Tag Archives: Lynching

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

April Peace Love Art Activism

April 1, 2017 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

April Peace Love Art Activism

I try to be precise and factual with my the many events I attach to a date, but sometimes the best I can find is that something occurred in a month. Such are today’s entries. All the following happened in some past April. If you have the actual date, please let me know.

April Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Dred Scott

In April 1838: the Scotts joined Dr & Mrs Emerson in Louisiana. When the Scotts arrived in Louisiana they might have sued for their freedom in that state. For more than twenty years Louisiana courts had upheld the freedom claims of slaves who had lived in free jurisdictions. Had the Scotts claimed their freedom in Louisiana in 1838, theirs would have been an open-and-shut case. But, once again, they did not seek their freedom. It is likely that they simply had no knowledge that the Louisiana courts routinely freed slaves who had lived in free jurisdictions. (BH, see September 3, 1838; see Scotts for expanded story)

School Desegregation

In April 1850: the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued its ruling in Roberts v. Boston regarding Sarah Roberts, a black child. Chief Justice Shaw decided the case on narrow legal groups, ruling in favor of the right of the school committee to set education policy as it saw fit. Shaw could find no constitutional reason for abolishing Black schools. Boston’s schools would remain segregated. (see Sarah for expanded story)(BH, see Sept 18; SD, see April 28, 1855)

Leonidas C Dyer

In April 1918: Congressman Leonidas C. Dyer (R-Missouri) introduced an anti-lynching bill in the House of Representatives, based on a bill drafted by NAACP founder Albert E. Pillsbury in 1901. The bill called for the prosecution of lynchers in federal court. State officials who failed to protect lynching victims or prosecute lynchers could face five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The victim’s heirs could recover up to $10,000 from the county where the crime occurred. (Bio Guide dot Congress bio) (next BH & Lynching, see May 18; next Dyer bill, see October 20, 1921; for expanded chronology, see American Lynching 2)

Aurelia Browder

In April 1955: police arrested Aurelia Browder (36 years old) for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white rider in Montgomery, AL. She will be the lead plaintiff in the Browder v. Gayle action lawsuit. (1998 Washington Post article) (BH, see May 7; Feminism, see Oct 21; B v G, see February 1, 1956; see Boycott for expanded )

Muhammad Ali

In April 1968: Esquire magazine’s cover portrayed Muhammad Ali as a martyr akin to St Sebastian. Kurt Andersen, host of NPR’s Studio 360, stated that “George Lois’s covers for Esquire in the 60s are classic. His April 1968 image of Muhammad Ali to dramatize the boxer’s persecution for his personal beliefs, is the greatest magazine cover ever created, making a political statement without being grim or stupid or predicable.” (BH, see Apr 3; Ali, see, April 6, 1969) (see Passion of Muhammad Ali for expanded story)

Nathan Bedford Forrest Rangers

In April 1973: the Pontiac, Michigan school bus bomb case came to trial with Robert Miles, Wallace Fruit, Alex Distel, Dennis Ramsey, and Raymond Quirk as defendants. The government’s star witness, Jerome Lauinger, a Pontiac fireman and licensed gun dealer, told the court that he had infiltrated “Unit 5” of the KKK on behalf of the FBI some three-and-a-half years earlier. He reported that the KKK had a military arm called the “Nathan Bedford Forrest Rangers” and that he was a member of it as well. (BH, see Apr 10; SD, see “In May”)

Rodney King

In April 2012: King’s autobiography, “The Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption. Learning How We Can All Get Along” published. (see June 17, 2012)

April Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism & Voting Rights

National Woman Suffrage Association

In April 1869, : Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony found the National Woman Suffrage Association to campaign for women’s right to vote. (see Dec 10)

Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage

In April 1913: Alice Paul and Lucy Burns founded the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (CU), which later became the National Woman’s Party. The NWP put its priority on the passage of a constitutional amendment ensuring women’s suffrage. (Crusade for the Vote dot org article) (see July 31)

Woman’s Peace Party

In April 1915: opposed to the War, Woman’s Peace Party representatives Jane Addams and Emily G Balch attended the International Congress of Women at The Hague in the Netherlands. The meeting was significant for its founding of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. (see Oct 23)

April Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

In April 1943: U.S. Navy Commodore Milton E. Miles, stationed in Chungking, China proposed that the US parachute twenty Office of Strategic Services (OSS) into the Central Highlands of Vietnam to organize guerrilla bands among the highland peoples to oppose the Japanese forces. The plan was approved, but never implemented. The United States, however, established a network of Vietnamese and French colonials for intelligence and espionage. (valor dot military times article) (see January 24, 1944)

Increased Air Power

April – June, 1964: the US massively reinforced its air power in Southeast Asia. Two aircraft carriers arrived off the Vietnamese coast prompted by a North Vietnamese offensive in Laos. (see Apr 25)

Increased troop strength

In April, 1965: 25,000 U.S. troops stationed in Vietnam (see Apr 3)

543,000 US troops

In April 1969: 543,000 US troops in Vietnam. 33,641 Americans have been killed, a greater total than the Korean War. (see Apr 2)

Sons and Daughters In Touch

Spring 2003: Sons and Daughters In Touch led an historic two week journey to Vietnam. Guided by Vietnam combat veterans and nurses who served in the war, more than 50 Gold Star ‘sons and daughters’ were able to stand in the precise location where their fathers were lost. While in Vietnam, the SDIT delegation also visited Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong Delta, Cu Chi, Da Nang, Quang Tri, Khe San, China Beach, Hue City and Hanoi. (see August 20, 2009)

April Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Dale Jennings

In spring 1952: Dale Jennings, a member of the Mattachine Society, arrested for allegedly soliciting a police officer.

