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THIS WEEK IN PEOPLE’S HISTORY, DEC 3–9, 2025  
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_ Short Tempers In a Polarized Nation (1860), Justice for the
Wilmington 10, Better Late than Never (1980), Just How Bad Can the
Federal Courts Get? (1910), Witch Hunters Against Common Sense (1950),
War Crimes Are Common, But Not Convictions (1985) _

December 15, 1860, Harper’s Weekly illustration showing Boston
abolitionists, including Frederick Douglass, under attack ,

 

_SHORT TEMPERS IN A POLARIZED NATION (1860)_

DECEMBER 3, 1860 – A LITTLE MORE THAN FOUR MONTHS BEFORE the start
of the Civil War – is the 165th anniversary of a day violent
attacks on abolitionists by pro-slavery mobs in Boston, Massachusetts.
At the time, tension between pro- and anti-slavery activists was
running high throughout the U.S. 

During the four weeks that had passed since Abraham Lincoln won the
Presidential election, slavery advocates in the South were openly
discussing seceding from the United States to avoid having to answer
to a federal government led by Lincoln.

Most of Boston’s population was opposed to slavery, but a
significant minority was staunchly in favor of slavery, because many
of Boston’s wealthiest citizens were heavily involved in cotton
trading, and the production of cotton depended on slave-labor based
agriculture. 

On December 3, 1860, abolitionists planned a gathering in Boston’s
Tremont Temple (a large Baptist church with a racially integrated
congregation). Almost as soon as the meeting began, it was swarmed by
a well-dressed mob of anti-abolitionists, who assaulted several of the
scheduled speakers, including abolitionist firebrand Frederick
Douglass.  

Douglass viewed the attack as evidence of Northerners’ attempt to
avoid succession and war by making him the sacrificial lamb. Afterward
he wrote “I was roughly handled by a mob in Tremont Temple . .
.headed by one of the wealthiest men of that city. The talk was that
the blood of some abolitionist must be shed to appease the wrath of
the offended South, and to restore peaceful relations between the two
sections of the country.” For more,
visit: [link removed]

 

_JUSTICE AT LAST FOR THE WILMINGTON 10, BETTER LATE THAN NEVER_

DECEMBER 4 IS THE 45TH ANNIVERSARY of a federal court’s overturning
the convictions of ten innocent anti-racist activists known as the
Wilmington 10, who had been framed and convicted of arson and
conspiracy. 

In 1980, when the federal court ruled that both a North Carolina trial
judge and the prosecutor had violated the defendants’ rights, they
had already been incarcerated for more than nine years. After they
were released in accordance with the federal court’s order, they
were never retried. 

In 2012, each of the Wilmington 10 received a pardon of innocence from
the Governor of North Carolina. Unfortunately, four of the 10 had died
before the pardons were issued. Nevertheless, the six surviving
frame-up victims plus the families for the four who were deceased were
qualified to receive $50,000 compensation for each year they had been
incarcerated. 
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_JUST HOW BAD CAN THE FEDERAL COURTS GET?_

DECEMBER 5 IS THE 115TH ANNIVERSARY of this ruling by the Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia: If an 8-year-old girl has one,
and only one, great-grandparent who is Black, she cannot attend public
school in the District of Columbia. 

Not so pleasant to know, but important to not forget. For the details,
please visit [link removed]

 

_WITCH HUNTERS AGAINST COMMON SENSE_

DECEMBER 6 IS THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY of a small, but hardly
insignificant, triumph of anti-communist witch-hunters over common
sense in the realm of entertainment. 

In 1950, one of New York City’s biggest television stations agreed
to cancel a weekly broadcast of short silent films by Charlie Chaplin
when it was told by an organization of anti-communist war veterans to
“withdraw the series” because Chaplin was alleged to be “a man
with very definite Communist leanings.” According to the veterans’
leader, “It makes no difference if the pictures were made five, ten,
twenty or more years ago. Entertainment for art’s sake just does not
exist when you talk about
communism.” [link removed]

 

_WAR CRIMES ARE COMMON, BUT NOT CONVICTIONS_

DECEMBER 9 IS THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY of one of the rarest legal
phenomenon known: A court in Argentina found five of the leaders of
the junta that seized power in 1974 guilty of war crimes and sentenced
them to hard time. 

They were convicted in 1985 of murder, torture, kidnapping and forced
disappearance in the first major war crimes trial to take place since
the Nüremberg Trials in Germany and the International Military
Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo following World War II. 

Two of the war criminals were sentenced to life in prison, one to 17
years, one to eight years and one to four-and-a-half years. None
served more than five years before being
released. [link removed]

For more People's History,
visithttps://www.facebook.com/jonathan.bennett.7771/

* slavery and abolition
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* Frederick Douglass
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* Charlie Chaplin
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* Argentina's Dirty War
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