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

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

September 9, 2015 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Slave Revolts

September 9, 1739: early on the morning of the 9th, a Sunday, about twenty slaves gathered near the Stono River in St. Paul’s Parish, less than twenty miles from Charlestown. SC. The slaves went to a shop that sold firearms and ammunition, armed themselves, then killed the two shopkeepers who were manning the shop. From there the band walked to the house of a Mr. Godfrey, where they burned the house and killed Godfrey and his son and daughter. They headed south. It was not yet dawn when they reached Wallace’s Tavern. Because the innkeeper at the tavern was kind to his slaves, his life was spared. The white inhabitants of the next six or so houses they reach were not so lucky — all were killed. The slaves belonging to Thomas Rose successfully hid their master, but they were forced to join the rebellion. (They would later be rewarded. See Report re. Stono Rebellion Slave-Catchers.) Other slaves willingly joined the rebellion. By eleven in the morning, the group was about 50 strong. The few whites whom they now encountered were chased and killed, though one individual, Lieutenant Governor Bull, eluded the rebels and rode to spread the alarm.

The slaves stopped in a large field late that afternoon, just before reaching the Edisto River. They had marched over ten miles and killed between twenty and twenty-five whites.

Around four in the afternoon, somewhere between twenty and 100 whites had set out in armed pursuit. When they approached the rebels, the slaves fired two shots. The whites returned fire, bringing down fourteen of the slaves. By dusk, about thirty slaves were dead and at least thirty had escaped. Most were captured over the next month, then executed; the rest were captured over the following six months — all except one who remained a fugitive for three years. [PBS article] (BH, see May 10, 1740; SR, see March and April 1741)

Dr. Ossian Sweet

September 9, 1925: Dr. Ossian Sweet, an African-American, bought a house in an all-white neighborhood in Detroit and moved in with his family. On this day, a white mob attacked the house, throwing stones and breaking upstairs windows. Dr. Sweet had asked nine other men to be in the house for protection, and some of them brought guns. Guns were fired at the mob, killing one man and wounding another. Sweet and his friends were arrested and tried for murder. The first trial ended in a hung jury. When Henry Sweet, Ossian’s brother, was acquitted in the second trial, the prosecutor dismissed the charges against the other defendants.

The trial involved two famous or soon-to-be-famous individuals. The judge was Frank Murphy, who later became Governor of Michigan, U.S. Attorney General, and a Supreme Court Justice (January 18, 1940). The defense attorney was Clarence Darrow, who had just finished handling the famous Scopes “Monkey Trial” that had begun on July 10, 1925. [JSTOR article] (see February 7, 1926)

Voting Rights

Civil Rights Act of 1957

September 9, 1957: the the Civil Rights Act of 1957 was enacted. It was a voting rights bill and the first civil rights legislation enacted by the US Congress since Reconstruction. The bill passed the House with a vote of 285 to 126 (Republicans 167 yea – 19 nay, Democrats 118 yea -107 nay) and the Senate 72 to 18 (Republicans 43-0 yea, Democrats 29 yea -18 nay) [see Civil Rights Digital Library article]

Agricultural Workers Association

In 1960: Dolores Huerta co-founded the Agricultural Workers Association to set up voter registration drives and pressed local governments for housing improvements. [UTexas article] (Chavez, see see March 31, 1962; Voting Rights, see May 6)

School Desegregation, Tennessee

September 9, 1957: in September 1957 the public schools of Nashville, Tennessee, implemented a “stairstep plan” that began with a select group of first-graders and added one grade a year until all twelve grades were desegregated. Nineteen black first-graders enrolled in eight previously all-white schools. Organized white protesters, led by NJ segregationist John Kasper, appeared at most of the schools, but there was no violence.

On September 9, the night after desegregation began, a dynamite explosion destroyed a wing of Hattie Cotton Elementary School, where one black child had enrolled.. A local Klansman surrendered to the FBI a few days later and he told Nashville police that he and Kasper had hidden dynamite in an abandoned house the night before the Hattie Cotton attack and that the explosives had gone missing. There was not enough evidence to hold any suspects. [Tennessean article] (BH, see Sept 17; SD, see Sept 23)

Church Burning

September 9, 1962: terrorists burned two African-American churches used by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee for voter registration meetings in Sasser, Ga. (BH, see Sept 12; CB, see Dec 14)

