February 15 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

New Jersey delays end of slavery

February 15, 1804:  New Jersey passed a law delaying the end of slavery for decades. It provided for the “gradual emancipation of slaves” and in doing so became the last Northern state to begin the process of ending enslavement within its borders. Using the language of bondage, the 1804 act provided that children of enslaved people born after July 4, 1804, would be freed when they reached the age of 21 for women and the age of 15 for men. [EJI article] (next BH, see “In January” 1805)

School Desegregation

February 15, 1848: 5-year-old Sarah Roberts  (“a colored child…, a resident of Boston, and living with her father.”) had applied to a member of the (Boston) district primary school committee for a ticket of admission to her district school. The school committee refused her application “on the ground of her being a colored person.”

On this date Sarah Roberts “went into the primary schol nearest her residence, but without any ticket of admission…and was…ejected from the school by the teacher.”  Benjamin Roberts, Sarah’s father, sued the City of Boston. (BH, see Mar 17; SD, see December 4, 1849; see SR for expanded chronology)

”SCOTTSBORO BOYS”

February 15, 1935: Samuel Leibowitz argued before the US Supreme Court,  that blacks had been excluded from the Scottsboro jury pool because of their race. Leibowitz claimed that the black names currently on the jury rolls had been forged in after the fact. (see Scottsboro for expanded story)

The Greensboro Four

February 15 – 21, 1960: Edward R. Zane, a member of the Greensboro City Council, worked with students to reach a compromise. The Mayor agreed to appoint a committee to address the issue, and the protesters agreed to continue negotiations. Several Greensboro associations, including The Board of Directors of the Greensboro Council of Church Women, the YWCA, and several ministerial alliances came out in favor of integration. (see G4 for expanded chronology)

FREE SPEECH

February 15, 1961: more than 300 acres in which Rev Ralph Abernathy had an interest were ordered sold in order to help satisfy the libel  judgment against him in the L B Sullivan suit. (BH & FS, see Feb 21)

White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

February 15, 1964: Sam Bowers viewed the original Ku Klux Klan as being too passive. On this date at a meeting in Brookhaven, Mississippi, he convinced about 200 members of the original Knights to defect and join his Klan, to be called the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, that would not hesitate to reveal the true nature of CORE, SPLC, NAACP, and SDS to achieve its goals. He became the group’s fraternal “imperial wizard”. Bowers adopted a code of secrecy with the purpose of preserving law and order in the South. (BH, see Feb 22; Bowers, see June 7)

George Whitmore, Jr

February 15, 1965: Richard Robles indicted for the Wylie/Hoffert murders. Robles “maintains his innocence,” according to his court-appointed attorney. (see Whitmore for expanded story)

Muhammad Ali

February 15, 1978: probably taking his young challenger too lightly, Ali lost his heavyweight title to Leon Spinks in a split decision. (NY Daily News flashback article) (Ali, see Sept 15; BH see June 8)

February 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Supreme Court

February 15, 1879: President Rutherford B. Hayes signed legislation allowing women to be admitted to practice before the US Supreme Court. (next Feminism, see March 3)

Voting Rights

February 15, 1919: the “Prison Special” tour began when a train named “Democracy Limited” left Union Station in Washington, D.C. and traveled across country with 26 suffragists on board who had served jail sentences. Over next three weeks, the women, often dressed in prison costumes, spoke about their incarceration and sought support for federal woman suffrage amendment. (see Feb 24)

Bill Baird Abortion Clinic

February 15, 1979:  Peter Burkin bombed the clinic of abortion rights activist Bill Baird in Hempstead, Long Island. . All escaped due to Baird’s training drills with his employees that prepared them for such a violent attack. Burkin was given a two-year sentence in a mental hospital. (next Feminism  see October 14, 1979)

