December 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Voting Rights

December 10, 1869:  motivated more by interest in free publicity than a commitment to gender equality, Wyoming territorial legislators passed a bill that is signed into law granting women the right to vote. Western states led the nation in approving women’s suffrage, but some of them had other motives. Though some men recognized the important role women played in frontier settlement, others voted for women’s suffrage only to bolster the strength of conservative voting blocks. In Wyoming, some men were also motivated by sheer loneliness–in 1869, the territory had over 6,000 adult males and only 1,000 females, and area men hoped women would be more likely to settle in the rugged and isolated country if they were granted the right to vote. (Voting Rights, see February 3, 1870)

Matilda Josyln Gage

In 1870  Gage researched and published “Woman as Inventor.” In it, Gage credited the invention of the cotton gin to a woman, Catherine Littlefield Greene. Gage claimed that Greene suggested to Whitney the use of a brush-like component instrumental in separating out the seeds and cotton. [Gage provided no source for this claim and to date there has been no independent verification of Greene’s role in the invention of the gin. However, many believe that Eli Whitney received the patent for the gin and the sole credit in history textbooks for its invention only because social norms inhibited women from registering for patents.]  During this same time Gage wrote a series of articles speaking out against United States’ unjust treatment of American Indians and describing superior position of native women. “The division of power between the sexes in this Indian republic was nearly equal,” Gage wrote of the Iroquois. In matters of government, “…its women exercised controlling power in peace and war … no sale of lands was valid without consent” of the women, while “the family relation among the Iroquois demonstrated woman’s superiority in power … in the home, the wife was absolute … if the Iroquois husband and wife separated, the wife took with her all the property she had brought … the children also accompanied the mother, whose right to them was recognized as supreme.” “Never was justice more perfect, never civilization higher,” Gage concluded. (next Feminism, see February 3, 1870; Native Americans, see June 18;  see Gage for her expanded chronology)

Equal Rights Amendment

December 10, 1923: The Equal Rights Amendment, drafted by Alice Paul, introduced in the Senate. It read, “Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction.”  Although the amendment will be introduced in every session of Congress, it will not reach the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote until 1971.(see January 14, 1927)

Jane Addams

December 10, 1931: Jane Addams became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; the co-recipient was Nicholas Murray Butler. (January 12, 1932)

Janice R. Lachance

December 10, 1997: with the swearing in of Janice R. Lachance as Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management on this day, the total number of women appointed to President Clinton’s Cabinet reached 13, the highest number in any presidential cabinet in US history. (see March 4, 1998)

Shirin Ebadi

December 10, 2003: Iranian democracy activist Shirin Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, accepted the award in Oslo, Norway. (see January 26, 2005)

December 10 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Charles Lewis lynched

December 10, 1897: in Lawrence County, Mississippi a white family was found murdered. A surviving 5-year-old child claimed a black man did it. Officials brought several black male “suspects” before her and she identified one — a man named Charles Lewis — as the perpetrator. A mob of hundreds immediately formed and lynched Lewis.

Although early accounts alleged only one perpetrator, the white community was unsatisfied to lynch only one man, and continued to “investigate” the white family’s murders. [EJI article] (next BH, see Dec 15; see 19th century for expanded lynching chronology)

Ralph Bunche

December 10, 1950: for his peace mediation during the first Arab-Israeli war, American diplomat Ralph Joseph Bunche received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. Bunche was the first African American to win the prestigious award.(see January 20, 1951)

Humboldt Black Players Secregated

December 10, 1960, Black college football players from California’s Humboldt State College were banned from “mixing” with white people during their stay in Florida for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Championship Football Game. After an undefeated season, the racially integrated team earned the right to compete in the Holiday Bowl on December 10 in St. Petersburg, Florida, for the national title. However, segregated facilities forbade Humboldt State’s Black players from sleeping under the same roof as their white teammates. [EJI article] (next BH, see January 6, 1961)

Freedom Riders

December 10, 1961: nine Freedom Riders from Atlanta arrived at the Albany Trailways bus terminal and were met by a crowd of approximately three hundred black onlookers and a squad of Albany policemen. Albany Police Chief Laurie Pritchett arrested the riders without incident, telling the press that white Albany would “not stand for these troublemakers coming into our city for the sole purpose of disturbing the peace and quiet in the city of Albany.” (BH, AM, & FR, see December 11)

