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

May 11 Peace Love Art Activism

May 11, 2017 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

May 11 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

May 11, 1682: the Massachusetts General Court repealed two laws that had banned the celebration of Christmas and had authorized capital punishment for expelled Quakers returning to the colony. (History of Massachusetts blog article) (DP, see June 10, 1692; Separation, see April 22, 1864)

May 11 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Leasing state convicts

After the Civil War, Georgia and other Southern states faced economic uncertainty. Dependent on enslaved black labor that was no longer available after emancipation and ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, Southern economies struggled to find a new solution. For many, leasing state convicts to labor for private businesses seemed the perfect answer.

Ratified in 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment prohibited involuntary servitude “except as punishment for crime” and seemingly permitted the forced labor of prisoners. At the same time, Southern prison populations had grown greatly following the Civil War, and that increase was disproportionately fueled by newly-emancipated black men and women incarcerated for violating discriminatory Black Codes that criminalized unemployment and vagrancy and severely punished even the most minor thefts.

On May 11, 1868, in the midst of Reconstruction, Georgia Provisional Governor Thomas Ruger leased 100 black prisoners to William A. Fort of the Georgia & Alabama Railroad for one year for $2500 under an agreement that made Mr. Fort responsible for their well-being. Sixteen prisoners died before the end of the contract. Undeterred, Georgia officials expanded the system the following year, leasing all 393 state prisoners to work on another railroad. Over the next several years, convict leasing in Georgia proved both deadly and profitable. The state legislature routinely turned a blind eye to reports of inhumane treatment and even murder and, in 1876, authorized the state to enter into long-term, twenty-year convict leasing contracts valued at $500,000. (BH, see July 9; C & P, see February 22, 1922)

KKK in Birmingham

May 11, 1963: Klansmen in Birmingham set off two bombs in an African-American neighborhood and rioting broke out, despite pleas by movement leaders for nonviolence. (see May 13)

Benjamin Brown

May 11, 1967: Benjamin Brown, a former civil rights organizer, was shot in the back in Jackson, Miss. He had walked with a friend into a café to pick up a sandwich to take home to his wife. On his way back, he encountered a standoff between law enforcement officers and students from Jackson St College, who had been hurling rocks and bottles at them. Brown was hit in the back by two shotgun blasts. No arrests were ever made. In 2001, a Hinds County grand jury reviewing the case blamed two deceased officers: Jackson police officer Buddy Kane and Mississippi Highway Patrolman Lloyd Jones. The Brown family filed a lawsuit, and the city of Jackson settled for $50,000. (Northeastern dot edu article) (see May 15)

Poor People’s Campaign

May 11, 1968: the Poor People’s Campaign arrived in Washington, D.C. A shantytown called “Resurrection City” was erected as a tribute to the slain Martin Luther King Jr. He had conceived the campaign, which was led by his successor at the head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Ralph David Abernathy. (Poor Peoples Campaign article) (see May 12)

Race Revolts

May 11, 1970

Henry Marrow, a 23-year-old black Vietnam veteran, walked toward a white-owned store in Oxford, NC. Something Marrow said was interpreted as a slight to a young white woman. He was chased from the store by owner Robert Teel and his two sons, who beat and then fatally shot him. The events sparked a mass riot in the streets of Oxford by black residents that same night. After the three men were arrested, they were tried by an all-white jury and acquitted of all charges, despite the eyewitness accounts and inconsistent testimonies of the suspects. (NCDCR article)
in Augusta, Ga., a race riot after a prison killing of a mentally handicapped black teenager at the hands of prisoners. Black residents in the town frustrated by the treatment of police and the conditions of the jail marched through the town before it was a full-fledged riot. By the next day, six people were dead and more than 60 were injured after the melee. (Newscone article) (BH, see June 16, 1970; RR, see October 12, 1972)

James Byrd Jr

May 11, 2004: Joshua Lee Talley, 19 and John Matthew Fowler, 18, were arrested and charged with criminal mischief for desecrating James Byrd Jr.’s grave with racial slurs and profanities. (BH, see June 6; LBGTQ, see May 17; Shepard & Byrd, see May 26, 2005; see S & B for more)

AZ Bans Ethnic Studies

May 11, 2010: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law HB 2281, a legislative act designed to end Ethnic Studies classes in the state. This law banned schools from engaging with certain books written by authors of color and temporarily eliminated the Mexican American Studies program in Tucson schools, preventing hundreds of students from engaging with their history and culture within a school setting until it was found unconstitutional in 2017. [EJI article] (next BH, see Sept 6)

BLACK & SHOT and Ahmaud Arbery

May 11, 2020: Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr named Joyette M. Holmes to oversee the case of Ahmaud Arbery