February 15 Peace Love Art Activism

The Red Scare & US Labor History

February 15, 1950: the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) expelled the Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers; the Food, Tobacco & Agricultural Workers; and the United Office & Professional Workers for “Communist tendencies.” Other unions expelled for the same reason (dates uncertain): Fur and Leather Workers, the Farm Equipment Union, the Int’l Longshoremen’s Union, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers. (RS, see Feb 20; LH, see October 27, 1951)

The Cold War

February 15, 1967: the March 1967 issue of Ramparts magazine created a national sensation by publishing an exposé of Central Intelligence Agency’s secret funding of education groups, including primarily the National Student Association. The article was titled, “A Short Account of International Student Politics and the Cold War with Particular Reference to the NSA, CIA, etc.” It was the first significant breach in the veil of secrecy surrounding the CIA, and the first revelation of secret funding of American organizations and journalists.

From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, Ramparts was the most important anti-war, counter-culture, general circulation magazines in the U.S. It was later revealed that the CIA learned of the forthcoming article and spied on the magazine and its writers in violation of the CIA charter that forbade the agency from spying within the United States. (2015 New Yorker magazine article on topic) (see November 17, 1969)

February 15 Peace Love Art Activism

see February 15 Music et al for more

The Sound of Music

February 15 – May 8, 1960: the soundtrack from the original cast for The Sound of Music was Billboard’s #1 album.

The Beatles: Meet the Beatles

February 15 – May 1, 1964: Meet the Beatles became the Billboard #1 album. (see Feb 16)

The Beatles: “White” album

February 15 – March 7, 1969: The Beatles again the Billboard #1 album. (see Mar 12)

Sly and the Family Stone

February 15 – March , 1969: “Everyday People” by Sly and the Family Stone #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

February 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam War

Helicopters shot down

February 15, 1967: the Viet Cong shot down thirteen American helicopters in one day, 10 in one area. An American spokesman said that 9 or the 10 were repairable.

Based on Pentagon announcements about 685 helicopters had been destroyed in the war to this point. (see Mar 2)

Chicago 8

February 15, 1970: Judge Julius Hoffman convicted the two defense attorneys and three of the defendants to prison for contempt of court. William M Kunstler was convicted of 24 counts of contempt and sentenced to 4 years and 13 days in a Federal prison. Leonard Weinglass, the other defense attorney was found guilty on 14 counts of contempt and sentenced to 1 year 8 months and 3 days.

Hoffman also gave contempt terms to three defendants. Jerry Rubin received 2 years 1 month 23 days on 15 counts; John Froines received 6 months 15 days on 10 counts, and Lee Weiner received 2 months 18 days on 7 counts. (see Feb 18)

February 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Soviet war in Afghanistan

February 15, 1989: The Soviet Union announced that all of its troops had left Afghanistan.

February 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Jack Kevorkian

February 15, 1993: Hugh Gale, a 70-year-old man with emphysema and congestive heart disease, died in his Roseville home. Prosecutors investigated after Right-to-Life advocates find papers that show Kevorkian altered his account of Gale’s death, deleting a reference to a request by Gale to halt the procedure. (see JK for expanded chronology)

February 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

February 15, 2005: defrocked Paul Shanley sentenced in to 12 to 15 years in prison on child rape charges. (NY Times article) (see Mar 30)

February 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

February 15, 2008: the American College of Physicians (ACP) stated its support for the use of non-smoked forms of THC, research on the benefits of medical marijuana, review of the federal scheduling of marijuana, and exemption from criminal prosecution. (Natural News article) (see Nov 4 or see CCC for expanded chronology)

February 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

 

February 15, 2010: the  Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, owned by Transocean, began drilling on the Macondo Prospect. (see Apr 1)

February 15 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

 

February 15, 2011: Judge Nancy G. Edmunds of Federal District Court sentenced Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner with explosives concealed in his underwear on Christmas Day in 2009. Edmunds his crime and subsequent lack of remorse demanded the maximum possible punishment.. (see November 21, 2013)

February 15 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

February 15, 2015: Roy Moore, the conservative chief justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court, said that if the U.S. Supreme Court decided that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, he would defy the ruling because it would alter God’s “organic law.” (see Feb 17)

February 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

February 15, 2019: the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn named more than 100 priests who had been credibly accused of sexually abusing a child. It was one of the largest disclosures yet in a torrent of lists recently published by the church as its handling of the problem had drawn the scrutiny of law enforcement officials.