School desegregation, Alabama

September 9, 1963: segregationist Governor George Wallace of Alabama angrily defended the “rights of whites” on this day, arguing that the presence of African-American students in public schools would be “disruptive.” He issued an executive order barring African-American students from all-white public schools in Birmingham, Tuskegee, and Mobile, Alabama. (see Sept 10)

School Desegregation, Virginia

September 9, 1964: public schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia, reopened after being closed for five years by officials attempting to prevent court-ordered racial desegregation.[Virginia History article] (BH, see Sept 11; SD, see May 13, 1966)

School desegregation, Michigan

September 9, 1971: police arrested Robert Miles and the four other Klansmen for the August 30, 1971 bus bombing. (SD, see March 14, 1972; Miles, see April 1973)

Attica Prison Riot

September 9, 1971: prisoners in the New York State Attica Correctional Facility began a rebellion with about 1,000 prisoners seizing 42 prison employees as hostages. The prisoners’ grievances included many items of basic human decency: an end to serious overcrowding (the prison was built to hold 1,200 inmates but then held 2,225); being allowed only one shower per week; one roll of toilet paper per person per month. After four days of negotiation, New York officials had agreed to 28 of the inmates’ 42 demands, but refused to grant amnesty to the rebelling prisoners. [2016 NY Post article] (see Sept 13)

Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner

September 9, 2005: judge Marcus Gordon sent Edgar Ray Killen, the former Klansman convicted of the 1964 killing of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, back to prison saying Killen had deceived the court about his health when he asked to be released on bond. The hearing was called after Mr. Killen, who was granted bail after testifying that he was confined to a wheelchair, was seen up and walking by sheriff’s deputies. (BH, see Sept 28; see Murders for expanded story]

Dee/Moore Murders

September 9, 2008: a panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the kidnapping conviction of James Seale. (BH, see Oct 7; D/M Murders, see June 5, 2009)

Trayvon Martin Shooting

September 9, 2013: police questioned George Zimmerman after his wife, Shellie, reported that he had punched her father and threatened them with a gun. Afterward, Shellie Zimmerman and her father declined to press charges and Ms. Zimmerman later said she had not seen a gun. The police said they still had not decided whether to press charges against Mr. Zimmerman. (see Oct 29)

Botham Shem Jean

September 9, 2018: Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was indicted on a manslaughter charge re the shooting death of Jean. (B & S, see Sept 13; BSJ, see Nov 30)

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

US Labor History

September 9, 1885: U.S. troops escorted the surviving Chinese back into the town where many of them returned to work. Eventually the Union Pacific fired 45 of the white miners for their roles in the September 2 massacre, but no effective legal action was ever taken against any of the participants. (LH, see April 25, 1886; IH, see February 25, 1886)

Seeking asylum

September 9, 2019: Judge Jon S. Tigar of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California issued a nationwide order barring a Trump administration policy that denied asylum to migrants crossing the border unless they have already tried and failed to obtain asylum in another country along the way, a rule that effectively bans claims for most Central Americans fleeing persecution and poverty.

Tigar reinstated a nationwide injunction preventing implementation of the new asylum policy in response to a federal appeals court ruling that had limited his original ruling’s scope to border states in the West.

Tigar made findings, as outlined by the appellate judges, that applying the injunction across the country was necessary to maintain a “uniform immigration policy” and prevent “uneven enforcement.” Under the previous ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the administration had been prohibited from applying the new asylum limitations in California and Arizona, but not in New Mexico and Texas. (next IH, see Sept 10; asylum, see Sept 11)

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

September 9, 1945: the advanced guard of 150,000-man Nationalist Chinese occupation army marched into Hanoi. On their way they evicted Viet Minh committees from power and replaced them with members of the anticommunist Nationalist Party. After Allied troops landed to disarm Japanese forces, the British went into southern Indochina below the 16th parallel. The now-liberated-France’s Charles de Gaulle, ordered French soldiers to re-establish colonial rule. The British allowed the French to dislodge the Viet Minh from Saigon, triggering war below the 16th parallel. (see Sept 24)

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAYS

North Korea

September 9, 1948: Day of the Foundation of the Republic North Korea. (see December 24, 1951)

Dissolution of the USSR, Tajikistan

September 9, 1991: Tajikistan declared its independence from the Soviet Union. (see Sept 21)

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

September 9 Music et al

Roots of Rock & Fear of Rock

September 9, 1956: Elvis Presley made his first appearance on the The Ed Sullivan Show. Actor Charles Laughton hosted as Sullivan himself had recently been in a very serious car accident that left him in the hospital.