Holmes, comes from Cobb County in the Atlanta metropolitan area, where she was the first African-American to serve as district attorney. She was the fourth prosecutor assigned to lead a case that has bounced among district attorneys and law enforcement agencies. [NYT article] (next AA, see May 21 or see AA for expanded chronology)

May 11 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Eugene Victor Debs

May 11, 1894: led by Eugene Victor Debs of the American Railway Union, the future founder of the Socialist Party of America, workers at the Pullman factory begin a strike that leads to the death of 34 people after violence breaks out between workers and federal troops deployed by President Grover Cleveland. (ThoughtCo article) (Anarchism, see August 17, 1894; Labor, see June 26)

César E. Chávez

May 11 – June 4, 1972: Chávez fasted for 25 days in Phoenix over a just-passed Arizona law banning the right of farm workers to strike or boycott. (next Chavez, see June 1973)

May 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Dust storm

May 11, 1934: a massive storm sent millions of tons of topsoil flying from across the parched Great Plains region of the United States as far east as New York, Boston and Atlanta. (Finding Dulcinea article)(see April 14, 1935)

Chlorofluorocarbons

May 11, 1977: the U.S. announced a timetable for the phase out of the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in aerosol products. By December 15, 1978, companies must stop using chlorofluorocarbons as propellants in aerosol products. (see January 29, 1978)

May 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

Dr John Rock

May 11, 1960: the FDA approved Searle’s contraceptive pill, Enovid, the first drug approved in order to prevent a medical happening. In 1959, Searle had applied to license the “Pill” – an oral progestin – as a contraceptive. They chose Dr John Rock to present the findings of the experiences of 897 women before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Rock (1890-1984) was an American obstetrician and gynecologist who was an expert in human fertility, the requirement at the time was that a drug must be proven safe and not necessarily effective. However, the young reviewer, who was aware of the implications of the Pill, was thorough in his examination, requiring further lab tests before approval. By 1964 some four million women were on the pill. (PBS American Experience article) (see “In December”)

Vietnam

Special Forces

May 11, 1961: President Kennedy approved sending 400 Special Forces troops and 100 other U.S. military advisers to South Vietnam. On the same day, he ordered the start of clandestine warfare against North Vietnam to be conducted by South Vietnamese agents under the direction and training of the CIA and U.S. Special Forces troops. Kennedy’s orders also called for South Vietnamese forces to infiltrate Laos to locate and disrupt communist bases and supply lines there. (see June 16)

May 11 Peace Love Art Activism

see May 11 Music et al for more

Canadian Beatles album

May 11, 1964: recorded in 1963, the Beatles released The Beatles’ Long Tall Sally album in Canada on the Capital Canada label. It was the last time such a type of release was done. (see May 30 – June 5, 1964)

The Byrds

May 11, 1965: The Byrds made their TV debut with “Mr. Tambourine Man” on NBC’s “Hullabaloo.” (see June 16)

The Road to Bethel

May 11, 1970: release of the triple soundtrack album ‘Woodstock’ in the US, going gold within two weeks. (see Road for expanded story)

John Lennon

May 11, 1972: John Lennon appeared on the ‘Dick Cavett Show’, claiming he was under surveillance from the FBI. (see May 17)

All Those Years Ago

May 11, 1989: the collaborative effort by the three remaining Beatles, All Those Years Ago, released. (see June 22)

May 11 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Gay entrapment

May 11, 1966: NYC Police Commissioner Howard Leary instructed policemen not to lure gays into breaking the law and to “make every effort” to find witnesses whenever an arrest occurs involving homosexual advances to a plainclothesman. (see “In August“)

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

May 11, 2017: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that it would pull an estimated 130,000-180,000 Mormon teenagers ages 14-18 from Boy Scouts starting next year. The Boy Scouts’ “Varsity” and “Venturing” programs for older teens had become difficult to implement within the religion, which opposed gay marriage and taught its members that being in a homosexual relationship is a sin. (LGBTQ, see June 23; BSA, see Oct 9)

Oklahoma

May 11, 2018: Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signed a law that said no child-placement agency would be required to put children up for adoption or in foster care in situations that “violate the agency’s written religious or moral convictions or policies.”

