewis Allan [the names of his two biological children, neither of whom survived infancy [(http://www.ladyday.net/stuf/vfsept98.html)]. Put to music, Billie  Billie Holiday’s recording made it to No. 16 on the charts in July 1939.  Time Magazine denounced the song as “a prime piece of musical propaganda” for the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP).” [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USACstrangefruit.htm] (BH &  NM, see In 1938)

 Southern trees bear strange fruitBlood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the popular trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the trees to dropHere is a strange and bitter cry

 Lyrics: http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/billie-holiday-lyrics/strange-fruit-lyrics.html Billie Holliday video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs

the Gutter Twins (2005) video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SXeA2QDz9A  (next BH, see Nov 17)

Montgomery Bus Boycott

December 8, 1955: Black taxi drivers charged ten cents per ride, a fare equal to the cost to ride the bus, in support of the boycott. When word of this reached city officials on December 8, the order went out to fine any cab driver who charged a rider less than 45 cents. (BH, see January 3, 1956;see Boycott for much more)

Samuel Younge, Jr

December 8, 1966: Marvin Segrest, tried for the second degree murder of Samuel Younge, Jr, (see January 3, 1966) was found not guilty by an all-white jury. (see Dec 26)

LA Black Panthers Headquarters

December 8, 1969: four days after the assassination of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in Chicago, Illinois, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) set out to serve a warrant to search Party headquarters at 41st Street and Central Avenue for stolen weapons. Though the warrant was obtained on the basis of false information provided by the FBI, police used it as the basis to ambush about twelve Party members inside the building.

More than 200 police officers, including the newly militarized Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team descended on the headquarters, armed with 5000 rounds of ammunition, gas masks, a helicopter, a tank, and a military-grade grenade.

The Party members inside resisted the raid and surrendered only after holding off police forces for approximately five hours. In the end, three officers and six members of the Black Panther Party were wounded during this attack. [EJI article] (next BH & BP, see January 13, 1970)

Nelson Mandela

December 8, 2012: Mandela was hospitalized for nearly 19 days, being treated for pneumonia and having an operation for gallstones. (see December 5, 2013)

137 SHOTS

December 8, 2015: U.S. District Judge James Gwin rejected a reverse-discrimination lawsuit in which eight white Cleveland police officers and one Hispanic officer claimed the city placed them on longer stints of restricted duty than their black counterparts.

Gwin concluded that the officers produced “no evidence” to support their claims. He wrote that what the group described as evidence were just “short excerpts from dated testimony in unrelated cases that consist of individuals giving general discussion about race” and the city. Records show that the length of restricted duty more depends on the facts of a case than the color of an officer’s skin. (see 137 shots for much more)

December 8 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

December 8, 1886: in the wake of the Haymarket incident (May 4, 1886), labor organizer Samuel Gompers set up the American Federation of Labor (AFL), a collection of trade unions that will play a major role in the labor movement throughout the century to come. (see Dec 11)

December 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Matilda Josyln Gage

December 8, 1893: at a meeting of the Woman’s Suffrage League, Gage reacted to a statement made by the Rev Dr Parkhurst about women turned out to get a night’s lodging—that they might “starve or freeze on the streets,” with his consent, if it only brought them to a proper state of repentance. Gage stated, “For every 2,000 women who are turned homeless and friendless into the cold wintry streets, with every man’s hand against them , there are 20,000 men as guilty who are stting in comfortable homes, surrounded with luxury, who pose as honored and respected members of society.”

In 1895 Gage contributed to Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s The Woman’s Bible, writing interpretations of three Biblical passages pertinent to women. TWB is a major criticism of standard biblical interpretation from a radical feminist point of view. (see Gage for expanded chronology)

NY State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage

In 1897 Josephine Dodge founded the New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. Dodge was the first president, the NAOWS believed that woman suffrage would decrease women’s work in communities and their ability to effect societal reforms. Active on a state and federal level, the group also established a newsletter, Woman’s Protest( reorganized as Woman Patriot in 1918), that was a bellwether of antisuffrage opinion. In 1918 the NAOWS moved its headquarters to Washington, D.C., where it operated until its disbandment following the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. Woman Patriot continued to be published through the 1920s, generally opposing the work of feminists and liberal women’s groups.founded. (NY State Library link) (next Feminism, see  March 18, 1898; VR, see April 25, 1898)

