This Week In Peace History

view in web browser if not displaying properly

This Week in History is a collection designed to help us appreciate the fact that we are part of a rich history advocating peace and social justice. While the entries often focus on large and dramatic events there are so many smaller things done everyday to promote peace and justice.

To the real peace advocates - YOU!

Publisher, Carl Bunin • Editor, Al Frank • Detroit, Michigan
view in web browser

This week at a glance.

Monday

Aug 30
•Freedom delayed by Dems
•Civil rights hero becomes Justice
•School busses destroyed
•Polish workers victorious

Tuesday
Aug 31
•Back-to-Africa leader
•Don’t burn your draft card
•U.S. vs. John Lennon
•IRA rejects violence

Wednesday

Sept 1
•Fast For Life
•Stop the weapons I
•Stop the weapons II
•No taxes for war

Thursday

Sept 2
•Declaration of (Vietnamese) Independence
•Integration: school cancelled
•Leader of Vietnamese Independence passes

Friday

Sept 3
•A slave escapes
•Congress of African People
•Kurdish Peace Train

Saturday
Sept 4
•No peace on Labor Day
•PPU says no to H-bomb
•Governor says no to integration
•Vets say no to war
•Demos:
Red Square & White house

Sunday
Sept 5
•1st Labor Day Parade
•Palmer Raids
•Women For Life On Earth

The little button with a BIG message		94,168 distributed! Order some and make peace more visible.
Peace buttons most recently sent to...Oroville, CA • Wappingers Falls, NY • North Richland Hills, TX Baltimore, MD • Northfield, MN • Glendale, CA • Putnam, CT • Camarillo, CA • Houston, TX see where peace buttons are in the world

peacebutton.info

The little button with a BIG message

BACK TO SCHOOL ITEMS

BRIGHT peace symbol buttons are loved by teachers and students click to order
Pencils

August 30, 1964

The Democratic Party National Convention refused to seat any delegates from the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). The Credentials Committee chose to seat the all-white delegation from Mississippi’s regular Democratic Party despite overwhelming evidence of the state party’s efforts to disenfranchise Mississippi’s Negro citizens. A proposed compromise of two non-voting guest delegates from MFDP was rejected by its leaders.

The dispute, the political intrigue, and the long-term effects

The Peace Cap

makes a great gift!
one size fits all
3 colors
click to order

Peace quote . . .

"Today's Constitution is a realistic document of freedom only because of several corrective amendments. Those amendments speak to a sense of decency and fairness that I and other Blacks cherish."
- Justice Thurgood Marshall
see more quotes

Appoint Elizabeth Warren

Tell President Obama: We want Elizabeth Warren to regulate Wall
Sign the petition

August 30, 1967

The Senate confirmed the appointment of Thurgood Marshall as the first Supreme Court Justice of African-American descent. Marshall had been counsel to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and had been the lead attorney in the Brown v. Board of Education case. He was appointed to the Court by Pres. Lyndon Johnson after having served as Solicitor General of the U.S. for two years, and on the U.S. Court of Appeals for four.

Thurgood Marshall

August 30, 1971

Ten empty school busses were dynamited in Pontiac, Michigan, eight days before a school integration plan was to begin. Following Federal Judge Damon Keith’s finding that Pontiac’s school board had “intentionally” perpetuated segregation, a plan was developed by the board that included bussing of 8700 children. The bombers were later identified as leaders and members of the Ku Klux Klan, arrested, tried, convicted and imprisoned.

The whole story in context

August 30, 1980

Striking Polish workers, their numbers approaching 150,000, won a sweeping victory in a battle with the Polish Communist government for the right to independent trade unions and the right to strike. Their lead negotiator was Lech Walesa, head of the union, Solidarnos´c´ (Solidarity).
Lech Walesa announces the deal to cheering crowds of shipyard workers.

August 31, 1921

Marcus Garvey, leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, often referred to as the Back-to-Africa movement in the U.S., was declared “Provisional President of Africa” in a Harlem (New York City) ceremony.
Black nationalist Marcus Garvey is shown in a military uniform as the 'Provisional President of Africa' during a parades up Lenox Avenue in Harlem, New York City, in August 1922, during the opening day exercises of the annual Convention of the Negro Peoples of the World.

Hear one of his speeches recorded that summer

August 31, 1965

U.S. Pres. Lyndon Johnson signed into law a bill criminalizing destruction of draft cards. Although it could result in a five-year prison sentence and $1000 fine, the burnings became common during anti-Vietnam War rallies and often attracted the attention of news media.

