Articles tagged with: Civil Rights

Today in History, May 31st!

Date: May 31, 2013 Author: Today in History Comments: Leave a reply

A few of the great historical events that happened today in history, May 31st!

1433	Sigismund is crowned emperor of Rome. Sigismund
1678	The Godiva procession, commemorating Lady Godiva’s legendary ride while naked, becomes part of the Coventry Fair.
1859	The Big Ben clock tower in London went into operation.
1862	At the Battle of Fair Oaks, Union General George B. McClellan defeats Confederates outside of Richmond.
1879	New York’s Madison Square Garden opens its doors for the first time.
1889	Johnstown, Pennsylvania is destroyed by a massive flood.
1900	U.S. troops arrive in Peking to help put down the Boxer Rebellion.
1902	The Boer War ends with the Treaty of Vereeniging.
1909	The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) holds its first conference.
1913	The 17th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for the popular election of U.S. senators, was declared in effect.
1915	A German zeppelin makes an air raid on London.
1916	British and German fleets fight in the Battle of Jutland.
1928	The first flight over the Pacific takes off from Oakland.
1941	An armistice is arranged between the British and the Iraqis.
1955	The Supreme Court orders that states must end racial segregation “with all deliberate speed.”
1961	South Africa became an independent republic as it withdrew from the British Commonwealth.
1962	Gestapo official Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel for his role in the Holocaust.
1969	John Lennon and Yoko Ono record “Give Peace a Chance.”
1974	Israel and Syria sign an agreement on the Golan Heights.
1977	The trans-Alaska oil pipeline was completed after three years of work.
1979	Zimbabwe proclaims its independence.
1988	President Ronald Reagan arrives in Moscow, the first American president to do so in 14 years.
1990	The sitcom “Seinfeld” premiered on NBC.
1991	Leaders of Angola’s two warring factions signed a peace treaty, ending a 16-year civil war.
1994	The United States announced it was no longer aiming long-range nuclear missiles at targets in the former Soviet Union.
2003	Eric Rudolph, suspected in bombings at a Birmingham. Ala., abortion clinic and at the Atlanta Olympics, was arrested outside a grocery store in Murphy, N.C. (He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four life terms.) Eric Rudolph
2005	Former FBI official W. Mark Felt stepped forward as “Deep Throat,” the secret Washington Post source that helped bring down President Richard M. Nixon during the Watergate scandal.
2009	Dr. George Tiller, a provider of late-term abortions, was shot and killed in a Wichita, Kan., church. (Gunman Scott Roeder was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison.)

Today in History facts are from various sites including, but not limited too: the History Channel, The New York Times, WHG Historynet.com, and HistoryOrb.com.

History from the Web

Date: February 11, 2013 Author: Grant Oster Comments: Leave a reply

History-from-the-Web Part of why I write at Hankering for History is that I love sharing. I don’t just like sharing what I’ve learned, but also what I run across on other websites. Whether it’s a video clip, an article, breaking-news, or someone selling history doodads online, I want you guys to know about it as well. It’s time, for History from the Web!

The last few weeks have produced several historical, thought-provoking events in the news. The largest of these events was in Britain, where scientist were able to confirm, through DNA analysis, that they had found the body of King Richard III. This took the internet by storm. While ironic, internet memes are certainly not lost on me, I was amazed at how quickly it started. Even Saturday Night Live got involved and had a skit about King Richard III. My favorite mention of King Richard III was a picture that I got off the Tudor Tutor. It was a screen shot from Twitter, explaining the fines that King Richard III owed for his “parking.”

King Richard III’s parking fees!

The Tudor Tutor had a great compilation of King Richard III memes from the web, including the picture to the right. While this story was huge in the world of history, I think it was intended to be more of a story on the impressiveness of science.

In other news, I was recently sent, by a reader, a story from the New York Times, When Jim Crow Drank Coke. Not only does Coca-Cola have a checkered past because of one of the ingredients in their beverages, light is now being shed upon Coca-Cola for their segregationist business practices (from the times of the Jim Crow law era.) If I told you any more about the article, if would take from the piece.

