March 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Christine de Pizan

In 1405: Christine de Pizan’s The Book of the City of Ladies (Le Livre de la Cité des Dames) published. It is Pizan’s most famous literary work. The book served as her response to Jean de Meun’s The Romance of the Rose and its sexist beliefs by creating an allegorical city of ladies. She defended women by collecting a wide array of famous females throughout history. These women were “housed” in the City of Ladies, which is actually Christine’s book. As Christine builds her city, she uses each famous woman as a building block for not only the walls and houses of the city, but also as building blocks for her defense of female rights. Each woman added to the city adds to Christine’s argument towards women as active participants in society. She also advocated for female and male equality within the realm of education. (see World Digital Library for more)

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

March 22, 1638: the Boston Church excommunicated Anne Hutchinson. She moved with her family to Rhode Island to land purchased from the Narragansetts. They were invited by Roger Williams, who had founded the new colony as a democratic community with no enforced church doctrine. (History of Massachusetts article)  (Feminism, see June 15, 1648; Separation, see November 4, 1646)

Equal Rights Amendment

March 22, 1972:  the Equal Rights Amendment, with language revised by Alice Paul in 1943, approved by the Senate. Having already passed in the House of Representatives (12 October 1971), it was sent to the states for ratification. The revised language of the essential phrase reads, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” (see Apr 17).

Women’s Health

March 22, 1972: the U.S. Supreme Court, ruling in Eisenstadt v. Baird that a state cannot stand in the way of distribution of birth control to a single person, struck down a Massachusetts law prohibiting the sale of contraceptives to unmarried women. (Oyez article) (see January 22, 1973)

Malala Yousafzai

March 22, 2018: Malala Yousufzai returned to Pakistan for a brief visit.

“Today I am very happy. After five-and-a-half years, I have stepped on my soil again. I can’t believe that this is happening. I have been dreaming about returning to my country since I left.  When I travel to cities like London or New York I always imagined that I am driving in Islamabad or Karachi ,” she said. (next F, see May 22; MY, see )

March 22 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Dred Scott

March 22, 1852: in Scott v. Emerson, the Missouri Supreme Court reversed the lower court and declared that Scott was still a slave. The decision was frankly political. The court decided the case not on the basis of legal precedent, but because of popular prejudice. Chief Justice William Scott stated,

Times are not now as they were when the former decisions on this subject were made. Since then not only individuals but States have been possessed with a dark and fell spirit in relation to slavery, whose gratification is sought in the pursuit of measures, whose inevitable consequence must be the overthrow and destruction of our government. Under such circumstances it does not behoove the State of Missouri to show the least countenance to any measure which might gratify this spirit. She is willing to assume her full responsibility for the existence of slavery within her limits, nor does she seek to share or divide it with others.

Thus, Chief Justice Scott overturned twenty-eight years of Missouri precedents. (see Dred Scott for expanded story)

Black Codes

March 22, 1901: the Civil War and emancipation threatened to overturn Southern culture and social relations, which were based in white supremacy and racial hierarchy. After Reconstruction ended and white politicians and lawmakers regained control and power in the South, many efforts were made to restore that racial order through very strict laws that mandated segregation and made it illegal for black and white people to interact as equals; interracial marriage, integrated education, and even interracial athletic events were strictly banned.

An example of these laws in action occurred on March 22, 1901, when a white woman and a black man were arrested in Atlanta, Georgia, and accused of walking and talking together on Whitehall Street. In a news article entitled, “Color Line Was Ignored,” The Atlanta Constitution newspaper reported that Mrs. James Charles, “a handsomely dressed white woman of prepossessing appearance,” and C.W. King, “a Negro cook,” were arrested after Officer J.T. Shepard reported having seen the two talk to each other and then “walk side by side for several minutes.”

Mrs. Charles gave a statement after her arrest, not challenging the law itself, but fervently denying the accusation. She insisted she had exchanged no words with Mr. King, and merely smiled as she passed him dancing on the street:

“As I paused to listen to the music I noticed a negro man, the one arrested with me, dancing on the sidewalk. I smiled at his antics and was about to pass on when a policeman touched me on the arm and said he wanted to talk to me. I stopped and he asked why I talked to a negro. I denied having spoken to any negro. I told him I was a southern born woman, and his insinuations were an insult.”

Mr. King also denied having spoken to Mrs. Charles; he said he never knew there was a white woman near him.

No further reporting on the arrests was published, and it is not clear whether they were convicted and fined when tried the next afternoon. [EJI article] (see Sept 3)

King fined and imprisoned

March 22, 1956: King was found guilty of violating the boycott statute in Montgomery, Ala., and fined $500. When he decided to appeal, the judge added 386 days of imprisonment.  (see Boycott for expanded chronology)

Third march

March 22, 1965: 3,200 civil rights demonstrators, led by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and under protection of a federalized National Guard, began a third attempt at a week-long march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol at Montgomery in support of voting rights for black Americans.. (see March for expanded story)

George Whitmore, Jr

March 22, 1966: Whitmore’s retrial for the attempted rape and assault of Elba Borrero opened before a Kings County jury and Supreme Court Justice Aaron F. Goldstein. (see Whitmore for expanded story)

James C. Anderson

On June 26, 2011 James C Anderson was standing near his car at a Jackson, Mississippi  motel about 5 a.m. Two carloads of teenagers pulled off the Interstate and into the motel parking lot. Several jumped from the vehicles and beat Mr. Anderson.