Feminism & Voting Rights

December 8, 1913: a delegation of 94 suffragists, led by Anna Howard Shaw of the National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA), met with President Woodrow Wilson in the White House on this day to discuss women’s suffrage. Wilson told them that he would not support women’s suffrage because it had not been  mentioned in the 1912 Democratic Party Platform. At the meeting, he refused to give his personal view on the topic. Even while governor of New Jersey (1910–1912), Wilson had avoided taking a public position on the issue. (see March 3, 1914)

December 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Japanese troops in Vietnam

December 8, 1941:  the United States declared war on Japan which already had 50,000 troops in Vietnam with the consent of the Vichy French government. (see April 1943)

Nixon firm on pullout

December 8, 1969: President Richard Nixon said that the Vietnam War was coming to a “conclusion as a result of the plan that we have instituted.” [Nixon had announced at a conference in June that the US would be following a new program he termed “Vietnamization.“] (see Dec 15)

December 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Japanese Internment Camps

December 8, 1941: Attorney-General Biddle called for tolerance in dealings with the many Japanese here “of unquestioned loyalty.” (see Internment for expanded chronology)

December 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Religion and Public Education

December 8, 1947: McCollum v. Board of Education—Attorney  Walter F. Dodd represented Vashti McCollum at the supreme court and John L. Franklin again served as counsel for the State of Illinois. (see Dec 12)

December 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

“Atoms For Peace”

December 8, 1953: at the United Nations, President Eisenhower gave his “Atoms For Peace” speech to the General Assembly at the United Nations. The Atoms For Peace program goal was to supply equipment and information to schools, hospitals, and research institutions within the U.S. and throughout the world. (NYT article) (see January 12, 1954)

Norman D. Mayer

December 8, 1982: Norman D. Mayer, demanding a nationwide debate on nuclear weapons, threatened to blow up the Washington Monument with explosives he claimed were inside a van.

After a 10-hour standoff, law enforcement officers shot Mayer dead. There were no explosives. (NYT article) (see September 26, 1983)

Reagan/Gorbachev and warhead reduction

December 8, 1987:  President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed a treaty calling for destruction of intermediate-range nuclear missiles. (CW, see December 3, 1989; NN, see April 7, 1989)

December 8 Peace Love Art Activism

December 8 Music et al

Beach Boys

December 8, 1961: Candix Records( X records) a small label based in Los Angeles, released The Beach Boys first single ‘Surfin‘ . It peaked at number 75 in the US; it was never released in the UK.

On the strength of the song’s performance in the Southern California market, Capitol Records signed the group. Other surfing songs would follow: ‘Surfin’ Safari,’ ‘Surfin’ U.S.A.,’and ‘Surfer Girl.’ (see June 4, 1962)

John Lennon

December 8, 1980: John Lennon shot and killed. (see Too Soon Gone) (next Beatles, see January 22, 1981)

Grateful Dead

December 8, 1995: four months after Jerry Garcia’s death, the Grateful Dead announced they were breaking up.  (see May 31, 2017)

December 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Clinton Impeachment

Betty Currie

December 8, 1997: Betty Currie, Clinton’s personal secretary, asked presidential pal Vernon Jordan to help Monica Lewinsky find a job in New York.

Witnesses

December 8, 1998: in a daylong session, President Clinton’s lawyers and three panels of witnesses testified on the president’s behalf, saying Clinton’s behavior does not warrant impeachment.  (see Clinton for expanded chronology)

December 8 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

December 8, 2009:Ohio prison officials executed a death row inmate, Kenneth Biros, with a one-drug intravenous lethal injection, a method never before used on a human. The new method, which involved a large dose of anesthetic, akin to how animals are euthanized, had been hailed by most experts as painless and an improvement over the three-drug cocktail used in most states, but it is unlikely to settle the debate over the death penalty.

While praising the shift to a single drug, death penalty opponents argued that Ohio’s new method, and specifically its backup plan of using intra-muscular injection, has not been properly vetted by legal and medical experts and that since it has never been tried out on humans before, it is the equivalent of human experimentation. But the United States Supreme Court refused to intervene and the procedure went largely as planned. [NYT article] (see Dec 18)

December 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Arctic Climate Change

December 8, 2020: scientists at a conference of the American Geophysical Union said that during 2020 the Arctic had continued its unwavering shift toward a new climate as the effects of near-record warming surged across the region, shrinking ice and snow cover and fueling extreme wildfires.

