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.
Nov 30
•Pope orders Jews to wear badge
•Anti-war senator runs for president
•Thousands v. WTO in Seattle
Tuesday Dec 1
•International Peace Bureau
•Costa Rica disbands its army
•Rosa Parks won’t stand for it
•African American activist supports Native American rights
•Draft Lottery in U.S.
Wednesday
Dec 2
•Lone voice for peace in German parliament
•Free speech brings arrests
•Steve Biko’s murderers exonerated
•Salvadoran military kills American church women
Thursday
Dec 3
•First college for all
•Civil rights worker’s murderers convicted
•Draft files destroyed
•U.N. support for the disabled
Friday
Dec 4
•American Anti-Slavery Society
•Pres. Wilson confronted on suffrage
•Politicians investigate generation gap
•Black Panther leaders assassinated
Saturday Dec 5
•Bus Boycott begins
•AFL joins with CIO
•Fair Housing in NYC
•More resistance to the draft
•University and radio for peace
Sunday Dec 6
•Slave escapes her chains
•Slavery becomes unconstitutional
•Spain chooses constitutional government
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Pope
Innocent II, in a papal bull (or major sacred pronouncement
of canon law), ordered that
Jews, "whether men or women, must in all Christian countries
distinguish themselves from the rest of the population in public
places by a special kind of clothing." The rule was interpreted
as requiring a badge on clothing as determined by each country.
In England, for example, the tablets with the 10 commandments
were used.
read more
November
30, 1967
Sen.
Eugene McCarthy (D-Minnesota) announced that he would run
on an anti-Vietnam war platform against Pres. Lyndon Johnson
for the nomination of the Democratic Party. McCarthy, though
a contender to be Johnson's running mate in 1964, had since
become increasingly disenchanted with U.S. policy toward
Vietnam, and opposed the war in his campaign.
McCarthy
on the campaign trail
“I
am not for peace at any price, but for an honorable, rational
and political solution to this war; a solution which I believe
will enhance our world position, encourage the respect of our
Allies and our potential adversaries, which will permit us
to get the necessary attention to other commitments . . . and
leave us with resources and moral energy to deal effectively
with [the] pressing domestic problems of the United States
itself.”
read
more, see photos
November
30, 1999
Tens of thousands of activists, students, union members and
environmentalists demonstrating for global justice shut
down the World Trade Organization (WTO) summit in Seattle,
Washington.
International
media coverage ignored both the blockade and the police riot
(and an enormous labor-sponsored rally and march), focusing
instead on minor property damage committed by a few dozen
self-described anarchists.
photo
Elaine Brière
What is the World trade Organization?
What the protests were about
December
1, 1891
The
International Peace Bureau was launched in Rome, Italy, “. . .
to coordinate the activities of the various peace societies
and promote the concept of peaceful settlement of international
disputes.” The organization won the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1910 for its work, and is headquartered in Bern, Switzerland.
December
1, 1948
Following
a brief but bloody civil war in 1948, Costa Rican President
Jose Figueres helped draft a constitution that abolished
the military and guaranteed free election with universal
suffrage (all adult citizens can vote).
Money
not spent on a military allowed the country to adequately
fund health care and education, yielding
one of the highest literacy rates on the continent, ninety-six
percent. This is judged to be a factor in the nation’s
never having fallen prey to corruption, dictatorships,
or the bloodshed that has marred the history of much of
the region.
read
about Costa Rica’s values and attitudes
December
1, 1955
Rosa Parks, a black seamstress active
in the local NAACP, was arrested by police in Montgomery, Alabama,
after refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white man.
Mrs. Parks faced a fine for breaking the segregation laws which
said blacks had to vacate their seats if there were white passengers
left standing. The same bus driver had thrown her off his bus
twelve years prior for refusing to enter through the rear door.
Rosa
Parks
Mrs.
Parks had not been the first to defy the Jim Crow (the
system of legalized or de jure segregation) law but her
arrest sparked the year-long Montgomery Bus Boycott, organized
by a young Baptist minister named Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Montgomery bus company couldn’t survive without
the revenue from its black passengers who, for the next
year, created car pools and other means to avoid using
the city busses. The boycott was successful and Mrs. Parks
became known as the "mother of the civil rights movement."
The
bus restored in Henry Ford Museum
The
story of the bus
Access to sites about
Rosa Parks
Arrest
record of Rosa Parks
December
1, 1966
Comedian
Dick Gregory was convicted in Olympia, Washington for
his participation in a Nisqually Native American fishing
rights protest.
Interview with
Dick Gregory
December
1, 1969
A
lottery was held to determine which young men would be
drafted into the armed services
for the ongoing Vietnam War. A large glass container held
366 blue plastic balls each marked with a birth date. The
drawing determined the order of induction for draft-eligible
men between 18 and 26 years old, and was broadcast live nationally. The
first draft lottery was held in 1942.
Rep. Alexander Pirnie, R-NY, draws the first capsule in the
draft lottery held on Dec. 1, 1969.
The capsule contained the date, Sept. 14.
