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

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

November 4, 2015 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

November 4, 1646: the Massachusetts General Court approved a law requiring all members of the colony to recognize the Bible as the Word of God, under penalty of death. (DP, see May 27, 1647; Separation, see April 21, 1649)

Rose Bird defeated

November 4, 1986: California Chief Justice Rose Bird and two other ‘liberal’ members of the state supreme court were ousted in a retention election. The election followed a bitter campaign that centered on the three justices’ records in death penalty cases. [NYT article] (see November 1987)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Benjamin Ryan Tillman

November 4, 1890: Benjamin Ryan Tillman was elected governor of South Carolina. An outspoken white supremacist, Tillman advocated for violence against African American voters and staunchly opposed educational access for black people.

Tillman’s political career catapulted to success after his involvement in the 1876 Hamburg Massacre, where white men rioted and killed nine people in a predominantly African American town in South Carolina. In his gubernatorial campaign, Tillman promised to keep the state’s African American population in a position of permanent inferiority. In his inaugural address and throughout his administration, he emphasized white supremacy and the necessity to revoke African Americans’ rights. Concerning the education of African Americans, Tillman argued, “when you educate a Negro, you educate a candidate for the penitentiary or spoil a good field hand.”

He served two terms as governor and played a critical role in the 1895 South Carolina Constitutional Convention. In order to vote under the revised constitution, a man had to own property, pay a poll tax, pass a literacy test, and meet certain educational standards. The 1895 constitution disenfranchised African American voters and served as a model for other southern states.

Tillman was elected United States Senator for South Carolina in 1895, and he served in this capacity for twenty-four years. Throughout his tenure, he opposed African American equality, women’s suffrage, and any federal interference in state government. Tillman’s philosophy helped shape the era of oppression and abuse of African Americans throughout the South. A statue honoring Tillman still stands on the grounds of South Carolina’s State Capitol and as with many statues today, there are many who feel that such recognition is undeserved. (Charleston City Paper article) (see September 1, 1891)

National Equal Rights League

November 4, 1922: the National Equal Rights League presented a petition signed by thousands of people from fifteen States calling for Congress to consider the Dyer Anti-Lynching bill. [Black Past article] (see Nov 28)

Statue of Liberty plot

November 4, 1965: Federal Judge William Herlands sentenced Robert Collier to 5 years in prison; Walter Bowe received a three-year sentence; and Khaleel Sayyed received an 18-month sentence for their conspiracy to blow up the Statue of Liberty on June 14, 1965. [NYT article] (next BH, see Nov 8; next Terrorism, see September 5 – 6, 1972)

George Whitmore, Jr

November 4, 1988: Richard Robles, who had served 24 years in the famous ”career girls” murder case, was denied parole for a second time. Robles, 45 years old, was given a life sentence for the killing of Janice Wylie, a Newsweek researcher, and Emily Hoffert, an elementary-school teacher, in an East Side apartment on Aug 28, 1963. ( see Whitmore for expanded story)

Autherine Lucy Foster

In 1989: Autherine Lucy Foster again enrolled at the University of Alabama. Her daughter Grazia also was a student at the time. (BH, see Feb 10; U of A, see May 9, 1992)

Barak Obama

November 4, 2008: Barack Obama elected President. First Black American elected President of the US. (click for transcript of Obama’s victory speech >>> Victory speech) (see Nov 5)

Murders of Three Civil Rights Workers

November 4, 2013: the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Edgar Ray Killen, convicted of manslaughter in 2005 for the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers in what became known as the “Mississippi Burning” case. The decision means the justices won’t review lower-court rulings that found no violations of Killen’s constitutional rights during his trial in Mississippi. [CBS News article] (see January 4, 2014)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

November 4 Music et al

Bob Dylan/Carnegie Chapter Hall

November 4, 1961: Dylan played a concert at Carnegie Chapter Hall, a smaller room than the famous bigger room. There are varying reports on how many people attended the concert. The number ranges between 47 and 53, pretty much all friends and family. (see Nov 20)

Newsweek/Dylan

November 4, 1963: Newsweek magazine carried an article that mocked Dylan’s self made image and pointed out that he had grown up in a middle class family in Hibbing, MN.

The article showed him as a vain and self-promoting.

“Why Dylan—he picked the name in admiration for Dylan Thomas—should bother to deny his past is a mystery. Perhaps he feels it would spoil the image he works so hard to cultivate—with his dress, with his talk, with the deliberately atrocious grammar and pronunciation in his songs” (see Dec 13)

The Beatles/Royal Variety Show

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism — The Beatles greet the Queen Mother

November 4, 1963: The Beatles performed their legendary Royal Command Performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London, before the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. Technically The Beatles were 7th on a 19-act bill, but there was no doubt that they were, in fact, the main attraction. The Beatles called upon their masterful showmanship to put on a stunning four-song performance. They began playing their first song, “From Me to You”, before the curtain opened. John and Paul, at the end of the first song, moved their microphones nearer to the audience. After playing their second song, “She Loves You”, The Beatles bowed to the audience. A nervous Paul cracked a joke about Sophie Tucker being The Beatles’ favorite American group, then they performed “Till There Was You”.