The governor said the law would not restrict the ability of LGBT people from getting a child through adoption or foster care, but critics disagreed. (see June 4)

May 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Daniel Ellsberg/Pentagon Papers

May 11, 1973: Judge Byrne granted a mistrial due to what he deemed to be serious government misconduct. All charges against Ellsberg and Russo dropped. (see Papers for expanded story)

May 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty

May 11, 1995: signatory nations agreed to extend the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) (see July 1, 1968) indefinitely. The NPT is an agreement signed by 189 countries to control the spread of nuclear weapons and nuclear technology based on the principles of disarmament, non-proliferation, and the use of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. The treaty was opened for signature in 1968 with a provision for review conferences every five years. During the 1995 review conference in New York City, member countries decided to keep the treaty open indefinitely. (UN article) (see September 24, 1996)

India

May 11, 1998: India conducted 3 underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, India. (see May 28)

May 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

May 11, 2017: Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered federal prosecutors to pursue the toughest possible charges and sentences against crime suspects, reversing Obama administration efforts to ease penalties for some nonviolent drug violations.

In an eight-paragraph memo to the nation’s prosecutors, Mr. Sessions returned to the guidance of President George W. Bush’s administration by calling for more uniform punishments — including mandatory minimum sentences — and directing prosecutors to pursue the strictest possible charges. (NYT article) (see Aug 18)

May 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Voting Rights

May 11, 2017: President Trump signed an executive order aimed at investigating alleged vote fraud. The order established a commission to review alleged voter fraud and voter suppression throughout the American election system. Vice President Mike Pence headed the group, called the “Presidential Commission on Election Integrity.” Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach served as vice chair. The panel was tasked with studying “vulnerabilities” in the voting system, as well as potential impacts on “improper voting, fraudulent voter registrations, and fraudulent voting.” (NBC News article) (see May 22)

May 11 Peace Love Art Activism

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

May 10 Peace Love Art Activism

May 10, 2017 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

May 10 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Negro Act of 1740

May 10, 1740: the South Carolina Assembly enacted the “Bill for the better ordering and governing of Negroes and other slaves in this province,” also known as the Negro Act of 1740. The law prohibited slaves from growing their own food, learning to read, moving freely, assembling in groups, or earning money. It authorized slave owners to whip and kill rebellious slaves.

South Carolina implemented this act after an unsuccessful 1739 slave revolt called the Stono Rebellion, in which approximately fifty slaves killed between twenty and twenty-five whites. In addition to establishing a racial caste and property system in the colony, the assembly sought to prevent any additional slave rebellions by including provisions that mandated a ratio of one white person for every ten slaves on a plantation. The Negro Act rendered slaves human chattel and revoked all civil rights for persons of color.

The law served as a model for future states such as Georgia, which authorized slavery within its borders in 1750 and enacted its own slave code five years later. In 1865, the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment legally abolished slavery in the United States but the effects of the Negro Act of 1740 and similar laws were felt throughout the country for more than two centuries. (from EJI article)

Slave Revolts in NYC

March and April 1741: series of suspicious fires and reports of slave conspiracy led to general hysteria in New York City, Thirty-one slaves, five whites executed. (Historical Society of NY Courts article)(see January 6, 1773)

Charleston riot

May 10 – 11, 1919: in the words of the follow-up Navy investigation, “a disturbance which assumed the nature and proportions of a race riot took place in the city of Charleston, South Carolina, on the night of May 10-11, 1919, between the hours of 7:00 p.m., and 3:00 a.m.” The incident started when an unidentified black man allegedly pushed Roscoe Coleman, U.S. Navy, off the sidewalk. A group of sailors and civilians chased the man, who took refuge in a house on St. Philip Street. A fight then took place there, with both sides throwing bricks, bottles, and stones. There followed “wild rumors and stories of a sailor having been shot by a negro” and general rioting.

During the riot, both sides used firearms. Eighteen black men were seriously injured, as were five white men. Three black men, William Brown, Isaac Doctor, and James Talbot, died of gunshot wounds.

The Navy report sets out the final analysis. The riot was “of spontaneous origin and was precipitated by the actions of certain negroes, sailors, and at least one white civilian. . . [A]n active part in this initial disturbance was taken by the following men: G.W. Biggs, Coppersmith, second class, U.S. Navy, USS Hartford; Roscoe Coleman, Fireman third class, U.S. Navy, Machinist Mates School; Robert Morton, Fireman, third class, U.S. Navy, Machinist Mates School, and Alexander Lanneau, white civilian, a resident of Charleston, South Carolina, who . . . was responsible for stirring up strife and inciting others to violence against the negroes. . . . Ralph Stone, Fireman, third class, U.S. Navy, Machinist Mates School, was one of the leaders and inciters of a mob. . . . [T]he wound in the right chest of Isaac Doctor . . . was inflicted by a 22-caliber bullet fired from a rifle in the hands of either Jacob Cohen, Fireman, third class, U.S. Navy, or George T. Holliday, Fireman, third class, U.S. Navy, who are jointly responsible for his death. . . [A]ll property damage, . . except in the case of Harry Police’s poolroom where damage was caused by negroes, was caused by the unlawful actions of mobs, which in all cases were composed principally of sailors. . . [A]ll injuries to negro men. . . were inflicted by mobs composed principally of sailors.”

