October 3 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

October 3, 1915: John Sumner was appointed to replace Anthony Comstock as leader of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (NYSSV). He pledged to continue Comstock’s censorship crusade against alleged indecent literature under the 1873 Comstock Act (March 3, 1873), the most important federal censorship law for almost 100 years. The NYSSV was the leading censorship organization from its founding in 1873 through the late 1930s,  [NYSSV article] (see March 3, 1919)

October 3 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAYS

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

October 3, 1929: The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes changed its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. (ID, see Dec 11, 1931; Yugoslavia, see June 25, 1991)

Iraq

October 3, 1932: Iraq independent from the United Kingdom. (see November 22, 1943)

Germany

October 3, 1990: Germany reunited. (NYT article) (see April 9, 1991)

October 3 Peace Love Art Activism

see October 3 Music et al for expanded stories

Roots of Rock

October 3, 1945: Elvis Presley made his first ever-public appearance in a talent contest at the Mississippi Alabama Dairy Show. He was 10 and sang ‘Old Shep.’ He came in second. (see October 5, 1948)

Howl and Other Poems

October 3, 1957: at the conclusion of the obscenity trial regarding Howl and Other Poems, Judge Clayton W. Horn ruled that the poem was not obscene.

In his decision, he stated that, “I do not believe that “Howl” is without redeeming social importance. The first part of “Howl” presents a picture of a nightmare world; the second part is an indictment of those elements in modern society destructive of the best qualities of human nature; such elements are predominantly identified as materialism, conformity, and mechanization leading toward war. The third part presents a picture of an individual who is a specific representation of what the author conceives as a general condition.” [see Howl for more or see full transcript of decision or read complete Howl] (BG, see April 2, 1958; FS, see Nov 1)

Beatles not breaking up

October 3, 1966: The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, recently released from hospitalization, denied reports that Paul McCartney was leaving the group.

There had been much press speculation during the latter part of 1966 that The Beatles were splitting up. Each of the four members had pursued outside interests after their final concert, with John Lennon filming How I Won The War in Germany and Spain, George Harrison visiting India, and McCartney and Ringo Starr busying themselves in England.

Epstein also revealed that Lennon was appearing as Private Gripweed in Richard Lester’s film, and that McCartney was composing the music for another movie entitled Wedlocked, or All In Good Time. (see Oct 16)

Woody Guthrie

October 3, 1967: Woody Guthrie died of complications of Huntington’s disease.  NYT obit. (see Oct 6)

Fifth Big Sur Folk Festival

October 3, 1968: The Fifth Big Sur Folk Festival (Big Sur, see Sept 14 – 15, 1969; Festival, see Oct 26 & 27)

• Joan Baez
• Judy Collins
• Mimi Fariña
• Arlo Guthrie
• Charles River Valley Boys

 Seventh Big Sur Folk Festival

October 3, 1970 – The Seventh Big Sur Folk Festival (held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds) (see September 25, 1971)

1:00 pm concert: Beach Boys John Phillips Joan Baez Merry Clayton and Love Ltd.Kris Kristofferson (with Chris Gantry and Vince Matthews) John Hartford

8:00 pm concert: Beach Boys John Phillips Linda Ronstadt, with Swamp Water Mimi Fariña & Tom Jans Mark Spoelstra Country Joe McDonald Tom Ghent Joan Baez

October 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

October 3, 1952:  the United Kingdom successfully tested an atomic bomb. The test made the UK the world’s third nuclear power. [CTBCO article] (see Oct 13)

October 3 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

United Auto Workers

October 3, 1961: the United Auto Workers (UAW) union went on strike at Ford plants across the country to win higher wages and better benefits for its members. It was the first company-wide strike since Ford had agreed to a collective-bargaining deal in 1941. [NYT timeline of UAW and the Auto Industry] (see January 17, 1962)

Major League Umpires Association

October 3, 1970: baseball umpires strike for recognition of their newly-formed Major League Umpires Association, win after one day.  [MLB timeline of umpires] (see Dec 29)

