April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

School Desegregation

April 28, 1855: Massachusetts desegregated the state’s public schools with a law that stated: “no distinction shall be made on account of the race, color, or religious opinions, of the applicant or scholar.” (primary research dot org article) (BH, see May 1856; SD, see May 18, 1896)

Lint Shaw lynched

April 28, 1936: a 45-year-old black farmer named Lint Shaw was shot to death by a mob of forty white men in Colbert, Georgia – just eight hours before he was scheduled to go on trial on allegations of attempting to assault two white women.  [EJI article] (next BH, see Dec 8; next Lynching, see June 20, 1940; for expanded chronology of lynching, see also AL4)

Mitchell v the United Sates

April 28, 1941: the case came on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging discriminatory treatment of railroad accommodations for African-American passengers on interstate train coaches passing through Arkansas, where a state law required racial segregation, but equivalent facilities. The Supreme Court had held in earlier cases that it was adequate under the Fourteenth Amendment for separate privileges to be supplied to differing groups of people as long as they were treated similarly well.

Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes delivered the unanimous opinion of the Court: “This was manifestly a discrimination against him [Mitchell] in the course of his interstate journey and admittedly that discrimination was based solely upon the fact that he was a Negro. The question whether this was a discrimination forbidden by the Interstate Commerce Act is not a question of segregation but equality of treatment. The denial to appellant equality of accommodations because of his race would be an invasion of a fundamental right which is guaranteed against state actions by the 14th Amendment.”  (cornell dot edu article) 

News Music

In 1942: Langston Hughes wrote the lyrics, Emerson Harper wrote the music, and Josh White sang “Freedom’s Road” in which they attempted to link the war abroad to the struggle for racial justice at home. (BH, see Jan 17; see News Music for more)

Ruby Hurley

April 28, 1951: Ruby Hurley opened the first permanent office of the NAACP in the South, setting it up in Birmingham, Ala. Her introduction to civil rights activism began when she helped organize Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial. Four years later, she became national youth secretary for the NAACP. She helped investigate lynchings across the South and received many threats, including a bombing attempt on her home. In 1956, she left Birmingham for Atlanta after Alabama barred the NAACP from operating. She served as a mentor for Vernon Jordan and retired two years before dying in 1980. In 2009, she appeared on a postage stamp. (women’s history dot org bio) (next BH, see Oct 27); next Lynching, see December 30, 1952; for expanded chronology of lynching, see also AL4)

George Whitmore, Jr/April 28, 1964

April 28, 1964: Whitmore  indicted in for the Minnie Edmonds murder. His court-appointed attorney, Jerome Leftow, stated that Whitmore had repudiated the confessions, claiming he was beaten during interrogation, and would like to take a lie-detector test.

George Whitmore, Jr/April 28, 1965

April 28, 1965: Prosecutor Sidney A. Lichtman told the jury that the Wylie-Hoffert indictment was still pending in Manhattan. Whitmore’s attorney, Stanley Reiben argued, “How can the Wylie-Hoffert confession be bad and the others good beyond a reasonable doubt, given the same day to the same detectives  Is it possible for Wylie-Hoffert to be phony while the others are not?” (see Whitmore for expanded chronology)

Muhammad Ali

April 28, 1967: US Justice Department denied Ali’s claim. The Department found that his objections were political, not religious. Ali reported for induction ceremony, but refused to step forward when called.  (next BH, see April 30; next Ali, see June 20)

Clifford Glover

April 28, 1973: in Jamaica, Queens, NYC two undercover officers, Thomas Shea, and his partner Walter Scott, shot and killed 10-year-old Clifford Glover when he and his stepfather the officers stopped them. Immediately following the shooting, there were several days of riots in the South Jamaica neighborhood. At least 24 people, including 14 policemen were injured and 25 protesters arrested.  (Black Main Street article) (next BH, see May Peace… ; next RR, see June 12, 1974)

Baltimore revolt

April 28, 2015: (from the NYT) Engines raced across…[Baltimore] early Tuesday as the Fire Department strained to extinguish blazes, even as the police said some firefighters were reportedly having cinder blocks heaved at them as they responded to emergencies.

As Baltimore residents recoiled from the rioting and looting that struck largely in the west of the city, the police said officers were deployed overnight alongside weary and harried firefighters to ensure their work was not disrupted by people with “no regard for life.” (see Apr 29)

BLACK & SHOT/Eric C Harris

April 28, 2016: Robert Bates was found guilty the manslaughter of Eric C Harris. Based on the jury’s recommendation, he was sentenced to four years in prison. (see July 5)

BLACK & SHOT/Ahmaud Arbery

April 28, 2021: the Justice Department brought federal hate crimes charges in the death of Ahmaud Arbery. Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory, were charged along with a third man, William “Roddie” Bryan. The father and son who armed themselves, chased and fatally shot the 25-year-old Black Arbery after spotting him running in their Georgia neighborhood. The McMichaels are also charged with using, carrying and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.