The diocese was also one of the largest in the nation, its domain encompassing Brooklyn and Queens in New York City, an area with 1.5 million people who the church said identify as Catholic.

The disclosure covered decades of allegations involving priests who had served in the diocese’s many neighborhood parishes, as well as its schools, including Cathedral Preparatory, Christ the King, St. Francis Preparatory and Archbishop Molloy high schools. Advocates who track abuse cases said it also roughly doubled the number of suspected abusers they had been aware of in the diocese. (see Feb 16)

February 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Trump’s Wall

February 15, 2019: President Trump declared a national emergency on the border with Mexico in order to access billions of dollars that Congress refused to give him to build a wall there, transforming a highly charged policy dispute into a confrontation over the separation of powers outlined in the Constitution.

Trying to regain momentum after losing a grinding two-month battle with lawmakers over funding the wall, Mr. Trump asserted that the flow of drugs, criminals and illegal immigrants from Mexico constituted a profound threat to national security that justified unilateral action.

“We’re going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border, and we’re going to do it one way or the other,” he said in a televised statement in the Rose Garden barely 13 hours after Congress passed a spending measure without the money he had sought. “It’s an invasion,” he added. “We have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming into our country.” (IH & TW, see Feb 18)

February 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Colin Kaepernick

February 15, 2019: Colin Kaepernick reached a settlement over his collusion grievance against the National Football League. His attorneys, Mark Geragos, and Ben Meiselas and the NFL released a joint statement announcing that a settlement had been reached by the league and the former San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback and Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid, who filed a similar grievance.  (next FS,  see June 24; next LH,  see Feb 21; next CK, see Feb 27)

February 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Free Speech

February 15, 2022: jurors found that The New York Times did not defame Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate, in a June 2017 editorial that wrongly claimed a link between an ad from her political action committee and a mass shooting many months later.

It was a one-two punch for Palin. The unanimous verdict came a day after the presiding judge, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, ruled that he would set aside the jury’s verdict — whatever it might be — and dismiss the case. He said Palin had failed to make a sufficient argument that the Times had acted with actual malice to let the case be determined by a jury.

That legal standard of “actual malice,” set in a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that also involved the Times, requires that the newspaper either knowingly published damning and false information or recklessly disregarded the likelihood that its claims were likely to prove false.

“You decided the facts. I decided the law,” Rakoff told jurors on Tuesday. “It turns out they were both in agreement, in this case.”  NPR article] (next FS, see June 12, 2023)

February 15 Peace Love Art Activism

February 14 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Oregon Bans Blacks

February 14, 1859: Oregon granted statehood in 1859. It was the only state in the Union admitted with a constitution that forbade black people from living, working, or owning property there. It was illegal for black people even to move to the state until 1926. (see Mar 3)

National Negro Congress forms

February 14, 1936:  The National Negro Congress (NNC) (formed in 1935 at Howard University) held its first national meeting in Chicago. The NCC was a confluence of civic, civil rights, labor, and religious groups from across the nation; over 800 delegates representing 551 organizations and over 3 million constituents attended. A. Philip Randolph was elected President and John P. Davis was elected National Secretary. In keeping with their Popular Front orientation, the Communists in attendance did not attempt to hide their affiliation but consciously deferred to non-Communist delegates. (next BH, see Apr 28)

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

February 14, 1957: a follow-up to the January 10 meeting was held in New Orleans. Out of these two meetings came a new organization with Dr. King as its president. Initially called the “Negro Leaders Conference on Nonviolent Integration,” then “Southern Negro Leaders Conference,” the group eventually chose “Southern Christian Leadership Conference” (SCLC) as its name, and expanded its focus beyond busses to ending all forms of segregation. A small office was established on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta with Ella Baker as SCLC’s first — and for a long time only — staff member. (see Mar 26)

Malcolm X

February 14, 1965:  Malcolm X’s home firebombed. He and his family escaped injury. A week later, after his return from Detroit, on February 21st, 1965 he would be assassinated at the age of 40. (BH, see Feb 15; MX, see Feb 21)

George Whitmore, Jr.