“The story is unambiguous: the transformation of the Arctic to a warmer, less frozen and biologically changed region is well underway,” the scientists said in an annual assessment of the region. [NYT article] (next EI, see January 11, 2021)

Federal Carbon Footprint

December 8, 2021:  President Biden on set in motion a plan to make the federal government carbon neutral, ordering federal agencies to buy electric vehicles, to power facilities with wind, solar and nuclear energy, and to use sustainable building materials.

In a series of executive orders, Mr. Biden directed the government to transform its 300,000 buildings, 600,000 cars and trucks, and use its annual purchases of $650 billion in goods and services to meet his goal of a federal government that stops adding carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by 2050. [NYT article] (next EI, see Dec 14)

December 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

December 8, 2023: U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw prohibited the practice of separating migrant children from their families for eight years following an settlement that will allow migrant children and their families, who were separated at the US-Mexico border, to be reunited.

The “Mrs. L” deal, the result of a lawsuit against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other government agencies, covered those affected by the 2018 Trump administration policy to separate children from their caregivers if they could not provide documentation at the border.

The separation of thousands of families “represents one of the most shameful chapters in the history of our country,” Sabraw said moments before approving the settlement. [Jurist article] (next IH, see March 8, 2024)

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

 BLACK HISTORY

December 7, 1874: during the Reconstruction era that followed Emancipation and the Civil War, African American Mississippians made significant strides toward political equality. Despite the passage of black codes designed to oppress and disenfranchise black people in the South, many African American men voted and served in political office on federal, state, and local levels.

Peter Crosby, a former slave, was elected to Sheriff in Vicksburg, Mississippi – but shortly after taking office, Crosby was indicted on false criminal charges and removed from his position by a violent white mob.

On December 7, 1874, the “Vicksburg Massacre” occurred, in which whites attack and killed many black citizens who had organized to try to help Crosby regain his office. The violence prompted President Ulysses S. Grant to finally send troops to mediate the conflict. Crosby regained his position as Sheriff soon after, through the use of force and the courts.

In early 1875, J.P. Gilmer, a white man, was hired to serve as Crosby’s deputy. After a disagreement, Crosby tried to have Gilmer removed from office. Gilmer responded by shooting Crosby in the head on June 7, 1875. Gilmer was arrested for the attempted assassination, but never brought to trial. Crosby survived the wound but never made a full recovery, and had to serve the remainder of his term through a representative white citizen.

The violence and intimidation tactics utilized by white Mississippians intent on restoring white supremacy soon enabled forces antagonistic to the aims of Reconstruction and racial equality to regain power in Mississippi. (see March 1, 1875)

William Wardley Lynched

December 7, 1896: William Wardley, a Black man, was lynched by an armed mob of white Irondale residents. That day, Mr. Wardley, along with two companions, attempted to purchase apples from a local grocery store. The merchant refused to accept Mr. Wardley’s money because he assumed it was counterfeit..

Based on this accusation, a mob that included a local minister and a police constable pursued Mr. Wardley and his companions before fatally shooting Mr. Wardley. His body was later found along a railroad track a little over a mile outside of town. His two companions survived.

After the lynching of Mr. Wardley, the U.S. Treasury Department investigated the counterfeit claim and proved the money was real. However, the Treasury Department’s report did not mention Mr. Wardley’s death, and white residents continued to maintain the false counterfeit claim to justify the mob’s violent actions. The local press, sympathetic to the mob, reported that Mr. Wardley caused his own death to avoid capture by the authorities. No one was ever held accountable for William Wardley’s lynching. (next BH & next Lynching, see December 10, 1897 or see Never Forget for expanded article)

McLaughlin v. Florida

December 7, 1964: on January 29, 1883 in Pace v. Alabama the U.S. Supreme Court had unanimously ruled that state-level bans on interracial marriage did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

On this date in 1964, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in McLaughlin v. Florida that laws banning interracial sex violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. McLaughlin v. Florida struck down Florida Statute 798.05, which read: “Any negro man and white woman, or any white man and negro woman, who are not married to each other, who shall habitually live in and occupy in the nighttime the same room shall each be punished by imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, or by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars.” While the ruling did not directly address laws banning interracial marriage, it laid down the groundwork for a ruling that definitively did. [EJI article] (see Dec 10)

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

SOUTH AFRICA/APARTHEID & Nelson Mandela

December 7, 1988: Mandela transferred to the Victor Verster Prison Farm, about 50 miles from Cape Town. The South African government said he will not have to return to Pollsmoor Prison. (see July 5, 1989)

Overtown, Miami

December 7, 1989: a jury found William Lozano guilty of manslaughter in the killings of two unarmed black men that set off rioting in the mostly black Overtown section of Miami. The killings, which occurred in January, had  come to symbolize Miami’s ethnic tensions.