The Department charged Bryan with one count of interference with civil rights and attempted kidnapping. [AP article] (next BH, see May 31; next B & S, see April 17, 2023; next AhA, see  or see AA for expanded chronology)

April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Eccles, WV mine collapse

April 28, 1914: coal mine collapsed at Eccles, WV, killing 181 workers. (mine disasters dot com article) (see Oct 15)

Benwood, WV coal mine disaster

April 28, 1924: 119 died in Benwood, WV coal mine disaster. (Archiving Wheeling dot org article) (see June 14)

Thornhill v. Alabama

April 28, 1940: in the case of Thornhill v. Alabama, decided on this day, the Supreme Court upheld a constitutional right to picket under the First Amendment. At issue was an Alabama state law that severely limited picketing. (Oyez article) (see Oct 24)

OSHA

April 28, 1970: Congress created OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The AFL-CIO set April 28 as “Workers Memorial Day” to honor the workers killed and injured on the job every year. (OSHA site) (see Sept 15)

Feminism/Labor History

April 28, 1993

• an executive order required the Air Force to allow women to fly war planes.
• first “Take Our Daughters to Work Day,” promoted by the Ms. Foundation, to boost self-esteem of girls with invitations to a parent’s workplace. (Feminism, see July 5; LH, see August 12, 1994)

Harris/Pelosi

April 28, 2021: Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made history as the first women — one of them Black and Indian American — to share the stage in Congress during a presidential address.

President Joe Biden noted the historic development at the very opening of his address. After taking the podium, Biden greeted the two women standing behind him with a “Madam Speaker” and “Madam Vice President.”

He then declared, “No president has ever said those words — and it’s about time.” [AP article] (next Feminism, see February 22, 2022)

April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Religion and Public Education

Zorach v. Clausen

April 28, 1952: in Zorach v. Clausen, the United States Supreme Court ruled that New York’s “released time” program, which allowed public school students to leave school early in order to attend religion classes, was permissible because the religious instruction took place off school grounds. In an earlier case, McCollum v. Board of Education, the Court had ruled an Illinois released time program unconstitutional because the religious instruction occurred on public school grounds. (Oyez article) (see April 16, 1956)

April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAYS

Japan

April 28, 1952:  Japan independent from US occupation. (see October 22, 1953)

Dissolution of Yugoslavia

April 28, 1992: the two remaining constituent republics of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – Serbia and Montenegro – form a new state, named the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (after 2003, Serbia and Montenegro), bringing to an end the official union of Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Bosnian Muslims and Macedonians that existed from 1918 (with the exception of the period during World War II). (see August 3, 1994)

April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

South Vietnam Leadership

April 28, 1955: US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles told the National Security Council to hold off on allowing the ousting of Diem pending the outcome of the Battle of Saigon. (Vietnam & SVL, see July 27)

General Westmoreland

April 28, 1967: for the first time in American history an American general was ordered home from a battlefield to speak to a joint session of Congress. He summarized the war’s situation by saying that the American Achilles’ heel was its resolve. (see Apr 30)

Cambodian Invasion

April 28, 1970: President Richard Nixon gave formal authorization to commit U.S. combat troops, in cooperation with South Vietnamese units, against communist troop sanctuaries in Cambodia. Secretary of State William Rogers and Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, who had continually argued for a downsizing of the U.S. effort in Vietnam, were excluded from the decision. (see Apr 29)

South Vietnam Leadership

April 28, 1975: ARVN general Duong Van Minh became the last president of South Vietnam. (see Apr 29)

My Lai Massacre

April 28, 2024: William L. Calley Jr. died in hospice in Gainesville, Fla, according to Social Security Administration records. He was 80.  [NYT article] (next Vietnam, see ; next My Lai, see )

April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

April 28 Music et al

The Road to Bethel

Week of April 28, 1969: Johnny Winter signed ($7,500); Janis Joplin signed ($15,000); and Jefferson Airplane signed ($15,000). (see Chronology for expanded story)