American Psychiatric Association

In April 1952: the American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality as a sociopathic personality disturbance in its first publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Immediately following the manual’s release, many professionals in medicine, mental health and social sciences criticized the categorization due to lack of empirical and scientific data. (see June 23, 1952)

April Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy

In April 1957: the escalating nuclear arms race of the late 1950s led Norman Cousins, editor of the Saturday Review, along with Clarence Pickett of the American Society of Friends (Quakers), to found the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE). (Red, see May 2; Nuclear, see Apr 29)

Cuban Missile Crisis

In April 1962: U.S. Jupiter missiles in Turkey became operational. All positions were reported “ready and manned” by U.S. personnel. (next Cold War, see Apr 14; see Cuban Missile Crisis for expanded story)

April Peace Love Art Activism

see In April Music et al for more

Ray Charles

In April 1962: Ray Charles successfully combined country music with soul and crosses into the pop realm with the album “Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music” – the #1 album of 1962.

LSD

In April, 1966: Sandoz Pharmaceutical recalled the LSD it had previously distributed and withdrew its sponsorship for work with LSD. (see September 1966)

Future Woodstock Performers

In April 1967: Country Joe (age 25 ) and the Fish released first album, Electric Music for the Mind and Body.

Ken Kesey

In April 1967: Ken Kesey re-tried. Hung jury. Pled guilty to a lesser charge. Given 6 months on work farm. (see June 1967)

The Road to Bethel

In April 1969: Allan Mann met with Elliiot Tibor who offered a barn for a theater from free if Mann would rent a nearby 6-room Victorian for the summer for $800. Paul Johnson, a friend of Mann, agreed to put the down payment of $200 for the house in exchange for a room there for the summer. [keep in mind, this agreement was made before Wallkill evicted the festival. (see Chronology for full list of dates)

April Peace Love Art Activism

STUDENT ACTIVISM

“People’s Park”

In April, 1969: UC Berkeley students with local residents began to build a “People’s Park” on college-owned land that had remained unused despite plans to build a park and sports field. (2017 Rolling Stone magazine article) (see Apr 9)

April Peace Love Art Activism

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

In April 1995: the “Does” filed suit against Santa Fe Independent School District (TX) in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Texas. For some time prior to the onset of this litigation, the “Does’ believed that SFISD was pursuing policies that were in contravention of the Establishment Clause, mainly because for an undisclosed period of time leading up to and including the 1992-93 and 1993-94 school years, SFISD allowed students to read overtly Christian prayers from the stage at graduation ceremonies, and over the public address system at home football games. The “Does” demanded prospective injunctive and declaratory relief in addition to money damages. (see June 25, 1997)

April Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

In April 1996: then-Deputy White House Chief of Staff Evelyn Lieberman transfered Lewinsky to a job as an assistant to Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon. Lieberman told The New York Times the move was due to “inappropriate and immature behavior” and inattention to work. At the Pentagon, Lewinsky met Linda Tripp, a career government worker. (see Clinton for expanded story)

April Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

Boston Archdiocese

In April 2003: the Boston Archdiocese avoided bankruptcy by agreeing to sell land and buildings for over $100m to fund legal settlements to more than 500 abuse victims. (see May 3)

April Peace Love Art Activism

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

March 31 Peace Love Art Activism

March 31, 2017 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

March 31 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

10-hour day

March 31, 1840: President Martin Van Buren issued a broadly-applicable executive order granting the 10-hour day to all government employees engaged in manual labor. (see February 21, 1848)

César E. Chávez

March 31 1927: César Chávez born in Yuma, Arizona.

Mexican Repatriation

From 1929 – 1939, due to the high unemployment of “American” workers during the Great Depression, US authorities forced as many as 500,000 people of Mexican descent to leave the US without due process. (AFLCIO bio) (see April 10, 1930)

Civilian Conservation Corps

March 31, 1933: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps to help alleviate suffering during the Depression. By the time the program ended after the start of World War II it had provided jobs for more than six million men and boys. The average enrollee gained 11 pounds in his first three months (see Apr 10)

César E. Chávez & Dolores Huerta

March 31, 1962: Chavez and Huerta resigned from the Community Service Organization. Chavez moved with his wife and eight small children the farm town of Delano, CA and dedicated himself full-time to organizing farm workers. Dolores Huerta and others later join him. (see September 30, 1962)

March 31 Peace Love Art Activism

BACK HISTORY and Feminism

Voting Rights

March 31, 1870: Thomas Mundy Peterson of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, became the first African American to vote in an election under the 15th Amendment. Peterson served as a school principal and later became the city’s first black officeholder and the first black person to ever serve on a jury. In New Jersey, March 31 is recognized as Thomas Mundy Peterson Day, honoring his historic vote.(BH, see Dec 12; VR, see November 5, 1872)

Marie Scott lynched

March 31, 1914: a white lynch mob in Wagoner County, Oklahoma, seized a 17-year-old black teenaged girl named Marie Scott from the local jail, dragged her screaming from her cell, and hanged her from a nearby telephone pole. Days before, a young white man named Lemuel Pierce was stabbed to death while he and several other white men were in the city’s “colored section”; Marie was accused of being involved.