Nissan plant

October 3, 2001: the United Automobile Workers lost an election to represent the workers in a Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tennessee. It was one of a series of defeats in attempts to organize the plants of foreign car makers in the U.S. UAW membership continued to slide.  [LAT article] (see March 12, 2004)

October 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

October 3, 1965: President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. The Act ordered elimination of the national origins quota system established in 1882 in favor of a worldwide quota blind to national origin. Pushed by the American families of European immigrants who wanted to bring relatives over, the Act replaced the nation’s tightly controlled, country-of-origin immigration system with a process that divided visas equally between all countries, giving preference to immigrants with advanced skills and education or with family ties to U.S. citizens.

As a result of the Act, the USA, a country that was almost entirely native-born in  1965 changed with a significant foreign-born population; demographic diversity has spread to every region, expanding a black-and-white racial paradigm into a multicolored one. Americans have gleefully adopted musical genres and foods that have immigrant origins, while remaining conflicted and uneasy politically over who’s here, legally and not. [2015 Atlantic article]  (see June 15, 1982)

October 3 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Frank Robinson

 

October 3, 1974: the Cleveland Indians hired Frank Robinson as major league baseball’s first black manager. [2016 Baltimore Sun article] (see Oct 30)

Medgar Evers assassination

October 3, 1991: a Federal judge in Chattanooga, Tenn., refused to block the extradition of Byron de la Beckwith, sending him back to Mississippi for a third trial in the 1963 slaying of the civil rights leader Medgar Evers. (NYT article) (see Evers for expanded chronology)

October 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Irish Troubles

October 3, 1981:  those Republican prisoners who had still been refusing food decided to end their hunger strike. At this stage in the protest six prisoners were on hunger strike. The prisoners took their decision when it became clear that each of their families would ask for medical intervention to save their lives. (see Troubles for expanded story)

October 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

The League of Women Voters

October 3, 1988: after The League of Women Voters had sponsored the Presidential debates in 1976, 1980 and 1984, its 14 trustees voted unanimously to pull out of the debates. League President Nancy M. Neuman issued a press release condemning the demands of the major candidates’ campaigns:  The League of Women Voters is withdrawing sponsorship of the presidential debates…because the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter. It has become clear to us that the candidates’ organizations aim to add debates to their list of campaign-trail charades devoid of substance, spontaneity and answers to tough questions. The League has no intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public. [NYT article] (see February 11, 1989)

The Vagina Monologues

October 3, 1996: The Vagina Monologues was first performed at HERE Arts Center in Soho, New York. Written and originally performed by Eve Ensler, the play is a one-woman show based on a series of interviews Ensler conducted with a diverse group of women who talked freely about womanhood, sex, and their vaginas. (NYT article) (see January 23, 1997)

Great Recession

October 3, 2008, George. Bush signed the revised Emergency Economic Stabilization Act creating a 700 billion dollar Treasury fund to purchase failing bank assets. [text]

October 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

October 9, 2023: the U.S. Census Bureau released its first report on state-level marijuana tax revenue data following what the agency calls “a complete canvass of all state agencies” going back to July 2021. In the 18-month period between then and the end of 2022, the data show, states collected more than $5.7 billion from licensed cannabis sales. [MM article] (next Cannabis, see Nov 3, or see CAC)

October 3 Peace Love Art Activism

October 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Black History

Nat Turner

October 2, 1800: Nat Turner born  in Southampton County, Virginia, the week before Gabriel  Prosser (see Aug 30) was hanged. While still a young child, Nat was overheard describing events that had happened before he was born. This, along with his keen intelligence, and other signs marked him in the eyes of his people as a prophet “intended for some great purpose.”   (next BH, see February 15, 1804;  see Turner for full chronology)

”SCOTTSBORO BOYS”

October 2, 1932: American Legion members helped Los Angeles police break up a rally of 1,000 people at the Long Beach Free Speech Zone, who were supporting defendants in the famous Scottsboro case. Two people were arrested in the incident on this day, which was one of 11 political meetings reportedly broken up by LA police in 1932, often with assistance of the American Legion. (see Scottsboro Travesty)

Isaac Woodard Jr

On February 12, 1946 former U.S. Army Sergeant Isaac Woodard Jr. was on a Greyhound Lines bus traveling from Camp Gordon in Augusta, Georgia, where he had been discharged, en route to rejoin his family in North Carolina. When the bus reached a rest stop just outside of Augusta, Woodard asked the bus driver if there was time for him to use a restroom.