Fear of Rock

April 28, 1982: the California State Assembly consumer-protection-committee heard testimony from “experts” who claimed that when ‘Stairway To Heaven’ was played backward, contained the words: “I sing because I live with Satan. The Lord turns me off, there’s no escaping it. Here’s to my sweet Satan, whose power is Satan. He will give you 666. I live for Satan.” (see April 5, 1983)

April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

Chesley Karr

April 28, 1972: Chesley Karr, a minor, individually and John R. Karr, individually and as next friend and guardian ad litem on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees v Clifford Schmidt, Principal of Coronado High School, et al., etc., Defendants-Appellants. A male high school student with long hair sued the principal of a Texas high school after he was denied enrollment because his hair length violated the school’s “good grooming” policy. This policy prohibited any male student’s hair from hanging over his ears or collar, or from obstructing his vision. Issue: Whether a public school student has a First Amendment right to wear long hair to school. Holding: The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a student does not have a constitutional right to wear his hairstyle however he sees fit. (U Mass  dot edu article) (see June 26)

Skokie Nazi March

April 28, 1977: Judge Joseph Wosik, a judge in the Chancery Department of the Circuit Court of Cook County, in a suit filed by the Village of Skokie against the Nationalist Socialist party, issues a preliminary injunction prohibiting members of the Nationalist Socialist party from marching in Skokie. In this suit, the Village asserts, as a matter of fact, that the Jewish population is approximately 40,000 out of a total population of 70,000. (see May 2)

April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

ADA in the late 70s & 80s

Judy Heumann

On April 5, 1977 demonstrators led by Judy Heumann  had taken over the Health Education and Welfare in San Francisco in protest of HEW Secretary Califano’s refusal to complete regulations for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which made it illegal for federal agencies, public universities, and other public institutions receiving any federal funds to discriminate on the basis of disability.

On April 28, 1977  Secretary Califano signed the regulations into effect, making the take-over event  the longest occupation of a federal office by protesters in U.S. history. 

“We will ride!”

In 1978: in Denver, Colorado, chanting “We will ride!” nineteen members of the Atlantis Community block buses with their wheelchairs to demonstrate against the inaccessibility of public transportation. 

Fiesta Educativa

In 1978: Fiesta Educativa (Education Fest) formed to address the lack of Spanish-speaking support services to families with disabled children in southern California. 

National Council on Disability

In 1978: the National Council on Disability is established as an advisory board within the Department of Education. Its purpose is to promote policies, programs, practices, and procedures that guarantee equal opportunity for all people with disabilities, regardless of the nature or severity of the disability, and to empower them to achieve economic self-sufficiency, independent living, and inclusion and integration into all aspects of society. 

The Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act

In 1980: The Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) gives the Department of Justice power to sue state or local institutions that violate the rights of people held against their will, including those residing for care or treatment of mental illness. 

Attention Deficit Disorder

In 1980: the term Attention Deficit Disorder is included for the first time in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). 

National Organization on Disability

In 1982: Alan A. Reich founds the National Organization on Disability (NOD) in 1982. NOD’s mission is to expand the participation and contribution of Americans with disabilities in all aspects of life and to close the participation gap by raising disability awareness through programs and information. As president of NOD, Reich builds the coalition of disability groups that successfully fight for the inclusion of a statue of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his wheelchair at the FDR Memorial. Reich is an international leader in the disability community until his death in 2005. 

ADAPT

In 1983: Americans with Disabilities for Accessible Public Transportation, now known as ADAPT, began its national campaign for lifts on buses and access to public transit for people with disabilities. For seven years ADAPT—under the leadership of Bob Kafka, Stephanie Thomas, and Mike Auberger—blocked buses in cities across the U.S. to demonstrate the need for access to public transit. After the passage of the ADA (and transit measures gained by ADAPT’s hard work), ADAPT began to focus on attendant and community based services, becoming American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today. 

The Air Carrier Access Act

In 1986: The Air Carrier Access Act is implemented, which prohibits discrimination by domestic and foreign air carriers against qualified individuals with physical or mental disabilities. It applies only to air carriers that provide regularly scheduled services for hire to the public. Requirements include boarding assistance and certain accessibility features in newly built aircraft and new or altered airport facilities. (see September 28, 1987)

April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Irish Troubles

April 28, 1981:  the private secretary of Pope John Paul II paid a visit to Bobby Sands in the Maze Prison but was unable to persuade him to end his hunger strike. Humphrey Atkins, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, stated that: “If Mr Sands persisted in his wish to commit suicide, that was his choice. The government would not force medical treatment upon him.” President Ronald Reagan said that America would not intervene in the situation in Northern Ireland but he was “deeply concerned” at events there. (see Troubles for expanded Chronology)