It is most likely that Scott (or her brother) was defending herself from a sexual assault by Pierce or others in the white group. [EJI article] (next BH, see July 20; next Lynching, see April 17, 1915; for for expanded chronology, see American Lynching 2)

Gwendolyn Brooks

March 31, 1950: Gwendolyn Brooks becomes the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry Annie Allen. (Pulitzer site article) (BH, June 5; see Feminism September 18, 1950)

The Greensboro Four

March 31, 1960: of the 2,000 citizen letters the Advisory Committee received, 73 percent favored integrated lunch counters. The hotly debated topic was constantly in the news. The Greensboro Record reported a letter signed by 68 white citizens urged that “service to all customers at the lunch counters in these stores be entirely on a ‘first come, first served’ basis, just as it is in other areas of these establishments.” Chairman Zane and the Advisory Committee held numerous meetings with representatives from F.W. Woolworth, Kress and other downtown businesses. All refused to integrate. On March 31, a disappointed Edward Zane met with student leaders to break the news.

By the end of March, the sit-in Movement had spread to 55 cities in 13 states. (next BH, see Apr 24; see G4 for expanded chronology)

School Desegregation

March 31, 1992: in Freeman v. Pitts the US Supreme Court further delayed the end of school desegregation, ruling that school systems can fulfill their obligations in an incremental fashion. (BH, see April 29; SD, see June 12, 1995)

Amadou Diallo

March 31, 1999: four New York City police officers were charged with murder for killing Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant, in a hail of bullets. (see Dec 16)

March 31 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

Movie code

March 31, 1930: the board of directors of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association formally adopted the Code that would be published on February 19. (see Nov 25)

Scientific American seized

March 31, 1950: the U.S. government seized and then burned 3,000 copies of the highly respected magazine Scientific American. The magazine’s offense was an article on the atomic bomb, which the government claimed contained the “secret” to producing a bomb. The seizure and burning was symptomatic of the rising hysteria of the Cold War in 1950. (Today In Civil Liberties History article) (see January 15, 1951)

Illinois v Allen

March 31, 1970: Illinois v. Allen. Police had charged William Allen with armed robbery. Before his trial, he obtained permission to conduct his own defense, as long as he allowed court-appointed counsel to sit in. During voir dire, Allen started to argue with the judge, and continued to be insubordinate throughout the opening of the trial. After that, the judge ordered Allen removed from the courtroom and only allowed him in for identification and for portions of his defense. The US Supreme Court held that when a defendant refuses to conduct himself in an orderly manner, he can lose his Sixth Amendment right to be present at his own trial. Justice Brennan concurred, only adding that when a defendant is excluded from trial it should be incumbent upon the court to insure that the defendant has full communication with his attorney.

Grayned v Rockford

March 31, 1970: Grayned v. Rockford, the Supreme Court found that “The nature of a place, ‘the pattern of its normal activities, dictate the kinds of regulations of time, place, and manner that are reasonable.'” In determining what is reasonable, the Court stated that “[the] crucial question is whether the manner of expression is basically incompatible with the normal activity of a particular place at a particular time.” Thus, protesters have the right to march in support of a cause, but not on a public place during the middle of the day with bullhorns.

The Court held that the anti-picketing law was contrary to First Amendment rights as it created a per se ban on the free exercise of speech and was therefore unconstitutional. The anti-noise ordinance, however, had a compelling justification behind it and therefore it was constitutional. The demonstration was incompatible with the normal use of the facility; the noise was a disruptive to the functioning of the school as it was distracting for students and faculty members alike. Therefore, the state in this instance had a right to regulate it.

The Supreme Court held that the anti-picketing ordinance was unconstitutional on its face, but held that the anti-noise ordinance was constitutional. (see Apr 1)

Recording police

March 31, 2015, : the city of Portland, Maine and the American Civil Liberties Union announced that a U.S. District Court ordered the city to pay $72,000 in damages and court costs to a Jill Walker and Sabatino Scattoloni who sued after they were arrested in May, 2014 while video recording police making another arrest.

The settlement also required city police “to utiliz(e) this incident as a training tool to ensure the rights of citizens, including First Amendment rights, will be respected by its police officers in such interactions,” City Hall spokeswoman Jessica Grodin said in a press release.

Sgt. Benjamin Noyes arrested Walker and Scattoloni early in the morning on May 24, 2014, on Spring Street after they saw a traffic stop and then began recording the incident with a cell phone, according to the lawsuit filed against Noyes in September 2014 in Hancock County Superior Court.

“They watched silently, they did not approach or address the officers, and they did not in any way interfere with the officers’ work: they simply stood bearing witness,” the complaint said.