The six-member jury returned its verdict at the beginning of the second day of deliberations, rejecting the defendant’s contention that he had fired at the men because their motorcycle, which was being pursued by a patrol car for traffic violations, was about to run him down. (BH, see  January 14, 1990; RR, see June 25, 1991)

BLACK & SHOT

December 7, 2017:  federal Judge David C Norton sentenced Michael T Slager to 20 years in prison and two years of supervised release for fatally shooting Walter Scott, an unarmed black man, during a traffic stop in on April 4, 2015. [NYT article] (see Dec 11)

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Women’s Health

Margaret Sanger had ordered a new type of diaphragm (referred to as a pessary) that had been developed in Japan. Custom officials, acting under the 1930 Tariff Act, which included the provisions of the 1873 Comstock Act (March 3, 1873) which outlawed the distribution of birth control information and devices, seized them.

On December 7, 1936, in U.S. v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries, the U.S. Court of Appeals held that the ban on birth control devices was “unreasonable” and overturned the ban. Sanger said that the decision “firmly establishes the precedent that contraceptive material may be lawfully admitted into this country and by implication disseminated through the mails in this country if intended for legitimate use. (NYU article) (BC, see January 18, 1939; F, see July 26, 1937)

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

World War II

December 7, 1941:Japan attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Canada responded later that day by declaring war on Japan. On December 8, the United States and United Kingdom also declared war on Japan. In response on December 11, Japan’s ally, Germany, declared war on the United States.

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

December 7, 1960: Madalyn Murray (later O’Hair) filed suit in the Superior Court of Baltimore, Maryland, asking the Court to rule that required Bible reading and recitation of the Lord’s Prayer in the city’s public schools were unconstitutional. (next Separation, see June 19, 1961; Religion, see June 25, 1962; O’Hair, see February 27 – 28, 1963)

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

On December 7, 1962 workers at the Richards Oil Plant in Savage Minnesota forgot to open steam lines that heated oil pipes at the plant. On December 8, these pipes burst in low temperatures and spilled one million gallons of petroleum into the Minnesota River. By January 24, 1963, the Department of Health traced downstream oil back to Richards Oil. Employees claimed only a small leak had occurred.

The Department of Health requested that Richards Oil clean up the oil but could only take action if there was a public health emergency. Richards continued to drain oil until March. (see January 23, 1963)

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

Instant replay

December 7, 1963: CBS Sports Director Tony Verna used a system he’d invented to enable a standard videotape machine to instantly replay during the Army-Navy game. It was used only once for a touchdown withTV commentator Lindsey Nelson advising viewers “Ladies and gentle men, Army did not score again!”  (more >>> NPR story)

TTY communication

In 1964: in California, deaf orthodontist Dr. James C. Marsters of Pasadena sent a teletype machine to deaf scientist Robert Weitbrecht, asking him to find a way to attach the TTY to the telephone system. Weitbrecht modified an acoustic coupler and birth to “Baudot,” a code that is still used in TTY communication. (ADA, see July 2, 1964; TM, see April 30)

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

December 7 Music et al

Beatles/Empire Theatre

December 7, 1963: perform in their hometown at Liverpool’s Empire Theatre. [I Want to Hold Your Hand > Money > Twist and Shout > With Love From Me to You (instrumental)] (see Dec 10)

“Dominque” the single

December 7, 1963 – January 3, 1964: “Dominque”  by the Singing Nun #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The singing nun was Jeanine Deckers (17 October 1933 – 29 March 1985) a Belgian nun, and a member (as Sister Luc Gabriel) of the Dominican Fichermont Convent in Belgium.