April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

The Cold War

Aldrich Ames 

April 28, 1994: Aldrich Ames, a former C.I.A. official, pleaded guilty to passing U.S. secrets to the U.S.S.R. during the Cold War. Ames further confessed that he continued spying for Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. (see May 31)

April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

April 28, 1998: Nancy Hernreich, director of Oval Office operations, testified for the sixth time in the Lewinsky investigation. (see Clinton for expanded impeachment chronology)

April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Cultural Milestone

iTunes

April 28, 2003: Apple Computer Inc. launched the iTunes store. (see February 4, 2004)

April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

April 28, 2004: images of torture by American forces at Abu Ghraib revealed. (see May 19)

April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

April 28, 2010: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated that the leak was likely 5,000 barrels (210,000 US gallons; 790 cubic metres) a day, five times larger than initially estimated by BP. (see May 12)

April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

United Church of Christ

April 28, 2014: in a novel legal attack on a state’s same-sex marriage ban, the United Church of Christ, a liberal Protestant denomination, filed a lawsuit arguing that North Carolina was unconstitutionally restricting religious freedom by barring clergy members from blessing gay and lesbian couples.

The lawsuit, filed in a Federal District Court was the first such case brought by a national religious denomination challenging a state’s marriage laws. The denomination, which claimed nearly one million members nationwide, had supported same-sex marriage since 2005.

“We didn’t bring this lawsuit to make others conform to our beliefs, but to vindicate the right of all faiths to freely exercise their religious practices,” said Donald C. Clark Jr., general counsel of the United Church of Christ. [NYT article] (see May 9)

Supreme Court hearing

April 28, 2015: in two and a half hours of arguments over whether the Constitution guarantees same-sex couples the right to marry, the Supreme Court was deeply divided over one of the great civil rights issues of the age, same-sex marriage. But Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, whose vote was probably crucial, gave gay rights advocates reasons for optimism based on the tone and substance of his questions.

Kennedy sent conflicting signals. At some points, he seemed wary of moving too fast and torn about what to do. But his demeanor was more emotional and emphatic when he made the case that same-sex couples should be permitted to marry. He was also the author of three landmark opinions expanding the rights of gay Americans. [NYT article]  (see May 4)

April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

April 28, 2014:  a review conducted by specialists convened by the American Academy of Neurology suggested that marijuana can help alleviate multiple sclerosis symptoms such as pain, overactive bladder, and muscle stiffness.

The review also found that marijuana dd not help relieve the uncontrollable limb spasms that result from a drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease. And it concluded that there is insufficient evidence to know whether the drug reduces symptoms caused by neurological diseases such as Huntington’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome, or epilepsy.

“We wanted to inform patients and physicians, but we didn’t make specific treatment recommendations,” said study coauthor Dr. Gary Gronseth, a professor of neurology at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City. (see Nov 4 or see CCC for expanded chronology)

April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

April 28, 2014: according to a sweeping new statistical analysis, the US might be putting more innocent people to death than previously thought. Authors of the study say that their “conservative estimate of the proportion of erroneous convictions” is 4.1 percent, or approximately twice the number actually exonerated and set free from death row. This could mean that approximately 120 of the roughly 3,000 inmates on death row in America might not be guilty, while additional scores of wrongfully convicted inmates are serving life in prison after their death sentences were reduced over technical legal errors. (see Apr 29)

April 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

April 28, 2023: the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act, or PUMP Act which expanded protections for nursing went into full effect, giving more workers the right to break time and a private space to pump.  [NYT article] (next WH, see July 13)

April 25 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

8-hour workday

April 25, 1886: The New York Times declared the struggle for an 8-hour workday to be “un-American” and calls public demonstrations for the shorter hours “labor disturbances brought about by foreigners.”  (see May 3)

National Child Labor Committee

April 25, 1904: the National Child Labor Committee is formed. The NCLC is a private, non-profit organization and incorporated by an Act of Congress in 1907 with the mission of promoting the rights, dignity, well-being and education of children and youth as they relate to work and working. Despite years of enlightened laws and public scrutiny, the work of NCLC’s founding visionaries is still relevant and necessary today. (NCLC) (see June 8)

Feminism

April 25, 1978: in the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power v. Manhart, the US Supreme Court ruled that employers may not require female employees to make larger contributions to pension plans in order to obtain the same monthly benefits as men. (Oyez article)  (LH, see Apr 27, F, see June 9)