At the end of that song, Paul and John moved their microphone stands back to their original position. After waiting for the applause to die down, John introduced “Twist and Shout”, requesting that persons in the cheaper seats join in by clapping their hands, while everyone else should just “rattle your jewelry”. At the end of “Twist and Shout”, Ringo came down from his drum kit and joined the others; as the curtain closed behind them, they bowed to the audience, then they bowed to the royal box, and then they ran off the stage to thunderous applause.

The show was taped for later broadcast on both television and radio. Their entire performance was broadcast on television, by ATV, on November 10. BBC radio broadcast all but “She Loves You”, also on November 10. The Beatles were a sensation all across Britain, the Royal Command Performance brought a huge triumph for them. (see Nov 11 – 12)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvBCmY7wAAU

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

November 4, 1964: NYC police arrested comedian Lenny Bruce for obscenity. He was arrested many times in his career on charges of obscenity (October 4, 1961). His style of humor, radical for its time, savagely attacked American hypocrisy on sex, religion and race. Many believe that his arrests were provoked more by his attacks on the Catholic Church than for the dirty words in his routines. (see Dec 2)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

November 4, 1968: the Christian Science Monitor asked the White House to confirm or deny a story from their Saigon correspondent that said “political encouragement from the Richard Nixon camp: had been “a significant factor” in President Thieus”s sudden decision to stay home.

LBJ did not know of the October 22 messages between Nixon and Haldeman and decided not to confirm the story despite his strong suspicion that Nixon had tried to undermine the negations. (see Nov 5)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran hostage crisis

November 4, 1979, : Iran hostage crisis begins: 3,000 Iranian radicals, mostly students, invade the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and take 90 hostages (53 of whom are American). They demand that the United States send the former Shah of Iran back to stand trial. (click >>> NYT article re Students invade embassy) (see Nov 12)

USS Cole

November 4, 2002: Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, a suspected al-Qaeda operative, who was believed to have planned the Cole attack, was killed by the CIA using an AGM-114 Hellfire missile launched from an MQ-1 Predator drone. (NYT article) (see Nov 25)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Ronald Reagan elected President

November 4, 1980: Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent President Jimmy Carter, exactly 1 year after the beginning of the Iran hostage crisis. (click >>> “After the celebrations over Ronald Reagan’s spectacular victory, come the hangovers.”)

Jack Kevorkian

November 4, 1996: Kevorkian’s lawyer announced a previously unreported assisted suicide of a 54-year-old woman. This brings the total number of his assisted suicides, since 1990, to 46. (see JK for expanded story)

LGBTQ

November 4, 2008: California voters approved a ban on same-sex marriage called Proposition 8. The attorney general of California, Jerry Brown, asked the state’s Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of Proposition 8.

The ban threw into question the validity of the more than 18,000 marriages already performed, but Attorney General Brown reiterated in a news release that he believed the same-sex marriages performed in California before November 4 should remain valid and the California Supreme Court, which upheld the ban in May 2009, agreed, allowing those couples married under the old law to remain that way; also, voters in Arizona, and Florida approved the passage of measures that ban same-sex marriage. Arkansas passed a measure intended to bar gay men and lesbians from adopting children. (click for article re day before California vote >>> Rush to marry) (see Nov 12)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

Michigan

November 4, 2008: “Sixty-three percent of Michigan voters approved Proposal 1 (the law took effect on December 4, 2008). It removed state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of marijuana by patients who possess written documentation from their physicians authorizing the medical use of marijuana.” (see February 25, 2009)

November 4, 2014

Oregon voters approved Measure 91, a proposal which would legalize the possession of up to eight ounces of cannabis, a limit that was eight times higher than that of Washington and Colorado. The initiative would also allow everyone 21 and older to cultivate up to four plants, and purchase cannabis from state-licensed outlets, which would open by 2016.
In Alaska, Ballot Measure 2 was approved with 52% of the vote. This initiative legalized the possession of up to an ounce of cannabis, as well as the private cultivation of up to six plants. The proposal also allowed for cannabis retail outlets. (see February 24, 2015)
In Washington D.C voters approved Initiative 71. Once it takes effect – after a 30-day congressional review period – the proposal would legalize the possession of up to two ounces of cannabis for those 21 and older, in addition to allowing for the private cultivation of up to six plants. Although the initiative did not allow for cannabis retail outlets, the district’s Council was considering legislation to change that.
In Florida, Amendment 2 (legalization of medical cannabis ) was defeated, failing to garner the 60% required to be passed into law.
In Maine, voters in South Portland passed an initiative to legalize up to an ounce of cannabis, joining Portland which approved a similar initiative last year. A legalization initiative was rejected in Lewiston (see Dec 13)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

November 4, 2013: the US Supreme Court left intact a state court decision invalidating an Oklahoma law that effectively banned the so-called abortion pill RU-486. [Reuters article] (see Nov 26)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Trump Impeachment Inquiry

November 4, 2019: four top White House officials who were supposed to testify for the House’s impeachment inquiry declined to appear. John Eisenberg, the top lawyer at the National Security Council, failed to show up on Capitol Hill for his scheduled deposition time. He is believed to have made the call to lock down records of President Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a special system.