A white sport utility vehicle drove away. As Mr. Anderson stumbled along the edge of the parking lot, the police said, the driver of a green Ford F250 pickup truck, Deryl Dedmon, accelerated and drove over him. Mr. Anderson was pronounced dead at a local hospital. (see Aug 7)

On March 22, 2012,  Deryl, Dedmon, 19, and his friends John A. Rice, 18, and Dylan Butler, 20, were charged in US District Court in Jackson, Mississippi with one count each of conspiracy and one of violating James. Anderson’s civil rights. They pleaded guilty in the afternoon. They faced up to five years for the conspiracy charge and up to life for the hate-crime violations. It was the first time the new federal hate-crime law, enacted in 2009, had been used in the Deep South. (BH, see Mar 24; JCA, see Mar 28)

Stop and Frisk Policy

March 22, 2012: black and latino lawmakers, upset with the frequency with which NYC police officers stop and frisk  minority men pushed for legislation to rein in the practice. (see Mar 28)

137 SHOTS

March 22, 2018: the City of East Cleveland’s prosecutor’s office filed a motion asking Judge William Dawson to set a trial date in the Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams case that had dragged on for more than half a decade.

The filing came after East Cleveland Law Director Willa Hemmons had offered to drop the charges (see Mar 15) if each supervisor paid $5,000, Kevin Spellacy, a lawyer representing one of the supervisors charged.

Michael Donegan, 44 of Cleveland, Patricia Coleman, 50 of Brooklyn, Randolph Dailey, 46 of North Ridgeville, Jason Edens, 44 of Avon, and Paul Wilson, 51 of Cleveland had all pleaded not guilty to the charges. (see Apr 12)

Antwon Rose, Jr

March 22, 2019: a jury acquitted Michael Rosfeld on all counts in connection with the shooting death of black teenager Antwon Rose, Jr,

The verdict came after a four-day trial and less than four hours of jury deliberation. (B & S, see Apr 25; AR, see Aug 29)

March 22 Peace Love Art Activism

March 22 Music et al

 see Please Please Me

March 22, 1963, The Beatles before their US appearance: UK release of Beatles first album, Please Please Me.

Producer George Martin, a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London, owners of the London Zoo, thought that it might be good publicity for the zoo to have the Beatles pose outside the insect house for the cover photography of the album. However, the Zoological Society of London turned down Martin’s offer and instead, Angus McBean was asked to take the distinctive color photograph of the group looking down over the stairwell inside EMI’s London headquarters in Manchester Square. Martin was to write later: “We rang up the legendary theatre photographer Angus McBean, and bingo, he came round and did it there and then. It was done in an almighty rush, like the music…”

John Lennon (22); Paul McCartney (20); George Harrison (20); and Ringo Starr (22) (see Apr 8)

LSD/Marijuana

March 22, 1966: Prankster Mountain Girl fined $250 for marijuana possession. (see Mar 25)

March 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Poison gas

March 22, 1965: the State Department acknowledged that the US had supplied the South Vietnamese armed forces with a “non-lethal gas which disables temporarily” for use “in tactical situations in which the Viet Cong intermingle with or take refuge among non-combatants, rather than use artillery or aerial bombardment.” The announcement triggered a storm of criticism worldwide. The North Vietnamese and the Soviets loudly protested the introduction of “poison gas” into the war. (see Mar 24)

 My Lai Massacre

March 22, 1968: a Vietnamese village chief reports to the leader of the Son Tinh District that 570 civilians had been killed and 90% of Son My village had been destroyed, including homes, animals and property. (see My Lai for expanded story)

Gen. Creighton Abrams

March 22, 1968: President Lyndon B. Johnson announced the appointment of Gen. William Westmoreland as Army Chief of Staff; Gen. Creighton Abrams replaced him as commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam.

Westmoreland had first assumed command of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam in June 1964, and in that capacity was in charge of all American military forces in Vietnam. One of the war’s most controversial figures, General Westmoreland was given many honors when the fighting was going well, but when the war turned sour, many Americans blamed him for problems in Vietnam. Negative feeling about Westmoreland grew particularly strong following the Tet Offensive of 1968. (see Mar 25)

March 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Irish Troubles

March 22, 1981:  Raymond McCreesh, an Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoner in the Maze Prison, and Patsy O’Hara, then leader of Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) prisoners in the Maze, joined the hunger strike. (see Troubles for expanded story)

March 22 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Baseball lockout

March 22, 1990: a 32-day lockout of major league baseball players ended with an agreement to raise the minimum league salary from $68,000 to $100,000 and to study revenue-sharing between owners and players (see August 31, 1991)

March 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Exxon Valdez oil spill

March 22, 1990: a jury in Anchorage, Alaska, found former tanker captain Joseph Hazelwood innocent of three major charges in connection with the Exxon Valdez oil spill, but convicted him of a minor charge of negligent discharge of oil. (NYT article) (see March 13, 1991; Hazelwood, see July 11, 1992)

March 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

La Framboise Island

March 22, 1999: Sioux people established the Oceti Sakowin spiritual camp on La Framboise Island in the Missouri River near Pierre, South Dakota, in protest of the treaty-breaking Danklow Acts (Terrestrial Wildlife Habitat Restoration Act and Water Resources Development Authorization), which gave 200,000 acres of tribal lands to the state of South Dakota. (see July 7, 1999)

March 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

March 22, 2016: South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard signed SB 140, which abolished life imprisonment without parole sentences for all children under age 18 at the time of the crime. The new law eliminated life imprisonment, which was the mandatory sentence for juveniles convicted of Class A, B, and C felonies, and replaced it with a term of years in the state penitentiary. (see Apr 22)

March 22 Peace Love Art Activism

ADA

March 22, 2017:  in an 8 – 0 vote, the US Supreme Court ruled in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District that school districts must give students with disabilities the chance to make meaningful, “appropriately ambitious” progress. The decision in could have far-reaching implications for the 6.5 million students with disabilities in the United States.