April 25 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Voting Rights

April 25, 1898: in Williams v. Mississippi, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled there was no racial discrimination in Mississippi’s 1890 Constitution, which required all voters to pay poll taxes and pass literacy tests. This ruling came despite public discussion by the framers of the state Constitution on how to maintain white supremacy and keep African Americans from voting. Many other Southern states followed Mississippi’s lead. (decision text from Justia) (see May 12)

Marcus Garvey

April 25, 1916: Garvey visited W.E.B. Du Bois, the editor of The Crisis, the magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. (BH, see May 15; see Garvey for expanded story)

Mack Charles Parker lynched

April 25, 1959: three days before his scheduled trial, Mack Charles Parker, a 23-year-old African American truck driver, was lynched by a hooded mob of white men in Poplarville, Mississippi. Parker had been accused of raping a pregnant white woman and was being held in a local jail. The mob took him from his cell, beat him, took him to a bridge, shot and killed him, then weighed his body down with chains and dumped him in the river. Many people knew the identity of the killers, but the community closed ranks and refused to talk. Echoing the Till case, the FBI would investigate and identify at least 10 men involved, but the U.S. Department of Justice would rule there were no federal grounds to make an arrest and press charges. Two grand juries — one county and one federal — adjourned without indictments. (Black Past article) (next BH, see May 1; next Lynching, see March 21, 1981; for expanded chronology of lynching, see also AL4)

George Whitmore, Jr

April 25, 1964: after 26 hours of interrogation, George Whitmore, Jr., a 19-year-old eighth-grade dropout with a 90 IQ, signed a 61-page confession admitting to

1. a) the murders of Wylie, Hoffert
2. b) the murder of Minnie Edmond
3. c) attempted rape of Elba Borrero (see Whitmore for expanded story)

Harlem Riot

April 25, 1968: the Appellate Division ruled that Lieutenant Thomas Gilligan, who fatally shot a 15-year-old James Powell preceding the Harlem riots in 1964, had the legal right to press his claim for more than $5-million in punitive damages against those who had called him a murderer. (BH, see May 3; RR, see May 27)

US Labor History

April 25, 1969: South Carolina Governor Robert Evander McNair  declared a state of emergency in Charleston and ordered more than 100,000 state troopers and members of the National Guard to break a strike by predominantly African American Medical University Hospital workers seeking recognition for their union, Local 1199B of the Retail Drug and Hospital Employees. In the end, the employer promised to rehire the striking workers they had fired, abide by a newly established grievance process, and provide modest pay increases. (LH, see Dec 31)

FREE SPEECH

April 25, 1969:  Black students at West Senior High School in Rockford, Illinois had presented their grievances to school administrators. When the principal took no action on crucial complaints, a more public demonstration of protest was planned.

On this date, approximately 200 people—students, their family members, and friends—gathered next to the school grounds of West Senior High School in Rockford, Illinois. Richard Grayned, brother and twin sisters attended the school, was part of the group. The demonstrators marched around on a sidewalk about 100 feet from the school building, which was set back from the street. Many carried signs which summarized the grievances: “Black cheerleaders to cheer too”; “Black history with black teachers”; “Equal rights, Negro counselors.” Others, without placards, made the “power to the people” sign with their upraised and clenched fists.

Grayned was convicted for his part in the demonstration. (BH, see May 4; FS, see May 15; Grayned, see March 31, 1970)

Sean Bell incident

April 25, 2008: three detectives were found not guilty on all charges in the shooting death of Sean Bell, who died in a hail of 50 police bullets outside a club in Jamaica, Queens. The verdict prompted calls for calm from Mayor Bloomberg, angry promises of protests by those speaking for the Bell family, and expressions of relief by the detectives. (NYT Sean Bell articles) (see May 7)

Tamir Rice

April 25, 2016: federal court records indicate that the City of Cleveland announced that the family of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy whose fatal shooting by the Cleveland police in 2014 prompted national outrage, would receive a $6 million settlement from the city.

The settlement, was the latest in a series of seven-figure payouts by major American cities to the families of African-Americans who died at the hands of officers, spares Cleveland the possibility of a federal civil rights trial that could have drawn new attention to Tamir’s death and to the city’s troubled police force. It also allowed the city to avoid the possibility of an even larger judgment.