Eisenberg’s deputy, Michael Ellis, Rob Blair, who served as an adviser to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on national security issues, and Brian McCormack, an energy official at the White House Office of Management and Budget, also did not testify.

The inquiry also hundreds of pages of transcripts from Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, who testified on Oct. 11, and Michael McKinley, a former adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who testified Oct. 16. [NPR story] (see TII for expanded chronology)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Paris Climate Accord announcement

November 4, 2019: the Trump administration announced that it would begin formally withdrawing the US from the Paris climate accord, the first step in a year-long process to leave the landmark agreement to reduce emissions of planet-warming gases.

“Today the United States began the process to withdraw from the Paris Agreement,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. “Per the terms of the Agreement, the United States submitted formal notification of its withdrawal to the United Nations. The withdrawal will take effect one year from delivery of the notification.” [CNN story] (next EI, see Nov 7)

Paris Climate Accord exit

November 4, 2020: the US became the first country to officially exit the Paris climate accord , but depending on the result of the presidential election, the US could swiftly rejoin with Democratic candidate Joe Biden pledging to reverse President Donald Trump’s decision to abandon the accord which was ratified by 189 countries.

After a year that’s seen record-breaking wildfires and a seemingly unending stream of hurricanes strike the Gulf Coast, the US became the only country to formally pull out of the deal since it was adopted in 2015.

Under the rules of the agreement, a country couldt officially leave for one full year after notifying the UN of its intent to withdraw. The countdown to the US’ exit began on November 4, 2019, when the US sent notice of its plans to leave. [CNN story] (next EI, see Nov 21)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

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

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

November 1, 2015 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Nation’s First General Strike

November 1, 1835: in the nation’s first general strike for a 10-hour day, 300 armed Irish longshoremen marched through the streets of Philadelphia calling on other workers to join them. Some 20,000 did, from clerks to bricklayers to city employees and other occupations. The city announced a 10-hour workday within the week; private employers followed suit three weeks later. [Ency of Philadelphia article] (see March 31, 1840)

Portland, OR Teacher Strike

November 1, 2023: teachers and other school employees in Portland, Oregon went on strike canceling school for tens of thousands of children in Oregon’s largest school district.

The Portland Association of Teachers, which represents about 3,700 teachers, school counselors and other employees in the negotiations, is asking for higher wages, more time to plan lessons and a cap on class sizes, among other issues. They say that students’ emotional and academic needs have skyrocketed since the pandemic, and that employees are under strain and undersupported.

“We are on strike not just for ourselves, but for our students,” said Angela Bonilla, the union’s president. [NYT article] (next LH, see Nov 9; Portland, see Nov 26)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

The Carlisle Indian School

November 1, 1879: founded by Richard Henry Pratt, The Carlisle Indian School formally opened (in Carlisle, PA) with an enrollment of 147 students. The youngest was six and the eldest twenty-five, but the majority were teenagers. Two-thirds were the children of Plains Indian tribal leaders. The first class was made up of eighty-four Lakota, fifty-two Cheyenne, Kiowa and Pawnee, and eleven Apache. Pratt believed that the only road to success for the Native Americans was to assimilate them to the American culture. He was often quoted as saying “Kill the Indian, save the man”. NPR’s Radio Lab did a piece on the school. The following picture comparisons are from RL’s site. Click for others >>> Radio Lab) (next NA, see July 20, 1881)

Tom Torlino before	Tom Torlino after
Sioux children before	Sioux children after

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Black History

Louisiana Sugar Workers Lynched

November 1, 1887: thirty-seven Black striking Louisiana sugar workers were murdered when Louisiana militia, aided by bands of “prominent citizens,” shoot unarmed workers trying to get a dollar-per-day wage. Two strike leaders are lynched. [Smithsonian article] (next Labor History, see March 12, 1888; next BH & next Lynching, see August 18, 1889; see 19th century for expanded lynching chronology)

Poll Taxes

November 1, 1890: Mississippi adopted a new state constitution aimed at keeping African Americans from voting through poll taxes, literacy tests and other means. The constitution achieved the delegates’ chief aim through instituting mechanisms including poll taxes and literacy tests.