Martin Luther King, Jr

December 10, 1964: Martin Luther King, Jr received Nobel Peace Prize. In his acceptance speech, King said, “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.” (BH, see Dec 12; MLK, see Dec 28)

Frank Morris burned to death

December 10, 1964: the Ku Klux Klan set fire to the business of Frank Morris, a 51-year-old African-American in Ferriday, Louisiana. Morris died four days. He had been asleep in the back of his shoe shop when he heard glass breaking shortly after midnight. Out front he saw two men, one pouring gasoline on the outside of the building, the other holding a shotgun. Morris yelled, “Hey, stop that!” Suddenly, the building was ignited, and Morris was in a sea of flame and smoke. The man with the shotgun blocked his escape through the front door as he pointed the barrel at Morris while shouting, “Get back in there, nigger!”

Two police officers arrived just seconds after Morris’s attackers fled. They watched Morris emerge from the back of the building completely in flames—naked, bleeding, exhausted—leaving behind a trail of bloody footprints. Skin peeled and fell from his body. Morris’s hair was ablaze, the waistband of his boxer shorts and the shoulder straps of his undershirt smoldering. Morris said he didn’t know his attackers.

The FBI agent who rushed to the hospital within hours of the arson said, “If Frank would have told me who they [his attackers] were, we would have gone after the sons of bitches.” Morris’s friends believed he knew his attackers but was afraid to identify them. No one was prosecuted. (see Dec 14)

March to Montgomery

On March 11, 1965 James J. Reeb had died in a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama after White supremacists had beat him in Selma, AL following the second march from Selma.

On December 10, 1965, Elmer Cook, O’Neal Hoggle, and his brother Willam Hoggle were acquitted of the murder of Rev James J Reeb. The all-white jury deliberated 90 minutes. (BH, see January 3, 1966; see March for expanded chronology)

Toni Morrison

December 10, 1993: Toni Morrison received the Nobel Prize for Literature at the award ceremony in Oslo, Norway. She was the first African American woman to win. (Feminism, see January 24, 1994; BH, see January 26, 1974)

Nelson Mandela

December 10, 1996: Mandela signed into law a new democratic constitution, completing the country’s transition from white-minority rule to a non-racial democracy.  (SA/A, see January 28, 1997; NM, see June 16, 1999)

Antwon Rose

December 10, 2018:  NBC news reported that the parents of Antwon Rose, who East Pittsburgh police officer Officer Michael Rosfeld fatally shot  when as Rose fled a traffic stop, sued Rosfeld’s former employer — the University of Pittsburgh — for failing to properly discipline him or record performance issues in his personnel file.

In the lawsuit filed in Allegheny County, the Rose’s parents  said the university allowed Rosfeld to resign quietly without putting any notice in his personnel file that there had been issues with at least one arrest. The University had hired Rosfeld as a university police officer in 2012, was suspended in December 2017, and resigned a few weeks. (B & S, see Dec 14; AR, see January 11, 2019)

December 10 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

December 10, 1906: first sit-down strike in U.S. called by International Workers of the World at General Electric in Schenectady, N.Y.(see April 4, 1907)

December 10 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

December 10, 1924: Henry Gerber founded The Society for Human Rights in Chicago. The society was the first gay rights organization as well as the oldest documented in America.

After receiving a charter from the state of Illinois, the society published the first American publication for homosexuals, Friendship and Freedom. Soon after its founding, the society disbanded due to political pressure.(see June 23, 1945)

December 10 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

December 10, 1948: Chicago authorities banned The Respectful Prostitute, a play by Jean-Paul Sartre. Chicago theater and film censor Harry Fulmer argued that the play would offend African-Americans. The play involves an incident that occurred on a train where an African-American man was falsely accused of attacking a white woman, when in fact a white man perpetrated the attack. National NAACP Director Walter White gave the play his “unqualified endorsement” but was unsuccessful in preventing the ban. (next FS, see following; next BH, Dec 14)

Book burning

December 10, 1948: most of the 500 students at St. Patrick’s School in Binghamton, NY, on this day stood and watched as the school burned 10,000 comic books as part of a “purity” crusade. The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese, as part of the crusade, urged parish members to “boycott” stores that sold magazines with “indecent pictures and sensational details of crime.” The comic books were burned in a courtyard behind the school. The event was part of a national panic over comic books in the 1950s regarding their alleged impact on juvenile delinquency.(see March 8, 1949)