The Charleston rioting demonstrated a typical characteristic of white mob violence in the United States. Despite a thorough, dispassionate investigation, despite evidence and the naming of culpable individuals, and despite it being well within the purview of the military authorities to do so, very little punishment was exacted. Cohen and Holliday, although the Navy report held them responsible for the death of Isaac Doctor, were eventually sentenced for their involvement in the riot to only a year in Parris Island, South Carolina. (BH, see June 23; RR, see July 19)

Nashville Student Movement

Birmingham desegregation agreement

May 10, 1963: the SCLC and the Senior Citizens Committee (Birmingham business group) agreed on the desegregation of lunch counters, restrooms, fitting rooms and drinking fountains, the upgrading and hiring of blacks, cooperation with SCLC legal representatives in releasing all jailed persons, and the establishment of communication between black and whites through the Senior Citizens Committee.

In the wake of the Children’s Crusade, the Birmingham Board of Education announced that all children who participated in the march would be suspended or expelled from school. While the local federal district court upheld the ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the decision. (Black Past article)

“Bombingham”

May 10, 1963: Birmingham, Alabama, acquired the nickname “Bombingham” in the 1960s because of the many bombs directed at anyone involved in the civil rights movement. In the spring of 1963, Birmingham was the scene of massive civil rights demonstrations that were among the most important events of the civil rights era.

On this day, the A. G. Gaston Motel, where many civil rights leaders stayed during the protracted civil rights protests stayed, was bombed. (Saving Places dot org article) (see May 11)

Killers applauded

May 10, 1965: the three accused killers of Viola Liuzzo were part of a Ku Klux Klan parade. Collie Wikkins, free on bond after the mistrial, carried a Confederate flag. After the parade, the Imperial Wizard of the United Klans of America, Robert Shelton, asked the three men to stand. They received a standing ovation. (next BH, see May 13; see Liuzzo for expanded story)

Vernon Dahmer

May 10, 1969: an all-white federal court jury acquitted three of 10 KKK members of civil rights conspiracy charges in the death of Vernon Dahmer (see January 10, 1966) and was unable to agree on verdicts for the other seven. (Clarion Ledger article) (BH, see Aug 16; Dahmaer, see May 28, 1998)

Rodney King

May 10, 1991: a grand jury refused to indict 17 officers who stood by at the King beating and did nothing. (BH, see June 5; King, see Nov 26)

Nelson Mandela

May 10, 1994: Mandela sworn in as president of South Africa, making a speech of shared patriotism that summons South Africans’ communal exhilaration in their land and their relief at being freed from the world’s disapproval. (text of speech via Black Past) (see June 24, 1995)

Jimmie Lee Jackson

May 10, 2007: 42 years after the homicide, an Alabama grand jury indicted former state trooper James Bonard Fowler for the February 18, 1965 murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson. (BH, see June 14; see Jackson for expanded story)

Stop and Frisk Policy

May 10, 2012: Mayor Bloomberg again offered a spirited defense of the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy and criticized the NYCLU’s analysis of the data. (see May 13)

BLACK & SHOT and Ahmaud Arbery

May 10, 2020: Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr asked the Department of Justice on Sunday to conduct an investigation into the handling of the Ahmaud Arbery case. [NPR story] (next B & S and AA , see May 11, or see AA for expanded chronology)

May 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Elizabeth Cady

May 10, 1840: Elizabeth Cady married Henry Brewster Stanton, omitting the word “obey” from the ceremony. (Albany dot edu article) (see June 12)

American Equal Rights Association

May 10, 1866: American Equal Rights Association held its first meeting. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony are among the founding members. The AERA unites abolitionists, African-American activists, and feminists in pursuit of racial and gender equality. (BH, see July 27; Feminsim, see May 9, 1867)

Matilda Josyln Gage

Woman Suffrage Associations

May 10, 1876: Gage chaired at the Ninth Annual Convention of the National and New York State Woman Suffrage Associations. In her opening address she said that during the past 100 hundred years man had had his share of the advantages of the Declaration of Independence, but woman at the outset of the second century of the Republic stood just where she had in 1776.

History of Woman Suffrage

1876 – 1886: History of Woman Suffrage was produced by Gage, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Ida Husted Harper. Published in six volumes from 1881 to 1922, it is a history of the women’s suffrage movement, primarily in the United States. Its more than 5700 pages are the major source for primary documentation about the women’s suffrage movement from its beginnings through the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which enfranchised women in the U.S. in 1920. Written from the viewpoint of the wing of the movement led by Stanton and Anthony, its coverage of rival groups and individuals is limited.