February 14, 1965: District Attorney Aaron E Koota agreed to reopen the David Coleman case. (see Whitmore for expanded story)

BLACK & SHOT

February 14, 2011: a Westchester County grand jury concluded that there was “no reasonable cause” to indict Officer Aaron Hess who shot and killed Danroy Henry Jr in a car outside a bar last fall in Thornwood, prosecutors announced.

The Westchester district attorney, Janet DiFiore, said the grand jury had heard testimony from 85 witnesses in its investigation into the death of Henry .Hess of the Pleasantville Police Department fired through the windshield of Mr. Henry’s car, killing him and wounding his best friend from high school, Brandon Cox, 20. (B & S, and Henry, see  Apr 13 )

Stop and Frisk Policy

February 14, 2012: The NYPD conducted about 685,000 stops in 2011, the highest number on record since the City Council started collecting stop-and-frisk data in 2002. (see Feb 29)

February 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Voting Rights

February 14, 1899: Congress approved the use of voting machines in federal elections. (see April 27, 1903)

February 14 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

February 14, 1903: the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor was established. (see June 17)

Volkswagon Chattanooga, TN

February 14, 2014: employees at Volkswagon’s Chattanooga, TN plant voted against representation by United Auto Workers, leaving the factory as the only Volkswagen plant worldwide without a formal mechanism for workers’ representation. (see Mar 26)

Denver Teacher Strike

February 14, 2019: Denver teachers  returned to the classroom after the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and Denver Public Schools reached a tentative labor agreement.

At issue had been teacher pay — specifically, a system that granted certain teachers incentives for working in high-poverty schools or in hard-to-staff subjects. Union leaders wanted higher base salaries for more teachers and more opportunities to work toward a higher pay grade through professional development.

The tentative agreement includes a base salary increase, between 7 to 11 percent, and changes to the incentive system. (see Feb 15)

February 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

National American Woman Suffrage Association

February 14, 1920:  the National American Woman Suffrage Association became the League of Women Voters. The first president of the organization was Maude Wood Park. (Fem and VR, see June 8)

Women’s Health

February 14, 1969: now known as NARAL Pro Choice America, NARAL was founded as the National Association for Repeal of Abortion Laws, and later became the National Abortion Rights Action League. It was founded at the first National Conference on Reform of Abortion Laws in Chicago.  21 organizations and 350 individuals  sponsored the conference . (Feminism, see Feb 20; WH, see Mar 21)

TERRORISM

February 14, 2018: Marckles Alcius, of Lowell, Massachusetts, crashed a stolen bakery delivery truck into an East Orange (NJ) Planned Parenthood clinic. Three people, a staff member and two patients, including a pregnant woman, sustained minor injuries in the attack. All three went to the hospital, and were treated for their injuries and released.

The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office charged Alcius with attempting to cause widespread injury or damage, six counts of aggravated assault, theft and weapons offenses. (WH, see Mar 20; T, see Feb 27)

February 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological & Cultural Milestones

Penicillin

February 14, 1929: Alexander Fleming introduced his mold by-product called penicillin to cure bacterial infections. (see January 31, 1930)

ENIAC

February 14, 1946: the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was unveiled. The device, built at the University of Pennsylvania, was the world’s first general purpose electronic computer. (see February 21, 1947)

Pale Blue Dot

February 14, 1990: Voyager 1 sent back the Pale Blue Dot picture. The satellite was around 3.5 billion miles away from earth.  (see May 31)

YouTube

February 14 2005: the video sharing website YouTube founded. (see Apr 23)

February 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Calvin Graham

Payment request

February 14, 1944, : Graham filed an application with the Chief of Naval Personnel for mustering-out payment.