December 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

December 10, 1949: Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, longtime American ally and leader of the anticommunist Chinese Nationalists, fled mainland China to organize the Republic of China on the island of Taiwan. (NYT article) (see January 21, 1950)

December 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

December 10, 1959: a National Airlines Boeing 707 with 111 passengers flew from New York to Miami. It was the first domestic passenger jet flight. (see February 7, 1960)

December 10 Peace Love Art Activism

see December 10 Music et al for more

Roots of Rock: Fats Domino

December 10, 1949: Fats Domino recorded his first sides for Imperial Records. He recorded The Fat Man, one of the earliest rock and roll records. The title also turned into Domino’s nickname and stayed with him through his years of success. (see January 3, 1950)

John Lennon leaves Hamburg

December 10, 1960: John Lennon traveled back to England by train and boat. Stuart Sutcliffe continued stay in Hamburg, , effectively signified the end of his time in The Beatles. (see Beatles Deported for expanded chronology)

CBS/Beatles

December 10, 1963: CBS-TV aired a four-minute segment on The Beatles that had been pre-empted by the JFK tragedy. (see Dec 17)

Grateful Dead & Rock Venues

December 10, 1965: the San Francisco Fillmore auditorium held its first rock ‘n’ roll concert (thanks to promoter Bill Graham), a benefit for the San Francisco Mime Troupe. Unbilled but also playing that night: the Grateful Dead, having just changed its name from the Warlocks. (RV, see January 8, 1966; GD, see January 22, 1966)

see “Good Vibrations” for more

December 10 – 16, 1966: “Good Vibrations” by the Beach Boys #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

John Lennon/John Sinclair

December 10, 1971: John Lennon headlined The John Sinclair Freedom Rally, a protest and concert in response the imprisonment of John Sinclair who was given ten years in prison for the possession of two marijuana cigarettes. The concert was held in Crisler Arena at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Two days after the event, Sinclair was released. (see January 1972)

Bob Dylan

December 10, 2016: Bob Dylan did not attend the Nobel Banquet in the Stockholm City Hall. Azita Raji, the United States Ambassador to Sweden, gave an acceptance speech in his place. (see June 4, 2017)

December 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

My Lai Massacre

December 10, 1970: the defense opened its case in the murder trial of Lt. William Calley. Citing “superior’s orders,” Defense Attorney George Lattimer contended that Capt. Ernest Medina, Calley’s company commander, told his men that they were finally going to fight the enemy. He reportedly ordered “every living thing” killed. Lattimer also cited poor training of the platoon, the rage of the men who had seen their buddies killed, and the expectation of fierce resistance as additional factors contributing to the incident. The lawyer also charged that higher commanders on the ground and in the air observed the episode but did nothing. (Vietnam; see Jan 12; see My Lai for expanded chronology)

 Peace Accord

December 10, 1972: technical experts on both sides began work on the language of a proposed peace accord, giving rise to hope that a final agreement is near. (see Dec 13)

December 10 Peace Love Art Activism

AIDS

December 10, 1982: CDC reported a case of AIDS in an infant who received blood transfusions. The following week, the MMWR reports 22 cases of unexplained immunodeficiency and opportunistic infections in infants. (see January 7, 1983)

December 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Luis Ramirez

On July 12, 2008 six white teenagers beat Mexican immigrant Luis Ramirez to death in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, while taunting him with racial slurs and threats including: “Spic,” “fucking Mexican,” and “This is Shenandoah. This is America. Go back to Mexico.” After leaving Mr. Ramirez, a 25-year-old father of two, unconscious and convulsing on the pavement, one of the attackers yelled: “Tell your fucking Mexican friends to get the fuck out of Shenandoah or you’re going to be fucking laying next to him.” Mr. Ramirez died of his injuries two days later. (see Luis Ramirez for expanded chronology)

Trump’s Wall

December 10, 2019: Judge David Briones of the US District Court for the Western District of Texas said  that the administration cannot use military construction funds to build additional barriers on the southern border.

