Don’t Mourn, Organize!
NOVEMBER 19 IS THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY of the cold-blooded murder of labor organizer and Industrial Workers of the World activist Joel Hägglund, who is almost universally known by his pen name, Joe Hill. The bosses hated Hägglund and everything he represented, including his ability to set new pro-worker lyrics to popular tunes, such as his "There is Power in the Union," which uses the tune of "There is Power in the Blood of the Lamb," and "Casey Jones—the Union Scab"
Hägglund was found guilty of a murder he did not commit and martyred because he refused to rat on a friend. Neither he nor his friend had anything to do with the murder, but the friend, who had shot Hägglund in a fight, was saved from a long prison term by Hägglund's refusal to squeal.
Anyone who wants to learn the details of Hägglund’s fascinating life and also get the best insight into what made him tick ought to consider two books that were published on the centennial of his death in 1915. The two volumes were informatively reviewed for xxxxxx by Paul Buhle in 2015. You can read that review here: https://xxxxxx.org/2015-12-24/joe-hill-again
Is There a Lesson in the Anti-Racism of 1835?
NOVEMBER 20 IS THE 190TH ANNIVERSARY of the founding of the New York Committee of Vigilance, in 1835, to prevent slave-traders from kidnapping African-Americans and selling them into slavery. The would-be kidnappers had the backing of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which made any self-emancipated slave a fugitive anywhere in the U.S. And, of course, the kidnappers were highly motivated to assert their victims were fugitives, true or not.
The New York Committee of Vigilance and similar groups in Boston, Philadelphia, Syracuse and also a NY state-wide organization operated in a manner akin to anti-ICE groups now. They raised the alarm whenever they got wind of slave-catchers’ presence, harassed the slave-catchers, and made their best effort to insure that anyone accused of being a fugitive had all the legal help possible to prevent their removal to the South. On any number of occasions, they used brute force to rescue the slave-catchers’ victims and spirit them out of the county. Sometimes they were arrested for such defiant acts, but they were often acquitted by juries who nullified laws they considered immoral. https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/new-york-committee-vigilance-ruggles/
Women Rise Up Angry Against Police Sexism
NOVEMBER 22 IS THE 45TH ANNIVERSARY of a fierce demonstration by some 500 supporters of Leeds Women Against Violence Against Women, who were protesting a shambolic, 6-year-long police effort to capture a serial killer of women in West Yorkshire, England. In 1980 the demonstrators were reacting not only to the inability of the police to arrest a man who had killed at least 13 women in the vicinity of the Leeds and had also grievously assaulted at least seven others, but also to the authorities’ proposal to impose a nighttime curfew on women in the area, instead of a curfew on men.
The demonstrators blocked downtown traffic, beat on cars and buses, smashed windows, and vandalized two movie theaters that were showing pornographic films, including one about a killer of women. Less than six weeks after the anti-police rampage, Yorkshire police arrested the man who was eventually convicted of 13 murder charges and sentenced to life in prison. https://secretlibraryleeds.net/2019/09/13/the-leeds-women-against-violence-against-women-march/
Judge Slams Homophobic Police
NOVEMBER 23 IS THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY of a little-remembered early legal victory for civil liberties and gay rights. On this day in 1955, Baltimore Criminal Court judge James Cullen dismissed all charges against 162 patrons of the gay-friendly Pepper Hill Club, who had been arrested for allegedly disorderly conduct, but actually for no reason other than their presence in the club. When he dismissed the charges, Cullen said the police had no right to make such a mass arrest in a public place. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1955-11-23/ed-1/?sp=21&r=-0.119,1.136,0.914,0.378,0
Deadly Brutality Backfires
NOVEMBER 25 IS THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY of what turned out to be the beginning of the end for Rafael Trujillo’s brutal dictatorship over the Dominican Republic.
On this day in 1960 Trujillo’s thugs attacked and beat to death the Mirabal sisters, Minerva, Patria and Maria Teresa, three of the country’s best-known anti-Trujillo activists, The public revulsion over Trujillo’s brutality was the last straw; six months later, after more than 30 years in power, Trujillo was assassinated.
The Mirabal sisters have been permanently memorialized by the United Nations, which designated the anniversary of their killings as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabal_sisters
For more People's History, visithttps://www.facebook.com/jonathan.bennett.7771/