The first three volumes, which cover the history of the movement from its beginnings to 1885, were written and edited by Stanton, Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage. Volume 1 (1848–1861) appeared in 1881, Volume 2 (1861–1876) in 1882 and Volume 3 (1876–1885) in 1886. Some early chapters first appeared in Gage’s newspaper, The National Citizen and Ballot Box.

Relief from her political liabilities

In 1877: Gage petitioned Congress to grant her “relief from her political liabilities.”

Freethought Convention

In 1878: Gage was a speaker at the Freethought convention in Watkin’s Glen, NY; an arrest under the Comstock Laws occurs there for the sale of a birth control manual. (Feminism, see January 10)

The National Citizen and Ballot Box

From 1878 – 1881: Gage published The National Citizen and Ballot Box, official paper of the NWSA. (Feminism, see February 15, 1879; VR, see March 8, 1884)

Who Planned the Tennessee Campaign of 1862?

In 1880: Gage wrote “Who Planned the Tennessee Campaign of 1862?” Gage argued that a woman, Anna Ella Carroll, planned that campaign in detail. [In the fall of 1861, Carroll had traveled to St. Louis to work with secret agent, Judge Lemuel Dale Evans, who had been appointed by Secretary of State William H. Seward. Carroll gathered information and based on it and in late November 1861 wrote a memorandum that she sent to Assistant Secretary of War Thomas A. Scott and Attorney General Edward Bates, advocating that the combined army-navy forces change their invasion route from the Mississippi to the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers.] (see Gage for expanded story)

May 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

US Labor History

May 10, 1869: thanks to thousands of Chinese and Irish immigrants, who laid 2,000 miles of track, the nation’s first transcontinental railway line was finished by the joining of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines at Promontory Point, Utah. Officials and workers of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railways held a ceremony on Promontory Summit, in Utah Territory—approximately thirty-five miles away from Promontory Point, the site where the rails were joined—to drive in the Golden Spike. The line connected the nation from coast to coast and reduced a journey of four months or more to just one week.. The New York Times coverage began with: The long-looked-for moment has arrived. The construction of the Pacific Railroad is un fait accompli. The inhabitants of the Atlantic seaboard and the dwellers on the Pacific slopes are henceforth emphatically one people. Your correspondent is writing on Promontory Summit amid the deafening shouts of the multitude, with the tick, tick, of the telegraph close to his ear. (LH, see Sept 6; TM, see July 29, 1870)

May 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Judicial Milestone

May 10, 1886: the US Supreme Court ruled in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company that corporations were “persons” within the terms of the Fourteenth Amendment, and therefore were due rights of equal protection under state law. (see May 23, 1938)

May 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Religion and Public Education

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

May 10, 1925: John Thomas Scopes was given a preliminary hearing before three judges regarding the Scopes’s breaking Tennessee’s Butler Act forbidding the teaching of evolution. (see Scopes for expanded story)

May 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh

May 10, 1941: the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, chaired by Ho Chi Minh, held its 8th Plenum in the Vietnamese village of Pac Bo. This was the first time that Ho had been in Vietnam since 1911 after living in England, France, the United States, the USSR, and China.

The Central Committee created the Viet Minh as a nationalist organization to gain independence from France and Japan. The Central Committee also concluded that the independence of Vietnam would be won only by armed rebellion which linked urban nationalism with rural rebellion. Armed forces were to be created in all areas of the country in which the Communist Party was active. (see July 14)

Peace talks

May 10, 1968: peace talks began in Paris. (see May 17)

Hill 937…Hamburger Hill

May 10, 1969: paratroopers from the 101st Airborne engaged a North Vietnamese regiment on the slopes of Hill 937, known to the Vietnamese as Ap Bia Mountain. Entrenched in prepared fighting positions, the North Vietnamese 29th Regiment repulsed the initial American assault. The battle will continue. (see May 14)

Cambodian Invasion

May 10, 1970: as part of the nationwide protests of the invasion of Cambodia a college student (Spence) hung an American flag upside down, with peace symbols attached. He was arrested and convicted under the State of Washington’s “improper use” clause of its flag statute law. (Vietnam, see May 14; CI & FS, see May 15; Spence, see June 25, 1974)

Pentagon Papers

May 10, 1973: it was revealed in court that in 1969 the F.B.I. secretly wire-tapped and taped phone conversations between Ellsberg and then Kissinger aide Morton Halperin, who had earlier supervised the study that became the Pentagon Papers. The government claims that all records of the wiretapping have been lost. (see Papers for expanded story)