Draft card burning, 1967

August 31, 1974

	In federal court, John Lennon of The Beatles testified the Nixon Administration had tried to have him deported because of his involvement with anti-war demonstrations at the 1972 Republican convention in Miami.
	A review of the movie about Lennon’s struggle to stay in the U.S.:

Peace quote . . .

"If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal."
- John Lennon
see more quotes

August 31, 1994

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) declared a permanent and “complete cessation of military operations” after 25 years of bombing and 3000 deaths (both republican and unionist) intended to end British control of Northern Ireland.

September 1, 1986

Angelo (Charlie) Liteky & George Mizo, both Vietnam veterans, began an open-ended Fast For Life on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

	They were calling attention to their opposition to U.S. support of the Nicaraguan contras and repressive regimes in El Salvador and Guatemala, “our expression of a deeply felt desire to do everything and anything we can . . . to stop the war with Nicaragua.”
	Charles Liteky	George Mizo

Liteky was a Catholic chaplain in the Vietnam War and had received the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Charles Liteky and his subsequent peace efforts

You can support the
Peace History
e-newsletter.

Visit the
peacebuttons
store

click here

September 1, 1987

During a nonviolent protest at the Concord (California) Naval Weapons Station, a Navy munitions train ran over Brian Willson.

Brian Willson bird-watching California, 1997.

An Air Force and Vietnam veteran, Willson and the other protesters were attempting to stop shipment of weapons to Nicaragua and El Salvador.
They considered U.S. policy in Central America a violation of the Nuremberg Principles. Willson lost both legs and suffered other injuries but has remained an active and articulate leader in the anti-military movement.

Ron Kovic (author 'Born on the Fourth of July')
and Brian Willson (also born on the Fourth of July)

Willson’s testimony before the U.S. House Armed Services Subcommittee on Investigations

Brian's Biography

Let peace fly . . .

"frisbees"
Now only
$5/each | 3 for $13
makes a great gift!
click to order

September 1, 1997

Kurdish and British activists blockaded an arms trade exhibition outside London. 89 members of Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT)were arrested for protesting the presence of Turkish, Chinese and Indonesian government representatives in Britain to purchase weapons. The Labour government had pledged “[We will] not permit the sale of arms to regimes that could use them for internal repression or external aggression . . . .” Great Britain is the world’s second largest arms manufacturer (by dollar volume) after the U.S.

What happened that day

Readers comment

". . . the perfect thing for my peacenik Dad's memorial. He will live on in our lives with this message! . . .It was a pleasure doing
business with you . . .
Take care, peace and
thank you so much"
Ruth, Winnipeg, CA
see more comments

September 1 - International Day of War Tax Resistance.

“Refusing to pay taxes for war is probably as old as the first taxes levied for warfare...”

History of War Tax Resistance

Custom Buttons

Have an idea for a button?
Your art or we'll design
sizes 1"-6" dia
any quantity
union made•detroit
email us

September 2, 1945

Revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam a republic and independent from France (National Day). Half a million people gathered in Hanoi to hear him read the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, which was modeled on the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

Read the text and note the similarities

note:Ho Chi Minh translates to 'He Who Enlightens'

Peace quote . . .

"Peace is no mere matter of men fighting or not fighting. Peace, to have meaning for many who have known only suffering in both peace and war, must be translated into bread or rice, shelter, health, and education, as well as freedom and human dignity
- a steadily better life"
Ralph Bunche
see more quotes

September 2, 1966

On what was supposed to be the first day of school in Grenada, Mississippi—and the first day in an integrated school for 450 Negro children—the school board postponed opening of school for 10 days because of “paperwork.” Nevertheless, the high school played its first football game that night. Some of the Negro kids who had registered for that school tried to attend the game but were beaten and their car windows smashed.

September 2, 1969

Vietnamese revolutionary and national leader Nguyen Tat Thanh (aka Ho Chi Minh), 79, died of natural causes in Hanoi.			Uncle Ho
Ho and his struggle for Vietnamese independence
Ho Chi Minh

Back to school

BRIGHT
peace symbol buttons are
loved by teachers and students
click to order

and

Pencils

"The pencil is mightier than the sword"

September 3, 1838

Frederick Douglass made his escape from slavery in Baltimore and went on in life to become an abolitionist, journalist, author, and human rights advocate.

The escape from “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave”

a Frederick Douglass biography

September 3, 1970

Representatives from 27 African nations, the Caribbean nations, four South American countries, Australia, and the U.S. met in Atlanta, Georgia, for the first Congress of African People.