The suit alleged Noyes, a 17-year veteran of the Police Department, approached the couple, who were vacationing in Portland, and said “You have two seconds to get off this sidewalk or you will be under arrest.”

After being warned to leave twice, Walker and Scattoloni were charged with Class D obstruction of government administration and taken to Cumberland County Jail. They were freed after several hours on $60 bail; the charges were eventually dismissed.

The arrest report referred to in the suit quotes Noyes saying Walker and Scattoloni were arrested because of “their proximity to the combative female (involved in the traffic stop) and their refusal to follow my commands.”

The alleged violations of the couple’s First and Fourth Amendment rights included failure to advise them of their rights, and illegal searches at the scene and jail. (4^th, see Apr 21; FS, see Apr 6)

March 31 Peace Love Art Activism

see March 31 Music et al for even more

Technological Milestone

Roots of Rock

March 31, 1949: RCA introduced the modern ’45 RPM as the “New System,” It was designed to be a replacement for the bulky 78-RPM record and was touted to be 1/10th the weight of its 12 inch counterpart and having a playtime of up to 5.3 minutes per side. It featured a lightweight record design and small 7-inch diameter with improved fidelity in terms of noise levels and frequency response. (Roots, see Dec 10; TM, see January 12, 1950)

Johnny B. Goode

March 31, 1958: Chuck Berry released the “Johnny B. Goode”. Written by Berry in 1955, the song is about a poor country boy who plays a guitar “just like ringing a bell,” and who might one day have his “name in lights.” Berry has acknowledged that the song is partly autobiographical, and originally had “colored boy” in the lyrics, but he changed it to “country boy” to ensure radio play. The title is suggestive that the guitar player is good, and hints at autobiographic elements because Berry was born at 2520 Goode Avenue in St. Louis. Chuck has said that he wrote it as a Rock and Roll version of the American dream. (see May 9)

Connie Francis

March 31 – April 6, 1962: “Don’t Break the Heart that Loves You” by Connie Francis #1 Billboard Hot 100.

Pvt Hendrix

March 31, 1962: Hendrix failed to report for bed check and as a result was reduced to general private status. His excuse:”delay due to payday activities and weekend.” (see PH for expanded chronology)

Jimi Hendrix

March 31, 1967: The Jimi Hendrix Experience played at the London Astoria. While waiting to perform, Hendrix and his manager Chas Chandler were discussing ways in which they could increase the band’s media exposure. When Chandler asked journalist Keith Altham for advice, Altham suggested that they needed to do something more dramatic than the stage show of The Who, which involved the smashing of instruments. Hendrix joked: “Maybe I can smash up an elephant”, to which Altham replied: “Well, it’s a pity you can’t set fire to your guitar”.

Chandler then asked road manager Gerry Stickells to find some lighter fluid. During the show, Hendrix gave an especially dynamic performance before setting his Fender Stratocaster on fire at the end of a 45-minute set. In the wake of the stunt, members of London’s press labeled Hendrix the “Black Elvis” and the “Wild Man of Borneo”

Tony Garland, Hendrix’s press agent scooped up the remains of the Strat, took them home and placed them in the garage of his parents southern U.K. home. About 30 years later, Garland’s nephew found the remains of the guitar, did a little research, and the burnt guitar was auctioned off in 2007 for $575,000. (see May 12)

The Beatles

George Harrison and Patty Boyd

March 31, 1969: George Harrison and Patty Boyd’s drug trial took place. They pleaded guilty to possessing the cannabis, which was likely to have been planted in the house by police officers and were each fined £250 plus 10 guineas each in court costs, and were put on probation for a year. (Apr 14)

McCartney v Let It Be

March 31, 1970: Paul McCartney solo album and the Beatles Let It Be were scheduled for release within two weeks of each other. John and George composed a letter saying that they’d decided that it’d make much better business sense to delay Paul’s album so as not to compete with the Beatles. Ringo delivered the letters.

Paul blew up at Ringo.

As an attempt at reconciliation, John and George allowed the McCartney album to be issued in the UK on 17 April 1970, while Let It Be was eventually released on 8 May, but further damage to the already fragmenting relationships between the four had occurred. (see Apr 1)

Beatles Official Fan Club

March 31, 1972: The Beatles Official Fan Club closed. The Beatles Monthly magazine had ceased three years previously. (see Apr 29)

March 31 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

Trop v. Dulles

March 31, 1958: in the case of Trop v. Dulles, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the government to revoke the citizenship of a U.S. citizen as a form of punishment. While serving in the Army in 1944, Albert Trop escaped from the stockade where he was being held for misbehavior. The next day, he and a companion were walking along the road near Casablanca, Morroco, and were stopped by an Army truck. Trop willingly got into the truck and was returned to the Army base. (Thus, his “desertion” lasted for only some hours.) He was then court martialed and given a dishonorable discharge. In 1952 he applied for a passport and was then informed that, under a 1940 law, he had lost his citizenship because of his dishonorable discharge. (Oyez article) (see May 22, 1964)

March 31 Peace Love Art Activism

Space Race

Luna 10

March 31, 1966: Luna 10 launched from the Soviet Union. The unmanned probe will achieve lunar orbit — the first object to do so — and send information about the moon back to earth. (NASA article) (see June 2)