One of the state constitution’s framers, Democrat James K. Vardaman, who would go on to become governor and a US Senator, saw no need to hide his disdain for Black Americans.

“Mississippi’s constitutional convention of 1890 was held for no other purpose than to eliminate the n****r from politics,” he once said.

Many other states followed Mississippi’s lead. (next BH, see Nov 4)

Frank Sinatra/School Desegregation

On September 18, 1945 in Gary, Indiana, mounting pressure from civic groups such as the League of Women Voters, YWCA, and Gary Teacher’s Union to desegregate schools pushed district officials to make another attempt (see September, 1927) at integration. Again, white students took to the streets en masse in an effort to curb integration. On November 1, 1945, in an effort to win over white students against school desegregation, Gary officials invited Frank Sinatra to perform. Though very popular with teenagers, Sinatra’s appeal failed to get students back to school. [Time article] (BH, see Dec 16; SD, see September 1946)

Freedom Riders

November 1, 1961: November 1^st was the day the Interstate Commerce Commission’s new prohibition against segregated bus terminals was to go into effect. This was the ruling won by the Freedom Rides.

The Albany, Georgia bus terminal was located in the Black section of town and on November 1^st — with a neighborhood crowd watching — nine Black students attempted to use the terminal’s “white-only” facilities. As planned, they leave without being arrested when ordered out by the police and then filed immediate complaints with the ICC under the new ruling. (BH, see Nov 9; FR, see Nov 29)

“Freedom Vote”

November 1, 1963: the “Freedom Vote” on this day was a mock election in Mississippi involving officially unregistered African American voters. The event was organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to dramatize the fact that only 7 percent of the potentially eligible African-American voters were actually registered.

The Freedom Vote was considered a success by SNCC leaders, and it inspired the idea for a larger effort in the summer of 1964. This became Freedom Summer, in which about 1,000 white northern college students were recruited to help African-Americans register to vote. (see Nov 19)

SOUTH AFRICA/APARTHEID

November 1, 1995 South Africans voted in their first all-race local government elections, completing the destruction of the apartheid system. (see October 30, 1996)

Kayla Morris

November 1, 2018: Kayla Morris, of Antioch, California and a member of Gold Rush, the San Francisco 49ers cheerleader, appeared to take a knee during the national anthem. It was the first time that an NFL cheerleader had done so. (see February 15, 2019)

Tommie Smith and John Carlos

November 1, 2019: fifty-one years after the U.S. Olympic Committee vilified Tommie Smith and John Carlos for taking a stand against racism and discrimination, banishing them from the Mexico City team and leaving them to face scorn and condemnation at home, it changed its mind. The Committee inducted Smith and Carlos into the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame, an honor bestowed because of their “character, conduct and off-field contributions,” as well as their athletic achievements. [NBC Sports story] (next BH, see Nov 2)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Fair Housing

Rent control

November 1, 1943: the federal Office of Price Administration first established rent control in wartime New York City. [Curbed NY article]

McCarthy kickbacks

From 1947 – 1949: Joe McCarthy accepted kickbacks from Pepsi Cola totaling $20,000 in exchange for helping Pepsi to circumvent the post-war sugar rationing. He also received another $10,000 from entrepreneurs in the pre-fabricated housing industry. Shortly thereafter, McCarthy joined the Senate Housing Committee and went on the road to speak out against public housing for veterans, extolling the benefits of the pre-fabricated home and offering it as an alternative. (FH, see May 3, 1948: RS, see Feb 17)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

The Red Scare & the Cold War

Free Speech

November 1, 1948: the famous Smith Act trial began, one of the major events of the Cold War, involved the prosecution of eleven leaders of the Communist Party for violating the Smith Act (enacted on June 29, 1940), which outlawed advocating the overthrow of the government. (FS, see Dec 10; Red Scare, see Nov 2; trial, see October 10, 1949)

H-Bomb

November 1, 1952: U.S. detonated the first hydrogen bomb at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. [Air & Space article] (see Dec 13)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism — The first thermonuclear weapon (hydrogen bomb), code-named Mike, was detonated at Enewetak atoll in the Marshall Islands, Nov. 1, 1952. Photograph taken at an altitude of 3,600 metres (12,000 feet) 80 km (50 miles) from the detonation site.