Back-pay denied

February 14, 1979: Graham’s claim for back-pay from his World War II service was denied on the basis that the claim was filed more than 6 years after discharge and, by statute, the claim was too late. The existence of the earlier claim (within the 6-year limit) was not known at the time of this decision. The Navy reinstated all of his medals with the exception of the Purple Heart. He was awarded $337 in back pay but was denied health benefits except for disability. (see Graham for expanded story)

February 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Military Advisors

February 14, 1962: President John F. Kennedy authorized U.S. military advisors in Vietnam to return fire if fired upon. At a news conference, he said, “The training missions we have [in South Vietnam] have been instructed that if they are fired upon, they are of course to fire back, but we have not sent combat troops in [the] generally understood sense of the word.” (see Feb 18)

Chicago 8

February 14, 1970: Judge Julius Hoffman sentenced four of the defendants to lengthy prison terms for contempt of court. After sending the jury to begin its deliberations, Hoffman started convicting the defendants and their lawyers for “numerous acts that add up to a total disregard for the conduct of this trial.” David Dellinger was found guilty on 31 counts and sentenced to 2 years 5 months 16 days; Renny Davis  on 23 counts was sentenced to 2 years 1 month 14 days; Thomas Hayden on 11 counts was sentenced to 1 year 1 month 14 days; and Abbie Hoffman found guilty on 24 counts and sentenced to 8 months. (see Feb 15)

February 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical Weapons News

Treaty of Tlatelolco

February 14, 1967: the Treaty of Tlatelolco was signed. The nations of Latin America and the Caribbean drafted this treaty to keep their region of the world free of nuclear weapons. Whereas Antarctica had earlier been declared a nuclear-weapon-free zone under the 1961 Antarctic Treaty, this was the first time such a ban was put in place over such a vast, populated area.

The Latin American countries other than Cuba all signed the treaty in 1967, along with Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and all of these ratified the treaty by 1972. The treaty came into force on 22 April 1968, after El Salvador had joined Mexico in ratifying it and waived the conditions for its entry into force in accordance with its Article 28. (US Dept of State article) (see Feb 18)

Iran uranium

February 14, 2006: Iran said it had resumed uranium enrichment, prompting Russia and France to call on Tehran to halt its work. (Washington Post article) (see Sept 7)

Soviet cruise missiles

February 14, 2017: the New York Times reported that “Russia has secretly deployed a new cruise missile that American officials say violates a landmark arms control treaty, posing a major test for President Trump as his administration is facing a crisis over its ties to Moscow.” (NYT article) (see Mar 17)

February 14 Peace Love Art Activism

February 14 Music et al

The Beatles

February 14, 1972: John Lennon and Yoko Ono began a week long stay as co-hosts on “The Mike Douglas Show.”

Here’s a clip. Mike does “Michelle.” Yikes! Slide up to 4:40 for John and Yoko. (see Feb 19)

February 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran hostage crisis

February 14, 1979: in Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnapped the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs, who was later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police. (2017 Washingtonian article) (see Oct 20)

February 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Union Carbide

February 14, 1989: Union Carbide agreed to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal Disaster. (NYT article) (see Mar 24)

CRA

February 14, 2017: President Trump signed a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution undoing a financial disclosure requirement for energy companies. (see Feb 16)

February 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

February 14, 2011: The Long Walkers 3 left La Jolla, California. Walkers split into two routes: North and South.  Along the way, they will hold community talks about reversing diabetes and heart disease through diet and exercise. Their statement read, in part, “This is a 5,000+ mile Walk Across America to bring awareness of the devastating effects of diabetes and how it can be reversed by changing our entire diet and lifestyle! This disease is at epidemic levels across America, and throughout Indian Country.” (see July 8)