May 10 Peace Love Art Activism

May 10 Music et al

Silver Beetles

May 10, 1960: the Silver Beetles auditioned for promoter Larry Parmes at the Blue Angel in Liverpool. Vying for the job of backing band for Billy Fury on an upcoming tour, the band was hampered by the fact their drummer, Tommy Moore, arrived late and the band had to use an unfamiliar drummer (Johnny Hutchinson from Cass & The Cassanovas, seen in photo). Parmes did not hire the band for the Fury tour, but took Moore’s absence into consideration and hired them to back Johnny Gentle on a tour of Scotland. (see May 14)

NYC Bans Folk Singing

May 10, 1961: five folk singers arrested in Washington Square Park April 9 when the first demonstration against the ban on folk singing there took place were cleared in Manhattan Arrest Court. (see Ban for expanded story)

May 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Consumer Protection

May 10, 1964: the American Cancer Society announced a new study that linked smoking to an increase in heart attack. The study showed that blood clotted faster after smoking.

In the experiment, each of 18 healthy medical students smoked a standard, non-filter cigarette for not more than five minutes, inhaling deeply. Afterwards, samples of their blood were tested to measure clotting in comparison with clotting that occurred in samples taken before the students smoked. The scientists reported that platelet stickiness in the blood was 84.4 per cent higher after smoking than before. (see June 24)

May 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Symbionese Liberation Army

May 10, 1977: Los Angeles Superior Court Judge E. Talbot Callister, stressing that she posed no threat to society, sentenced Patty Hearst to 5 years’ probation for her role in the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) crime spree May 16 – 17, 1974 (see SLA for expanded story)

May 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Jack Kevorkian

May 10, 1994: the Michigan Court of Appeals struck down the state’s ban on assisted suicide on the grounds it was enacted unlawfully. (see Kevorkian for expanded story)

May 10 Peace Love Art Activism

Oklahoma City Explosion

May 10, 1995: Terry Nichols charged in the Oklahoma City bombing. (see Aug 10)

May 10 Peace Love Art Activism

LSD

May 10, 2021: Dr. Rick Doblin’s quest to win mainstream acceptance of psychedelics took a significant leap forward when the journal Nature Medicine is published the results of his lab’s study on MDMA, the club drug popularly known as Ecstasy and Molly. The study, the first Phase 3 clinical trial conducted with psychedelic-assisted therapy, found that MDMA paired with counseling brought marked relief to patients with severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

The results, coming weeks after a New England Journal of Medicine study that highlighted the benefits of treating depression with psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms, excited scientists, psychotherapists and entrepreneurs in the rapidly expanding field of psychedelic medicine. They said it is only a matter of time before the Food and Drug Administration grants approval for psychoactive compounds to be used therapeutically — for MDMA as soon as 2023, followed by psilocybin a year or two later. (next LSD, see Nov 2)

May 10 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

May 10, 2021: President Biden administration announced that health care providers cannot discriminate against transgender individuals. It was the latest step in President Biden’s efforts to restore civil rights protections for L.G.B.T.Q. people that President Trump had eliminated.

Under the new policy, the Department of Health and Human Services would once again prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity by health care organizations that receive federal funding.

The move reversed a policy adopted by H.H.S. under President Trump which said that anti-discrimination provisions of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 did not apply to transgender people. That move had been hailed by social conservatives and harshly criticized by gay rights supporters. [NYT article] (next LGBTQ, see June 16)

May 10 Peace Love Art Activism

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

May 9 Peace Love Art Activism

May 9, 2017 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

May 9 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Sojourner Truth

May 9, 1867: Sojourner Truth delivered a speech to the First Annual Meeting o the American Equal Rights Association, championing for the rights of all people. (Women’s History dot org bio) (Feminism, see January 8, 1868; BH, see Dec 3)

Joseph Perkins

May 9, 1961: Joseph Perkins became the first Freedom Rider to be arrested after sitting at a whites only shoe-shine stand in Charlotte, NC. Later that same day, Freedom Rider John Lewis was assaulted in the Greyhound bus terminal of Rock Hill, SC after attempting to enter the white waiting room with fellow Freedom Rider Al Bigelow. (Oprah dot com article) (see May 13)

Birmingham truce

May 9, 1963: after Americans saw authorities turn fire hoses and police dogs on protesters in Birmingham, a negotiated truce took place on this day. Activists agreed to stop mass demonstrations in return for Birmingham authorities ending oppressive segregation laws and practices. Martin Luther King Jr. and Fred Shuttlesworth announced the settlement the next day. By this time, more than police had arrested more than 3,000 , many of them children. (see May 10)

Autherine Lucy Foster

May 9, 1992: Autherine Lucy Foster and her daughter Grazia graduated together from the University of Alabama, Autherine with a master’s degree in elementary education, Grazia with a bachelor’s degree in corporate finance. (BH, see March 9, 1993; U of A, see October 10, 1996; Lucy, September 15, 2017)

Johnnie Mae Chappell

May 9, 2006: the criminal investigation into the 1964 murder of Johnnie Mae Chappell. a woman slain in a drive-by shooting in northwest Jacksonville, ended.