Elvis was not on location in New York for the broadcast since he was in Los Angeles for the filming of Love Me Tender. When it came time for Elvis’ appearance, Laughton introduced him and then cut to the stage in Hollywood with Elvis.

Elvis appeared with large, artistic guitars as decoration. Wearing a plaid jacket and holding his guitar, Elvis thanked Mr. Laughton and then said, “This is probably the greatest honor that I’ve ever had in my life.” Elvis then sang, “Don’t Be Cruel” with his four back-up singers (the Jordanaires) followed by “Love Me Tender,” which was the not-yet-released title track from his new movie.

Although the cameras stayed mostly from the waist up on Elvis’ first set on the show, the second set he appeared the camera widened out and the TV audience was able to see Elvis’ gyrations. Elvis sang “Ready Teddy” and then ended with a portion of “Hound Dog.”

Elvis’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was a major success. Over 60 million people, both young and old, watched the show and many people believe it helped bridge the generation gap for Elvis’ acceptance into the mainstream. (Elvis, see July 6, 1957; RoR, see February 5, 1957)

Fear of Rock

In 1958: the Mutual Broadcasting System (radio) dropped all rock from its network music programs, calling it “distorted, monotonous, noisy music.”

To coincide with the ban, the network changed the title of its 21 hours of music programming from “Top 50” to “Pop 50.” Songs removed from play included “Splish Splash” by Bobby Darin and Elvis Presley’s “Hard Headed Woman.” (Rock is Dead source) (see January 12, 1958)

The Road to Bethel

September 9, 1969: the New York Times ran article that described the likely breakup of the Woodstock Ventures partners. Michael Lang and Artie Kornfeld agree to a buyout of $31,750 each. (see Chronology for expanded story)

Imagine

September 9, 1971: John Lennon’s second solo album, Imagine, released. The follow-up to John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band was a critical and commercial success and was Lennon’s peak as a solo artist. [Rolling Stone review] (see Dec 10)

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Fair Housing

September 9, 1965: President Johnson signed legislation establishing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. [NYT article] (see January 18, 1966)

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Consumer Protection

September 9, 1966: President Lyndon Johnson signed the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act into law. Immediately afterward, he signed the Highway Safety Act. The two bills made the federal government responsible for setting and enforcing safety standards for cars and roads. Unsafe highways, Johnson argued, were a menace to public health: “In this century,” Johnson said before he signed the bills, “more than 1,500,000 of our fellow citizens have died on our streets and highways; nearly three times as many Americans as we have lost in all our wars.” It was a genuine crisis, and one that the automakers had proven themselves unwilling or unable to resolve. “Safety is no luxury item,” the President declared, “no optional extra; it must be a normal cost of doing business.” [text of remarks] (see May 29, 1968)

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Chicago 8

September 9, 1968: a Federal grand jury was impaneled to consider criminal charges against anyone who had organized the Chicago protests at the Democratic Convention. President Johnson’s Attorney General, Ramsey Clark, discouraged an indictment, believing that the violence during the convention was primarily caused by actions of the Chicago police. [2008 Chicago Tribune article] (Vietnam, see Sept 29; Chi8, see March 20, 1969)

Daniel Ellsberg/Pentagon Papers

September 9, 1971: The White House “plumbers” unit – named for their orders to plug leaks in the administration – burglarized a psychiatrist’s office to find files on Daniel Ellsberg, the former defense analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers. (see Watergate for expanded story; next Vietnam, see Oct 29; see DE/PP for expanded story)

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

September 9, 1980: a Federal district judge, ruling that the military had confusing standards for dealing with homosexual service personnel, ordered the Air Force to reinstate Leonard Matlovich five years after he was dismissed from the service for admitting his homosexuality. The Air Force offered Matlovich a financial settlement instead. Matlovich accepted. [Matlovich site] (LGBTQ, see July 3, 1981; Matlovich, see June 22, 1988)

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

AIDS

September 9, 1983: CDC identified all major routes of HIV transmission—and ruled out transmission by casual contact, food, water, air, or environmental surfaces. [CDC timeline for HIV] (see Dec 6)

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Jack Kevorkian

September 9, 1993: hours after a judge ordered him to stand trial in Thomas Hyde’s death, Kevorkian is present at the death of cancer patient Donald O’Keefe, 73, in Redford Township, Michigan. (see Kevorkian for expanded story)