The bus stopped in Batesburg (now Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina), near Aiken. Though Woodard had caused no disruption, the driver contacted the local police (including Chief of Police Linwood Shull), who forcibly removed Woodard from the bus. After demanding to see his discharge papers, a number of policemen, including Shull, took Woodard to a nearby alleyway, where they beat him repeatedly with nightsticks. They then took Woodard to the town jail and arrested him for disorderly conduct, accusing him of drinking beer in the back of the bus with other soldiers.

On October 2, 1946, Chief of Police Linwood Shull and several of his officers were indicted in U.S. District Court in Columbia, South Carolina. It was within federal jurisdiction because the beating had occurred at a bus stop on federal property and at the time Woodard was in uniform of the armed services. The case was presided over by Judge Julius Waties Waring. (next BH, see Oct 22; see Woodward for expanded story)

Savannah, Ga

October 2, 1963: Savannah, Ga., desegregated its lunch counters, theaters and restaurants. The decision followed months of marches and boycotts. [Savannah Now article] (see Oct 7)

SOUTH AFRICA/APARTHEID

October 2, 1986: the US Senate overrode President Reagan’s veto of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act and the bill became a law.  [NYT article] (see June 13, 1988)

George Whitmore, Jr

October 2, 1988: The New York Times published an article by Selwyn Raab, who interviewed Richard Robles in light of a forthcoming pardon hearing. Raab quoted Robles as saying that he broke into the Wylie-Hoffert apartment believing no one was home. He was looking for money to support his $15-a-day heroin habit, but when he encountered Wylie he raped her. Then he bound her and was preparing to leave when Hoffert came home. He took $30 from her purse and bound her as well. As he again prepared to leave, Hoffert said, “I”m going to remember you for the police. You”re going to jail.” When she said that, Robles continued, “I just went bananas. My head just exploded. I got to kill. You”re mind just races and races. It’s almost like you”re not you.” He said he clubbed both women unconscious with pop bottles, then slashed and stabbed them with knives he found in their kitchen. (see George Whitmore for expanded story)

Amadou Diallo

October 2, 2012: more than 13 years after the police shooting of Amadou Diallo, Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly agreed to restore a service weapon to Kenneth Boss, one of the four New York City officers involved, a decision that Mr. Diallo’s mother characterized as a betrayal.   [NYT article] (see Oct 8)

Botham Shem Jean

October 2, 2019: a jury sentenced a former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger to 10 years in prison for the shooting death of Botham Jean, her unarmed neighbor in his home. Guyger was convicted of murder the day before by the same jury in the death of Jean.

The sentence was met with boos and jeers by a crowd gathered outside the courtroom. But Jean’s younger brother, Brandt Jean, in a victim impact statement after the sentence, told Guyger he forgave her and loved her as he would any other person. He asked the judge if he could hug Guyger, and the two embraced as Guyger sobbed (next B & S, see Oct 9, next BSJ, see Dec 23)

October 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

Samuel R. Caldwell

October 2, 1937: the Marijuana Tax Stamp Act had gone into effect on October 1, 1937 and this date, the FBI and Denver, Colorado police raided the Lexington Hotel and arrested Samuel R. Caldwell, 58, an unemployed laborer and Moses Baca, 26.

On Oct. 5, Caldwell went into the history trivia books as the first marijuana seller convicted under U.S. federal law. His customer, Baca, was found guilty of possession.