Cleveland officials said the settlement was the city’s largest in a police-related lawsuit, though under the terms of the agreement, the city does not admit wrongdoing. The $6 million figure is in line with settlements in the deaths of Eric Garner in New York and Freddie Gray in Baltimore. (Cleveland dot com timeline)  (next B & S, see Apr 28; next Tamir Rice, see May 30, 2017)

Botham Shem Jean

April 25, 2019:  NewsOne reported that at least nine people who Amber Guyger had arrested had had their cases dismissed, The development could be damning for Guyger, the former cop who was indicted for breaking into the home of Botham Shem Jean before shooting him to death. (B & S, see June 14; BSJ, see )

Carolyn Bryant Dies

April 25, 2023: Carolyn Bryant, the 21-year-old white proprietress of the store where, according to her testimony in the September 1955 trial of her husband and his half brother for the murder, Emmett Till made a sexually suggestive remark to her, grabbed her roughly by the waist and let loose a wolf whistle and more recently known as Carolyn Bryant Donham, died at 88 in Westlake, a small city in southern Louisiana. [NYT article] (next BH, see June 16; next ET, see July 25 or see Till for expanded chronology)

 

April 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

Margaret Sanger

April 25, 1951: Margaret Sanger managed to secure a tiny grant for researcher Gregory Pincus from Planned Parenthood, and Pincus begins initial work on the use of hormones as a contraceptive at The Worcester Foundation. Pincus sets out to prove his hypothesis that injections of the hormone progesterone will inhibit ovulation and thus prevent pregnancy in his lab animals. (NYT obituary 1966) (see January 1952)

Health funding

April 25, 2019: Judge Stanley A. Bastian of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington State issued a nationwide injunction temporarily blocking a controversial Trump administration rule that barred organizations that provided abortion referrals from receiving federal family planning money.

Bastian said in his order that the rule would cause family planning clinics “to face a Hobson’s choice that harms patients as well as the providers.”

He wrote that the plaintiffs in the case had “submitted substantial evidence of harm” if the administration’s rule were to take effect. “Yet,” he wrote, “the government’s response in this case is dismissive, speculative and not based on any evidence presented in the record before this court.”

The judge’s ruling granted an immediate preliminary injunction, preventing the imposition of the Trump administration rule, which was scheduled to take effect on May 3. [NYT article] (see Apr 26)

April 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestones

DNA

April 25, 1953: Cambridge University scientists, James D Watson and Francis Crick, published an article in Nature Magazine explaining the structure of DNA and that DNA was the material that makes up genes which pass hereditary characteristics in all life from one parent to another. They concluded that it consisted of a double helix of two strands coiled around each other and could even be considered the “secret of life”. (Your Genome article) (TM, see Dec 17; DNA, see April 25, 2003)

Hubble Space Telescope

April 25, 1990:  the $2.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope was deployed in space from the Space Shuttle Discovery into an orbit 381 miles above Earth. It was the first major orbiting observatory, named in honour of American astronomer, Edwin Powell Hubble. (NASA article) (see December 3, 1992;  next Space, see May 5, 2018)

Human Genome Project

April 25, 2003: The Human Genome Project to determine the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA of the human genome consisting of 20,000-25,000 genes started in 1990 was published. The project started in the US with James D. Watson who was head of the National Center for Human Genome Research at the National Institutes of Health but over the next 10 years geneticists in China, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom all worked together on the project helping the project end two years earlier than planned. One of the most important aspects of this research was that it was available to anyone on the Internet and not owned or controlled by any one company or government.

TV Households

2006: half of American households have three or more TV sets. (see January 9, 2007)

April 25 Peace Love Art Activism

April 25 Music et al

Stu Cook

April 25, 1945: Stuart Alden Cook, bassist for Creedence Clearwater Revival born. 

Stuck on You

April 25 – May 22, 1960: “Stuck on You” by Elvis #1 Billboard Hot 100, his first since his Army discharge and his thirteenth overall. (see Aug 15)

Nuclear/Chemical News

April 25, 1962: on the same day that the United States resumed nuclear testing after a 3-year moratorium, Bob Dylan recorded ”Let Me Die in My Footsteps” a song was inspired by the construction of fallout shelters. (Nuclear/Chemical News, see May 6; Dylan,  see June 8)

The Road to Bethel

April 25, 1990: the Fender Stratocaster that Jimi Hendrix played at the Woodstock festival was auctioned off for a record $295,000. (see Chronology for expanded Woodstock story)

April 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Gen. William Westmoreland

April 25, 1964: President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that Gen. William Westmoreland would replace Gen. Paul Harkins as head of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) as of June 20. (see May 2)

Easter Offensive

April 25, 1972: North Vietnamese Army close to cutting South Vietnam in two. Hanoi’s 320th Division drives 5,000 South Vietnamese troops into retreat and traps about 2,500 others in a border outpost northwest of Kontum in the Central Highlands. This campaign was part of the ongoing North Vietnamese Nguyen Hue Offensive, also known as the “Easter Offensive,” which included an invasion by 120,000 North Vietnamese troops. (see Apr 26)