Readers comment

"I just wanted to thank you again for doing this wonderful thing. It's a great gift, I bet to many, many people. It's great!!!"
see more comments

peace symbol signs

Just insert stick and you're ready to go
many make a powerful
statement

September 3, 1997

The Musa Anter, or Kurdish Peace Train (named after an assassinated Kurdish writer) was organized by peace activists to call attention to the oppression of the Kurdish people in Turkey by their own government. At the time, the Turkish words for Kurd, Kurdish, guerilla and torture were banned, and it was illegal to speak the Kurdish language.

The Peace Train was to leave London and travel through Europe to Diyarbakir in eastern Turkey to celebrate International Anti-War Day there. Germany disallowed passage of the Train through its territory (the Germans and Turks have strong military ties). The group then flew to Istanbul, intending to take a fleet of busses to the Kurdish region. Turkish troops stopped them from reaching Diyarbakir, forcing them back to the capital.
On this day they tried to hold a press conference to discuss the Kurdish issue. The police arrested or beat all present, including foreign diplomats.

The story of the Musa Anter Peace Train

September 4, 1949

Paul Robeson, scholar, athlete, musician and leader, defying a racist and red-baiting mob, sang to 15,000 at a Labor Day gathering in Peekskill, New York.
The story and photographs of what happened
Paul Robeson (at microphone) singing to the Labor Day gathering in Peekskill, New York

Film from that day narrated by Sidney Poitier

Peace quote . . .

"As an artist I come to sing, but as a citizen, I will always speak for peace, and no one can silence me in this."
- Paul Robeson
see more quotes

September 4, 1954

The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) organized a demonstration against the H-Bomb in London’s Trafalgar Square. The PPU dates back to October 1934.

the PPU today

history of the Peace Pledge Union

Young Peace Pledge Union members today.

Readers comment

"Thank you for continung to cronicle these commemorations;
I continue to be amazed at what people have accomplished and further tried to further peace."
-Jacquie Steingold
see more comments

September 4, 1957

	Elizabeth Eckford and eight other young Negroes were blocked from becoming the first black student at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Gov. Orval Faubus had called out the National Guard to prevent the court-ordered integration of the public schools in the state’s capital. Pres. Dwight Eisenhower eventually sent in federal troops to guarantee the law was enforced.
Elizabeth Eckford	read more	Elizabeth Eckford followed by mob, 1957.

a poem about
Elizabeth Eckford

"The toughest people in this country is not how strong you are by physique, but in how strong you are in character . . .
Anyone can step up to make a difference because Elizabeth was only fifteen years of age."
-from A Tribute to Elizabeth Eckford
by Richard L

September 4, 1970

Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) began Operation RAW (Rapid American Withdrawal). Over the following three days more than 200 veterans, assisted by the Philadelphia Guerilla Theater, staged a march from Morristown, New Jersey, to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, reenacting the invasion of small rural hamlets along the way.

Operation Rapid American Withdrawal 1970-2005: An Exhibition:

You can support the
Peace History
e-newsletter.

Visit the
peacebuttons
store

click here

Send This Week in Peace History to friends

September 4, 1978

Simultaneous demonstrations in Moscow’s Red Square and in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. were organized by the War Resisters League, calling for nuclear disarmament.

September 5, 1882

Well over 10,000 workers demanding the 8-hour day marched to protest working conditions in the first-ever U.S. Labor Day parade, held in New York City. About a quarter million New Yorkers turned out to watch.

	The idea was that of Peter J. McGuire, a union carpenter and cofounder of the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, a precursor of the American Federation of Labor.
	< Peter J. McGuire, the carpenter and labor leader who conceived of Labor Day
HHe wanted to honor the American worker and create a holiday break between the 4th of July and Thanksgiving, proposing a “festive parade through the streets of the city.”		1st Labor Parade in Union Square, NYC 1882
Originally the second Tuesday of the month, it is now the first Monday, and recognized as a national holiday.

More on the history and practice of Labor Day

Peace quote . . .

“While there is a lower class I am in it; while there is a criminal element I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free”
- Eugene V. Debs
see more quotes

September 5, 1917

	In 48 coordinated raids across the country, later known as the Palmer Raids, federal agents seized records, destroyed equipment and books, and arrested hundreds of activists involved with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), known fondly as the Wobblies. Among the arrested was William D. “Big Bill” Haywood, a leader of the IWW, for the “crimes of labor" and “obstructing World War I.”
Attorney General Mitchell Palmer			Big Bill Haywood

An Italian anarchist’s bomb blew himself up on the porch of Attorney General Mitchell Palmer’s residence in Washington shortly after the discovery of 38 bombs mailed to leading politicians.