The ruling was a setback for the administration, which has sought to shore up money for the President’s signature campaign promise of a border wall, and marks yet another high-profile blow the courts have dealt Trump on key issues, including his immigration policies and his fight to not turn his tax returns over to Congress. It targeted only one set of Pentagon funds, however, leaving in place the money the Supreme Court allowed to be used earlier this year. [CNN article] (next Wall, see January 8, 2020 or see TW for expanded chronology) (next IH, see Dec 20)

December 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Marijuana

December 10, 2013: Uruguay’s Senate gave final congressional approval to create the world’s first national marketplace for legal marijuana. The government will oversee production, sales and consumption. (NYT article) (see February 6, 2014)

December 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Trump Impeachment Inquiry

December 10, 2019: House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler announced the articles of impeachment against President Trump: obstruction of Congress and abuse of power. [CNN article] (see TII for expanded chronology)

December 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Climate change

December 10, 2019 the annual Arctic report card  stated that temperatures in the Arctic region remained near record highs in 2019. The high temperatures lead to low summer sea ice, cascading impacts on the regional food web and growing concerns over sea level rise.

Average temperatures for the year ending in September were the second highest since 1900, the year records began, scientists said. While that fell short of a new high, it fit a worrying trend: Over all, the past six years have been the warmest ever recorded in the region.

“It’s really showing that we have a system that’s under duress,” said Donald K. Perovich, a professor of engineering at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College and the lead author of the report’s chapter on sea ice.

The results are from a peer-reviewed assessment produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that takes a broad look at the effects of climate change in the region and compares current findings with the historical record. [NYT article] (next EI, see Dec 20)

December 10 Peace Love Art Activism

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

John Brown

December 2, 1859: the government hung militant abolitionist John Brown for murder and treason in the wake his unsuccessful attack on the US armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. The evening before the execution, a group of soldiers slept in the courtroom. One of them was John Wilkes Booth. [AH article] (Brown and Slave Revolts, see Dec 23)

Follow the Drinking Gourd

In 1860s: African Americans sang of their dream for freedom and equality before the Civil War, during it, and long after. Though its origin is sometimes disputed, Follow the Drinking Gourd is still thought of as a song used by “riders” on and “conductors” of the Underground Railroad system used to help slaves escape to safety and freedom by using coded directions. The “drinking gourd” likely refers to the North Star in the Little Dipper’s handle. (BH, see February 22, 1862)

Follow the drinking gourd Follow the drinking gourd For the old man is a waitin’ For to carry you to freedom Follow the drinking gourd

When the sun comes up And the first Quail calls Follow the drinking gourd For the old man is a waitin’ For to carry you to freedom

The riverbank will make a mighty good road The dead trees show you the way Left foot, peg foot travelin’ on The river ends between two hills There’s another river on the other side

Dyer Anti-Lynching bill

December 2, 1922: the Republican caucus voted to drop the Dyer Anti-Lynching bill. Republican Senator Lodge stated, “The conference was in session nearly three hours and discussed the question very thoroughly. Of course the Republicans feel very strongly, as I do, that the bill ought to become a law. The situation before us was this: Under the rules of the Senate the Democrats, who are filibustering, could keep up that filibuster indefinitely, and there is no doubt they can do so.

An attempt to change the rules wold only shift the filibuster to another subject. We cannot pass the bill in this Congress and, therefore, we had to choose between giving up the whole session to a protracted filibuster or going ahead with regular business of the session….The conference decided very reluctantly that it was our duty to set aside the Dyer bill and go on with the business of the session.” (BH, see Dec 8; Dyer, see July 13, 1923)

Jo Ann Robinson/Montgomery Bus Boycott

In 1950: Jo Ann Robinson became president of the Women’s Political Council in Montgomery, AL. As president, she began to study the issue of bus segregation, which affected the many blacks who were the majority of riders on the city system. First, members appeared before the City Commission to report abuses on the buses, such as blacks who were first on the bus being required later to give up seats for whites as buses became crowded. The commission acted surprised but did nothing. (next BH & Feminism, see March 31, 1950)

In 1953 Robinson and other local black leaders met with the three commissioners of Montgomery. Robinson’s group complained that the city did not hire any black bus drivers, said that segregation of seating was unjust, and that bus stops in black neighborhoods were farther apart than in white ones, although blacks were the majority of the riders. The commissioners refused to change anything. Robinson and other WPC members met with bus company officials on their own. The segregation issue was deflected, as bus company officials said that segregation was city and state law. The WPC achieved a small victory, as the bus company officials agreed to have the buses stop at every corner in black neighborhoods, as was the practice in white neighborhoods. (next BH, see June 8; next Feminism, see May 18, 1954)