February 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

February 14, 2013:  the Obama administration gave the banking industry the green light to finance and do business with legal marijuana sellers, a move that could further legitimize the burgeoning industry. For the first time, legal distributors will be able to secure loans and set up checking and savings accounts with major banks that have largely steered clear of those businesses. The decision eliminates a key hurdle facing marijuana sellers, who can now legally conduct business in 20 states and the District. (next Cannabis, see Mar 21 or see CCC for expanded chronology)

February 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Pledge of Allegiance

February 14, 2018: Boulder County District Attorney’s office announced that it had charged Karen Smith with child abuse and third-degree assault after allegedly assaulting a student on February 1 for not standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. (Smith & Pledge, see Aug 30)

February 14 Peace Love Art Activism

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Sons of Vulcan

February 13, 1865: a national eight-month strike by the Sons of Vulcan, a union of iron forgers, ends in victory when employers agreed to a wage scale based on the price of iron bars—the first time employers recognized the union, the first union contract in the iron and steel industry, and what may be the first union contract of any kind in the United States (see August 20, 1866)

Mary Harris “Mother” Jones

February 13, 1913: after West Virginia Governor William E. Glasscock declared martial law to put down the coal miners’ strike in in Kanawha county, 83-year old activist and organizer Mary Harris “Mother” Jones was arrested. She was tried and convicted by a military court and sentenced to twenty years in prison. “Whatever I have done in West Virginia,” she said, “I have done it all over the United States. And when I get out, I will do it again.” She was released and pardoned after serving 85 days. (see Mar 2)

American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers

February 13, 1914: the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) was founded in New York City. The organization’s purpose was–and remains–to protect the copyright and performance rights of the works of its members: composers, songwriters, lyricists, and music publishers. ASCAP’s first director was composer and musician Victor Herbert, a supporter of musicians’ right to receive royalties for the use of their work. (see Apr 20)

Hollywood Writers Strike Ends

February 13, 2008: some 12,000 Hollywood writers returned to work today following a largely successful three-month strike against television and motion picture studios. They won compensation for their TV and movie work that gets streamed on the Internet. (see January 7, 2009)

Foxconn

February 13, 2012: Apple said that it had asked an outside organization to conduct special audits of working conditions inside Chinese factories where iPhones, iPads and other Apple products are manufactured. (see Mar 28)

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

February 13, 1913: Tibet became independent from China, but China will invade and occupy Tibet in October 1950. (see April 24, 1916)

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

Japanese Internment Camps

February 13, 1942: Pacific Coast Congressional group recommended evacuation. (see JIC for expanded chronology)

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Bob Douglas

February 13, 1923: Bob Douglas, often referred to as the “Father of Black Basketball” formed the New York Renaissance (the “Rens”). The Rens became the first professional black basketball team in the nation.

Douglas became the first Afro-American inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame (in 1972!) as a contributor. (2017 Undefeated site article) (see Feb 19)

Montgomery Bus Boycott

February 13, 1956: Judge Eugene Carter directed the Montgomery county grand jury to determine whether the boycott of Montgomery buses violated Alabama’s anti-boycott law. (see MBB for expanded chronology)

Diane Nash and James Bevel

February 13, 1960: inspired by Rev. James Lawson’s philosophy of nonviolence, Diane Nash and James Bevel led 100 African-American students from Fisk University and Tennessee A&I University (now Tennessee State University) and began a sit-in to desegregate public facilities in Nashville. (BH, see Feb 15 – 21; Nashville, see May 10)

College demonstrations

February 13, 1968: civil rights demonstrations at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (see Feb 20)

Emmett Till

February 13, 2013: Airickca Gordon-Taylor, director of the Mamie Till Mobley Memorial Foundation, requested that Lil Wayne remove Emmett Till’s name from his verse on Future’s “Karate Chop.” Gordon-Taylor called Wayne’s use of Till’s name “disappointing, dishonorable, and outright disrespectful to our family.”