The case centered on a child with autism and attention deficit disorder whose parents removed him from public school in fifth grade. He went on to make better progress in a private school. His parents argued that the individualized education plan provided by the public school was inadequate, and they sued to compel the school district to pay his private school tuition.

The Supreme Court’s decision sided with the family, overturning a lower court ruling in the school district’s favor.

The federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act [IDEA] guarantees a “free appropriate public education” to all students with disabilities. The Supreme Court’s  opinion held that “appropriate” goes further than what the lower courts had held.

“It cannot be right that the IDEA generally contemplates grade-level advancement for children with disabilities who are fully integrated in the regular classroom, but is satisfied with barely more than de minimis progress for children who are not,” read the opinion, signed by Chief Justice John Roberts. (Oyez article) (see March 26, 2019)

March 22 Peace Love Art Activism

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Religion and Public Education

Butler Act

March 21, 1925: the Butler Act became state law in Tennessee that prohibited “the teaching of the Evolution Theory in all the Universities, Normals and all other public schools of Tennessee, which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, and to provide penalties for the violations thereof … that it shall be unlawful … to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.” (see Scopes for expanded story)

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Anarchism in the US

Emma Goldman

March 21 – April 2, 1934: Goldman delivered five lectures in Chicago. The first day, sixteen hundred attended the lecture under the auspices of the Free Society Forum. Fifteen hundred attended a banquet held in her honor at the Medinah Hotel on March 28. (see Emma Goldman for expanded story)

Federal Loyalty Program

March 21, 1947: President Harry Truman announced a Federal Loyalty Program to remove Communists from employment by the U.S. government. Under his Executive Order 9835, all federal employees had to undergo a loyalty investigation by the FBI. The program institutionalized “guilt-by-association” as federal policy, since an employee’s loyalty might be suspect based on associations and affiliations, even those from many years in the past (for example, having joined a left-wing group when in college in the 1930s). A person fell under suspicion despite no evidence of any criminal activity (e.g., spying, treason) or criminal activity by a group he or she had once belonged to. Truman’s loyalty program was arguably the most important step in launching the domestic Cold War.

Truman’s Order also directed the U.S. Attorney General to create a List of Subversive Organizations. (RS, see Apr 9; list, see December 4)

1980 Olympic boycott

March 21, 1980: after the Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan in December 1979 to prop up an unstable pro-Soviet government, the United States reacted quickly and sharply. It suspended arms negotiations with the Soviets, condemned the Russian action in the United Nations, and threatened to boycott the Olympics to be held in Moscow in 1980. When the Soviets refused to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan, President Carter finalized his decision to boycott the games.

On March 21, 1980, he met with approximately 150 U.S. athletes and coaches to explain his decision. He told the crowd, “I understand how you feel,” and recognized their intense disappointment. However, Carter defended his action, stating, “What we are doing is preserving the principles and the quality of the Olympics, not destroying it.” Many of the athletes were devastated by the news.

As one stated, “As citizens, it is an easy decision to make—support the president. As athletes, it is a difficult decision.” Others declared that the president was politicizing the Olympics. Most of the athletes only reluctantly supported Carter’s decision. (see Apr 20)

Elia Kazan

March 21, 1999: noted film director Elia Kazan was presented with an honorary Oscar. Because he had “named names” of alleged Communists before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) on April 10, 1952, many victims of the anti-Communist Hollywood blacklist and their supporters protested the award. Some did not attend the ceremony and others who did attend refused to stand when he was on stage.  

Kazan had directed the film, On the Waterfront (released on July 28, 1954) as an attempt to justify testifying before investigating committees. His former friend and professional colleague, playwright Arthur Miller, wrote the play, The Crucible, which had premiered on January 22, 1953, to draw the connection between the anti-Communist hysteria of the Cold War and the infamous 1692 Salem, Massachusetts witch trials. (see May 12, 2002)

Cuba

March 21, 2016: Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro met. (see Nov 25)

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

March 21 Music et al

Moondog Coronation Ball

March 21, 1952:  the Moondog Coronation Ball, likely first Rock and Roll concert, held. Alan Freed, the Cleveland disc jockey known as “Moondog” and thought by some to have coined the term “rock and roll,” organized the concert at the Cleveland Arena. It attracted nearly 25,000 young people, mostly African-Americans.

Authorities shut down the show, which featured artists such as the Dominoes and Paul “Hucklebuck” Williams, when the thousands of ticket-holders were denied entrance and became unruly. (RR, see Mar 27; TC, see August 1, 1954; see Moondog for expanded story)

Cavern Club

March 21, 1961: The Beatles’ first night-time performance at Liverpool’s Cavern Club. Their 11 previous appearances at the venue had been lunchtime shows. The band got $42.00 per night. They supported The Blue Genes, who later became The Swinging Blue Jeans.