Women Strike for Peace

November 1, 1961: thousands of women throughout the United States demonstrated in protest against nuclear weapons. The rallies were organized by Women Strike for Peace, founded by Bella Abzug and Dagmar Wilson. WSP’s guiding statement, adopted in 1962: “We are women of all races, creeds and political persuasions. We are dedicated to the purpose of complete and general disarmament. We demand that nuclear tests be banned forever, that the arms race end and the world abolish all weapons of destruction under United Nations safeguards. We cherish the right and accept the responsibility to act to influence the course of goverment for peace. … We join with women throughout the world to challenge the right of any nation or group of nations to hold the power of life and death over the world.” [Swarthmore article] (see May 31, 1962)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

November 1, 1950: two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to force their way into Blair House in Washington to assassinate President Harry S. Truman. One of the assailants was killed. [Truman Library article] (see March 1, 1954)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Algeria

November 1, 1954, Algeria began a rebellion against French rule. [Atlantic article w chronology] (see July 5, 1962)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

November 1, 1954: jointly produced by Texas Instruments and TV accessory manufacturer IDEA (Industrial Development Engineering Associates) Corp, the TR-1 was the first consumer device to employ transistors went on sale at a price of $49.95 (less battery). One year after the release of the TR-1, sales approached the 100,000 mark.

Measuring 5×3×1.25 inches and weighing 12.5 ounces, the Regency TR-1 was designed to receive AM broadcasts only. It kicked off a worldwide demand for small and portable electronic products. (see Dec 23)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

November 1 Music et al

Howl

Allen Ginsberg, far left, reading in San Francisco on Nov. 20, 1955, and center center, in NYC’s Washington Square Park on Aug. 28, 1966.

November 1, 1956, Lawrence Ferlinghetti published Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg. (see Howl judgement for more)

Beatles in trouble

November 1, 1960: furious that The Beatles had made a verbal agreement to play at rival Peter Eckhorn’s Top Ten Club, Kaiserkeller owner Bruno Koschmider terminated their contract. Despite this, they continued to perform at the club for another three weeks. An additonal reason why Koschmider wanted them out: at 17 years of age, George Harrison was too young to be working in the club. Eckhorn’s statement read: I the undersigned hereby give notice to Mr George Harrison and to Beatles’ Band to leave [the Club] on November 30th, 1960. The notice is given to the above by order of the Public Authorities who have discovered that Mr George Harrison is only 17 (seventeen) years of age. (see Nov 20)

News Music/Bob Marley

November 1, 1964: Bob Marley’s Wailers’s first single, ‘Simmer Down‘, reached Number 1 in Jamaica’s JBC Radio Chart.

News Music/Buffy Sainte-Marie

In 1964 Buffy Sainte-Marie’s first album released. It’s My Way (see Dec 22)

“Wild Thing”

November 1, 1965, Jordan Christopher & The Wild Ones release “Wild Thing.” Written by Chip Taylor (born James Wesley Voight, brother of actor Jon Voight; uncle, therefore, of Angelina Jolie). (see July 25, 1966)

“Wonderwall Music”

November 1, 1968: George Harrison became the first member of The Beatles to release a solo project, an LP called “Wonderwall Music.”

Paul McCartney’s January 1967 The Family Way soundtrack recording is sometimes considered to be the first Beatles solo album, but most critics consider Wonderwall Music to be the first, because it was released under George Harrison’s name while The Family Way was credited to George Martin.

The songs, recorded in December 1967 in England, and January 1968 in Bombay, India were virtually all instrumental, except for some non-English vocals and a slowed-down spoken word track. “Wonderwall Music” is notable for being the first official LP release on Apple Records. (see Wonderwall for expanded story) (next Beatles, see Nov 8)

Abbey Road

November 1 – December 26, 1969: Abbey Road the Billboard #1 Album. The Beatles’ Let It Be album will be released on May 8, 1970 and be the Billboard #1 album from June 13 – July 10, 1970. Let It Be was actually recorded in before Abbey Road in February 1968, January – February 1969. Since most of Let It Be was recorded in January 1969, before the recording and release of the album Abbey Road, some critics argue that Abbey Road should be considered the group’s final album and Let It Be the penultimate. (see November 26)

Elvis Presley

November 1 – 7, 1969: after seven years off the top of the charts, Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” is #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It will be his last #1 during his lifetime. (see December 21, 1971)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

United States v. 31 Photographs

November 1, 1957: in the case of United States v. 31 Photographs, a U.S. District Court judge cleared the way for importation of 31 photographs that the Alfred Kinsey had sought to import for his scientific research on sexuality. The judge ruled that the photographs could be brought into the U.S. because they were material for scientific study and not public consumption. The decision ended a three-year battle over the photographs.