“Dominque” the album

December 7, 1963 – February 14, 1964 –  the Singing Nun’s The Singing Nun is the Billboard #1 album. (see Jeanine Deckers for expanded story)

Bob Dylan

December 7, 2020: NPR reported that Bob Dylan had sold his entire songwriting catalog — more than 600 songs written over nearly 60 years — to Universal Music Publishing Group, in a deal announced by Universal.

The agreement was first reported by The New York Times, which said that it was worth over $300 million. The deal with Dylan might have been the highest price ever paid for a musician or group’s songwriting rights. (Universal had not disclosed the purchase price.)

For Universal Music Publishing Group, which was owned by the French media giant Vivendi, there was a lot of appeal in owning Dylan’s songwriting rights. The company would collect money any time another musician covers any of those songs and it would earn revenue for allowing the songs to be used in commercials and movies as well as when the songs were streamed, sold commercially on such formats as CDs, or broadcast.

Songwriting rights — that is, ownership of a song’s melody and lyrics — are figured and paid out separately from recording rights. According to Universal, other artists  had recorded Dylan’s songs more than 6,000 times, including such famous versions as Jimi Hendrix’ cover of Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower” and Guns N’ Roses’ version of “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.”  (next Dylan, see )

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Space Race

On December 7,  1972  Apollo 17 blasted off.

On December 11, Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt became the last people to walk on the moon. They remained on the moon for three days (75 hours). Schmitt was the first scientist-astronaut to land on the moon. (see July 15 – 24, 1975)

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Watergate Scandal

December 7, 1973: the White House can’t explain an 18 1/2 -minute gap in one ohf the subpoenaed tapes. Chief of staff Alexander Haig said one theory was that “some sinister force” erased the segment. (see Watergate Scandal for expanded chronology)

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

December 7, 1978: the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that Leonard  Matlovich was unfairly discharged from the military.(LGBTQ, see May 21; Matlovich, see September 9, 1980)

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

December 7, 1982: the first execution by lethal injection took place at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. Charles Brooks, Jr., convicted of murdering an auto mechanic, received an intravenous injection of sodium pentathol, the barbiturate that is known as a “truth serum” when administered in lesser doses. [NYT article] (see July 26, 1983)

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran–Contra Affair

December 7, 1985: President Ronald Reagan met with his national security advisers and approved the major parts of the Iran-Contra affair. CIA Director William Casey also approved the plan, but Secretary of State George Shultz and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger objected, arguing that it was illegal. They even joked with Reagan that, if anyone went to jail, “visiting hours are on Thursday.” (The Iran-Contra affair involved a complex set of international deals in which President Ronald Reagan and members of his administration violated the law and civil liberties principles.) (see November 3, 1986)

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

The Cold War

December 7, 1987: Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrived for his summit with President Ronald Reagan. Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, charmed the American public and media by praising the United States and calling for closer relations between the Soviet Union and America. [Politico article] (see Dec 8)

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

IRAQ

December 7, 2002: in a declaration to the United Nations Iraq denied it had weapons of mass destruction. (NYT article) (see January 28, 2003)

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Feminism

December 7, 2009: delegates to the founding convention of the National Nurses United (NNU) in Phoenix, Ariz., unanimously endorsed  the creation of the largest union and professional organization of registered nurses in U.S. history.  (Labor, see January 22, 2010; Feminism, see February 23, 2010)

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

December 7, 2018: James Alex Fields Jr. was found guilty of killing Heather Heyer when he plowed his car into a group of counterprotesters last year at a “Unite the Right” rally that quickly turned violent in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Fields, 21, was convicted on all counts, including first-degree murder in connection to Heyer’s death and five counts of aggravated malicious wounding, three counts of malicious wounding and one hit and run count for injuring dozens of others with his vehicle.

In addition, Fields — who a former teacher said was fascinated by Nazism and Hitler — was charged with 30 federal hate crimes. He’s been on trial since November for the murder charge and still faces trial on the additional charges. (next T, see Dec 11); Fields, see March 27, 2019)

December 7 Peace Love Art Activism

December 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

December 6, 1866: the 2 mile long, 5 foot diameter Chicago Lake Tunnel was completed. It was the first water supply tunnel for a U.S. city. (see May 10, 1869)

December 6 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Colored National Labor Union

December 6, 1869: African-American delegates meet in Washington, D.C., to form the Colored National Labor Union as a branch of the all-White National Labor Union created three years earlier. Unlike the NLU, the CNLU welcomed members of all races. Isaac Myers was the CNLU’s founding president; Frederick Douglass became president in 1872. (Labor, see Sept 6; BH, see January 20, 1870)