Guesting on “Karate Chop,” a new single by Atlanta rapper Future, Lil Wayne (aka Dwayne Michael Carter Jr.) contributed the third verse of the remix, which began:

Pop a lot of pain pills ‘Bout to put rims on my skateboard wheels Beat that p—y up like Emmett Till Pop a lot of pain pills ‘Bout to put rims on my skateboard wheels Beat that p—y up like Emmett Till

(BH & ET, see Feb 18)

Race Revolt

February 13, 1973: Airman William E Boon, the only white crewman charged in connection with racial violence aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Kitty Hawk last October, was found not guilty of assault. Fifteen black crewmen were tried, six of them at sea. Nine were convicted. (Vietnam, see Mar 17; BH, see Mar 8; RR, see June 12, 1974)

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

February 13, 1960:  France exploded its first atomic bomb. (CTBTO article) (see Aug 19)

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

February 13 Music et al

Exodus

February 13 – 19, 1961: soundtrack from the movie Exodus is Billboard #1 album. 

Calcutta

February 13 – 26, 1961: “Calcutta” by Lawrence Welk & His Orchestra #1 Billboard Hot 100.

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Operation Rolling Thunder

February 13, 1965: President Johnson authorized Operation Rolling Thunder, a bombing offensive. Its aim was to force North Vietnam to stop supporting Vietcong guerrillas in the South. It will begin on March 2. (see Feb 18)

Post Tet Offensive

February 13, 1968: as an emergency measure in response to the 1968 communist Tet Offensive, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara approved the deployment of 10,500 troops to cope with threats of a second offensive. The Joint Chiefs of Staff, who had argued against dispatching any reinforcements at the time because it would seriously deplete the strategic reserve, immediately sent McNamara a memorandum asking that 46,300 reservists and former servicemen be activated. Not wanting to test public opinion on what would no doubt be a controversial move, Johnson consigned the issue of the reservists to “study.” Ultimately, he decided against a large-scale activation of the reserve forces. (see Feb 18)

STUDENT ACTIVISM

February 13, 1969: 33 students arrested at University of Massachusetts Administration building sit-in. (Vietnam, see Feb 16; SA, see Feb 18)

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

Russell C Means, Wounded Knee II

February 13, 1974: the Wounded Knee trial opened with statements from the two defendants, Russell C. Means and Dennis J. Banks, that Indians were ready to revolt against having their heritage and traditions crushed by an unfeeling Federal bureaucracy. (see March 6)

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

AIDS & Ryan White

February 13, 1986: Howard County health officer determined White was fit for school. (see White for expanded story)

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

Cultural Milestone

February 13, 2000: Charles M. Schulz‘s last original Sunday “Peanuts” comic strip appeared in newspapers. Schulz had died the day before. (see August 31, 2001)

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

February 13, 2012:  according to the U.S. Department of Defense, there were 4,408 total deaths (including both killed in action and non-hostile) and 31,922 wounded in action (WIA) as a result of Operation Iraqi Freedom. (see March 20, 2015)

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Washington State

February 13, 2012: Washington Governor Chris Gregoire signed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. Washington was the 7th state to legalize gay marriage. (see Feb 16)

Virginia

February 13, 2014: U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen ruled Virginia’s ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. 

Wright Allen, an Eastern District of Virginia judge in Norfolk, wrote that the constitutional right to equality should apply to all, including same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses. “Our Constitution declares that ‘all men’ are created equal. Surely this means all of us. She continued, “While ever vigilant for the wisdom that can come from the voices of our voting public, our courts have never long tolerated the perpetuation of laws rooted in unlawful prejudice. One of the judiciary’s noblest endeavors is to scrutinize law that emerge from such roots.”