While the decision was a victory for Kinsey and his research, it was a very limited one with respect to censorship of sexually related materials, given its narrow focus on research materials. (see May 6, 1959)

MPPA

November 1, 1968: the Motion Picture Producers Association (MPPA), struggling to adapt to both anti-censorship court decisions and more tolerant public attitudes regarding sexuality in the movies — but not willing to abandon all restraints — put into effect a new movie ratings system. The categories were G, PG, R and X. [Wikipedia article] (see Nov 12)

Colin Kaepernick

November 1, 2017: Papa John’s Founder and CEO John Schnatter claimed that the NFL kneeling protests were costing the company lots of money. Papa John’s had been an official NFL sponsor since 2010, but has seen its stock drop 24 percent in 2017

Schnatter blamed NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Schnatter said, ““The NFL has hurt us by not resolving the current debacle to the players’ and owners’ satisfaction … The NFL has hurt Papa John’s shareholders.” [CNN article] (US Labor, see Nov 2; FS & CK, see Nov 14)

NFL cheerleader

November 1, 2018: a San Francisco 49ers cheerleader appeared to take a knee during the national anthem. It was the first time that an NFL cheerleader had done so. (Colin K, see February 15, 2019)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Clarence Earl Gideon

November 1, 1963: in a speech before The New England Conference on the Defense of Indigent Persons accused of Crime, Attorney General Robert Kennedy stated: “If an obscure Florida convict named Clarence Earl Gideon had not sat down in prison with a pencil and paper to write a letter to the Supreme Court, and if the Supreme Court had not taken the trouble to look for merit in that one crude petition among all the bundles of mail it must receive every day, the vast machinery of American law would have gone on functioning undisturbed.” (see Gideon for expanded story)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

South Vietnam Leadership

November 1, 1963: South Vietnamese general Duong Van Minh, acting with the support of the CIA, launched a military coup which removed Ngo Dinh Diem from power. (see Nov 2)

Operation Rolling Thunder

November 1, 1968: after three-and-a-half years, Operation Rolling Thunder comes to an end. In total, the campaign had cost more than 900 American aircraft, 818 pilots dead or missing, and hundreds in captivity. Nearly 120 Vietnamese planes had been destroyed in air combat or accidents, or by friendly fire. According to U.S. estimates, 182,000 North Vietnamese civilians were killed. Twenty thousand Chinese support personnel were also casualties of the bombing. (see Nov 5)

Operation Popeye

November 1, 1968: the southern region of North Vietnam was removed from the Operation concurrent with a halt to conventional bombing of North Vietnam. (see Popeye for expanded story)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

November 1, 1981: Antigua and Barbuda independent of the United Kingdom. (see September 2, 1983)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Early Money Is Like Yeast

November 1, 1986: EMILY‘s (Early Money Is Like Yeast) List was established in 1985 to help elect pro-choice Democratic women to office in the 1986 election. By November 1986, EMILY’s List raised over $350,000 for two Senate candidates. (see Oct 3, 1988)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

Maastricht Treaty

November 1, 1993: the Maastricht Treaty took effect, formally establishing the European Union. [Britannica article]

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

November 1, 2010: The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals stays Judge Virginia Phillips’ injunction on Don’t ask, don’t Tell pending appeal. [NYT article] (see Nov 12)

November 1 Peace Love Art Activism

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

October 31 Peace Love Art Activism

October 31, 2015 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

October 31 Peace Love Art Activism

Labor history

Working Man’s Advocate

October 31, 1829: George Henry Evans published the first issue of the Working Man’s Advocate, “edited by a Mechanic” for the “useful and industrious classes” in New York City. He focused on the inequities between the “portion of society living in luxury and idleness” and those “groaning under the oppressions and miseries imposed on them.” (see March 13, 1830)

Coal Creek War

October 31, 1891: during the spring of 1891, free miners working for the Tennessee Coal Mining Company went on strike in Briceville, Tennessee, after the company demanded that all miners sign an iron-clad contract with draconian terms. In response to the strike, the company evicted the miners from their homes, built a stockade, and leased dozens of state prisoners to replace the free workers. Using convict labor, the mine reopened on July 5, 1891.

Two weeks later, on July 14, three hundred armed miners stormed the stockade and marched the convicts out of the valley, shutting down the mine once more. In response, Governor John P. Buchanan marched the state militia into the valley and, on July 16, met the miners just north of Briceville to plead for peace. The miners refused to accept the mining company’s treatment, and instead demanded that the governor enforce the state’s laws against iron-clad contracts.

When the miners seized control of the Briceville mine again, on July 20, Governor Buchanan requested a 60-day truce so that he could present the miners’ claims to the Tennessee legislature. The legislature subsequently rejected the miners’ demands, and tensions flared once more.

On October 31, 1891, the miners stormed the Briceville mine and burned the stockades to the ground, freeing more than 500 leased convicts and placing them on trains headed out of the Coal Creek Valley. Free miners in other towns soon followed suit; the conflict spread across the Cumberland Plateau and lasted several months until the militia launched a crackdown in the summer of 1892, leading to the arrests of hundreds of miners. Known as the “Coal Creek War,” this clash ultimately brought about the miners’ goal: the Tennessee legislature abolished convict leasing to private companies on January 1, 1894.

While the free miners no longer had to compete with convict labor, the Coal Creek War did not end the practice of forcing state convicts – mostly “able bodied young colored men” – to labor in mines. Instead, convicts were now shipped to Brushy Mountain and forced to mine coal for the state of Tennessee. By 1904, the state claimed $200,000 per year in profits from convict labor. (see January 7, 1892)

Chicago Teachers Strike

October 31, 2019: Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union agreed to a five-year contract agreement.