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Irish Troubles

September 9, 1997: Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army’s political ally, formally renounced violence as it took its place in talks on Northern Ireland’s future. (see Troubles for expanded story)

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

September 9, 1998: independent Counsel Ken Starr submitted his report and 18 boxes of supporting documents to the House of Representatives. (see Clinton for expanded story)

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

September 9, 2003: in the largest known payout by a U.S. diocese to settle molestation charges, the Boston Archdiocese agreed to pay $85 million to settle more than 500 lawsuits from people who claim priests abused them. Victims will receive awards ranging from $80,000 to $300,000. David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says of the deal, “For many victims, some kind of official, public acknowledgment that ‘We were harmed’ can be a real step toward healing.” [NYT article] (next SAoC, see Nov 21)

BSA

September 9, 2022: federal judge Laurie Selber Silverstein gave final approval to the Boy Scouts of America’s plan to exit bankruptcy, marking an end to the largest sexual abuse case against a single organization in American history.

Silverstein confirmed the plan a little more than a month after signaling she would do so in a 300-plus page opinion that found a trust at the heart of Scouts’ proposal would be adequate to compensate victims of abuse.

Silverstein had rejected one portion of the plan in her July opinion: A $250 million settlement with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which she said would protect the church from claims of abuse that weren’t directly tied to Scouting. Scouts subsequently scrapped the settlement, leaving victims with claims against the church free to pursue them outside the bankruptcy.

Central to the bankruptcy plan was a $2.46 billion trust fund for survivors — down from $2.7 billion without the contribution from the Mormon church. In return, the Boy Scouts of America and local councils, troops’ sponsors and insurance companies that contributed to the fund can no longer be sued for past abuse. Abuse victims will be able to file separate claims against the Mormon church and insurance companies who did not settle. [CNN article] (next BSA, see ; next SAoC, see April 5, 2023)

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Hurricane Katrina

September 9, 2005: U.S. Army Lieutenant General Russel L. Honoré and New Orleans Director of Homeland Security Terry Ebbert announced a “zero access” policy with regards to the media, in order to prevent members of the media from reporting on the recovery of dead bodies in New Orleans. CNN filed a lawsuit, then obtained a temporary restraining order to prevent government agencies from interfering with news coverage of recovery efforts. (see Katrina for expanded story)

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

September 9, 2008: President Bush announced that about 8,000 US troops would be withdrawn from Iraq by February – with 4,500 being sent to Afghanistan. (see Nov 27)

Terry Jones

September 9, 2010: Jones said, “As of right now, we are not convinced that backing down is the right thing.” That evening, President Obama calls Koran burning a “stunt,” and urges Jones not to go through with his plans. In a press conference with Musri, Jones says he will cancel the Koran burning event. During the conference Jones claims an agreement has been reached with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to move the mosque near Ground Zero and that a meeting has been planned with Jones and Imam Rauf on Sept. 11. Later reports quote Jones as saying, “We felt that that would be a sign that God would want us to do it…The American people do not want the mosque there and, of course, Muslims do not want us to burn the Quran.” Jones also states he is against any other groups burning Korans.

After Jones’s announcement, AP reported that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said no agreement had been reached to move the mosque and the plans to build the mosque near Ground Zero would go forward as planned. Musri also says there was no agreement to move the mosque and that the only agreement reached was for Jones to meet with the imam overseeing the mosque on Sept. 11. Jones insists Musri promised him the mosque would be moved and that he would be “very, very disappointed” if it was not. (see Sept 10)

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH & Colin Kaepernick

September 9, 2016: Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall took a knee during the national anthem at the NFL regular season opener.

Marshall became the first player to take a knee or sit during the anthem prior to a regular season game. He was a college teammate of Kaepernick at the University of Nevada. Like Kaepernick, Marshall said it was about social change.

“I’m not against the military. I’m not against the police or America,” Marshall said, according to the Denver Post. “I’m against social injustice. [NFL article] (FS & CK, see Sept 11)

September 9 Peace Love Art Activism

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

September 8 Peace Love Art Activism

September 8, 2015 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

September 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

Korea divided

September 8, 1945: U.S. troops land in Korea to begin their postwar occupation of the southern part of that nation, almost exactly one month after Soviet troops had entered northern Korea to begin their own occupation. Although the U.S. and Soviet occupations were supposed to be temporary, the division of Korea quickly became permanent. [NYT article] (see Nov 16)

SEATO

September 8, 1954: the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization formed. It was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact. It was primarily created to block further communist gains in Southeast Asia. [Study dot com article] (see Nov 27)

September 8 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Clyde Kennard

September 8, 1959: in 1955, Clyde Kennard, a black U.S. Army veteran and Mississippi native, had attempted to enroll in Mississippi Southern College, an all-white public university in the city of Hattiesburg. Mr. Kennard’s credentials met the criteria for admission, but his application was denied because he was unable to provide references from five alumni in his home county.