Caldwell was sentenced to four years of hard labor in Leavenworth Penitentiary, plus a $1,000 fine. Baca received 18 months incarceration. Both men served every day of their sentence.

A year after Caldwell was released from prison, he died. [Trend article]

LaGuardia Report

In 1944:  In 1938, New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia had requested that the New York Academy of Medicine conduct an investigation of marijuana.

The 1944 report, titled “The Marihuana Problem in the City of New York,” but commonly referred to as the “LaGuardia Report,” concludes that many claims about the dangers of marijuana are exaggerated or untrue. It read in part: “The practice of smoking marihuana does not lead to addiction in the medical sense of the word… The use of marihuana does not lead to morphine or heroin or cocaine addiction and no effort is made to create a market for these narcotics by stimulating the practice of marihuana smoking… Marihuana is not the determining factor in the commission of major crimes… The publicity concerning the catastrophic effects of marihuana smoking in New York City is unfounded.” (next Cannabis, see August 31, 1948 or see CC for expanded Cannabis chronology)

October 2 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

 Coal miners strike

October 2, 1949: joining with 400,000 coal miners already on strike, 500,000 CIO steel workers close down the nation’s foundries, steel and iron mills, demanding pensions and better wages and working conditions. (see “in November”)

Starbucks Workers Union

October 2, 2007: Starbucks Workers Union baristas at an outlet in East Grand Rapids, Mich., organized by the Wobblies, win their grievances after the National Labor Relations Board cites the company for labor law violations, including threats against union activists. (see Nov 5)

October 2 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

October 2, 1958:  Guinea independent from France. [Global World article] (see 1960s independence days for list)

October 2 Peace Love Art Activism

1960s World Series

LA v NY

October 2 – 6, 1963: the 1963 World Series matched the two-time defending champion N Y Yankees against the L A Dodgers, with the Dodgers sweeping the Series in four games to capture their second title in five years. The World Series Most Valuable Player Award went to Sandy Koufax, who started two of the four games and had two complete game victories. [Bleacher Report article]

St Louis v Detroit

October 2 – 10, 1968: St. Louis Cardinals against the Detroit Tigers, with the Tigers winning in seven games. [Wikipedia article]

October 2 Peace Love Art Activism

October 2 Music et al

Cultural Milestone & Roots of Rock

October 2, 1967,:  DJ Rosko of WOR-FM, the first NYC FM station to play rock music, resigned over corporate interference with his choices of music. (”When are we going to learn that controlling something does not take it out of the minds of people?” and declaring, ”In no way can I feel that I can continue my radio career by being dishonest with you.”

He added that he would rather return to being a men’s-room attendant. (CM, see Oct 3; RR, see Oct 7)

Grateful Dead

October 2, 1967: all six members of The Grateful Dead were busted by California narcotics agents for possession of marijuana at the groups’ 710 Ashbury Street House in San Francisco. (see January 31, 1970)

 Don Cornelius

October 2, 1971: Don Cornelius began Soul Train. He will host the show until 1993 and introduce to mainstream TV many Black artists who otherwise would not have had a TV forum. (BH, see Nov 2; DC, see March 25, 2006)

October 2 Peace Love Art Activism

AIDS & Ryan White

October 2, 1985: school principal upheld decision to prohibit White. (see Ryan White)

October 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Clinton Impeachment

Clinton announces

October 2, 1991: Bill Clinton announced he would seek the 1992 Democratic nomination for President.

Starr investigation

October 2, 1998: the House Judiciary Committee releases another 4,610 pages of supporting material from Ken Starr’s investigation, including transcripts of grand jury testimony and transcripts of the Linda Tripp-Monica Lewinsky tapes. (see Clinton for expanded story)

October 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Operation Gothic Serpent

October 2, 1993: U.S. Army conducted Operation Gothic Serpent in the city of Mogadishu, Somalia using Task Force Ranger.