April 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Falklands War

April 25, 1982: British Royal Marines retake South Georgia. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher refused to answer questions from the press on the operation, saying: “Just rejoice at that news and congratulate our forces and the marines.” (see Apr 30)

April 25 Peace Love Art Activism

The Cold War

April 25, 1983: the Soviet Union released a letter that Russian leader Yuri Andropov wrote to Samantha Smith, an American fifth-grader from Manchester, Maine, inviting her to visit his country. Andropov’s letter came in response to a note Smith had sent him in December 1982, asking if the Soviets were planning to start a nuclear war. At the time, the United States and Soviet Union were Cold War enemies.

Andropov’s letter said that Russian people wanted to “live in peace, to trade and cooperate with all our neighbors on the globe, no matter how close or far away they are, and, certainly, with such a great country as the United States of America.” In response to Smith’s question about whether the Soviet Union wished to prevent nuclear war, Andropov declared, “Yes, Samantha, we in the Soviet Union are endeavoring and doing everything so that there will be no war between our two countries, so that there will be no war at all on earth.” Andropov also complimented Smith, comparing her to the spunky character Becky Thatcher from “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain.

Smith, born June 29, 1972, accepted Andropov’s invitation and flew to the Soviet Union with her parents for a visit. Afterward, she became an international celebrity and peace ambassador, making speeches, writing a book and even landing a role on an American television series. In February 1984, Yuri Andropov died from kidney failure and was succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko. The following year, in August 1985, Samantha Smith died tragically in a plane crash at age 13. (see August 11, 1984)

April 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

April 25, 2007:  Laura Bush stated that “No one suffers more than the President and I do.”  (see June 7)

April 25 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

Connecticut Repeals DP

April 25, 2012:  Connecticut Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy signed into law a repeal of the death penalty, making it the fifth state in recent years to abandon capital punishment. Malloy stated it was ‘a moment for sober reflection, not celebration.’ With the law, which replaced the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole, Connecticut joined 16 other states and the District of Columbia that do not allow capital punishment. The repeal in Connecticut applied only to future sentences, and the 11 men on its death row now still face execution. However some legal experts have said defense attorneys could use the repeal measure to win life sentences for those inmates. (see May 2, 2013)

Melissa Lucio

April 25, 2022: in a case that had drawn bipartisan outrage Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered a halt to the execution of Melissa Lucio, an Hispanic mother of 14 convicted of killing her 2-year-old child more than a decade ago.

Lucio, had long maintained her innocence, and calls for leniency had become widespread in Texas, including among dozens of Democratic and Republican state legislators, as new evidence and expert testimony emerged that cast strong doubt on her guilt.

The three-page decision ordering the stay to the execution that had been set for April 27, the Court found that several of the claims raised by her lawyers needed to be considered by a trial court, including that prosecutors may had used false testimony, that previously unavailable scientific evidence could preclude her conviction and that prosecutors suppressed other evidence that would have been favorable to her.

The case returned to a lower court to resolve those issues, postponing the execution indefinitely. Ms. Lucio would have been the first Hispanic woman executed in Texas. [NYT article] (next DP, see January 25, 2024)

April 25 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Apology

April 25, 2012:  Robert Spitzer, MD, apologized to the gay community for a study published in October 2003 that said some people were able to change their sexual orientation. In a letter to Ken Zucker, the editor of Archives of Sexual Behavior (which published the study), Spitzer wrote: “I offered several (unconvincing) reasons why it was reasonable to assume that the subject’s reports of change were credible and not self-deception or outright lying. But the simple fact is that there was no way to determine if the subject’s accounts of change were valid. I believe I owe the gay community an apology for my study making unproven claims of the efficacy of reparative therapy.”) [NYT article] (see May 8)

US Military/LGBTQ

April 25, 2018: at a Senate committee hearing, the Air Force Chief of Staff General Dave Goldfein said that he was not aware of any negative effects of transgender people serving in the military, joining the other three chiefs of staff. [General Dave Goldfein appeared at a Senate committee hearing ]

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand questioned Goldfein. She stated that “In the last two weeks General Milley, General Neller, and Admiral Richardson…told me that they have seen zero reports of issues of cohesion, discipline, morale as a result of open transgender service in their respective service branches,” referring to the chiefs of the Army, Marine Corps, and Navy.

She then asked Goldrein if he knew of any reports of such issues. Goldfein said he was not. He said that he talked to a few transgender service members and was impressed by the “commitment to serve by each of them.”