In December 1958, in a letter to a local newspaper, Mr. Kennard announced his intent to re-apply to the university. In response, the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission – a state agency formed to protect segregation – hired investigators to research Mr. Kennard’s background and uncover details that could be used to discredit him; these attempts were unsuccessful. Soon after, Mr. Kennard withdrew his application after the governor of Mississippi personally requested that he do so.

On September 8, 1959, Mr. Kennard once again tried to apply for admission to Mississippi Southern College. In a letter written to the college’s administration, he declared that, if again rejected, he would sue the University for denying him admission based on his race. After he unsuccessfully tried to register for courses on September 15, 1959, Mr. Kennard was charged with illegal possession of alcohol.

Despite this legal retaliation, Mr. Kennard continued his attempts to register at Mississippi Southern. In September of 1960, he was arrested and charged with assisting in stealing $25 worth of chicken feed from a local store. Although there was little evidence against him, an all-white jury convicted him of being an accessory to burglary, and he was sentenced to seven years in state prison. [Northwestern article] (BH, see January 5, 1960; Kennard, see July 4, 1963)

James H Meredith

September 8, 1965: Columbia University Law School accepted Meredith. (BH, see Sept 24; Meredith, see June 5, 1966)

Black Panthers

September 8, 1968: a jury deliberated for four days and in the end come up with a compromise verdict, convicting Huey Newton of voluntary manslaughter. He was acquitted of the assault charge and the kidnap charges were dropped. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover declared the Black Panther Party “greatest threat to the internal security of the country”. [jrank dot org article] (see Sept 28)

BLACK & SHOT

September 8, 2015: the city of Baltimore reached a $6.4 million settlement in a lawsuit filed by the family of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old man black man who died in April after suffering a critical injury while in police custody. The settlement plan would go to the city’s spending oversight board on the following day for formal approval, the mayor’s office said. Gray’s death triggered sometimes violent protests, accompanied by devastating looting and arson in Baltimore, and prompted a national outcry. It ultimately led to the firing of Police Commissioner Anthony Batts. [Washington Post article] (see Nov 15)

Colin Kaepernick

September 8, 2020: Colin Kaepernick made his return as a playable character on the sport’s biggest video game, “Madden 21.”

EA Sports announced that an update that allowed players to add Kaepernick to any NFL lineup for the first time since 2016. [NBC News story] (next BH, see Nov 2; next CK, see Nov 23 or see Kaepernick for expanded chronology)

September 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Consumer Protection

September 8, 1961: statistical evidence linking heavy smoking with heart disease was reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Drs. Daniel J Nathan and Dr. David M. Spain had studied 3,000 men. They found that for smokers of over 40 cigarettes daily and aged under 51 years, their chance of having coronary heart disease almost doubled. Further, among those studied that had coronary heart disease, 57% of heavy smokers suffered heart attacks, as compared to only 31% of light smokers. The doctors said it remained an “open question” whether the statistics were proof that heavy smoking was a cause of hardening of coronary arteries. Only a four-sentence article on page 3 appeared in the New York Times. (see January 11, 1964)

September 8 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

United Farm Workers

September 8, 1965: Filipino American grape workers walk out on strike against Delano, California, table and wine grape growers, protesting years of poor pay and working conditions. Latino farm workers soon joined them, and the strike and subsequent boycott lasted more than five years. [UFW article] (see Sept 16, 1965)

NJ Unions

September 8, 2015: another 16 New Jersey public worker unions asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider whether the state’s highest court erred by declaring a pension funding agreement between the state and employees unenforceable.

In a petition filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, lawyers for 16 labor groups — including the New Jersey Education Association, Communications Workers of America and the Policemen’s Benevolent Association — argued that the New Jersey Supreme Court should have applied the protections of the federal Contract Clause to the deal.

Hetty Rosenstein, state director for the CWA, that the organizations will “leave no stone unturned.”