Jeremiah Reeves

December 6, 1954: the local NAACP chapter became involved in Reeve’s case (see November 10, 1952) and attracted the attention of national leadership, including lawyer Thurgood Marshall. Marshall and other counsel won reversal of Jeremiah’s conviction on this date when the US Supreme Court ruled that the trial judge at Jeremiah’s first trial was wrong to prevent the jury from hearing evidence of how his confession was obtained. (more)

While winding its way through the courts, Jeremiah’s case also became a flash point for Montgomery’s nascent civil rights movement. Claudette Colvin, who was arrested at fifteen for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a Birmingham bus in March 1955, was inspired to take that protest action as a show of support for Jeremiah, her friend and schoolmate. Claudette later became one of four plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, the case that led the Supreme Court to order buses desegregated in 1956. Rosa Parks also corresponded with Jeremiah and got his poetry published in the Birmingham World; she went on to repeat Colvin’s gesture in December 1955, sparking the Montgomery bus boycott.

In the second trial, in June 1955, Jeremiah was again convicted and sentenced to death. All appeals were unsuccessful. (BH, see January 7, 1955; Reeves, see March 28, 1958)

Frank Morris

December 6, 1964: Klansmen set fire to Frank Morris’s shoe shop in Ferriday, Louisiana. Morris, who lived in the back of the shop, died four days later from his injuries. No one was convicted. (see Dec 7)

Emmett Till

December 6, 2021:  the Justice Department officially closed its investigation into the killing of Emmett Till without federal charges for a second time

In 2017, professor Timothy Tyson had unearthed what appeared to be a key piece of evidence: a recantation from the woman at the center of the case who had accused Till of making sexual advances at her over 60 years ago.

Yet after an exhaustive investigation, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division concluded it cannot prove the woman lied to federal investigators about her story.

After CNN had reported the development in the case, the department subsequently made public a memo explaining the evidence investigators reviewed and its reasons for closing the matter without federal charges. [CNN article] (next BH, see Dec 23; next ET, see or see ET for expanded chronology )

BLACK & SHOT

CPD

December 6, 2015: U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that Justice Department would begin an investigation into Chicago Police Dept policing. (B & S and McDonald, see Dec 15)

December 6 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

December 6, 1917: Finland independent from Russia. (see May 28, 1918)

December 6 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

December 6, 1957: the AFL-CIO expelled the Teamsters, along with Bakery Workers and Laundry Workers for corruption. That same year, Jimmy Hoffa was elected president of the Teamsters. He became a lightning rod for additional charges of mob influence and criminality.  (see June 17, 1958)

December 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Immigration History

December 6, 1915: On March 2, 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt had signed the Expatriation Act of 1907, which stripped American women of their citizenship when they married a non-citizen. Women who lost their U.S. citizenship could apply to be naturalized if their husbands later became American citizens — but since virtually all Asian immigrants were legally barred from becoming U.S. citizens at the time, an American woman who married an Asian man would lose her citizenship permanently. Similarly, women of Asian descent who were American citizens by birth had no means of regaining their U.S. citizenship if they lost it through marriage to a foreigner — even if the foreigner was white — because Asian men and women were ineligible for naturalization in all circumstances.

Meanwhile, American men who married foreign women were permitted to keep their citizenship.

Mackenzie v. Hare was an attempt to challenge the Expatriation Act and reached the U.S. Supreme Court. On December 6, 1915, the Court upheld the law, ruling that an involuntary revocation of citizenship would be unconstitutional, but stripping a woman of citizenship upon marriage to a foreign husband was permissible because such women voluntarily enter into such marriages, “with knowledge of the consequences.”

The Expatriation Act remained in full effect until 1922, when Congress amended the law to permit most women to retain their American citizenship after marriage to a non-U.S. citizen — but still stripped citizenship from American women married to Asian immigrants ineligible for citizenship until discriminatory immigration laws were reformed in the 1960s.