March 31 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

DRAFT CARD BURNING

March 31, 1966: high school boys punched and kicked seven anti-Vietnam demonstrators on the steps of the South Boston District Court House after four of the protesters had burned their Selective Service cards. With shouts of “Kill them, shoot them,” about 50 to 75 high school boys charged the steps and knocked the demonstrators to the ground as a crowd of 200 watched. David O’Brien, 19, was one of the card burners. (Draft Card Burning, see July 1, 1966; Vietnam, see April 12; O’Brien, see May 27, 1968)

President Johnson

March 31, 1968: President Johnson announced his decision not to run again and offered partial Vietnam bombing halt. (see Apr 8)

March 31 Peace Love Art Activism

Fair Housing

March 31, 1980: Depository Institutions’ Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 changed rules governing thrift institutions, expands alternative mortgages. It gave the Federal Reserve greater control over non-member banks.

It forced all banks to abide by Federal rules.
It removed the power of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors under the Glass–Steagall Act to use Regulation Q to set maximum interest rates for any deposit accounts other than demand deposit accounts.
It raised the deposit insurance of US banks and credit unions from $40,000 to $100,000.
It allowed credit unions and savings and loans to offer checkable deposits.
It allowed institutions to charge any loan interest rates they choose. (see July 22, 1987)

March 31 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Joseph Hazelwood

March 31, 1989: the National Transportation Safety Board reported that Joseph Hazelwood, the captain of the Exxon Valdez, was legally drunk when he was tested some 10 hours after his tanker hit a reef, causing the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

After the NTSB’s announcement, Exxon officials confirmed that they had fired the 42-year old captain, although investigators could not determine whether he had been drinking on the job.

Coast Guard Commandant Paul Yost called it “almost unbelievable” that the Exxon Valdez had strayed from a 10-mile-wide shipping channel to crash into Bligh Reef. “This was not a treacherous area,” he said. ” . . . your children could drive a tanker through it.” (see February 27, 1990)

Record Number of Tornadoes

March 31, 2022: according to the Storm Prediction Center, there were more tornadoes in the US than any March on record.

It was the second year in a row the country had a record number of tornadoes in March, solidifying a trend toward more severe weather earlier in the year and raising questions among scientists, who’ve historically seen such weather peak from April to early June.

Meanwhile, more severe storms happening farther east in the country could mean more disastrous and deadly tornado outbreaks were possible.

Scientists suspected the climate crisis — which is changing the typical atmospheric patterns of moisture and instability — is playing a major role in the timing and location of severe weather. [CNN article] (next EI, see Apr 22)

March 31 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

March 31, 2005: the Silberman-Robb commission, the presidential commission on Iraqi WMD, concluded: [T]he intelligence community was dead wrong in almost all of its prewar judgments. [USA Today, 3/31/05] (see Apr 27)

March 31 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana

March 31, 2015: facing a national uproar over a religious freedom law, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana said that he wanted the measure changed by week’s end, even as he stepped up a vigorous defense of the law, rejecting claims that it would allow business to deny services to gays and lesbians.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that it would be helpful to move legislation this week that makes it clear that this law does not give businesses the right to discriminate against anyone,” Mr. Pence, a Republican, said at a news conference in Indianapolis.

He acknowledged that the law, called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, had become a threat to the state’s reputation and economy, with companies and organizations signaling that they would avoid Indiana in response to it. Mr. Pence said he had been on the phone with business leaders from around the country, adding, “We want to make it clear that Indiana’s open for business.” (see Apr 20)

March 31 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

New York State

March 31, 2021: after years of stalled attempts, New York State legalized the use of recreational marijuana, enacting a robust program to reinvest millions of dollars in minority communities ravaged by the decades-long war on drugs.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed the cannabis legislation a day after the State Legislature passed the bill following hours of debate among lawmakers in Albany.

With his signature, New York became the 15th state to legalize the recreational use of cannabis, positioning itself to quickly become one of the largest markets of legal cannabis in the nation. [NYT article] (next Cannabis, see Apr 7 or see CAC for expanded chronology)

Kentucky

March 31, 2023 just one day after the Kentucky House approved the legislation from Sen. Stephen West (R), Gov. Andy Beshear (D) signed a bill to legalize medical marijuana, making the state the 38th in the U.S. to enact the reform.

Beshear fulfilled his pledge to sign in into law on Friday. The governor had rallied citizens to pressure their state representatives to pass the bill.

Far too many of our people face the obstacle of having chronic or terminal diseases like cancer, or those like our veterans suffering from PTSD or Kentuckians living with epilepsy, seizures, Parkinson’s or more,” Beshear said. “These folks want and deserve safe and effective methods of treatment.” [MM article] (next Cannabis, see Apr 3 or see CAC for expanded chronology)

March 31 Peace Love Art Activism

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

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

March 26, 2017 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Naturalization Law of 1790

March 26, 1790: Naturalization Law of 1790 provided the first rules to be followed by the United States in the granting of national citizenship. This law limited naturalization to immigrants who were “free white persons” of “good moral character”. It thus left out American Indians, indentured servants, slaves, free blacks, and later Asians. While women were included in the act, the right of citizenship did “not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States….” Citizenship was inherited exclusively through the father. (Indiana edu article) (see June 25, 1798)

Trump’s Wall

March 26, 2019: the House failed to overturn President Trump’s veto, leaving the declaration of a national emergency at the southwestern border intact despite the bipartisan passage of a resolution attempting to nullify the president’s circumvention of Congress to fund his border wall.