The city agreed to spend millions of dollars on reducing class sizes; promised to pay for hundreds more social workers, nurses and librarians; and approved a 16 percent salary increase over the coming five years. But not all union members were satisfied; a vote to approve a tentative deal was noticeably split, and some teachers wanted to press on to seek steeper reductions in class sizes, more teacher preparation time and aid for special education. [NYT story] (next LH, see Nov 25)

October 31 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Silas Ester lynched

October 31, 1901: authorities in Hadgenville, Kentucky had arrested Silas Ester accusing him of coercing a young boy to commit a crime. At approximately 2:00 am a lynch mob of more than 50 white men tightened a noose around the neck Esters’s neck and dragged him from the LaRue County Jail.

Police officers at the jail had surrendered the keys and made no effort to protect Esters.

In an attempt to escape his fate, Mr. Esters slipped free and began to run away – but made it only 100 yards before his body was riddled with bullets. The mob then placed the rope noose around the neck of his corpse, dragged the lifeless body to the courthouse, and swung it from the top steps. No one was ever held accountable for the lynching of Silas Esters. (next BH & Lynching, see February 6, 1902; for for expanded chronology, see American Lynching 2)

Earl Lloyd/NBA

October 31, 1950: Earl Lloyd of the Washington Capitols became the first African-American to play in an NBA game; Lloyd would go on to play for nine seasons, winning an NBA championship in 1955 with the Syracuse Nationals. [Earl Lloyd bio via History Makers] (next BH, see Dec 10)

see George Whitmore, Jr for full story

October 31, 1964: police disclosed that they were questioning another unidentified suspect in the Wylie-Hoffert case. The suspect was identified as a white 19-year-old narcotics addict who had a record of burglary and sexual assault. (Evidently the suspect was Richard Robles, although Robles is not 19 but in his early 20s.

Jacksonville, FL race revolt

October 31, 1969: a race revolt in Jacksonville, FL. The trouble started when a white truck driver accused a 20-year-old black man of stealing from his truck. The white man shot the black man, triggering two hours of violence and looting. Windows were smashed and TV sets, furniture and appliances were stolen, with losses estimated at $125,000. Three vehicles were burned. Two people were injured by gunfire and a policeman was struck by a brick. The police arrested 11 people – 10 of them were charged not with vandalism or looting but with using profanity and failing to obey police officers. A teenager was charged with looting, but rather than calming matters, that arrest led to the gathering of an angry crowd that didn’t disperse until four squad cars arrived. (BH, see February 21, 1970; RR, see May 11, 1970) (NYT article)

October 31 Peace Love Art Activism

see October 31 Music et al for more

Quarry Men

October 31, 1959: Quarry Men auditioned for Carrol Levis Show in Liverpool. During this audition period, the band would change its name from “Quarry Men” to “Johnny and the Moondogs” by November 15. On that day, they lose out for the Carrol Levis finals. (see Nov 15)

Five years later…

October 31, 1963: The Beatles were trying to walk through Heathrow Airport, London, where they’d just returned from a successful tour of Sweden. Also at Heathrow that particular day, after a talent-scouting tour of Europe, was the American television impresario Ed Sullivan. The pandemonium that Sullivan witnessed as he attempted to catch his flight to New York would play a pivotal role in making the British Invasion possible. Sullivan had his staff make inquiries about the Beatles following his return to the United States, and Brian Epstein arranged to travel to New York to open negotiations. (see Nov 2)

Nice ‘n’ Easy

October 31 – November 6, 1960: Frank Sinatra’s Nice ‘n’ Easy Billboard #1 album.

“Baby Love”

October 31 – November 27, 1964: “Baby Love” by the Supremes #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

People

October 31 – December 4, 1964: Barbara Streisand’s People is the Billboard #1 album.

LSD

October 31, 1966: San Francisco, California (Acid Test Graduation at Winterland) (see Graduation for expanded story)

October 31 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War & Nuclear News

October 31, 1961, : Soviet Union above-ground nuclear test. 5 megaton. (NYT article) (see Dec 1)

October 31 Peace Love Art Activism

Americans with disabilities

Community Mental Health Act

October 31, 1963: The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 (CMHA) (also known as the Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act, Mental Retardation Facilities and Construction Act, Public Law 88-164, or the Mental Retardation and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act of 1963) was an act to provide federal funding for community mental health centers. This legislation was passed as part of John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier. It led to considerable de-institutionalization. In 1984 it was renamed the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act.