William Cervone, who’s 8th Circuit served the Gainesville area, was given one year to investigate and prosecute the case, but reported his findings after a five-month revision of the Investigation

Cervone released a statement saying after “reviewing the investigation into the murder of Johnnie Mae Chappell in Duval County in 1964 … my conclusions … are that no additional investigation is warranted and that no prosecution is legally possible.”

Cervone went on to state that the statute of limitations has run out on anything but first degree murder, and that there was not enough evidence to prosecute the three co-defendants on that charge simply because they were in the car when JW Rich shot and killed Chappell.

In addition, Cervone said Florida law prevented them from being recharged due to speedy trial constraints.

State Attorney Harry Shorstein issued a statement: “This was a tragic chapter in the history of our city and I understand the Chappell family’s desire to find justice. I regret that a few have used the Chappell family’s great suffering for personal, professional, or political gain.” Shorstein also commended Cervone for a comprehensive, thorough and professional investigation. (DoJ article) (BH, see May 21)

May 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Cultural Milestone

May 9, 1914: President Wilson approved asking Americans to give a public expression of reverence to mothers through the celebration of Mother’s Day. (National Geographic article) (F, see January 12, 1915; CM, see September 6, 1916)

May 9 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

May 9, 1934: the West Coast Longshoremen’s Strike began when Int’l. Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) union workers demanded a 6 hr working day, more men on each gang, lighter loads and an independent union. They shut down seaports in Washington, Oregon and California for 3 months. (Washington dot edu article)(see May 18)

Yale Hunger Strike

May 9, 2017: the eight Yale graduate students who began a hunger strike to pressure the school to negotiate with their union continued their action. Four of the students had nothing but water for 14 days. The strike ended on May 22–graduation day. (NPR story) (see Oct 13)

May 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

South Vietnam Leadership

May 9, 1957: President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress. Diem had embarked on a two-week visit to the United States. Flying from Hawaii on President Dwight Eisenhower’s private plane, Columbine III, and greeted at National Airport by the President, Diem received full military honors including a 21-gun salute. As part of his state visit, Diem addressed a Joint Meeting, presided over by Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn of Texas and Vice President Richard M. Nixon of California. The Vietnamese leader expressed gratitude to the United States for “moral and material aid.” (US HoR article) (SVL, see November 11, 1960 )

Daniel Ellsberg

In 1959: specializing in crisis decision-making and the command and control of nuclear weapons, Ellsberg was hired as a strategic analyst at the RAND Corporation, a California think-tank. While at RAND, Ellsberg consulted with the Pentagon under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara during the Kennedy administration. Ellsberg visited South Vietnam with a research team to examine problems with non-nuclear, limited warfare. (see Ellsberg for expanded story)

Group 559

In 1959: a specialized North Vietnamese Army unit, Group 559, was formed to create a supply route from North Vietnam to Vietcong forces in South Vietnam. With the approval of Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia, Group 559 developed a route along the Vietnamese/Cambodian border, with offshoots into Vietnam along its entire length. This eventually becomes known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. (Enacademic dot com article) (see July 7)

New Left

May 9, 1968: FBI Director J.Edgar Hoover on this day ordered the Bureau’s program to attack New Left political organizations. The New Left included a variety of anti-Vietnam War groups, some radical African-American organizations, and other politically radical groups that emerged in the 1960s. The “new” left defined itself in contrast to the “old” left, which was seen as dominated by socialistic and communist ideologies. (The definition of who was “new left” and a danger to the U.S. was, for the FBI, solely its own decision.) (see May 10)

William Beecher

May 9, 1969: William Beecher, military correspondent for the New York Times, published a front page dispatch from Washington, “Raids in Cambodia by U.S. Unprotested,” which accurately described the first of the secret B-52 bombing raids in Cambodia. Within hours, Henry Kissinger, presidential assistant for national security affairs, contacted J. Edgar Hoover, FBI director, asking him to find the governmental sources of Beecher’s article. During the next two years, Alexander Haig, a key Kissinger assistant, transmitted the names of National Security Council staff members and reporters who were to have their telephones wiretapped by the FBI. (see May 10)

Cambodian Invasion

May 9, 1970:

President Nixon made a pre-dawn visit to the Lincoln Memorial to talk with anti-war protesters.
between 75,000 and 100,000 young people, mostly from college campuses, demonstrated peacefully in Washington, D.C., at the rear of a barricaded White House. They demanded the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations. Afterwards, a few hundred militants spread through surrounding streets, causing limited damage. Police attacked the most threatening crowds with tear gas. (Vietnam and Invasion, see May 10)

May 9 Peace Love Art Activism

see May 9 Music et al for expanded info

Alan Freed

May 9, 1958: a Suffolk County, NY grand jury indicted Alan Freed on charges of inciting the unlawful destruction of property during a riot touched off at a performance of his rock ‘n’ roll show the previous Saturday night. (see May 16)

Billy Vaughn

May 9 – 15, 1960: Billy Vaughn and His Orchestra’s album Theme from a Summer Place is Billboard’s #1 album.

Louis Armstrong

May 9 – 15, 1964, ending The Beatles’ streak of three number-one hits in a row over 14 consecutive weeks, “Hello Dolly” by Louis Armstrong #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions

May 9, 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono released Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions, the second of their three experimental albums of avant-garde music on Zapple, a sub label of Apple. It was a successor to 1968’s Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins, and was followed by the Wedding Album. LIfe With the Lions peaked in the US at number 174. The album, whose title is a play on words of the BBC Radio show Life with The Lyons, was recorded at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital in London and live at Cambridge University, in November 1968 and March 1969. (next Beatles, see May 24 – June 27)

May 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Watergate Scandal

May 9, 1974: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opened formal and public impeachment hearings against Nixon. (see Watergate for expanded story)

May 9 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Maine

May 9, 1997: Maine Gov. Angus King stated that he would sign a gay rights bill passed by the Maine Legislature. (see February 10, 1998)

President Obama

May 9, 2012: President Obama announced that his view had “evolved” and now endorsed same sex marriage saying that it should be legal. He was the first sitting US President to do so. (Washington Post article) (see May 31)

Arkansas ban invalidated

May 9, 2014: Pulaski County, Arkansas Circuit Judge Chris Piazza invalidated the state’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, saying it violated the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.“Although marriage is not expressly identified as a fundamental right in the Constitution, the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized it as such,” Piazza ruled in striking down the 2004 amendment to the state’s constitution as well as a statute passed in 1997.

“This is an unconstitutional attempt to narrow the definition of equality,” he wrote. “The exclusion of a minority for no rational reason is a dangerous precedent.”

Voters overwhelmingly supported changing the constitution to define marriage as being only between a man and a woman. (see May 19)

May 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

May 9, 2003: Judge Michael D’Amico found James Charles Kopp (see October 23, 1998) guilty and sentenced him to the maximum penalty, 25 years to life imprisonment. (collection of articles from the LA Times) (see May 31)

May 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Stop and Frisk Policy

May 9, 2012: the NYPD ordered commanders to review stop-and-frisk activity. High-level police officials were instructed to review of stop-and-frisk reports to ensure they were proper, and not an effort to meet productivity goals. (see May 10)

May 9 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

May 9, 2016: Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch ruled that Florida’s death penalty was unconstitutional because jurors were not required to agree unanimously on execution — a ruling that would add to the ongoing legal debate over Florida’s capital punishment system.

Hirsch issued the ruling in the case of Karon Gaiter, who was awaiting trial for first-degree murder.

Hirsch wrote that Florida’s recently enacted “super majority” system – 10 of 12 juror votes were needed to impose execution as punishment for murder – went against the long-time sanctity of unanimous verdicts in the U.S. justice system. (Miami Herald article) (see May 13)

May 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Fourth Amendment

May 9, 2018: the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia issued a ruling that under the Fourth Amendment, U.S. border authorities cannot search travelers’ cell phones and other electronic devices without individualized suspicion of wrongdoing.

In the case, United States v. Kolsuz, border agents had stopped a traveler as he boarded an international flight at Dulles Airport and found firearm parts in his checked luggage, which they suspected he lacked a license to export. Without obtaining a search warrant, agents seized the traveler’s phone, briefly searched it at the airport, and then sent it to a separate facility where investigators conducted a thorough “forensic” search of all of the data saved on the device. That included all of the traveler’s “personal contact lists, emails, messenger conversations, photographs, videos, calendar, web browsing history, and call logs, along with a history of [his] physical location down to precise GPS coordinates.”

The defendant challenged that forensic search as a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights. The ACLU explained that in light of the tremendous quantity and variety of private data stored on our smart phones and similar devices, the government should have been required to get a search warrant from a judge. (see May 14)