September 28 Peace Love Art Activism
FREE SPEECH
September 28, 1842: in New York, the first grand jury indictments in America against publishers of obscene books were issued: People v. Richard Hobbes and People v. Henry R. Robinson. In addition, indictments were issued against the five print shop owners and bookstand operators used by the two publishers.
Titles named in the indictments: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure; Memoirs of the Life and Voluptuous Adventures of the Celebrated Courtesan Mademoiselle Celestine of Paris; The Cabinet of Venus Unlocked; The Curtain Drawn Up, or The Education of Laura; The Confessions of a Voluptuous Young Lady of High Rank; The Amorous Songster or Jovial Companion; The Lustful Turk; The Amorous History and Adventures of Raymond De B— and Father Andouillard; The Auto-Biography of a Footman. (see July 19, 1911)
September 28 Peace Love Art Activism
BLACK HISTORY
Opelousas Massacre
September 28, 1868: one of the worst outbreaks of violence during Reconstruction took place in Opelousas, La. The event started with three local members of the KKK-like Knights of the White Camelia beating newspaper editor Emerson Bentley, who had promoted voter registration and education for all. After some African Americans came to his rescue, bands of armed white mobs roamed the countryside and began killing. It is estimated that more than 200 blacks and 30 whites died in the Opelousas Massacre [Black Past article]. (next BH, see January 5, 1869; next Lynching, see August 26, 1874; see Never Forget for expanded 19th century lynching history)
Omaha, Nebraska race revolt
September 28, 1919: a major race riot erupted in Omaha, Nebraska. A white mob of about 4,000 people lynched and burned the body of Willie Brown, an African-American who was being held in the county jail. The mayor of Omaha, who was white, was almost lynched by the mob, which set fire to the county courthouse.
The origin of the revolt lay in racial conflict in the extensive city stockyards and meat packing plants. (A similar conflict underlay the East St. Louis race revolt that began on July 2, 1917.) Rumors that Willie Brown had raped a white woman spurred the lynching. Later reports by the police and U.S. Army investigators determined that the victim had not made a positive identification. The riot lasted for two days, and ended when over 1,200 federal troops arrived to restore order. Although martial law was not formally proclaimed, for all practical purposes it existed, with troops remaining in the city for several weeks. [Black Past article] (next BH, see Oct 1; next Lynching, see Sept 30; for for expanded chronology, see American Lynching 2)
Gary, Indiana integration protests
September 28, 1927: student against integration in Gary, Indiana continued to protest and now numbered over 1300. Family and other local citizen also protested the proposed school integration. City, school, and district officials met with protesters to begin negotiations for bringing the strike to an end. (see Sept 30)
James H Meredith
September 28, 1962: federal marshals, patrolmen from the Texas – Mexico border, and 110 Army engineers with 49 trucks, van, tractor-trailers, and Jeeps loaded with equipment arrived in Memphis, TN in anticipation of a showdown regarding the admission of Meredith. (see September 29, 1962)
Black Panthers
September 28, 1968: a judge sentenced Huey P. Newton to 2 to 15 years in state prison. [PBS story] (BH, see Oct 16; Black Panthers, see “In November”)
Muhammad Ali
September 28, 1976: Ali defeated Ken Norton in the fifteenth and final round at Yankee Stadium. Though Norton was ahead through the first eight rounds, Ali pulls through to win all but one of the subsequent rounds. As with Frazier the year before, this bout ended the three-fight series between Ali and Norton. (NYT article) (Ali, see February 15, 1978; BH, see Nov 12)
Johnnie Mae Chappell
September 28, 2005: retired detectives Lee Cody and Don Coleman, who had led the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office investigation into the 1964 murder of Johnnie Mae Chappell, answered subpoenas sent by the state attorney’s office.