Last week, Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley testified that he had heard of “precisely zero reports” of problems with transgender soldiers. Marine Commandant General Robert Neller said he was “not aware of any issues in those areas.” Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson said “it’s steady as she goes” regarding transgender people in the Navy. (see May 11)

April 25 Peace Love Art Activism

April 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Voting Rights

April 25, 2016: Judge Thomas D. Schroeder of Federal District Court in Winston-Salem upheld Republican-backed changes to election rules, including a voter identification provision, that civil rights groups said unfairly targeted African-Americans and other minorities.

Schroeder’s ruling upheld the repeal of a provision that allowed people to register and vote on the same day. It also upheld a seven-day reduction in the early-voting period; the end of preregistration, which allowed some people to sign up before their 18th birthdays; and the repeal of a provision that allowed for the counting of ballots cast outside voters’ home precinct.

It also left intact North Carolina’s voter identification requirement, which legislators softened last year to permit residents to cast ballots, even if they lack the required documentation, if they submit affidavits. (see Apr 26)

April 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Sanctuary cities 

April 25, 2017: Judge William H. Orrick of United States District Court for the Northern District of California temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to withhold funding from cities that limit their cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

Orrick issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the administration, directing it to stop trying to cut off aid to sanctuary jurisdictions. But the order does not prevent the federal government from moving forward on designating certain places as “sanctuaries,” nor does it keep the administration from enforcing conditions for doling out federal money if they already exist, as the Justice Department has already begun to do with some law enforcement grants.  (NYT article) (see May 12)

Reunification

April 25, 2019: Judge Dana Sabraw of the Southern District of California gave President Donald Trump’s administration six months to identify migrant children who were separated from their families for reunification, a process the White House previously stated would take up to two years.

The Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General estimated in a report that thousands of children were separated even before the “zero tolerance” policy in May and June 2018 that prosecuted immigrant parents who crossed the border illegally while holding their children separately in HHS custody.

Lawyers representing the Trump administration said in a filing earlier that it would take one to two years to identify potentially thousands of children who fit into the category.

But Sabraw ordered the administration to have its plan completed by Oct. 25. According to Sabraw’s order, the timeline may be modified for a “showing of good cause.” [NBC News article] (next Immigration, see May 17; next Judge Sabraw, see May 17)

April 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

April 25, 2017: CNN reported that Marie Collins had resigned from the commission that Pope Francis had set up to combat sex abuse. Collins, the only active member of the commission who was also a victim of abuse said in a statement that, “”It is a reflection of how this whole abuse crisis in the church has been handled: with fine words in public and contrary actions behind closed doors. (see June 23)

April 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Renewable Energy Grows

April 25, 2019: for the first time renewable energy generated more electricity than coal-powered power plants in the U.S.

An analysis by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a non-profit that supports the transition to clean energy, showed that in April, renewables were on track to surpass the roughly 2,000 to 2,200 thousand megawatt hours per day generated by coal.

The analysis also pointed out that, “To be fair, there are seasonal considerations. Of particular note, is the long-held practice of taking coal plants offline during the lower demand periods of the spring (and fall) to perform maintenance and upgrades to ensure that they are ready for the higher demand of the summer and winter seasons. In addition, spring tends to be peak time for hydro generation.” [Smithsonian article] (see June 10)

Coal-fired Power Plants

April 25, 2024: under a rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, coal-fired power plants would be forced to capture smokestack emissions or shut down

New limits on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired electric plants were the Biden administration’s most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the power sector, the nation’s second-largest contributor to climate change. The rules were a key part of President Joe Biden’s pledge to eliminate carbon pollution from the electricity sector by 2035 and economy-wide by 2050. [AP article]  (next EI, see June 24)

April 25 Peace Love Art Activism

ADA

April 25, 2023: Toy company Mattel revealed its first Barbie doll representing a person with Down syndrome.

Mattel collaborated with the National Down Syndrome Society to create the Barbie and “ensure the doll accurately represents a person with Down syndrome,” the company said and that the design features of the new Barbie were made under guidance from NDSS,

In addition to portraying some physical characteristics of a person with Down syndrome, the Barbie’s clothing and accessories carry special meaning.

The blue and yellow on the doll’s dress, accompanied by butterflies, represent symbols and colors associated with Down syndrome awareness. And the three chevrons on the Barbie’s necklace represent how people with Down syndrome have three copies of their 21st chromosome.

Also the Barbie wears ankle foot orthotics, which some children with Down syndrome use. [AP article] (next ADA, see )

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