Wright Allen stayed her order to allow an appeal, meaning nothing immediately changes for same-sex couples in the state. (see Feb 24)

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

Pennsylvania suspends penalty

February 13, 2015: Pennsylvania Governor. Tom Wolf announced that he had suspended the death penalty until he reviewed a report on capital. punishment in the state. “This moratorium is in no way an expression of sympathy for the guilty on death row, all of whom have been convicted of committing heinous crimes,” Wolf said in a statement. “This decision is based on a flawed system that has been proven to be an endless cycle of court proceedings as well as ineffective, unjust, and expensive.”  (Death Penalty Information Center article) (see Feb 17)

Oklahoma resumes penalty

February 13, 2020: the NYT reported that Oklahoma officials announced plans to resume putting inmates to death using lethal injection drugs, five years after officials had halted all executions in the wake of a series of botched procedures that drew national attention to the state’s death penalty protocol.

The officials said that they had access to the drugs necessary to carry out capital punishment, though when the next execution would be scheduled remained unclear. It would be the first execution in Oklahoma since a string of errors and problematic executions in 2014 and 2015 that President Barack Obama had described as “deeply troubling.” (next DP, see Mar 23)

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Trump’s travel ban

February 13,  2017: U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema in Virginia issued a preliminary injunction to bar the enforcement of President Donald Trump’s travel ban to and from seven Middle Eastern countries, based significantly on its singling out of Muslim individuals as its target.

Brinkema made Virginia the third state to stop the enforcement of Trump’s executive order blocking travel to and from the countries, ruling the executive order was unconstitutional because it violated the First Amendment. (Washington Post article) (see Feb 16)

Trump DACA

February 13, 2018: U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn blocked President Donald Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals that protects immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children from deportation.

Garaufis in Brooklyn ruled that DACA, cannot end in March as the Republican administration had planned, a victory for Democratic state attorneys general and immigrants who sued the federal government.

The decision was similar to a January 9 ruling by U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco that DACA must remain in place while litigation challenging Trump’s decision continues. (IH, see Feb 22; DACA, see Feb 26)

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

February 13, 2018: Judge Richard M. Berman sentenced Ahmad Khan Rahimi, the Afghan-born immigrant planted the bomb that exploded in Manhattan in 2016, to two life terms in prison.

Berman handed down the sentence in Federal District Court in Manhattan, ending the prosecution of Rahimi, who was convicted of the high-profile act of jihad-inspired terrorism that was widely considered a near miss, injuring dozens without killing anyone. Rahimi was convicted by a jury on October 16, 2017 setting off weapons of mass destruction. (see Feb 14)

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

Space

February 13, 2019: after 15 years on Mars, the mission of NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity appeared to have come to an end. The wheeled explorer was only supposed to function for 90 days, but it went on to assist in many discoveries about ancient conditions on Mars, becoming the longest-lasting robotic explorer sent to another planet.

The rover had been silent since June 2018 when a planet-wide dust storm prevented sunlight from reaching its solar panels; lacking energy, Opportunity could not stay awake. The hope was that the rover would revive when the skies cleared, but it had not responded after months of efforts to contact it.

The space agency is expected to announce that it is wrapping up the mission. [NYT article] (see Mar 2)

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

February 13, 2019: Roman Catholic bishops in New Jersey named nearly 200 priests who had been found credibly accused of sexually abusing a child. As with many of the other lists recently published, most of the priests identified by the New Jersey bishops were dead, and the accusations involve alleged abuse that happened decades ago. [NYT story] (see Feb 15)

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

February 13, 2024: NBC Sports California announced that it had chosen Jenny Cavnar, a broadcasting veteran with nearly two decades of baseball experience, as the primary play-by-play voice for the Oakland Athletics’ games.

“It is a dream come true to join the broadcast team for the Oakland A’s and their rich baseball history,” Cavnar said in a release. “Growing up the daughter of a baseball coach, I have loved the game from a young age, along with the stories, history, and relationships the game provides.”

Cavnar would be the first woman to hold such a position in Major League Baseball. [CNN article] (next Feminism, see June 12)

February 13 Peace Love Art Activism