On May 14, 2014, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution expressing regret for the past revocation of American women’s citizenship under this law. (next F, see In April; next IH, February 5, 1917)

Voting Rights

December 6 – 9, 1917:  Conference of National Women’s Party officers and National Advisory Council in Washington, D.C., ended with mass meeting honoring NWP’s suffrage prisoners by presenting each with special commemorative “Jailed for Freedom” pin showing prison gate secured by heart-shaped lock. Sterling silver pin fashioned after Sylvia Pankhurst’s “Holloway Brooch”–given to British suffragettes incarcerated in London’s Holloway Prison.  (see January 9, 1918)

Breedlove v. Suttles

December 6, 1937: in Breedlove v. Suttles the  US States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of requiring the payment of a poll tax in order to vote in state elections. (see August 29, 1957)

Malala Yousafzai

December 6, 2013: Yousafzai was among the winners of the 2013 United Nations Human Rights Prize. The Prize, which is bestowed every five years, is an honorary award given to individuals and organisations in recognition of outstanding achievement in human rights. “The Prize is an opportunity not only to give public recognition to the achievements of the recipients themselves, but also to send a clear message to human rights defenders the world over that the international community is grateful for, and supports, their tireless efforts to promote all human rights for all,” a news release issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said.

The six winners announced were: Biram Dah Abeid of Mauritania, a son of freed slaves who works to eradicate the heinous practice; Hiljmnijeta Apuk of Kosovo, a campaigner for the rights of people with disproportional restricted growth (short stature); Liisa Kauppinen of Finland, President emeritus of the World Federation of the Deaf; Khadija Ryadi, Former President of the Morocco Association for Human Rights; Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice (the Constitutional Court); and Malala Yousafzai. (see June 29, 2014)

“the silence breakers”

December 6, 2017: Time magazine named “the silence breakers” its 2017 person of the year, referring to those women, and the global conversation they had started.

The magazine’s editor in chief, Edward Felsenthal, said in an interview on the “Today” show that the #MeToo movement represented the “fastest-moving social change we’ve seen in decades, and it began with individual acts of courage by women and some men too.”

The runner-up for person of the year, Donald J. Trump, was accused during his presidential campaign by more than 10 women of sexual misconduct, from unwanted touching to sexual assault. (see March 15, 2018)

Women’s Health

December 6, 2017: according to a large study that followed 1.8 million Danish women for more than a decade, women who relied on birth control pills or contraceptive devices that release hormones face a small but significant increase in the risk for breast cancer.

The study upended the widely held assumptions about modern contraceptives for younger generations of women. Many women believed that newer hormonal contraceptives were much safer than those taken by their mothers or grandmothers, which had higher doses of estrogen.

The new paper estimated that for every 100,000 women, hormone contraceptive use causes an additional 13 breast cancer cases a year.

While a link had been established between birth control pills and breast cancer years ago, this study was the first to examine the risks associated with current formulations of birth control pills and devices in a large population. [NYT article] (see Dec 15)

December 6 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

United States v. One Book Called Ulysses

December 6, 1933:  United States v. One Book Called Ulysses.  Judge John M. Woolsey ruled that James Joyce’s Ulysses was not pornographic—that nowhere in it was the “leer of the sensualist“. Acknowledging the “astonishing success” of Joyce’s use of the stream of consciousness technique, the Woolsey stated that the novel was serious and that its author was sincere and honest in showing how the minds of his characters operate and what they were thinking. Some of their thoughts, the judge said, were expressed in “old Saxon words” familiar to readers, and [i]n respect of the recurrent emergence of the theme of sex in the minds of [Joyce’s] characters, it must always be remembered that his locale was Celtic and his season Spring. “To have failed to honestly tell fully what his characters thought would have been “artistically inexcusable”, said the judge. (see One Book Called Ulysses for more)(see August 7, 1934)

George Maynard

December 6, 1974: George Maynard appeared in Lebanon District Court to answer the charge about defacing his license plate. After waiving his right to counsel, he entered a plea of not guilty and proceeded to explain his religious objections to the motto. The state trial judge expressed sympathy for Maynard’s situation, but considered himself bound by the authority of State v. Hoskin to hold Maynard guilty. A $25 fine was imposed, but was suspended during “good behavior.” (see George Maynard for expanded chronology)

December 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Space Race

December 6, 1957: the United States’ much-hyped first attempt at launching a satellite into orbit failed miserably ending in an explosion. The Naval Research Laboratory’s Vanguard TV3 (Test Vehicle 3) was a small satellite designed to test the launch capabilities of the three-stage Vanguard rocket and study the effects of the environment on a satellite and its systems in Earth orbit. It was also to be used to obtain geodetic measurements through orbit analysis.