Although the precise number of their Cavern performances is not known, The Beatles played at least 155 lunchtime and 125 evening shows. Their final performance at the venue took place on 3 August 1963. (see Mar 24)

She Loves You

March 21 – April 3, 1964, The Beatles: “She Loves You” #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. (see Mar 23)

March 21, 1964, The Beatles: Beatles appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post, one of America’s mainstream magazines at the time.  Post’s cover story – “The Secrets of The Beatles” – promised “an intimate account of their American tour and a probing analysis of their incredible power to excite frenzied emotions among the young.” 

Mississippi Goddam

March 21, 1964: at Carnegie Hall concert, Nina Simone sang her composition, “Mississippi Goddam.”

John Lennon/LSD

March 21, 1967: (from the College of Rock and Roll) John Lennon took his first major LSD trip. (not sure what sources mean by ‘major’). He did it while recording backing vocals on the track “Getting Better.” George Martin, not realizing the effects of the drug or the fact that John was even on the drug, took John to the roof of Abbey Road Studios so he could get some fresh air. Paul McCartney and George Harrison, upon learning where John was, rushed up to get him down. They understood.

They got back into the studio and worked on a piano track for “Lovely Rita” instead.. (see Mar 23)

Strawberry Fields

March 21, 1984: a section of Central Park was renamed ‘Strawberry Fields‘ to honor John Lennon. (see February 10, 1986)

Beatle catalog

March 21, 2016: Paul McCartney filed legal papers in the US, as part of an attempt to reclaim the publishing rights to The Beatles’ back catalog. Although he co-wrote most of the band’s hits, the he never controlled the publishing.

However, the US copyright act of 1976 gives writers the opportunity to reclaim the rights after 56 years. The Lennon-McCartney catalog becomes available in 2018, and McCartney recently moved to recapture it. (2017 Billboard article) (see Aug 29)

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

SOUTH AFRICA/APARTHEID

Sharpeville  Massacre 1960

March 21, 1960: police fired on a demonstration in Sharpeville, killing 69 people and wounding 181. After the shooting, the South African government banned black political groups and gatherings and arrested thousands. The African National Congress was among the banned groups. Its members went underground and began to plan a campaign of direct attacks on the apartheid government. (SA History site article) (SA/A, see March 29, 1961)

School Desegregation 1973

March 21, 1973: in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez the Supreme Court ruled that education is not a “fundamental right” and that the Constitution does not require equal education expenditures within a state. The ruling has the effect of locking minority and poor children who live in low-income areas into inferior schools. (see April)

Michael Donald lynched

March 21, 1981: Mobile, Alabama. Henry Hays (age 26), and James Llewellyn “Tiger” Knowles (age 17) kidnap, beat, strangle, and slit the throat of Michael Donald before hanging him from a tree. Local police initially stated that Donald had been killed as part of a drug deal gone wrong. (see June 6, 1997). Donald, an African-American, had been walking back from a store and randomly selected by Ku Klux Klan members Hays and Knowles. (next BH, see Dec 11; next lynching & Michael Donald, see June 16, 1983; for expanded chronology of lynching, see also AL4)

Sharpeville Massacre 1985

March 21, 1985: police in Langa, South Africa, opened fire on blacks marching to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sharpeville shootings, killing at least 21 demonstrators. (see Apr 15)

School Desegregation 2014

March 21, 2014: according to surveys released by the U.S. Education Department that include data from every U.S. school district.Public school students of color get more punishment and less access to veteran teachers than their white peers.

Black students were suspended or expelled at triple the rate of their white peers, according to the U.S. Education Department’s 2011-2012 Civil Rights Data Collection, a survey conducted every two years. Five percent of white students were suspended annually, compared with 16 percent of black students, according to the report. Black girls were suspended at a rate of 12 percent — far greater than girls of other ethnicities and most categories of boys.

At the same time, minority students had less access to experienced teachers. Most minority students and English language learners are stuck in schools with the most new teachers. Seven percent of black students attend schools where as many as 20 percent of teachers fail to meet license and certification requirements. And one in four school districts pay teachers in less-diverse high schools $5,000 more than teachers in schools with higher black and Latino student enrollment. (BH, see Nov 10; SD, see May 13, 2016)

BLACK & SHOT

March 21, 2024:  U.S. District Judge Tom Lee sentenced two former Mississippi sheriff’s deputies from a self-described “Goon Squad” to federal prison for the torture and abuse of Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker in a racist attack.

Brett Morris McAlpin, 53, was ordered to serve 327 months, which was more than 27 years.

And Joshua Hartfield, 32, the final former deputy to be sentenced, was ordered to serve 121 months, or about 10 years. [NBC News article] (next B & S, see )

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Robert Bailey

March 21, 1961: Army Major Lawrence Robert Bailey was the first recorded American to be held as a prisoner of war in Southeast Asia. One of eight crew members of a C-47 surveillance aircraft shot down over Laos, Bailey was held by the Pathet Lao for 17 months, losing one-third of his body weight during that time. The other occupants of the plane were presumed to have died in the crash; Bailey always wore a parachute. (see May 4)

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

Fanny Hill

March 21, 1966: Memoirs v. Massachusetts Since the Roth ruling (June 24, 1957), to be declared obscene a work of literature had to be proven by censors to:

1. appeal to prurient interest,
2. be patently offensive, and
3. have no redeeming social value.

The book  in this case was Fanny Hill (or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, 1749) by John Cleland. The Court held in Memoirs v. Massachusetts that, while it might fit the first two criteria (it appealed to prurient interest and was patently offensive), it could not be proven that Fanny Hill had no redeeming social value. The judgment favoring the plaintiff continued that it could still be held obscene under certain circumstances — for instance, if it were marketed solely for its prurient appeal. (see July 4)

Flag burning

March 21, 1990: US v Mark John Haggerty, et al. In a 5-to-4 decision, coming 6 months after Texas v. Johnson (June 21, 1989), the Court struck down the law because “its asserted interest is related to the suppression of free expression and concerned with the content of such expression.” Allowing the flag to be burned in a disposal ceremony but prohibiting protesters from setting it ablaze at a political protest made that clear, argued Justice Brennan in one of his final opinions. (FS & flag burning, see June 11)

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism & Women’s Health

Redstockings

March 21, 1969: the Redstockings organized a public hearing on abortion, called an abortion speak-out, to air women’s views on abortion (F, see May 4; BC, January 19, 1970)

National Women’s Political Caucus

March 21, 1971: The National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) is established by Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, and Bella Abzug. The organization sought  to encourage women’s political involvement and to attain equality for all women. (NWPC site)  (next Feminism  see July 10)

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Voting Rights

Dunn v. Blumstein

March 21, 1972:  in the case of Dunn v. Blumstein, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could not require one year of residency for voting eligibility. (see August 22, 1973)

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Watergate Scandal

March 21, 1973: White House counsel John Dean had the “Cancer in the Whitehouse” conversation. Dean recalled, “I began by telling the president that there was a cancer growing on the presidency and if the cancer was not removed that the president himself would be killed by it. I also told him that it was important that this cancer be removed immediately because it was growing more deadly every day…

I told the president about the fact that there was no money to meet their [the Watergate burglars] demands. He asked me how much it would cost. I told him I could only make an estimate that it might be as high as a million dollars or more. He told me that that was no problem. He also looked over at [Chief of Staff H.R.] Haldeman and repeated the same statement.”  (see Nixon for expanded story)

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

March 21, 1990: Namibia independent from South Africa. (see June 11)

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Consumer Protection

FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp

March 21, 2000: in FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp a divided Supreme Court ruled the government lacked authority to regulate tobacco as an addictive drug. (Oyez article) (see November 21, 2007)

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Cultural Milestone

March 21, 2006: the social media website Twitter launched with the first tweet by co-founder Jack Dorsey. (see Mar 25)

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

March 21, 2008: more than 300 people participated in an annual Good Friday peace action at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA).The Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment (CARES) organized the event). The lab was a key participant in the design of all weapons in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The Alameda County Sheriff arrested 91 of the protesters. CARES Executive Director Marylia Kelley said, “The emphasis is on nonviolence and rejecting violence.” (see March 11, 2011)

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

STAND YOUR GROUND LAW

Trayvon Martin Shooting

March 21, 2012: the Department of Justice and the FBI opened an investigation into the “facts and circumstances” surrounding the killing of Trayvon Martin. The department will “conduct a thorough and independent review of all evidence and take appropriate action at the conclusion of the investigation,” according to a statement. (see Mar 28)

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

New Hampshire

March 21, 2012: New Hampshire lawmakers rejected a bill that would have made their state legislature the first one to repeal a gay marriage law, handing gay-rights supporters a key victory in the Northeast, where same-sex marriage is prevalent. (see Apr 12)

Michigan

March 21, 2014: Judge Bernard A. Friedman of Federal District Court struck down Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage, the latest in a string of court decisions across the country to rule that denying marriage to gay and lesbian couples is a violation of the Constitution.

Friedman wrote, “The guarantee of equal protection must prevail.”

It was not clear from the written decision whether same-sex couples in Michigan could immediately apply for marriage licenses. Friedman did not say whether he planned to delay implementation, as federal judges in other states had done, until the state had a chance to appeal to the Court of Appeal for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati. Soon after the decision was issued, the Michigan attorney general, Bill Schuette, filed notice that the state would appeal.

The two-week trial, which ended March 7, drew special attention because it was the first in several years to include testimony from social-science researchers on the potential impact of same-sex marriage on families and children. The state, arguing that it would be risky to change the definition of marriage, cited studies that concluded that children raised by same-sex couples had worse outcomes in life. 

Those challenging the ban argued that the studies had been widely discredited, and Judge Friedman agreed, calling them deeply flawed. Lawyers for the plaintiffs described the scholars who appeared for the state as religiously motivated and part of a “desperate fringe,” and subjected them to withering cross-examination. Scholars called to rebut the testimony described a virtual consensus in the field that other things like income and stability being equal, children fared just as well with same-sex parents. (see Mar 28)

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

Medical marijuana

March 21, 2014: Maricopa County (AZ) Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper ruled that 5-year-old  Zander Welton’s parents, Jacob and Jennifer Welton, may use medical marijuana extracts for the boy’s severe seizures. The Weltons sued Gov. Jan Brewer, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, and the state’s Department of Health Services in October for fear that they would be prosecuted for treating Zander’s seizures with marijuana extracts.

Zander suffered from focal cortical dysplasia, a congenital condition that causes epilepsy and autism. After seeing the CNN documentary, “Weed,” the Weltons were inspired to treat Zander’s seizures with marijuana extracts, and after two months of use, his seizures had nearly stopped and he was able to run short distances and walk backwards.

Judge Cooper found the 2010 voter-approved Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (AMMA) allows qualifying patients to legally use marijuana extracts, including CBD (cannabidiol) oil, which the Weltons give Zander. (next C, see Apr 14)

Legalized cannabis

March 21, 2016: the Supreme Court denied an Oklahoma and Nebraska challenge to Colorado legalizing marijuana. Even though SCOTUS denied to hear Oklahoma and Nebraska’s pot suit against Colorado, the plaintiff states could still take their case to U.S. District Court. (next C, see Apr 19 or see CCC for expanded chronology) 

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

Terrorism

March 21, 2019:  Cesar A. Sayoc Jr. pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to sending out 16 homemade pipe bombs to prominent Democrats and critics of President Trump. (next T, see Mar 27; next CSJ, see Aug 5)

March 21 Peace Love Art Activism

March 20 Peace Love Art Activism

Judicial Milestone

Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee

March 20, 1816:  Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee, case affirmed the Supreme Court’s right to review state court decisions.

From 1779 to 1785, Virginia passed a series of laws by which the state confiscated all lands owned by foreigners. David Hunter was granted 800 acres of confiscated lands that had been willed to Denny Martin Fairfax, a British subject. Fairfax brought suit against Hunter for return of the land. On Fairfax’s death the suit was taken over by his heir, Philip Martin. Martin argued that Fairfax’s ownership had been protected by treaties between the United States and Great Britain guaranteeing British subjects the right to hold land in America. The Virginia court of appeals upheld the grant to Hunter, but on appeal the U.S. Supreme Court voided the grant (1813). The Virginia court refused to obey the Supreme Court ruling, declaring that it had no right to review the decisions of state courts under the U.S. Constitution. When the case again came before the Supreme Court, Justice Story ruled that section 25 of the Judiciary Act of 1789, which granted the U.S. Supreme Court appellate jurisdiction over state courts in certain situations (as in this case, where a state court denied the validity of a federal statute), was constitutional. (Oyez article) (see May 10, 1886)

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BLACK HISTORY

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

March 20, 1852: Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, published. 10,000 copies were sold in the first week, 300,000 within the first year. The many different editions published in Europe sold an aggregate of one million copies in the first year.

It was the second best-selling book of the 19th century after the Bible.and was so widely read that when President Abraham Lincoln met Stowe in 1862, he reportedly said, “So this is the little lady who made this big war.” (pdf of text) (see Mar 22)

Dred Scott

March 22, 1852: in Scott v. Emerson, the Missouri Supreme Court reversed the lower court and declared that Scott was still a slave. The decision was frankly political. The court decided the case not on the basis of legal precedent, but because of popular prejudice. Chief Justice William Scott stated: 

Times are not now as they were when the former decisions on this subject were made. Since then not only individuals but States have been possessed with a dark and fell spirit in relation to slavery, whose gratification is sought in the pursuit of measures, whose inevitable consequence must be the overthrow and destruction of our government. Under such circumstances it does not behoove the State of Missouri to show the least countenance to any measure which might gratify this spirit. She is willing to assume her full responsibility for the existence of slavery within her limits, nor does she seek to share or divide it with others.

Thus, Chief Justice Scott overturned twenty-eight years of Missouri precedents. (see Dred Scott for expanded story)

Muhammad Ali

March 20, 1964: The Department of the Army issued the following statement about Ali’s draft status: “The Department of the Army has completed a review of Cassius Clay’s second pre-induction examination and has determined he is not qualified for induction into the Army under applicable standards.”

The Army had given Ali a second test after it was determined that the results of his initial test were inconclusive. Ali’s response was, “I just said I’m the greatest. I never said I was the smartest.” (Ali, see May 25, 1965)

Voting Rights

March 20, 1964:  the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee announced the “Freedom Summer” program that would train young people to go to Mississippi and help Black register to vote. (BH, see Mar 23; VR, see June 14) 

March to Montgomery

March 20, 1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson notified Alabama’s Governor George Wallace that he would use federal authority to call up the Alabama National Guard in order to supervise the planned civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery. (see March for expanded story)

James Earl Ray

March 20, 1969: James Earl Ray sentenced to 99 years for murder of Martin Luther King Jr. Prior to his death, Ray was in the Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility in Nashville.

He died at age 70 on April 23, 1998, at the Columbia Nashville Memorial Hospital in Nashville from complications related to kidney disease and liver failure caused by hepatitis C.  (NYT obit for Ray) (see Apr 8)

Michael Donald

March 20, 1981: Mobile, Alabama. Henry Hays (age 26), and James Llewellyn “Tiger” Knowles (age 17) kidnap, beat, strangle, and slit the throat of Michael Donald before hanging him from a tree.

Local police initially stated that Donald had been killed as part of a drug deal gone wrong. (see June 6, 1997). Donald, an African-American, had been walking back from a store and randomly selected by Ku Klux Klan members Hays and Knowles. (retrospective Vanguard USA article)  (BH, see Dec 11; Michael Donald, see June 16, 1983)

Laquan McDonald

March 20, 2018: the American Civil Liberties Union and several community organizations said that they have reached an agreement to provide input into reforms being proposed for the Chicago Police Department. (B & S, see Mar 27; McDonald, see Sept 13)

Antwon Rose

March 20, 2019:  John Leach, a neighbor who lives a few houses away from the scene of East Pittsburgh police officer Michael Rosfeld shooting Antwon Rose, testified that he saw the officer standing on the sidewalk, panicking, saying, “I don’t know why I shot him. I don’t know why I fired.” (B & S and AR, see Mar 22)

BLACK & SHOT

March 20, 2024: U.S. District Judge Tom Lee sentenced Daniel Ready Opdyke to 17.5 years and Chritsian Lee Dedmon to 40 years in prison for torturing Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker. [NBC article] (next B & S, see March 21)

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DEATH PENALTY

Martha Place

March 20, 1899: Martha Place, convicted of the murder of her step-daughter, became the first woman to die in the electric chair. The execution was carried out at New York’s Auburn Prison. (CDNC article) (see May 2, 1910)

Pope Francis

March 20, 2015: Pope Francis came out against the death penalty once again, calling it “unacceptable” regardless of the seriousness of the crime of the condemned. The pope met with a three-person delegation of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty and issued a letter on the occasion urging worldwide abolition.

Citing his previous messages against the death penalty, the pope called capital punishment “cruel, inhumane and degrading” and said it “does not bring justice to the victims, but only foments revenge.” Furthermore, in a modern “state of law, the death penalty represents a failure” because it obliges the state to kill in the name of justice, the pope said. Rather, it is a method frequently used by “totalitarian regimes and fanatical groups” to do away with “political dissidents, minorities” and any other person deemed a threat to their power and to their goals. (American Magazine article) (see Mar 23)

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US Labor History

R.B. Grover shoe factory

March 20, 1905: an old boiler exploded and shot up through three floors and the roof of the R.B. Grover shoe factory in Brockton, Massachusetts. The building collapsed and burst into flames. killing 58 people and  injuring 150. The incident led to passage of a national boiler safety code. (see June 27)

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Vietnam

French return

March 20, 1945: French troops return to Hanoi. (see May 31)

Dien Bien Phu

March 20, 1954: Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and other members of the Eisenhower administration were stunned at the turn of events at Dien Bien Phu (French defeated) and discussions  held discussions to decide on a course of action. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Arthur Radford proposed the use of nuclear strikes against the Viet Minh. Other options included massive conventional air strikes, paratrooper drops, and the mining of Haiphong Harbor. In the end, President Eisenhower decided that the situation was too far gone and ordered no action to be taken to aid the French. (see Apr 7)

Operation Popeye/1967

March 20, 1967:  a highly classified weather modification program in Southeast Asia called Operation Popeye began. It was an attempt to extend the monsoon season, specifically over areas of the Ho Chi Minh Trail maze. The military seeded the clouds over the Trail to create floods and wash out supply routes to hinder North Vietnam’s supply chain into and from South Vietnam.

The 54th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron carried out the operation using the slogan “make mud, not war.”

The initial area of operations was the eastern half of the Laotian panhandle.

At times the program was also known as Operation Motorpool, and Operation Intermediary-Compatriot.  (next V, see Mar 25)

Operation Popeye/1974

March 20, 1974: the Defense Department provided Senator Pell’s Subcommittee with a top secret briefing on weather modification activities in Southeast Asia. (V, see Apr 16; see OP for expanded chronology)

Gen. David Shoup

March 20, 1968:

• retired U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Shoup estimated that up to 800,000 men would be required just to defend South Vietnamese population centers. He further stated that the US could only achieve military victory by invading the North, but argued that such an operation would not be worth the cost.

• The New York Times published excerpts from General Westmoreland’s classified end-of-year report (1967), which indicated that the U.S. command did not believe the enemy capable of any action even approximating the Tet Offensive (January 1968). This report, Shoup’s comments, and other conflicting assessments of the situation in Vietnam contributed to the growing dissatisfaction among a large segment of American society with the Vietnam War. (see Mar 22)

Chicago 8

March 20, 1969: the grand jury impaneled to investigate the 1968 Chicago riots charged eight protesters with various crimes and eight police officers with civil rights violations. The eight protesters were: Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale. Later, Seale’s trial will be separated and the group will thereafter be known as the Chicago Seven. (Vietnam, see March 25 – 31; Chi8, see Sept 23)

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Cold War

Nikita Khrushchev

March 20, 1953: the Soviet government announced that Nikita Khrushchev had been selected as one of five men named to the new office of Secretariat of the Communist Party. Khrushchev’s selection was a crucial first step in his rise to power in the Soviet Union. (see Apr 13)

Cuba

March 20, 2016: President Barack Obama arrived in Cuba and ended a half-century of estrangement. Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro met. (Guardian article) (see Nov 25).

March 20 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

Tunisia

March 20, 1956:  Tunisia independent from France. (see Nov 18)

March 20 Peace Love Art Activism

see March 20 Music et al for expanded info

Calcutta

March 20 – April 9, 1961: Lawrence Welk’s Calcutta  is Billboard #1 album.

Surrender

March 20 – April 2, 1961: “Surrender” by Elvis Presley #1 Billboard Hot 100. Though based on an early 20^th century Italian ballad, it was one of 25 songs Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman wrote for Presley. (Apr 10)

Goldfinger

March 20 – April 9, 1965: the Goldfinger soundtrack is the Billboard #1 album.