Two UH-60 Blackhawks were shot down and the operation left over 1000 Somalians dead and over 73 Americans WIA, 19 KIA, and 1 captured. [World Atlas article]

October 2 Peace Love Art Activism

IRAQ II

October 2, 2002: the US Congress passed a joint resolution, which authorized the President to use the Armed Forces as he deems necessary and appropriate, against Iraq. [Text of resolution](see Oct 16)

October 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

Estelle Griswold

October 2, 1961: Estelle Griswold was the executive director of Planned Parenthood in New Haven, CT. On October 2 she placed an ad in the local paper that her office was opening its own birth control clinic where married couples cold come to get whatever information or devices they needed. Though unenforced, access to birth control in Connecticut was illegal. (next WH & EG, see Nov 10)

Texas

October 2, 2014: a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans sided with Texas in its yearlong legal battle over its sweeping abortion law and allowed the state to enforce one of the law’s toughest provisions while the case was being appealed.Thirteen abortion clinics in Texas were forced to close immediately.

The ruling gave Texas permission to require all abortion clinics in the state to meet the same building, equipment and staffing standards as hospital-style surgical centers, standards that abortion providers said were unnecessary and costly, but that the state argued improved patient safety.

Thirteen clinics whose facilities did not meet the new standards were to be closed overnight, leaving Texas — a state with 5.4 million women of reproductive age, ranking second in the country — with eight abortion providers, all in Houston, Austin and two other metropolitan regions. No abortion facilities wouldl be open west or south of San Antonio. [NYT article] (BC, see Oct 14; Texas, see June 27, 2016)

October 2 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Vatican

October 2, 2015: the Vatican said that Pope Francis’s encounter with Kim Davis, which was interpreted by many as a subtle intervention in the United States’ same-sex marriage debate, was part of a series of meetings with dozens of guests and did not amount to an endorsement of her view. Ms. Davis was among the guests ushered into the Vatican’s embassy for a brief meeting with him, the Vatican said.

“The pope did not enter into the details of the situation of Mrs. Davis, and his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects,” the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said in a statement. [Rolling Stone article] (see Nov 2)

Same-sex/diplomats

October 2, 2018: US State Department officials said that the Trump administration would no longer issue family visas to same-sex domestic partners of foreign diplomats or employees of international organizations who work in the United States.

It also applied to people working in the US for the United Nations, the World Bank, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and other groups. [NYT article] (see Oct 21)

October 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Pledge of Allegiance & Student Rights

October 2, 2017: the principal of Windfern High School (Cy-Fair ISD, TX) suspended India Landry for her refusal to stand during the pledge of allegiance. It was something she’d done before. (next SR, Dec 21; Pledge & Landry, see July 19, 2018)

Immigration History

October 2, 2018: according to a report issued by the Office of Inspector General, the watchdog agency for the Dept of Homeland Security, the DHS was not prepared to implement the policy which directed the government to criminally prosecute immigrant parents—and separate them from their children—once they crossed the United States-Mexico border, nor was the agency ready to deal with the program’s fallout.

And not only did Customs and Border Protection (CBP) hold immigrant children for extended periods of time in cells intended for short-term detention, but the DHS struggled to identify, track and reunite separated families, according to the report. [Colorlines article] (see Oct 15)

October 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

October 2, 2021: a pipeline failure off the coast of Orange County, Calif., caused at least 126,000 gallons of oil to spill into the Pacific Ocean, creating a 13-square-mile slick that continued to grow.

Dead fish and birds washed ashore in some places as cleanup crews raced to try to contain the spill, which created a slick that extended from Huntington Beach to Newport Beach.

It was not immediately clear what caused the leak, which officials said occurred three miles off the coast of Newport Beach and involved a failure in a 17.5-mile pipeline connected to an offshore oil platform called Elly that is operated by Beta Offshore.  [NYT article] (next EI, see Oct 6)

October 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Fair Housing

October 2, 2023: the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it  was making $30,370,597 available to fair housing organizations across the nation working to fight housing discrimination. The funds would support a variety of activities, including fair housing education and outreach, testing and enforcement, through the Department’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP). [HUD announcement] (next FH, see Oct 24)