Unfortunately, at launch the rocket rose about 4 feet off the ground, then lost thrust and fell back to the launch pad at Florida’s Cape Canaveral. The fuel tanks then ruptured and exploded, destroying the rocket, severely damaging the launch pad, and throwing the 3 lb satellite and making it unusable. (see January 31, 1958)

December 6, 1958: a year later, Pioneer 3, an American unmanned satellite, failed to reach the moon, but discovers a second radiation belt around the Earth. (see Dec 18)

December 6 Peace Love Art Activism

see December 6 Music et al for more

Brian Epstein

December 6, 1961: The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Pete Best) meet with Brian Epstein for further discussions about his proposal to manage them. He wants 25 percent of their gross fees each week, in return for which he will be responsible for arranging their bookings. He promises that their bookings will be better organized, more prestigious, and will expand beyond the Liverpool area. He also promises that they will never again play for less than 15 pounds, except for Cavern lunchtime sessions, for which he will get their fee doubled to ten pounds. Most important of all, he promises to get them out of their recording contract with Bert Kaempfert in Germany, then use his influence to garner them a contract with a major British label. John Lennon, as leader of The Beatles, accepts on their behalf. There is no contract signing at this point, because the standard contracts are so exploitive that Epstein is disgusted by them; he promises The Beatles that he will prepare a fairer document. (see Dec 9)

1st Beatles Christmas record

December 6, 1963, The Beatles released their first Christmas recording: The Beatles Christmas Record. (see Dec 7)

Rubber Soul

December 6, 1965, US release of Rubber Soul.  The American version differed markedly from the UK release. Capitol removed the tracks “Drive My Car,” “Nowhere Man,” “What Goes On,” and “If I Needed Someone,” and replaced them with two from the UK Help! album, “I’ve Just Seen a Face” and “It’s Only Love.” The song sequence,  placing the Help! tracks at the beginning of each side, Rubber Soul appeared as a “folk rock” album to angle The Beatles into that emergent American genre during 1965. The changes angered the Beatles. (Beatles, see Dec 17; see Rubber Soul for more)

Beggars Banquet

December 6, 1968: The Rolling Stones released Beggars Banquet album.

Altamont Free Concert

December 6, 1969: (at the Altamont Speedway in northern California, between Tracy and Livermore) headlined and organized by The Rolling Stones, it also featured, in order of appearance: Santana, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Jefferson Airplane, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, with the Rolling Stones taking the stage as the final act.

The Grateful Dead were also scheduled to perform, but declined to play shortly before their scheduled appearance due to the concerns of  violence at the venue (see Rolling Stones Altamont Banquet).

Steam

December 6 – 19, 1969:  “Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)” by Steam #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

December 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Watergate Scandal

December 6, 1973: the House of Representatives voted 387–35 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President; he was sworn in the same day. (see Watergate expanded chronology)

December 6 Peace Love Art Activism

AIDS

AIDS report

December 6, 1983: a congressional subcommittee released The Federal Response to AIDS, a report criticizing the U.S. Government for failure to invest sufficient funding in AIDS surveillance and research. (see April 23, 1984)

Clinton hosts AIDS Conference

December 6, 1995: President Clinton hosted the first White House Conference on HIV/AIDS. (see In December 1985)

December 6 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

December 6, 1998: President Clinton’s attorneys granted 30 hours over two days to make his defense case before the Judiciary Committee. (see Clinton for expanded chronology)

Sexual Abuse of Children

December 6, 2002:  Cardinal Law left for the Vatican, on the same day that he reportedly was ordered to appear before a grand jury investigating sex abuse allegations. (see Dec 12)

December 6 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

December 6, 2004: Al-Qaida struck the U.S. Consulate in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, with explosives and machine guns, killing nine people. [Guardian article] (see Dec 21)

December 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

December 6, 2006: the bipartisan Iraq Study Group concluded that President George W. Bush’s war policies had failed in almost every regard, and said the situation in Iraq was “grave and deteriorating.” (see Dec 30)

December 6 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ & Alan Turing

December 6, 2011: a petition began that requested a full pardon for Alan Turing (LGBTQ, see January 26, 2012; Turing, see February 6, 2012)

December 6 Peace Love Art Activism