The 248-to-181 vote fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to kill the national emergency declaration. (IH, see Apr 4; TW, see May 24)

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Anarchism

Immigration History

March 26, 1910: an amendment to the Immigration Act of 1907 passed Congress. The 1910 Act, while not changing the language excluding anarchists, streamlined the methods of prosecution and deportation of excludable aliens, forbidding any anarchists into the U.S. (Anarchism, see Dec 17; Immigration, see May 3, 1913)

Emma Goldman

March 26 – April 4, 1933: the New York World published a series of controversial articles by Goldman exposing the harsh political and economic conditions in Russia. (see Goldman for expanded story)

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Scottsboro Nine

March 26, 1931: a crowd gathered around the Scottsboro jail to lynch the nine youths. Sheriff Matt Wann telephoned Governor Benjamin M. Miller who then called in the National Guard to protect the jail before taking the defendants to Gadsden, Alabama for indictment and to await trial. (see Scottsboro for expanded story)

Eldridge Simmons lynched

March 26, 1944: a Rev. Simmons controlled more than 270 acres of debt-free Amite County (Mississippi) land that his family had owned since 1887. A farmer and minister, Rev. Simmons worked the land with his children and grandchildren, producing crops and selling the property’s lumber.

In 1941, a rumor spread that there was oil in southwest Mississippi. A group of six white men decided they wanted the Simmons’ land and warned Rev. Simmons to stop cutting lumber. Rev. Simmons consulted a lawyer to work out the dispute and ensure his children would be the sole heirs to the property.

On Sunday 26 March 1944, a group of white men arrived at the home of Rev. Simmons’s eldest son, Eldridge, and told him to show them the property line. He agreed to do so, but while Eldridge Simmons rode with the men in their vehicle, they began to beat him, and shouted that the Simmons family thought they were “smart niggers” for consulting a lawyer. The men then dragged Rev. Simmons from his home about a mile away and began beating him, too. They drove both Simmons men further onto the property and ordered Rev. Simmons out of the car, then killed him brutally–shooting him three times and cutting out his tongue.

After Eldridge and the rest of the Simmons family buried Rev. Simmons, they fled their land in fear. The white men who committed the lynching took possession of the land; only one of the six men was ever prosecuted for the murder, and he was ultimately acquitted by an all-white jury. [EJI article] (next BH, see Apr 3); next Lynching, see July 18, 1946; for expanded chronology of lynching, see also AL4)

Autherine Lucy

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism — Autherine Lucy

March 26, 1957: Autherine Lucy Foster decided not to pursue further her fight to re-enter the University of Alabama. (BH, see Apr 14; U of A, see Lucy for expanded story)

Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X

March 26, 1964: Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X met for the only time — a brief encounter in Washington, D.C. (next BH & MX, see Mar 29; next MLK, see see Mar 30; MLK; next see Oct 14)

George Whitmore, Jr

March 26, 1965: Justice Dominic Rinaldi ruled that Whitmore’s confession to the Minnie Edmonds murder was voluntary and admissible. Rinaldi chastises Whitmore’s attorney, Stanley Reiben, for “talking to the newspapers” about the case. (see Whitmore for expanded story)

Clarence David Stallworth

March 26, 1966: the Southern Courier, a newspaper documenting the civil rights movement, reported that, after driving in Beatrice, Alabama, Clarence David Stallworth was beaten and pistol-whipped by a group of whites that included the town mayor.

While Mr. Stallworth, a black man, was driving through the town, a white man in another car signaled for him to stop, saying that the passenger in the white man’s car wanted to speak with him. When Stallworth stopped his car and walked around to the passenger side of the other vehicle, Mayor T.A. Black got out and hit him in the head with a pistol while the other men in the car exited and began kicking and beating Stallworth. After the attack, Stallworth was refused medical treatment from several different hospitals before finally being admitted to a hospital in Montgomery, more than eighty miles away.

Members of the black community rallied to force County Probate Judge David Nettles to sign the warrants for the arrest of the men involved in the attack. Nettles initially refused, but relented after organizers threatened to initiate a mass protest in support of Stallworth.

“I honestly feel that I am committing a wrong here,” Nettles said when contemplating authorizing the arrests of the men who had beaten Mr. Stallworth. “[But] I’ll sign that warrant tomorrow.” (see Mar 28)

J.W. Rich

March 26, 2003: J.W. Rich, convicted in the slaying of a Johnnie Mae Chappell said he had nothing to do with the shooting. J.W. Rich told the Florida Times-Union police threatened to kill him if he didn’t confess.

Rich, 60 and suffering from cancer, said he didn’t know about the Chappell slaying until about five months later, when two detectives came to his house and told him they had a warrant for his arrest. (2006 News4Jax article) (BH & Chappell, see June 6)

Florida Legislature apologized

March 26, 2008: more than 140 years after a former Florida governor described Africans as “a wild barbarian to be tamed and civilized,” the Florida Legislature apologized for the state’s role in sanctioning slavery.