December 2, 1955: Jo Ann Robinson drove to the various Montgomery schools to drop off the handbills to the students who distributed them in the schools and ask students to take them home for their parents. The handbills asked blacks to boycott the buses the following Monday, December 5, in support of Parks. By Friday night, word of a boycott had spread all over the city. That same night, local ministers and civil rights leaders held a meeting and announced the boycott for Monday. With some ministers hesitant to engage their congregations in a boycott, about half left the meeting in frustration. They decided to hold a mass meeting Monday night to decide if the boycott should continue. (BH, see Dec 3; see MBB for expanded chronology)

Bernard Whitehurst Jr. killed

December 2, 1975: a white police officer named Donald Foster shot and killed Bernard Whitehurst Jr., a 32-year-old Black man, after mistaking him for a crime suspect. Rather than acknowledge the mistake, Foster and other officers planted a gun near Mr. Whitehurst’s body as part of an elaborate cover-up of tragic police violence. There was no autopsy report and Mr. Whitehurst’s family was not even notified that he had been killed; they found out about his death shortly after when one family member heard about it on the radio. [EJI article] (next BH, see January 22, 1976)

BLACK & SHOT/Rumain Brisbon

December 2, 2014: Phoenix Police Officer Mark Rine was investigating a tip that 34-year-old Rumain Brisbon was selling drugs inside an SUV on. Police said Brisbon didn’t obey the officer’s commands and instead fled inside an apartment complex where a struggle ensued. During the struggle, Rine mistook a pill bottle in Brisbon’s pants for a gun and fatally shot him, according to police. Brisbon was unarmed, though police found a gun in his SUV. (see January 30, 2015)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestones

December 2, 1901: Gillette patented the KC Gillette Razor. It was first razor to feature a permanent handle and disposable double-edge razor blades. (see Dec 12)

Artificial heart

December 2, 1982:  Barney B. Clark became the first recipient of an artificial heart. The 61-year-old retired dentist from Seattle underwent a 7½-hour operation at the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City. The operation was performed by a surgical team headed by Dr. William C. DeVries. Clark survived with the artificial heart for over 3 months. He died on March 23, 1983. [Smithsonian article] (see January 24, 1984)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

FEMINISM

Voting Rights

December 2, 1918: President Wilson urged passage of federal woman suffrage amendment in annual address to Congress. (see January 1, 1919)

Suppression of the Traffic in Persons

December 2, 1949: the United Nation adopted the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. (next Feminism, see Jo Ann Robinson above under Black History)

Eisenhower/Birth control

December 2, 1959: President Dwight Eisenhower stated in a press conference that birth control:  “I cannot imagine anything more emphatically a subject that is not a proper political or government activity or function or responsibility. . . . The government will not, so long as I am here, have a positive political doctrine in its program that has to do with the problem of birth control. That’s not our business.” (Nuclear, see May 11, 1960; CW, see May 12, 1960)

Nuclear/ Chemical News

Enrico Fermi

December 2, 1942: Enrico Fermi, the Italian-born Nobel Prize-winning physicist, directed and controlled the first nuclear chain reaction in his laboratory beneath the bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, ushering in the nuclear age. Upon successful completion of the experiment, a coded message was transmitted to President Roosevelt: “The Italian navigator has landed in the new world.”  (NN, see April 17, 1945; TI, see February 14, 1946)

Train derailment

December 2, 1962:  a Louisville and Nashville train derails in Marietta, Georgia while carrying nuclear weapons components. (see Dec 24)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

McCarthyism

December 2, 1954: the US Senate censured Senator Joseph McCarthy 67 – 22 for “conduct contrary to Senatorial tradition.” It was only the third time in the Senate’s history that such a censure was issued. (see February 23, 1955)

Fidel Castro

December 2, 1961: Cuban leader Fidel Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist who would lead Cuba to Communism.

“Morning Dew”

In 1962: Bonnie Dobson will release post apocalyptic song, “Morning Dew” It was later covered most famously by the Grateful Dead.

Train derailment

December 2, 1962:  a Louisville and Nashville train derails in Marietta, Georgia while carrying nuclear weapons components. (see Dec 24)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

December 2, 1962: following a trip to Vietnam at President John F. Kennedy’s request, Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-Montana) became the first U.S. official to refuse to make an optimistic public comment on the progress of the war. Originally a supporter of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, Mansfield changed his opinion of the situation after his visit.