“One way or another we will protect these pensions. We will never allow the state of New Jersey to destroy the pensions that 800,000 people depend on,” she said. (see Dec 4)

September 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Cultural Milestone

September 8, 1966: the TV series “Star Trek” premiered on NBC. (see February 5, 1967)

September 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Watergate Scandal

September 8, 1974: though never indicted of any crimes, Gerald Ford gave an unconditional pardon to Richard Nixon. [Ford’s pardon proclamation] (see Watergate for expanded story)

September 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Religion and Public Education

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

September 8, 1981: voters in the Clear Creek, Iowa, school district voted overwhelmingly on this day to reject a proposal to make the Bible a textbook in the district’s schools. The vote was 689 to 90. The Iowa Civil Liberties Union hailed the vote as a victory over “religious zealots.” (Religion & Separation see January 6, 1983)

September 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Dissolution of Yugoslavia

INDEPENDENCE DAY

September 8, 1991: the Republic of Macedonia becomes independent. [NYT article] (Yugo, see Oct 8; ID see Sept 9)

September 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

September 8, 2006: a Senate report faulted intelligence gathering in the lead-up to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. [NYT article] (see Nov 5)

September 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Terry Jones

September 8, 2010: Jones remained steadfast, claiming he has received more than 100 death threats and that he has begun carrying a pistol. That evening, Imam Muhammad Musri emerges from a meeting with Jones, saying he is hopeful Jones will change his mind. (see Sept 9)

September 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Occupy Wall Street

September 8, 2011: “Chris” launched the Tumblr page, “We Are the 99 Percent,” (see Sept 17)

September 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Westboro Baptist Church

September 8, 2014: a new billboard with the message “Gods Loves Gays” debuted in Topeka, Kansas, the home city of the Westboro Baptist Church. “The Facebook God,” a satirical Facebook page with more than 1.7 million “likes,” raised more than $80,000 on the crowd-funding platform Indiegogo in order to mount the billboard. “This hate group goes around saying that God hates gay people,” an animated depiction of God says in a YouTube video uploaded to the Indiegogo page. “Nonsense! I love gay people. These Westboro psychos protest at the funerals of soldiers, murdered children and more. How dare they!” (see March 24, 2016)

September 8 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

September 8, 2015: Kim Davis was released from jail but would not say whether she would begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, was not at work the next day. A lawyer for Ms Davis, Mathew D Staver, said Ms. Davis would “return soon.”. After spending five nights in jail, he said, Ms Davis “needs some rest and time with the family.”

Ms. Davis spoke at a rally after she was ordered freed, saying: “I just want to give God the glory. His people have rallied, and you are a strong people.” Kim Davis has emerged as a heroine to religious conservatives.

The Federal District Court judge who ordered Ms. Davis detained, David L Bunning, said she could go free because her office was “fulfilling its obligation to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples.” But he warned Ms Davis not to interfere “directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples.” [Washington Post article] (see Sept 14)

September 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children & BSA

Central to the bankruptcy plan was a $2.46 billion trust fund for survivors — down from $2.7 billion without the contribution from the Mormon church. In return, the Boy Scouts of America and local councils, troops’ sponsors and insurance companies that contributed to the fund can no longer be sued for past abuse. Abuse victims will be able to file separate claims against the Mormon church and insurance companies who did not settle. [USA Today article] (next BSA, see ; next SAoC, see )

September 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

September 8, 2023: Mexico’s supreme court decriminalized abortion nationwide.

The judgement came two years after the court ruled in favor of a challenge to the existing law in the northern state of Coahuila. It had ruled that criminal penalties for terminating pregnancies were unconstitutional.

Mexico’s states and the federal government had since been slow to repeal penal codes. The new ruling legalized abortion across all 32 states.

The supreme court said the denial of the possibility of a termination violated the human rights of women. [BBC article] (next WH, see Sept 28)

September 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Anarchism, Birth control, Cultural milestone, Emmett Till, LGBTQ, Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, Technological Milestone, Today in history

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

September 6, 2015 Woodstock Whisperer 2 Comments

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Avondale Mine disaster

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

National textile strike of 1934

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

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Anarchism in the US

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

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Cultural Milestone

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

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

12 Prisoners suffocated

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

Emmett Till

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

Mississippi Southern College

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

Atlanta revolt

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

Equal Justice Initiative

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

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

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

BLACK & SHOT

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

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

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

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

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

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

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

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

September 6 Music et al

Midwest Pop

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

Jimi Hendrix

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

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

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

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

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

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

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

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Terry Jones

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

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Stop and Frisk Policy

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

September 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

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

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

Hottest Summer on Record

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

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

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