Detective Lee Cody said that in all the years he’d been involved in the Chappell case, it was the first time he’d ever been under oath. Cody and Detective Don Coleman took confessions from the three men, but the charges against them were dropped. (BH & Chappell, see Oct 11)
September 28 Peace Love Art Activism
September 28 Music et al
Hey Jude
September 28 – November 29, 1968, The Beatles after live performances: “Hey Jude” #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Hey Jude” was released in August 1968 as the first single from the Beatles’ record label Apple Records. More than seven minutes in length, it was at the time the longest single ever to top the British charts.[1] It also spent nine weeks at number one in the United States, the longest for any Beatles single. “Hey Jude” tied the “all-time” record, at the time, for the longest run at the top of the US charts. The single has sold approximately eight million copies and is frequently included on professional critics’ lists of the greatest songs of all time. (see Oct 18)
see Time Peace: The Rascals Greatest Hits for more
September 28 – October 4, 1968: The Rascals’ Time Peace: The Rascals Greatest Hits is the Billboard #1 album.
September 28 Peace Love Art Activism
George Wallace
September 28, 1972: Arthur Bremer’s sentence reduced to 53 years after appeal. (NYT article) (see November 9, 2007)
September 28 Peace Love Art Activism
ADA
September 28, 1987: protesters demanded better access to mass transit systems by blocking buses at a transit association convention. The number of arrests in two days rose to at least 54. ”It’s a very emotional issue for disabled people to have to come out here and do this,” said Judy Heumann of the World Institute on Disability, an organization based in Berkeley. (see March 13, 1988)
September 28 Peace Love Art Activism
Feminism
Violence Against Women Act
September 28, 1994: the House of Representatives passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), enhancing states’ ability to respond to domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault. (see In February 1995)
RU-486
September 28, 2000: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of mifepristone (RU-486) for the termination of early pregnancy, defined as 49 days or less. (see Nov 7)
September 28 Peace Love Art Activism
Iraq War II
September 28, 2004: the same intelligence unit that produced a gloomy report in July 2004 about the prospect of growing instability in Iraq warned the Bush administration about the potential costly consequences of an American-led invasion two months before the war began, government officials said. [NYT article] (see Oct 7)
September 28 Peace Love Art Activism
Trump Impeachment Inquiry
September 28, 2019: House Democrats subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, demanding that he promptly produce a tranche of documents and a slate of witnesses that could shed light on the president’s attempts to pressure Ukraine to help tarnish Joe Biden, Jr..
The subpoena and demands for depositions were the first major investigative actions the House took since it launched impeachment proceedings in light of revelations that Mr. Trump pushed President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to investigate Biden Jr., possibly using United States aid as leverage. [NYT article] (see TII for expanded chronology)
September 28 Peace Love Art Activism
Cannabis
September 28, 2021: Marijuana Moment reported that newly released FBI data showed that marijuana arrests had declined significantly in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic,.
There were 1,155,610 drug-related arrests overall in 2020, with cannabis sales and possession busts accounting for just over 30 percent (or 350,150) of those cases. The vast majority were for marijuana possession alone.
The agency’s data showed that there was a cannabis arrest every 90 seconds in the country in 2020, and there was a drug-related arrest every 27 seconds.
While these figures still highlighted the rampant, ongoing criminalization of cannabis in states across the U.S., it was a substantial de-escalation compared to 2019, when FBI reported a total of 545,601 marijuana arrests. That amounted to a cannabis bust every 58 seconds. (next Cannabis, see Oct 25, or see Cannabis for expanded chronology)
Women’s Health
September 28, 2023: after U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson had accepted Lorna Roxanne Green’s agreement with prosecutors at a change-of-plea hearing on July 20, on this date Johnson imposed a sentence of 60 months in prison with three years of supervised release, to follow her prison term for the arson of the Wellspring Health Access Clinic located in Casper. [FoxNews article] (next WH, see Oct 24)
Fair Housing
September 28, 2023: the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and seven other agencies across the federal government for the first time clarifyied in writing that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited antisemitism, Islamophobia, and related forms of discrimination. In addition to shared ancestry and ethnic characteristics, religion was also a protected class under the Fair Housing Act. [HUD press release] (next FH, see Oct 2)