TTY

In 1964 in California, deaf orthodontist Dr. James C. Marsters of Pasadena sent a teletype machine to deaf scientist Robert Weitbrecht, asking him to find a way to attach the TTY to the telephone system. Weitbrecht modified an acoustic coupler and gave birth to “Baudot,” a code that is still used in TTY communication. (ADA, see July 2, 1964; TM, see April 30)

October 31 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Bien Hoa Air Base

October 31, 1964: three days before the U.S. presidential election, Vietcong mortars shelled Bien Hoa Air Base near Saigon killing five Americans and wounding 30. Five B-57 bombers are destroyed, and 15 are damaged. (see Nov 10)

LBJ

October 31, 1968: President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam, saying he hoped for fruitful peace negotiations. (NYT article) (see Nov 1)

October 31 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH & Pledge of Allegiance

October 31, 1969: two 12-year-old girls in Brooklyn went to court on this day to assert their right to remain seated in class while other students recited the Pledge of Allegiance. One of the students, Mary, said she refused to recite the pledge because she doesn’t believe that “the actions of this country at this time warrant my respect.” (The Vietnam War was still raging at this time.) The seventh graders had been suspended four weeks earlier in what the school board’s attorney described as a simple matter of school discipline and not one of First Amendment law. Allowing the girls to remain seated, he claimed, would be “disruptive.”

The girls were represented by lawyers for the New York Civil Liberties Union, who cited the famous Supreme Court case of West Virginia v. Barnette, decided on June 14, 1943, in which the Court upheld the right of Jehovah’s Witness’s children not to salute the American flag as required by their school.(FS, see March 18, 1970; see Pledge for expanded story)

October 31 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

October 31, 1972: The Trail of Broken Treaties was a twenty-point manifesto adopted by Native American activists at a meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on this day. The twenty points/demands included a Commission to Review Treaty Commitments & Violations, and that All Indians to be Governed by Treaty Relations. (link to manifesto) (see Nov 2)

October 31 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Pregnancy Discrimination Act

October 31, 1978: The Pregnancy Discrimination Act amended Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, making it unlawful for an employer to discriminate on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. (see Dec 4)

Women’s Health

October 31, 2013: a federal appeals court ruled that the part of a Texas anti-abortion law that was struck down by a district court would be allowed to take effect while legal challenges proceed. The provisions will cause at least one-third of the state’s licensed health centers that currently provide abortion to stop offering the service immediately. [NYT article] (BC, see Nov 4; Texas, see June 27, 2016)

October 31 Peace Love Art Activism

Stop and Frisk Policy

Fourth Amendment

October 31, 2013: the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that Judge Scheindlin “ran afoul” of the judiciary’s code of conduct by showing an “appearance of partiality surrounding this litigation.” The panel criticized how she had steered the lawsuit to her courtroom when it was filed in early 2008. The ruling effectively puts off a battery of changes that Judge Scheindlin, of Federal District Court in Manhattan, had ordered for the Police Department. Those changes include postponing the operations of the monitor who was given the task to oversee reforms to the department’s stop-and-frisk practices, which Judge Scheindlin found violated the Fourth and 14th Amendments of the Constitution. [NYT PDF] (next S & F, see Nov 6; next 4th, see Dec 31)

October 31 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

October 31, 2018: Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that an absolute ban on recreational use of marijuana was unconstitutional, effectively leaving it to lawmakers to regulate consumption of the drug.

Announcing it had found in favor of two legal challenges filed against prohibition of recreational marijuana use, Mexico’s top court crossed the threshold needed to create jurisprudence: five similar rulings on the matter. (see Nov 6 or see CCC for expanded cannabis chronology)

October 31 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

October 31, 2018: court papers submitted by authorities showed that Cesar Sayoc, Jr had been planning his campaign for at least three months. [NYT article] (next Terrorism, see Dec 7; Sayoc, see March 21, 2019)

October 31 Peace Love Art Activism

Trump Impeachment Inquiry

October 31, 2019: the House of Representatives voted to endorse the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry into President Trump, in an action that set up a critical new public phase of the process.

The vote was 232-196 to approve a resolution that set out rules for an impeachment process for which there were few precedents and which promised to consume the country a little more than a year before the 2020 elections. It was only the third time in modern history that the House had taken a vote on an impeachment inquiry into a sitting president.

Two Democrats broke with their party to vote against the measure, while Republicans — under immense pressure from Trump to shut down the impeachment inquiry altogether — unanimously opposed it.

Minutes after the vote, the White House press secretary denounced the process as “a sham impeachment” and “a blatantly partisan attempt to destroy the president.” [NYT article] (see TII for expanded chronology)

October 31 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

October 31, 2019: North Dakota state environmental regulators said that the Keystone pipeline system leaked about 383,000 gallons of crude oil. The spill occurred in a low-gradient drainage area near the small town of Edinburg in northeast North Dakota, less than 50 miles from the Canadian border, according to Karl Rockeman, the director of the state Department of Environmental Quality’s division of water quality.

“It is one of the larger spills in the state,” he said. [NYT story] (see Nov 4)