The House and Senate approved a resolution expressing “profound regret for the involuntary servitude of Africans, and calling for reconciliation among all Floridians.” There was no discussion before the unanimous voice votes, but the reading of the resolution, which described how slaves’ ears were nailed to posts during whippings brought some lawmakers, including Black Democratic Tampa Sen. Arthenia Joyner, to tears. Gov. Charlie Crist visited the Senate chamber to watch the vote. In the House, Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, took the unusual step of ordering all members to their seats. And in a rare appearance, Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, sat at Rubio’s side. “This was as sincere and as meaningful an apology as could be given,” Pruitt said. “It was important for the words to stand on their own.” (see Sept 9)

137 SHOTS

March 26, 2015: Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo, charged in the shooting deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams following a high-speed police chase in 2012, would not have his case heard by a jury. Judge John P. O’Donnell will decide the case.

Prosecutors had filed a motion opposing the move, arguing that dismissing a jury in this case would be an “injustice” to the communities of Cleveland and East Cleveland. The motion pointed out that the police officers involved in the shooting were all white, but the victims were black.

“It is only fair to the community that African-Americans have the chance to be a part of the jury in this case,” the statement said.

O’Donnell rejected that argument, writing, “I have no basis in law to decline to allow Brelo to waive a jury.” (see 137 Shots for expanded story)

BLACK & SHOT

March 26, 2017: Richard Haste, the New York City police officer who on February 2, 2012 chased unarmed teenager Ramarley Graham into his Bronx home and fatally shot him resigned from the Police Department. Haste, 35, quit after he was found guilty on March 24 in a Police Department disciplinary review in connection with the shooting Graham, 18. A deputy commissioner who oversaw the case ruled that Officer Haste, who had been on the force since 2008, had used poor tactical judgment and recommended his dismissal. (see May 1)

Church Burning

March 26, 2019: the Louisiana State Fire Marshal’s Office began its investigation of a fire that burned down St. Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre. (next BH & CB, see Apr 2)

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

Authors League of America

March 26, 1948: the Authors League of America and the American Booksellers Association issued a protest of two raids, in which the Philadelphia Police Department’s vice squad stormed bookstores and seized about 2,000 books that authorities alleged were “salacious.” The books included the The Wild Palms by William Faulkner, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949, and Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell. (Authors Guild site) (see July 20)

Lady Chatterley’s Lover

March 26, 1960: the decision of Judge Bryan that Lady Chatterley’s Lover be allowed all the privileges of the mail was upheld in Grove Press, Inc. v. Christenberry (Project Gutenberg text of novel) (see Mar 29)

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

Owen Lattimore

March 26, 1950: during a radio broadcast dealing with a Senate investigation into communists in the U.S. Department of State, news was leaked that Senator Joseph McCarthy had charged Professor Owen Lattimore with being a top spy for the Soviet Union.

Lattimore was a scholar of Chinese history. During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him as a special representative to the Nationalist Chinese government of Chiang Kai-Shek. His troubles began after the war, when it became apparent that Chiang’s government would fall to the communist forces of Mao Zedong. When China fell to the communists in 1949, shocked Americans looked for scapegoats to blame for the debacle. Individuals such as Lattimore, who had been unremitting in their criticism of Chiang’s regime, were easy targets.

All charges were also eventually dropped for lack of evidence, but Lattimore’s career had been severely damaged. (1995 Washington Post article) (see Apr 10)

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

Jonas E. Salk

March 26, 1953: Dr. Jonas E. Salk announced a vaccine had been used safely and successfully in preliminary trials on 90 children and adults as a polio vaccine, two years later the vaccine was released and given to every child in the United States. (see Mar 27)

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

March 26 Music et al

Dance With Me Henry

March 26, 1955: re-recorded with “toned-down” lyrics by the white pop singer Georgia Gibbs’s “Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower)” entered the pop charts setting off a dubious trend known as “whitewashing.” For its time, the mid-1950s, the lyrical phrase “You got to roll with me, Henry” was considered risqué just as the very label “rock and roll” was understood to have a sexual connotation. The line comes from an Etta James record originally called “Roll With Me Henry” and later renamed “The Wallflower.” Already a smash hit on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues chart, it went on to become a pop hit in the spring of 1955, but not for Etta James. (see July 29)

Fear of Rock

March 26, 1967: in Vancouver, Jamie Reid wanted to hold a Human Be-In similar to that held on January 14 in San Francisco. The Vancouver Park Board had turned down the request, but on the scheduled date about 1,000 people peacefully gathered nonetheless. Country Joe and the Fish played. (next FoR, see May 7)

Woodstock the movie

March 26, 1970: Warner Brothers released the film documentary, Woodstock. Michael Wadleigh was the director. It received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Thelma Schoonmaker was nominated for the Academy Award for Film Editing, a rare distinction for a documentary. Dan Wallin and L. A. Johnson were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound. (Roger Ebert review 1970) (see May 11)