I do highly recommend reading it. I don’t feel that any organization should be shunned for how it acted sixty to seventy years ago, in fact, I am sure that several major organizations established their own Jim Crow laws. The mention of this article isn’t to bring shame to Coke, I just thought it was historically interesting.

Coke-Racist

I received an email from Ben, producer of a weekly music podcast called All Time Top Ten, wanting to share his podcast with the readers of Hankering for History. Each week Ben and a guest pick a topic and count down their ten favorite songs based on that topic. Two weeks ago, Ben and his guest laid out their Top Ten Songs About Historical Events . From The Dust Bowl Blues to Ohio, these guys have covered the “greatest songs in history about history.” So if you’ve got some time to kill, or you can list to podcast on the job or while you workout, check it out. It isn’t just the songs, but you will received some history about the songs and how history influenced the music.

Today in History, February 4th

Date: February 4, 2013 Author: Today in History Comments: Leave a reply

A few of the great historical events that happened today in history, February 4th!

1508	The Proclamation of Trent is made.
1783	Britain declared a formal cessation of hostilities in the American Revolutionary War.
1787	Shay’s Rebellion, an uprising of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers against the new U.S. government, fails.
1789	Electors unanimously chose George Washington to be the first president of the United States.
1795	France abolishes slavery in her territories and confers slaves to citizens.
1861	Delegates from six southern states met in Montgomery, Ala., to form the Confederate States of America.
1889	Harry Longabaugh is released from Sundance Prison in Wyoming, thereby acquiring the famous nickname, “the Sundance Kid.”
1899	After an exchange of gunfire, fighting breaks out between American troops and Filipinos near Manila, sparking the Philippine-American War
1906	The New York Police Department begins finger print identification.
1909	California law segregates Caucasian and Japanese schoolchildren.
1913	Civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Ala. Rosa Parks
1915	Germany decrees British waters as part of the war zone; all ships to be sunk without warning.
1923	French troops take the territories of Offenburg, Appenweier and Buhl in the Ruhr as a part of the agreement ending World War I.
1932	Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugurates the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, N.Y.
1938	The Thornton Wilder play “Our Town” opened on Broadway.
1941	The United Service Organizations (USO) was formed.
1944	The Japanese attack the Indian Seventh Army in Burma.
1945	President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a wartime conference at Yalta. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Soviet leader Josef Stalin
1948	The island nation of Ceylon – now Sri Lanka – became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.
1966	Senate Foreign Relations Committee begins televised hearings on the Vietnam War.
1974	Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was kidnapped in Berkeley, Calif., by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
1977	The album “Rumours” by Fleetwood Mac was released.
1980	Syria withdraws its peacekeeping force in Beirut.
1983	Singer Karen Carpenter died at age 32.
1986	The U.S. Post Office issues a commemorative stamp featuring Sojourner Truth.
2000	A coalition government that included Joerg Haider’s far-right Freedom Party came to power in Austria, triggering European Union sanctions.
2003	Yugoslavia was dissolved and replaced with a loose union of its remaining two republics, Serbia and Montenegro.
2004	The Massachusetts high court declared that gays were entitled to marry.
2004	The social networking website Facebook was launched.

Today in History facts are from various sites including, but not limited too: the History Channel, The New York Times, WHG Historynet.com, and HistoryOrb.com

Hellhound On His Trail (Book Review)

Date: January 22, 2013 Author: Grant Oster Comments: 3 Replies

Hellhound On His Trail was given to me for Christmas from a co-worker during our office’s Secret Santa gift exchange. I was not only excited to read this novel because it is about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but it also came highly recommended from several of my friends. This national bestseller, by Hampton Sides, tells the “electrifying account of the largest manhunt in American History.” There is a point in the book’s Afterword where Hampton Sides says,

“A number of people who’ve read Hellhound have described it as ‘a thriller.’ Though they intended this as a compliment, I’m not sure I took it as one–for, in effect, it implies that I’ve turned a national tragedy into an entertainment of sorts.”

Well, sorry Hampton Sides…you did! This was an amazing book. I am not much of a reader–however, I am trying to read more–and this book was just what I needed to jump-start my interest in reading again. If every book was this good, I would have spent more time reading over the last five years and less time on Facebook or Youtube. Hampton Sides should not feel bad though, because of the “entertainment” value of this book, it will lead those to read it and learn about American History, specifically about one of America’s greatest leaders and one of the FBI’s greatest conquest.