He claimed that the $2 billion the United States had poured into Vietnam during the previous seven years had accomplished nothing. He placed blame squarely on the Diem regime for its failure to share power and win support from the South Vietnamese people. He suggested that Americans, despite being motivated by a sincere desire to stop the spread of communism, had simply taken the place formerly occupied by the French colonial power in the minds of many Vietnamese.

Mansfield’s change of opinion surprised and irritated President Kennedy.(Vietnam, see Dec 3; SVL, see May 6, 1963)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

see December 2 Music et al for more

Beatles on TV

December 2, 1963: The Beatles appeared on Morecambe and Wise, one of the more popular TV shows in the UK. (see Dec 4)

Monkees

December 2 – December 29, 1967 – “Daydream Believer” by the Monkees #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100.

December 2, 1967 – January 5, 1968 – The Monkees Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, & Jones Ltd. the Billboard #1 album.

Wonderwall Music

December 2, 1968: George Harrison’s Wonderwall Music album released. (next Beatles, see Dec 20; see Wonderwall for expanded story)

George Harrison/Delaney & Bonnie

December 2, 1969: on December 1, George Harrison had watched husband and wife act Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett perform at the Albert Hall in London. On December 2 he joined them on stage in Bristol, for his first stage appearance since The Beatles’ final concert on 29 August 1966. Freed from the attentions of Beatlemania, he was able to be a largely anonymous band member, although he did sing songs including Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby on at least one occasion. Harrison stayed on the tour for six dates until it ended. They played two shows each night, in Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield, Newcastle, Liverpool and Croydon. (see Dec 15)

“Thriller”

December 2, 1983: MTV broadcasts Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video with a running time of 13 minutes and 42 seconds.

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

STUDENT ACTIVISIM & FREE SPEECH

December 2, 1964: activist Mario Savio led Berkeley Free Speech Movement in occupation of the University of Berkeley’s Sproul Hall to protest ban on campus activism.  The ban was lifted in January. (see Free Speech for expanded chronology)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

December 2, 1970: the Environmental Protection Agency began operating under director William Ruckelshaus. (see February 26, 1972)

INDEPENDENCE DAY

December 2, 1971, United Arab Emirates independent of United Kingdom. (see July 10, 1973)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran Uprising

December 2, 1978:  anti-Shah protesters poured through Tehran chanting “Allah is great.” (see Dec 11)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

December 2, 1982: in 1977, an Oklahoma medical examiner named Jay Chapman proposed that death-row inmates be executed using three drugs administered in a specific sequence: a barbiturate (to anesthetize inmates), pancuronium bromide (to paralyze inmates and stop their breathing) and lastly potassium chloride (which stops the heart). Chapman’s proposal was approved by the Oklahoma state legislature the same year and quickly adopted by other states. On this date, Texas became the first to use the procedure, executing 40-year-old Charles Brooks for murdering Fort Worth mechanic David Gregory. (see Dec 7)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Irish Troubles

December 2, 1999: a power-sharing cabinet of Protestants and Catholics sat down together for the first time in Northern Ireland. (see Troubles for expanded chronology)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

December 2, 2006: “Not working well.” Donald Rumsfeld, description of the Iraq strategy in a classified memo written two days before he resigned. [NYT article] (see Dec 6)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Fourth Amendment

December 2, 2014: a federal appeals court struck down a 2011 Florida law requiring drug tests for people seeking welfare benefits even if they are not suspected of drug use, a measure pushed by Gov. Rick Scott in his first term in office.

The three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, ruled that the law, one of the strictest in the country, was an unreasonable search because Florida officials had failed to show a “substantial need” to test all people who applied for welfare benefits. Applicants were required to submit to urine tests, a measure that Mr. Scott said would protect children of welfare applicants by ensuring that their parents were not buying and using drugs.

“The state has not demonstrated a more prevalent, unique or different drug problem among TANF applicants than in the general population,” the panel said in its unanimous decision, using an acronym for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. [MH article] (see Dec 11)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

December 2, 2020: the United Nations’ Commission for Narcotic Drugs voted to remove cannabis for medicinal purposes from a category of the world’s most dangerous drugs, a highly anticipated and long-delayed decision that could clear the way for an expansion of marijuana research and medical use.

The Commission, includes 53 member states, considered a series of recommendations from the World Health Organization on reclassifying cannabis and its derivatives. But attention centered on a key recommendation to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs — where it was listed alongside dangerous and highly addictive opioids like heroin. [UN article] (next Cannabis, see Dec 4 or see Cannabis for expanded chronology)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism