May 4 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Ida B. Wells

May 4, 1884:  Wells, an African-American native of Holly Springs, Miss., refused to give up her seat on a train, only to be dragged off by white men. After a lynch mob killed two of her friends, she started a crusade against lynching and was forced to flee Memphis. She later helped co-found the NAACP. (NYT obituary) (see March 17, 1886; Wells, see March 9, 1892)

Denied Housing

May 4, 1921: the Chicago Real Estate Board voted unanimously to expel members from the board who sold property to Black families in neighborhoods where white people lived. The president of the board, M. L. Smith, openly expressed his commitment to maintaining segregation throughout Chicago and advocated for a plan to exclude Black families from most of Chicago’s available housing. [EJI article] (next BH, see May 31)

John Carter lynched

May 4, 1927:  near Little Rock, Arkansas, two white women – Mrs. B.E. Stewart, age forty-five, and her daughter Glennie, seventeen – were driving a wagon on a rural road, heading toward Little Rock. According to their report a black man approached and assaulted them. Sheriff Mike Haynie organized a posse which found John Carter, a local black man.

Mob members took Carter to a telephone pole and hit him with a revolver. They told him to confess, and then to pray. Before he finished, someone put a rope around his neck and told him to climb on top of a car. When he couldn’t, he was pushed up. Someone drove the car out from under him and he swung in the air. A line of fifty men fired guns, striking Carter with more than two hundred bullets.

Despite a picture of the hanging body, with the crowd of 400+ visible in the background, none of the mob members admitted to being there. A report said Carter had been killed “by parties unknown in a mob.”3

The mob took Carter’s body to Little Rock to burn it. When they got to the city, they tied him to the car’s bumper and dragged him through the city for an hour. The mob eventually stopped at Ninth and Broadway, the center of the black business district. They poured gasoline and kerosene over Carter’s body. They piled on boxes, tree limbs, and pews from the nearby Bethel A.M.E. Church, and lit the fire. More white people hurried to the area. By that point the crowd was about seven thousand men, women, and children watching.

No one was ever charged or prosecuted for lynching John Carter. [Black Then article; ABHM article] (next BH, see June 8; next Lynching, see May 31, 1930 or see AL3 for expanded chronology)

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR

May 4, 1960: police arrested King for driving without a Georgia license (he had one from Alabama and lived in Georgia at the time.) (BH, see May 6; MLK, see Oct 19)

Freedom Riders

May 4, 1961: Freedom Ride with two buses began from Washington D.C. to New Orleans to test Boynton v Virginia. Organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE, founded on March 9, 1942) and its director, James Farmer, the Freedom Ride began to challenge racial segregation in interstate bus travel in the deep south. The Freedom Ride was one of the most dramatic events of the civil rights movement, generating headlines around the country and around the world. Thirteen people boarded buses in Washington, D.C., planning to travel through the south (including Alabama and Mississippi) and reach New Orleans on May 17th, the anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. The Ride was marked by violence and assaults of individual Freedom Riders (see particularly May 14, 1961). (see May 9)

George Whitmore, Jr

May 4, 1965: DA Frank Hogan formally dismissed the Wylie-Hoffert indictment pending against Whitmore. (see Whitmore for expanded story)

“Free Huey”

May 4, 1969: “Free Huey” [Huey Newton] rallies were held in 20 major cities at U.S. federal district courts. (BH, see May 10, Panthers, see Aug 16)

Rodney King

May 4, 1992: Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley lifted the emergency dawn-to-dusk curfew acknowledging the official end of the riots, but scattered violence continued for several days and the city maintained a military presence for weeks. The riots resulted in approximately 58 deaths, more than 3000 buildings destroyed, and upwards of $1 billion in property damage. (BH, see May 9; RR, see May 28, 1993)

May 4 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Haymarket Riot

May 4, 1886: a labor demonstration for an eight-hour workday at Haymarket Square in Chicago turned into a riot when a bomb exploded leaving more than 100 wounded and 8 police officers dead. After Chicago authorities arrested and detained nearly every anarchist and socialist in town, eight men, who were either speakers in or organizers of the protest, were charged with murder. (Illinois Labor History Society article) (Anarchism, see Aug 20; LH, see Sept 23)

May 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

Marihuana Tax Act

May 4, 1937: the American Medical Association opposed the proposed Marihuana Tax Act and supported research on medical cannabis The Committee on Ways and Means had held hearings on the proposed taxation of marijuana between 27 April and 4 May 1937. The last witness to be heard was Dr. William C. Woodward, legislative counsel of the American Medical Association (AMA). He announced his opposition to the bill and sought to dispel any impression that either the AMA or enlightened medical opinion sponsored this legislation. Marijuana, he argued, was largely an unknown quantity, but might have important uses in medicine and psychology. He stated: “There is nothing in the medicinal use of Cannabis that has any relation to Cannabis addiction. I use the word ‘Cannabis’ in preference to the word ‘marijuana’, because Cannabis is the correct term for describing the plant and its products. The term ‘marijuana’ is a mongrel word that has crept into this country over the Mexican border and has no general meaning, except as it relates to the use of Cannabis preparations for smoking..To say, however, as has been proposed here, that the use of the drug should be prevented by a prohibitive tax, loses sight of the fact that future investigation may show that there are substantial medical uses for Cannabis.” (Leafly dot com article on Act) (see Aug 2 or see Cannabis for expanded early chronology)

May 4 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

May 4, 1961: the State Supreme Court upheld NYC’s ban against folk singing in Washington Square Park. (see Ban for expanded story)

May 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

National Liberation Front

May 4, 1961: at a press conference, Secretary of State Dean Rusk reported that Viet Cong (aka, National Liberation Front) forces had grown to 12,000 men and that they had killed or kidnapped more than 3,000 persons in 1960. While declaring that the United States would supply South Vietnam with any possible help, he refused to say whether the United States would intervene militarily. (see May 11)

Kent State

May 4, 1970: at Kent State University, national guardsmen ordered a noontime rally of some 2,000 students to disperse. The guardsmen fired tear gas and charged the crowd. A number of guardsmen fired their rifles at the students for 13 seconds, killing four and wounding from 9 to 11 others. (Kent State University article) (see May 6)

May 4 Peace Love Art Activism

May 4 Music et al

Andy Williams

May 4 – August 30, 1963 – Andy Williams’s Days of Wine and Roses is the Billboard #1 album. 

May 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

No-fault divorce

May 4, 1969: California became the first state to adopt the no-fault divorce law, which enabled either party to terminate a marriage without cause. (legal zoom dot com article) (see Dec 15)

Women’s Health

May 4, 2018: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed one of the country’s most restrictive abortion bills into law : the so-called “heartbeat” legislation banned abortions once a fetal heartbeat had been detected, at about six weeks of pregnancy. Exceptions were made in cases of rape, incest or medical emergency. (see May 17)

May 4 Peace Love Art Activism

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

Walz v. Tax Commissioner the Supreme Court

May 4, 1970: in Walz v. Tax Commissioner the Supreme Court rejected the argument that tax exemptions for churches violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The Court held that tax exemptions were granted to a broad range of non-profit organizations and that the exemption involved a minimal involvement with religion.

Justice William O. Douglas dissented, arguing that the tax exemption violated the Establishment Clause.“A tax exemption is a subsidy. Is my Brother [Justice William J.] Brennan correct in saying that we would hold that state or federal grants to churches, say, to construct the edifice itself would be unconstitutional? What is the difference between that kind of subsidy and the present subsidy?” (see January 7, 1974)

May 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Falklands War

May 4, 1982: an Exocet missile hit the HMS Sheffield. The ship burned out of control; 20 sailors killed; it sank on May 10. (see May 19)

May 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran–Contra Affair

Lt. Col. Oliver North

May 4, 1989: Lt. Col. Oliver North, staff member with the National Security Council under President Ronald Reagan, was convicted on this day on three counts for crimes associated with the Iran-Contra scandal. In fact, the Iran-Contra affair was based on North’s “neat idea” of secretly and illegally selling arms to Iran and then using the profits from the sales to secretly and illegally providing funds to the anti-Communist Contras in Nicaragua through the CIA. North was originally indicted on 16 counts of criminal conduct for his actions during the scandal; on this day, he was convicted of accepting a gratuity, obstructing a Congressional investigation, and ordering the destruction of government documents (see, for example, his infamous “shredding party” on November 21, 1986). His convictions were subsequently overturned on a technicality. For his defiant testimony before Congress on July 7, 1987, in which he belligerently refused to apologize for his illegal actions, he immediately became a hero among conservatives. (see April 7, 1990)

May 4 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

May 4, 1990: Florida executed Jesse Tafero despite three electric chair malfunctions which caused flames to leap from his head. Tafero’s death sparked a new debate on humane methods of execution. Several states ceased use of the electric chair and adopted lethal injection as their means of capital punishment. (see April 21, 1992)

May 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Dissolution of the USSR

Latvia

May 4, 1990:  Latvia declared independence from the Soviet Union. (Dissolution, see Aug 30, ID, see April 9, 1991)

May 4 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

World Trade Center

May 4, 2006: a federal judge sentenced Zacarias Moussaoui to life in prison for his role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. (Terror, see April 7, 2007; WTC, see January 22, 2008).

Adam W. Purinton

May 4, 2018: Judge J. Charles Droege of Johnson County District Court sentenced Adam W. Purinton [fatally shot an Indian-born engineer after angrily confronting him about his immigration status at a bar on February 22, 2017] to life in prison.

Purinton pleaded guilty in March [March 6]to first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder after witnesses said he yelled “Get out of my country!” before firing the shots that killed the engineer, Srinivas Kuchibhotla, and wounded two others.

In addition to the life sentence, with no possibility of parole for 50 years, Judge Droege sentenced Purinton to nearly 14 years in prison for each of two counts of attempted premeditated first-degree murder. (Purinton also faces hate crime and firearm charges in federal court.) (see June 27)

May 4 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

King v. New Jersey

May 4, 2015: the US Supreme Court left intact New Jersey’s ban on counseling intended to change the sexual orientation of gay children.

The court declined to hear a challenge to the law, meaning that a September ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the ban was the final word on the matter. The appeals court said the ban, which Republican Governor Chris Christie signed into law in August 2013, did not violate the free speech or religious rights of counselors offering “gay conversion therapy” to convert homosexual minors into heterosexuals. (see May 21)

May 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Affordable Care Act

May 4, 2017: the House of Representatives narrowly approved legislation to repeal and replace major parts of the Affordable Care Act, as Republicans recovered from their earlier failures and moved a step closer to delivering on their promise to reshape American health care without mandated insurance coverage.

The vote, 217 to 213, held on President Trump’s 105th day in office, was a significant step on what could be a long legislative road. Twenty Republicans bolted from their leadership to vote no. But the win kept alive the party’s dream of unwinding President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement.

The House measure faced uncertainty in the Senate, where a handful of Republican senators immediately rejected it, signaling that they would start work on a new version of the bill virtually from scratch. (Reuters articlej) (see “In June“)

May 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

May 4, 2018: the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 57,000 Honduran citizens in the United States.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen gave them until January 2020 — the maximum 18-month period — to return to Honduras or seek different immigration status.

The Hondurans protected by TPS had been in the United States at least since Hurricane Mitch hit the country in 1998. (see May 7)

May 4 Peace Love Art Activism

May 3 Peace Love Art Activism

 Anarchism in the US

US Labor History

May 3, 1886: Chicago, striking workers from Cyrus McCormick’s Harvester plant clash with police. Four workers were killed, and several were wounded. (2011 Taylor & Francis article) (see May 4, 1886)

National Farmers’ Holiday Association

May 3, 1932: Milo Reno, former president of the Iowa Farmers’ Union, founded the National Farmers’ Holiday Association (FHA). The FHA fought foreclosures, sometimes by blocking the roads and physically preventing a sheriff from selling a farmer’s home and land. Other times, they held penny auctions, where everyone refused to bid more than a few pennies for the farm. The farm would then be given back to its original owner with no debt and the bank would only be a few cents richer. (Encyclopedia of the Great Plains article) (see January 4, 1933)

Emma Goldman

May 3, 1935: from the New York Times: [Montreal] Emma Goldman was hailed as “one of the great women of the age,” whose qualities of mind and should would be remembered long after she had gone by Rabbi Stern of Montreal last night when friends and admirers of Miss Goldman gave a farewell dinner before she leaves for Europe.” (see Goldman for expanded story)

May 3 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

NAACP

May 3, 1910: the National Negro Committee first met in 1919. On this date it chose “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People” as its organization name. (see June 25)

Scottsboro Boys/Sheriff Matt Wann

May 3, 1932: Sheriff Matt Wann murdered while serving a warrant for the arrest of a Harry Hambrick for the failure to support his wife. Wann had mistakenly arrested Hambrick’s brother and Hambrick shot and killed Wann. Hambrick was never caught nor tried in abstencia. Several deputies were with Wann assisting with the arrest.

Scottsboro Boys/Olen Montgomery

May 3, 1934: after a May Day rally to support them, Olen Montgomery wrote to his mother:  “That thing they had here on May Day what good did it do. Not any at all. I’m still locked up in the cell. Instead of the I.L.D. trying to make it better for me here in jail they are making it harder for me by trying to demand the people to do things. Listen, send me some money. Send me three dollars like I told you in my first letter.” (see Scottsboro for expanded story)

Continued student protest

May 3, 1963: despite the brutal treatment by police the day before, hundreds more school children marched in Birmingham.  Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene “Bull” Connor directed local police and firemen to attack the children with high-pressure fire hoses, batons, and police dogs. Images of children being brutally assaulted by officers and dogs appeared on television and in newspapers throughout the nation and world, provoking global outrage. The United States Department of Justice soon intervened. (see May 7)

Viola Liuzzo

May 3, 1965: the trial of Collie Wilkins, one of Viola Liuzzo’s killers began. (BH, see May 4; see Liuzzo for expanded story)

Northwestern University

May 3, 1968: more than 100 African-American students took over a building at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. They wanted African-American history, literature and art included in the curriculum. Their efforts led to the establishment of an African-American studies department, which now offers a doctoral program.  (NU article) (see May 11)

Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act

May 3, 2007: The House of Representatives passed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, but the bill gets stuck in Senate committee. (BH, see May 10; see Shepard for expanded chronology; LGBTQ, see June 14)

Autherine Lucy Foster

May 3, 2019: the University of Alabama awarded Autherine Lucy Foster, the first black student to enroll at the University of Alabama, a Doctor of Humane Letters degree

Foster, 89, said in a statement: “I love the University of Alabama, and it is an honor to be recognized in this way I am thankful for opportunities such as this, which allow us to talk about the past while looking to the future.” (next BH, see May 22; next Lucy, see August 19, 2020)

May 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Alien Land Law

May 3, 1913: California enacted the Alien Land Law, barring Asian immigrants from owning land. California tightened the law further in 1920 and 1923, barring the leasing of land and land ownership by American-born children of Asian immigrant parents or by corporations controlled by Asian immigrants. These laws were supported by the California press, as well as the Japanese and Korean (later Asiatic) Exclusion League and the Anti-Jap Laundry League (both founded by labor unions) – groups claiming tens of thousands of members.

However, animosity for Asian immigrants was not solely local. In May 1912, President Woodrow Wilson wrote to a California backer: “In the matter of Chinese and Japanese coolie immigration I stand for the national policy of exclusion (or restricted immigration). … We cannot make a homogeneous population out of people who do not blend with the Caucasian race. … Oriental coolieism will give us another race problem to solve, and surely we have had our lesson.”

California did not stand alone. Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming all enacted discriminatory laws restricting Asians’ rights to hold land in America. In 1923, the United States Supreme Court reviewed various versions of the discriminatory land laws – and upheld every single one. Most of these discriminatory state laws remained in place until the 1950s, though Kansas and New Mexico did not repeal their provisions until 2002 and 2006, respectively. Florida has to date refused to repeal a constitutional provision authorizing its government to enact such discriminatory legislation. (California online archives) (see  December 6, 1915)

Refugee Cap Raised

May 3, 2021: President Joe Biden formally raised the nation’s cap on refugee admissions to 62,500 this year, weeks after facing bipartisan blowback for his delay in replacing the record-low ceiling set by former President Donald Trump.

Refugee resettlement agencies had waited for Biden to quadruple the number of refugees allowed into the United States this year since February 12, when a presidential proposal was submitted to Congress saying he planned to do so. [AP article] (next IH, see May 22)

May 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Pledge of Allegiance

Walter Gobitas

May 3, 1937: as the rest of the world headed toward World War II, patriot fervor swept the U.S., as it had before, during and after World War I. One expression of that movement involved state laws requiring public school students to salute the flag each morning. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, however, regarded saluting the flag as an expression of a commitment to a secular authority and unfaithfulness to God. As a result, some families had their children refuse to participate in the compulsory salute. On this day, Walter Gobitas (the family name was misspelled in the court case) sued the Minersville, Pennsylvania, School Board, in a case that ended up in the Supreme Court (Minersville School District v. Gobitis; June 3, 1940). The Court upheld the compulsory salute, but, in a dramatic reversal three years later, ruled the compulsory flag salute unconstitutional in West Virginia v. Barnette on June 14, 1943). (see Pledge for expanded story)

May 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Fair Housing

Shelley v. Kraemer

May 3, 1948: the Supreme Court ruled that racially-restrictive covenants violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, even covenants between private individuals. In Shelley v. Kraemer, the Court overturned a covenant among members of a neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri that restricted home sales to only white families. (Oyez article) (see July 15, 1949)

May 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Judicial Milestone

Hernandez v Texas

May 3, 1954:  unanimous Supreme Court decision re the question: Is it a denial of the Fourteenth Amendment equal protection clause to try a defendant of a particular race or ethnicity before a jury where all persons of his race or ancestry have, because of that race or ethnicity, been excluded by the state?

The Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment protected those beyond the two classes of white or Negro, and extends to other racial groups in communities depending upon whether it can be factually established that such a group exists within a community. The Court concluded that the Fourteenth Amendment “is not directed solely against discrimination due to a ‘two-class theory’” but in this case covers those of Mexican ancestry. (Oyez article)(see June 16, 1958)

May 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

173rd Airborne

May 3, 1965: the lead element of the 173rd Airborne Brigade (“Sky Soldiers”), stationed in Okinawa, departed for South Vietnam. It was the first U.S. Army ground combat unit committed to the war. Combat elements of the 173rd Airborne Brigade included the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Battalions, 503rd Infantry; the 3rd Battalion, 319th Airborne Artillery; Company D, 16th Armor; Troop E, 17th Cavalry; and the 335th Aviation company. (see May 8)

James A. Rhodes

May 3, 1970: during a press conference, the Republican governor of Ohio, James A. Rhodes, called anti-war protesters “the worst type of people we harbor in America, worse than the brown shirts and the communist element.” Governor Rhodes ordered the National Guard to quell the demonstration at Kent State University. (see Rhodes for expanded story)

Mayday Tribe

May 3, 1971: the Harris Poll claimed that 60 percent of Americans opposed the Vietnam War. Police arrested about 7,000 antiwar protesters after skirmishes with metropolitan police and Federal troops throughout large areas of the Washington, DC. About 150 were also injured in the six hours of disturbances as the protesters, demanding an immediate halt to the war in Vietnam, were thwarted in their plan to stop government operations. Shortly before 11 P.M., more than 12 hours after most of the arrests were made, Will Wilson, the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, set up procedures for them to be released. The protesters called themselves the Mayday Tribe.

Rennie Davis, a leader of the Mayday Tribe, a militant activist and one of the Chicago Seven convicted under the Federal anti-riot law, was taken into custody by the Federal Bureau of Investigation about 4 P.M. as he emerged from a news conference in midtown Washington. He was held on $25,000 bond on a charge of conspiring to violate citizens’ rights to travel in interstate commerce and to work for agencies of the United States Government. A warrant was issued for the arrest of John Froines, another member of the Chicago Seven, on the same charge. (Vietnam, see May 27; Chi8, see November 2, 1972)

WAR POWERS ACT

May 3, 1973: Clement J. Zablocki (D-WI) introduced the War Powers Act. It intended to check the president’s power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of Congress. (see July 18)

May 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Japanese Internment Camps

 Michi Weglyn

May 3, 1976: Weglyn’s Years of Infamy published. It became one of the most widely read and cited books on the internment. (see Internment for expanded story)

May 3 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

Walter LaGrand

May 3, 1999: Arizona executed German national Walter LaGrand. In addition to US courts, the International Court of Justice in the Hague heard the case where Judge Christopher Weeramantry of Sri Lanka urged the US Government to use “all the measures at its disposal’ to prevent the execution. Germany asked the world court to intervene after Arizona Governor Jane Hull rejected appeals from German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer to stop the execution. Germany did not have the death penalty and contended Arizona failed to advise the LaGrand brothers of their right to consular assistance at their trials. The LaGrands were born in Germany but came to the United States when they were children.

LaGrand twice refused offers of lethal injeciton and reportedly chose the gas chamber to protest the death penalty. As of Apr. 21, 2010, LaGrand is the last prisoner to be executed by the gas chamber. (see January 31, 2000)

May 3 Peace Love Art Activism

U.N. Human Rights Commission

May 3, 2001, the United States was voted off the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva for the first time since its inception in 1947. The commission investigates human-rights abuses around the world. France, Austria and Sweden were chosen for the three seats allocated to Western countries that were up for election. One diplomat speculated that U.S. policies on the Middle East might have swung some countries to reject its candidacy, but according to Reuters, some diplomats said they believed the Bush administration’s opposition to the Kyoto climate change treaty as well as its insistence on a missile defense contributed to the loss. (UN Human Rights Council site)

May 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien

May 3, 2003:  in a five-page agreement with a county prosecutor, Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien acknowledged he hid allegations of sex abuse by priests and surrenders some of his authority. The deal is extraordinary, both as a personal statement of wrongdoing and as an agreement between a church leader and civil authority that changes how a diocese does business. (see June 18)

May 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Medical Marijuana

Puerto Rico

May 3, 2015: Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla, the governor of Puerto Rico, signed an executive order to permit the use of medical marijuana. (see June 1 or see CCC for expanded chronology)

May 3 Peace Love Art Activism

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

May 3, 2018: House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) reversed course and agreed to keep the Rev. Patrick J. Conroy on as House chaplain after an extraordinary showdown that included the priest alleging anti-Catholic bias by Jonathan Burks,Ryan’s chief of staff.

Conroy, who was forced to step down by Ryan on April 15, sent the speaker a letter rescinding his resignation and vowed to remain until the end of the year. Within hours Ryan backed down, ending the possibility of what the speaker feared would be a “protracted fight” over what is supposed to be a unifying and spiritual position in the partisan chamber.

During the tax-cut debate, Conroy delivered a prayer that some took as siding with Democrats. “May their efforts these days guarantee that there are not winners and losers under new tax laws, but benefits balanced and shared by all,” Conroy said. (see June 20, 2019)

May 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Voting Rights

May 3, 2019: a three-judge panel from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio ruled that Ohio’s congressional map was an “unconstitutional partisan gerrymander” and must be redrawn by the 2020 election.

In the ruling the panel argued that the map was intentionally drawn “to disadvantage Democratic voters and entrench Republican representatives in power.”

The court argued the map violates voters’ constitutional right to choose their representatives and exceeded the state’s powers under Article I of the Constitution.

“Accordingly, we declare Ohio’s 2012 map an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander, enjoin its use in the 2020 election, and order the enactment of a constitutionally viable replacement,” the judges wrote in their decision. (see June 17)

May 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

May 3, 2021:  the Environmental Protection Agency moved to sharply cut down on the use and production of powerful greenhouse gases used in refrigeration and air-conditioning, part of the Biden administration’s larger strategy of trying to slow the pace of global warming.

The first significant step taken by the E.P.A. under President Biden to curb climate change, the proposed regulation focused on hydrofluorocarbons, a class of man-made chemicals that is thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming the planet.

Michael S. Regan, the E.P.A. administrator, said the agency aimed to reduce the production and importation of hydrofluorocarbons in the United States by 85 percent over the next 15 years. It’s a goal shared by environmental groups and the business community, which jointly championed bipartisan legislation passed by Congress in December to tackle the pollutant. [NYT article] (next EI, see May 18)

May 3 Peace Love Art Activism

May 2 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

Weems v United States

May 2, 1910: in Weems v. United States, the Supreme Court made a ruling that would significantly affect the debate on the death penalty. The case concerned a defendant who had been sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor, a heavy fine, and a number of other penalties for the relatively minor crime of falsifying official records. The Court overturned the sentence, ruling that the penalty was too harsh considering the nature of the offense. Ultimately, in the Weems decision, the Court set three important precedents concerning any sentencing:

1. Cruel and unusual punishment is defined by the changing norms and standards of society and therefore is not based on historical interpretations.
2. Courts may decide whether a punishment is unnecessarily cruel with regard to physical pain.
3. Courts may decide whether a punishment is unnecessarily cruel with regard to psychological pain. (Justia article) (see February 8, 1924)

Maryland

May 2, 2013: Maryland’s Governor Governor Martin O’Malley signed a bill repealing the death penalty. The legislation went into effect October 1, 2013. In those cases in which the state had filed a notice to seek a death sentence, ‘the notice shall be considered withdrawn and it shall be considered a notice to seek a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole under specified circumstances,’ according to a press release from the Governor’s office. (see Oct 30)

May 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Voting Rights

May 2, 1914: suffrage parades and meetings held in nearly every state and Washington, D.C. (F, see May 9; VR, see January 12, 1915)

May 2 Peace Love Art Activism

ADA

Buck v Bell

May 2, 1927: with one dissenting vote, the US Supreme Court ruled in Buck v. Bell that the compulsory sterilization of mental defectives such as Carrie S. Buck, a young Virginia woman, was constitutional under “careful” state safeguards. In his majority opinion, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote:  “(It) is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind…Three generations of imbeciles are enough.”

This ruling has never been overturned.

Carrie had became pregnant when she was seventeen as a result of being raped by her foster parent’s nephew. Reporters and researchers that visited Buck later in life claimed she was a woman of normal intelligence. Later in life, she expressed regret that she had been unable to have additional children. Carrie Buck died alone in a nursing home in 1983; she was buried in Charlottesville near her only child, Vivian, who had died at age eight. (see May 2, 2002)

At the Nuremberg trials after World War II, Nazi doctors explicitly cited Holmes’s opinion in Buck v. Bell as part of their defense. (2016 NPR story) (see January 29, 1929)

Carrie Buck

May 2, 2002: Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner offered the “Commonwealth’s sincere apology for Virginia’s participation in eugenics.” at the erection of an historical marker for Carrie Buck in Charlottesville, Virginia where she was born. (see June 20)

Boy Scouts

May 2, 2018: the 108 year old Boy Scouts of America announced that its new name will simply be Scouts BSA. The change would take effect in February 2019. (F, see May 22)

May 2 Peace Love Art Activism

McCarthyism

Joe McCarthy

May 2, 1957: Joe McCarthy died at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland from a condition related to his cirrhotic liver.  He was forty-eight. (NY Daily News Flashback article) (see May 18, 1957)

Dalton Trumbo

May 2, 1975: Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo finally received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the 1956 film, The Brave One. The announced winner of the award at the Oscars ceremony on March 27, 1957 was “Robert Rich,” Trumbo’s pseudonym while he was blacklisted for his political views. (see May 17, 1995)

May 2 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Birmingham students fire-hosed

May 2, 1963: more than 700 black children protesting racial segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, were arrested, blasted with fire hoses, clubbed by police, and attacked by police dogs. As part of the Children’s Crusade launched by Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to revive the Birmingham anti-segregation campaign, more than 1000 African American children trained in nonviolent tactics walked out of their classes and assembled at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church to march to downtown Birmingham. Hundreds were arrested and transported to jail in school buses and paddy wagons but the children refused to relent. (see May 4)

Dee/Moore Murders

May 2, 1964: members of the Ku Klux KIan kidnapped Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore from the main street in Meadville, Mississippi and took them to the Homochitto National Forest where they were tied to a tree and beaten. The Klansmen placed Dee and Moore in a trunk of a car and transported them to Tallulah, LA, where they dumped them, while they were still alive, into the Old Mississippi River. (Cold Cases Project article) (BH, see, May 5; see Dee & Moore for expanded story)

Black Panthers

May 2, 1967: armed members of the Black Panther Party entered the California state capital to protest a bill that restricted the carrying of arms in public. Outrage at the incident will lead to the beginning of restrictive gun laws and a backlash of the re-interpretation of the 2^nd amendment as the right of individuals (not simply the militia) to bear arms. (BH, see May 6; BP, see Oct 28)

BLACK & SHOT/Walter Scott

May 2, 2017: Michael T. Slager, the former South Carolina police officer who spent years fighting charges of shooting and killing Walter Scott, an unarmed black man, pleaded guilty in his federal case. “We hope that Michael’s acceptance of responsibility will help the Scott family as they continue to grieve their loss,” Slager’s lawyer, Andrew J. Savage III said in a statement. (Scott, see Dec 7)

BLACK & SHOT/Jordan Edwards

May 2, 2017:  police chief Jonathan Haber of the Balch Springs Police Department announced that he had fired officer, Roy Oliver who used a rifle to shoot into a moving vehicle full of teenagers and killed Jordan Edwards, 15, as he was seated in the front passenger seat.

Haber said his decision was based in part on the department’s internal affairs investigation, which had been completed, and the body-camera footage from the two officers at the scene, (JE, see May 5)

BLACK & SHOT/Alton B Sterling

May 2, 2017: (see July 5, 2016) the federal government announced that, officers, Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II, the two white police officers in the fatal shooting on the July 5, 2016 of Alton B. Sterling, a black man in Baton Rouge, La would not be charged. The incident caused widespread unrest. State charges were still pending. (B & S, see May 5; see Sterling, see March 27, 2018)

Rashon Nelson/Donte Robinson

May 2, 2018:  Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, the two black men arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks because they were waiting for a third person and hadn’t ordered anything to that point, settled with Philadelphia for $1 each. After the arrests they were released and no charges were filed. City officials also promised to set up a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs.

Starbucks itself settled wtih Robinson and Nelson for an undisclosed sum and an offer of free college tuition to complete bachelor’s degrees through an online program with Arizona State University that Starbucks created four years ago for its employees. (BH, see May 22; Starbucks, see May 29)

May 2 Peace Love Art Activism

May 2 Music et al

Enoch Light

May 2 – 8, 1960: Enoch Light/Terry Snyder and the All Stars’ was Billboard’s #1 stereo album.  Enoch Henry Light was a classical violinist, bandleader, and recording engineer. As A & R chief and vice-president of Grand Award Records, he founded Command Records in 1959. Light’s name was prominent on many albums both as musician and producer. He is credited with being one of the first musicians to go to extreme lengths to create high-quality recordings that took full advantage of the technical capabilities of home audio equipment of the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly stereo effects that bounced the sounds between the right and left channels (often described as “ping-pong”). He also was the first to use the “gate fold” style album cover that became well-known with the Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s album in 1967. (see August 30 – September 3, 1963)

The Beatles

May 2 – June 5, 1964: The Beatles’ Second Album (released April 10) became the Billboard #1 album (only four of the twelve songs were written by the Beatles). (see May 11)

May 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Student protests

May 2, 1964: Some 400–1,000 students march through Times Square, New York and another 700 in San Francisco, in the first major student demonstration against the Vietnam War. Smaller marches also occur in Boston, Seattle, and Madison, Wisconsin. (see May 24)

Nixon orders protest ended

May 2, 1971: the Nixon administration canceled the protester’s permit. U.S. Park Police and Washington Metropolitan Police, dressed in riot gear, raided the encampment. The police formed up in phalanxes and slowly moved through the park firing tear gas and knocking down tents, forcing out the campers. The campers scattered towards the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial. (see May 3)

May 2 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Sunshine silver mine

May 2, 1972: a fire at the Sunshine silver mine in Kellogg, Idaho, caused the death of 91 workers who died from carbon monoxide poisoning, likely caused by toxic fumes emitted by burning polyurethane foam, used as a fire retardant. (see June 19)

Writers Guild 2017

May 2, 2017: the Writers Guild of America reached a tentative deal with the major studios and networks for a new film and TV contract for the union’s nearly 13,000 members. (Variety article) (see May 9)

Writers Guild 2023

May 2, 2023: the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, television and film writers, went on strike against major Hollywood studios: Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony.  The groups failed to come up with a new three-year contract in advance of the old deal expiring and representatives of the WGA voted to call a strike. [NPR article] (next LH, see July 13; WGA, see Sept 24)

May 2 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

Nationalist Socialist party

May 2, 1977: The Skokie Village Board, in response to a request from Nationalist Socialist party for a permit to march in front of Skokie Village Hall, passes three ordinances which 1) require a $350,000.00 indemnity bond to be posted in advance of any march 2) prohibits the distribution of printed material which promotes hatred of groups of people and 3) prohibits demonstrations by individuals wearing military style uniforms (see June 11)

May 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Calvin Graham

May 2, 1978: the Secretary of the Navy authorized the issuance of an honorable discharge to Graham, effective April 5, 1943. (see Graham for expanded story)

May 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Falklands War

May 2, 1982: the British submarine HMS Conqueror torpedoed and sank Argentine cruiser General Belgrano. More than 320 Argentine sailors died – the single biggest loss of life in the war. Margaret Thatcher faced criticism over the sinking because the vessel was outside the 200-mile exclusion zone around the Falklands. (Falklands, see May 4)

May 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Jack Kevorkian

May 2, 1994:  a Detroit jury acquitted Kevorkian of charges he violated the state’s assisted suicide ban in the death of Thomas Hyde. (see Kevorkian for expanded story)

May 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

May 2, 2002:  California police arrested Rev Paul Shanley and later charged on three counts of child rape. He denied the charges. (see June 14)

May 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Luis Ramirez

May 2, 2009: Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak were acquitted of all serious charges against them stemming from the fatal beating of Luis Ramirez, a Mexican immigrant, on July 12, 2008 in Shenandoah, PA. (Immigration, see Oct 30; see Ramirez for expanded story)

May 2 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

Osama bin Laden

May 2, 2011: a day after his death, U.S. forces buried Osama bin Laden’s body at sea, The forces handled the body in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition. The sea buriel prevented a burial site from becoming a “terrorist shrine.” (aljazeera dot com article) (see Oct 11)

May 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

May 2, 2019:the Trump administration released a final rule that would allow health workers to refuse to perform or assist medical procedures — like abortion, assisted suicide, or sex reassignment surgery — if it violated their “conscience” or religion.

The rule, set to take effect in 60 days, applies to health care institutions receiving federal funding. It repeals an Obama-era discrimination protection rule that President Donald Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services said “proved inadequate.” The new rule specifically protects “providers, individuals, and other health care entities from having to provide, participate in, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for, services such as abortion, sterilization, or assisted suicide.”

The rule was first proposed in January 2018, along with the launch of HHS’s new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division. (see May 15)

May 2 Peace Love Art Activism