This book contains an abundance of information. From start to finish, this book gives you the specifics necessary to fully comprehend the time period. Hellhound On His Trail starts by giving you a brief history of the city of Memphis. This is important because it is of necessity that the reader understands why Martin Luther King was needed in Memphis, Tennessee. From here, the knowledge made available spans from the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Earl Ray, to the current conditions in American while enduring hardships from the Vietnam War, to an inside look into the FBI.

Assassination-Martin-Luther-King

What appealed to me the most about this book is that it told the story using quotes pulled from multiple sources. To string together the story, conversations were used throughout the entire book–real and cited quotes and conversations. In fact, the book has over forty pages of notes, broken down by chapter, so that you can find the original sources and context of the quotes.

I highly recommend this text to anyone that likes to read. You really don’t have to even appreciate history to enjoy Hellhound On His Trail. For the history lovers, this book will give you a great look at America during the late 1960′s, the assassination of Martin Luther King, and the fight for equality amongst all Americans. That being said, if you hate history but enjoy assassination thrillers, a man on the lam, or conspiracies this book is for you, too.

(And if you buy it from the link below, I get a cut…So buy a great book and support Hankering for History.)

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Date: January 21, 2013 Author: Grant Oster Comments: 12 Replies

The third Monday in January is commonly known as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Martin Luther King Day, or my favorite MLK Day. What you might not know is that many states clump this holiday with their own state’s holiday(s).

The Lorraine Motel / National Civil Rights Museum
(Hankering for History Original Photo)

For instance, today is Lee–Jackson–King Day in Virginia. The state of Virginia uses this day to celebrate not only the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr., but also the memories of Robert E. Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson. This is not an uncommon practice across the nation. There are several states that have decided that today is not only for Dr. King. In the southern states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, and Mississippi, today is a day to celebrate the birth of Robert E. Lee. Whether these southern states intended it as an actual day of remembrance, along with the remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr., or just an opportunity to spit in the face of the holiday by clumping together an African-American civil rights leader and a General–if victorious– who would have kept King’s people in chains for decades, is unbeknownst to me.

However, there are states who are in the spirit of what King stood for and have marked this day not only as a celebration for Dr. King, but for what he stood for. In Arizona and New Hampshire, today is Civil Rights Day, and in Idaho, it is it Human Rights Day.

This not a post to talk about his excellent work as a non-violence civil rights leader or his expertise in civil disobedience.

This is not a post to call out Dr. King as a plagiarist or an adulterous man; we all fall short.

This is to remind everyone from where we have come, as a nation. I myself was not alive during the civil rights era, but from what I have read and seen, I believe that America is in a better place than it was fifty years ago. Well, maybe not financially, but with today being the second Presidential Inauguration of America’s first black president, you have to admit that America has become more egalitarian.

The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was such a devastating blow to America’s value system that flags across the nation were lowered to half mast. Wall Street closed for the first time in its history for a private citizen. Even George Wallace, one of America’s most notorious segregationist, described the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a “senseless, regrettable act.” (Of course, some would argue that he only regretted not being able to pull the trigger himself…)

I think it was said best by Gandhi, when she stated,

“[King's assassination] is a setback to mankind’s search for light. Violence removed one of the great men of the world.” - Indira Gandhi

Boycott-National-Civil-Rights

I took the opportunity to go by the Lorraine Motel (Now the National Civil Rights Museum) to pay my respects to Martin Luther King. The museum is currently in the middle of making major renovations to the museum/motel. I was a little surprised by what I saw. Read the banner to the right.

Do people really think that the National Civil Rights Museum is here to “celebrate death and violence?” The National Civil Rights Museum’s website has the following on their website as its mission:

“… the Museum exists to assist the public in understanding the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement and its impact and influence on human rights movements worldwide, through its collections, exhibitions, research and educational programs.”

How could you even confuse the two? I understand that $27 million could provide good elsewhere, but come on. There is no way that anyone can actually believe that the museum was established to “celebrate death and violence.”

On a side note, I just finished Hellhound On His Trail, a National Bestseller about the assassination of Dr. King. Check out my book review on it!