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Voting Rights

Baker v. Carr

March 26, 1962: landmark United States Supreme Court case that retreated from the Court’s political question doctrine, deciding that redistricting (attempts to change the way voting districts are delineated) issues presented justiciable questions, thus enabling federal courts to intervene in and to decide redistricting cases. The defendants unsuccessfully argued that redistricting of legislative districts is a “political question”, and hence not a question that may be resolved by federal courts. (Oyez article) (see January 23, 1964)

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

seeWomen Strike for Peacefor more

March 26, 1969: Women Strike for Peace demonstrated in Washington, D.C., in the first large antiwar demonstration since President Richard Nixon’s inauguration in January. The antiwar movement had initially given Nixon a chance to make good on his campaign promises to end the war in Vietnam. However, it became increasingly clear that Nixon had no quick solution. As the fighting dragged on, antiwar sentiment against the president and his handling of the war mounted steadily during his term in office. (next Vietnam, see April)

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

March 26, 1982: the ground-breaking for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was held in Washington, DC. (History dot net timeline) (see Nov 10)

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

March 26, 1971: Bangladesh declared independent of Pakistan. (Bangladesh, see Aug 1; ID, see Aug 15)

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

March 26, 1975: the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction went into force. Nations pledged never “to develop, produce, stockpile or otherwise acquire or retain” biological weapons. Some signatory nations, however, have reserved the right to hold certain biological weapons for “prophylactic” purposes. (see Nov 29)

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

National Gay Task Force

March 26, 1977: The National Gay Task Force met with aides to President Jimmy Carter at the White House. This meeting was the first time lesbian and gay activists had ever been invited to the White House to discuss policy issues related to homosexuality. President Jimmy Carter was at Camp David when the meeting occurred, but he had called for an end to discrimination against homosexuals during the 1976 presidential election campaign, on May 21, 1976. He was the first candidate of a major political party ever to publicly support lesbian and gay rights.

Midge Costanza, director of the Office of Public Liaison in the White House arranged the meeting. (LGBTQ, see June 7; Carter, see June 18)

US Supreme Court

March 26, 2013: the US Supreme Court began hearing an historic oral argument on marriage, which could lead to any one of a wide array of possible decisions — from essentially leaving in place the traditional marriage laws on the books in most states to proclaiming same-sex marriage a fundamental right under the US Constitution. Although the justices are deciding a constitutional question — whether the Equal Protection Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment includes a right for same-sex couples to marry — the argument took place as polls indicated that public opinion is shifting toward acceptance of same-sex marriage. (see Apr 19)

Mike Pence

March 26, 2015: Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) signed a law that allowed any individual or corporation to cite religious beliefs as a defense when sued by a private party. (see Mar 31)

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Middle East

March 26, 1979: in a ceremony at the White House, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel signed a peace treaty.

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Jack Kevorkian

March 26, 1999: Kevorkian convicted of second-degree murder for giving a lethal injection to an ailing man whose death was shown on “60 Minutes.” (see Kevorkian for expanded story)

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Affordable Care Act

March 26, 2012: opening arguments presented at the Supreme Court re the 2010 health care law. (see Mar 30)

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Fourth Amendment

Florida v. Jardines

March 26, 2013: the US Supreme Court held that police use of a trained detection dog to sniff for narcotics on the front porch of a private home was a “search” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and therefore, without consent, requires both probable cause and a search warrant. (see May 24)

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Student Rights

March 26, 2014: Peter Ohr, the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board ruled that a group of Northwestern football players were employees of the university and had the right to form a union and bargain collectively.

For decades, the major college sports had functioned on the bedrock principle of the student-athlete, with players receiving scholarships to pay for their education in exchange for their hours of practicing and competing for their university. But Ohr tore down that familiar construct in a 24-page decision.

He ruled that Northwestern’s scholarship football players should be eligible to form a union based on a number of factors, including the time they devote to football (as many as 50 hours some weeks), the control exerted by coaches and their scholarships, which Mr. Ohr deemed a contract for compensation.

“It cannot be said that the employer’s scholarship players are ‘primarily students,’ ” the decision said. (Student rights, see Sept 17; Labor, see Dec 29; Northwestern, see August 17, 2015)

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History & Census

March 26, 2018: the Commerce Department announced that the 2020 census would ask respondents whether they are United States citizens, agreeing to a Trump administration request. Many officials feared the change would result in a substantial undercount.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had “determined that reinstatement of a citizenship question on the 2020 decennial census questionnaire was necessary to provide complete and accurate census block level data,” allowing the department to accurately measure the portion of the population eligible to vote.

Ross’s decision immediately invited a legal challenge: Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general, planned to sue the Trump administration over the decision Becerra said, ” “What the Trump administration is requesting is not just alarming, it is an unconstitutional attempt to discourage an accurate census count.” (IH & Census, see Mar 26)

March 26 Peace Love Art Activism

ADA

March 26, 2019: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos struggled before a congressional subcommittee to defend the administration’s proposal to cut at least $7 billion from education programs, including eliminating all $18 million in federal funding for the Special Olympics.

When Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., a member of the House Appropriations subcommittee, asked whether DeVos knew how many children would be affected by cutting Special Olympics funding, DeVos said she did not know.

Pocan responded: “I’ll answer it for you, that’s OK, no problem. It’s 272,000 kids that are affected.” (see Mar 28)