John & Yoko

March 20, 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono married in Gibraltar. (see March 25 – 31)

Knight Ringo

March 20, 2018: Prince William knighted Ringo. Ringo became the second Beatle knighted. Paul was knighted in 1997. (next Beatles, see August 27, 2020)

March 20 Peace Love Art Activism

AIDS

AZT

March 20, 1987: the Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of AZT, a drug shown to prolong the lives of some AIDS patients. (see Mar 24)

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Feminism

March 20, 1991: in Automobile Workers vs. Johnson Controls, the US Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional the exclusion of women from jobs where exposure to lead might harm the fetus unless the women could prove they were medically infertile; the decision was unanimous; the court noted that men were not subjected to similar requirements, though exposure by men to lead was also known to be harmful to reproduction. (Oyez article) (see Oct 11)

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Jack Kevorkian

March 20, 1996: Rep Dave Camp (R-MI), introduced a bill in the House to prohibit taxpayer funding of assisted suicide. (see Kevorkian for expanded story)

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Consumer Protection

March 20, 1997: Liggett Group settled 22 state lawsuits by admitting the industry markets cigarettes to teenagers and agreeing to warn on every pack that smoking is addictive. (see Aug 25)

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CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

March 20, 1998: President Clinton decided to formally invoke executive privilege. (see Clinton for expanded story)

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Pledge of Allegiance

March 20, 2003: the US House of Representatives voted 400-7 to condemn the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision not to reconsider its ruling that the addition of the phase “under God” to the The Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional. (see Pledge for expanded chronology)

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Sexual Abuse of Children

March 20, 2012: Supreme Court: John Doe AP v. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis. The Court rejected an appeal challenging a Missouri court’s ruling that the Constitution’s religious- freedom protections shield churches from lawsuits questioning practices for employing and supervising the clergy. The Court agreed with a Missouri trial judge who had ruled that  the church couldn’t be sued on the “John Doe’s” claims and an appeals court had upheld the decision. (SCOTUS link) (see Mar 27)

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Iraq War II

March 20, 2015: federal Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that the United States government must release photographs showing the abuse of detainees in American custody at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and other sites. Hellerstein gave the Defense Department 60 days to appeal. The American Civil Liberties Union had filed a lawsuit in 2004 seeking the release of the photos. Judge Hellerstein ruled in August 2014 that the government had failed to show how the photos would endanger American soldiers, but allowed it to submit more evidence. He said in the Mar 20 ruling that the additional evidence had failed to change his decision. (see Apr 13)

March 20 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Fracking

March 20, 2015: the Obama administration unveiled the nation’s first major federal regulations on hydraulic fracturing. The new rules applied only to oil and gas wells drilled on public lands, even though the vast majority of fracking in the US was done on private land. The rules will cover about 100,000 wells, according to the Interior Department.

“Current federal well-drilling regulations are more than 30 years old, and they simply have not kept pace with the technical complexities of today’s hydraulic fracturing operations,” said the interior secretary, Sally Jewell.     

The regulations, which would take effect in 90 days, would allow government workers to inspect and validate the safety and integrity of the cement barriers that line fracking wells. They wouldrequire companies to publicly disclose the chemicals used in the fracturing process within 30 days of completing fracking operations.

The rules would also set safety standards for how companies could store used fracking chemicals around well sites, and will require companies to submit detailed information on well geology to the Bureau of Land Management, a part of the Interior Department. (see Apr 1)

Climate Change Report

March 20, 2023:  the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that Earth was likely to cross a critical threshold for global warming within the next decade, and nations needed to make an immediate and drastic shift away from fossil fuels to prevent the planet from overheating dangerously beyond that level.

The report, by a body of experts convened by the United Nations, offered the most comprehensive understanding to date of ways in which the planet was changing. It said that global average temperatures were estimated to rise 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre industrial levels sometime around “the first half of the 2030s,” as humans continued to burn coal, oil and natural gas. [NYT article] (next EI, see Apr 6)

March 20 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

Wisconsin

March 20, 2015: U.S. District Judge William Conley struck down a Wisconsin law requiring doctors performing abortions to get hospital admitting privileges, ruling that any benefits to women’s health from the requirement are “substantially outweighed” by restricting women’s access to abortion.

Conley, who earlier had put the law on hold, ruled that the 2013 law was unconstitutional. He issued a permanent injunction blocking its enforcement. (see Apr 27)

Gestational Age Act

March 20, 2018: federal Judge Carlton W. Reeves put the Gestational Age Act law on hold ruling after an emergency hearing that the clinic’s argument that the law was unconstitutional was “substantially likely to succeed.” [NYT report] (WH, see Mar 30; Mississippi, see Nov 20)

March 20 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

March 20, 2015: Justice Secretary César Miranda, Puerto Rico’s attorney general, announced that its government would no longer defend a law that banned same-sex couples from marrying and did not recognize the validity of such marriages performed in other jurisdictions.

“The decision recognizes that all human beings are equal before the law,” Miranda said. “We believe in an equal society in which everyone enjoys the same rights.” (see Mar 26)

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ADA

March 20, 2017:  “Sesame Street” added Julia, a 4-year-old female muppet who has autism, to its cast as part of an expanding autism initiative.

The TV show rolled out the news of Julia’s arrival on its website and released a series of YouTube videos featuring her. Julia, who loves to sing and can memorize lyrics better than her young peers, struggles with loud noises like sirens, which can cause her to become emotionally upset. (CBS News story) (see Mar 22)

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