December
2, 1914
Karl Liebknecht was the
only member of German Parliament to vote against war with
France and Britain. He was arrested shortly thereafter
and conscripted into the German Army. Refusing to fight,
Liebknecht served on the Eastern Front burying the dead.
read
more
Karl
Liebnecht
December
2, 1964
Thousands
who were part of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement gathered
on the steps of Sproul Hall, the administration building
at that University of California campus, to protest four
students being disciplined for distributing political literature;
Joan Baez performed in support. The next day, police arrested
773 who began a sit-in at Sproul Hall. 10,000 more students
then went on strike and shut down the school.
The
Free Speech Movement had begun in October, when three thousand
students surrounded a police
car for 36 hours. Inside the car was a civil rights worker,
Jack Weinberg, who had been arrested for distributing political
literature on the UC-Berkeley campus.
What
was the Free Speech Movement?
Jack
Weinberg
in
police car.
December
2, 1977
A
demonstration erupted outside a South African court after
a magistrate ruled that security police were to be exonerated
in the death of black consciousness leader Steve Biko,
who died while in their custody.
Biko's
funeral
The
demonstrators chanted, "They have killed Steve Biko.
What have we done? Our sin is that we are black?"
His funeral had been attended by more than 15,000 mourners, not including
the thousands who were turned away by the police. He had been arrested
for writing inflammatory pamphlets and "inciting unrest" among
the black community.
Steve
Biko
The
news story
Review
of a Biko biography
Learn
more about Steve Biko:
December
2, 1980
Maryknoll
Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clarke, Ursuline Sr. Dorothy
Kazel, and lay missionary Jean Marie Donovan were raped,
murdered, buried outside San Salvador, and unearthed shortly
thereafter.U.S.-trained
and -supported Salvadoran national guardsmen, widely known
to act as death squads, were suspected.
American
Nuns Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel and Jean Marie
Donovan- killed in El Salvador in 1980.
The
Reagan administration, taking office seven weeks later,
and relying in part on the Salvadoran military to rid Central
America of communism, denied the National Guard’s
involvement. General Alexander Haig, the president’s
secretary of state, explained the churchwomen's deaths
to Congress as an accident caused by nervous soldiers who "misread
the mere traveling down the road (of the nuns' van) as
an effort to run a roadblock." The FBI and CIA later
reported this as a total fabrication, and five national
guardsmen were later convicted of murder.
Still
no justice after twenty years
December
3, 1883
Oberlin College
was founded in Ohio. It as the first college to enroll men
and women on equal terms, and to accept African-American men
and women on equal terms with white students.
December
3, 1965
An
all-white jury in Alabama convicted three Ku Klux Klansmen
for the murder of white civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo.
Viola
Liuzzo
The mother of five from Detroit was shot and killed while
driving a young black activist, Leroy Moton, back
to the town of Selma following a protest march
to the state capital in Montgomery. It was later
learned that another Klansmen in the car, Gary
Thomas Rowe, was an FBI informant.
Klansmen
Collie Wilkins, Eugene Thomas and William Eaton at their trial
read
more
A
serious blogger considers a book about the FBI’s
involvement
December
3, 1969
Files were destroyed at eight New
York City draft boards in protest
of the Vietnam War.
December
3, since 1992
The
International Day of Disabled Persons was declared by
the United Nations. “The
annual observance of the International Day of Disabled
Persons ... aims to promote an understanding of disability
issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and
well-being of persons with disabilities . . . .”
2009 Theme:
"“Making the MDGs Inclusive:
Empowerment of persons with disabilities
and their communities around the world”
December
4, 1833
The American Anti-Slavery Society
was formed by Arthur Tappan in Philadelphia. He and his brother
Lewis had been active abolitionists throughout their lives,
including providing legal defense for the Africans who mutinied
on the slave ship Amistad.
The Anti-Slavery Society produced The Slave's Friend, a monthly
pamphlet of Christian and abolitionist poems, songs,
and stories for children. In its pages, young readers
were encouraged to collect money for the anti-slavery
cause.
Arthur
Tappan
December
4, 1916
Five
members of a women's suffrage group unrolled a banner from
the visitor's gallery during President Wilson's annual
message (state of the union) to Congress, asking, "Mr.
President, What will you do for woman suffrage?" There
was no mention of the issue in his speech.
Wilson
and suffrage
December
4, 1969
Pres. Richard Nixon, Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew and 40 U.S.
governors embarked on a fact-finding mission to discover
the causes of the generation gap. They viewed films
of "simulated acid trips" and listened to
hours of "anti-establishment rock music."
President
Richard Nixon
Vice-President
Spiro T. Agnew
December
4, 1969
Black Panther
party leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were assassinated
by Chicago Police officers with cooperation from the FBI.
Hampton had founded the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther
Party at the age of 20. He led in establishing the Breakfast
for Children program and a free health clinic on the west side
of the City. A main purpose of the Panthers was to resist police
violence.
Fred Hampton
One
of Hampton's achievements was to persuade Chicago's most
powerful street gangs to agree
on a non-aggression pact. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, however,
considered the Panthers as "the greatest threat to the
internal security of the country." The Panther party
headquarters had been raided three times with over 100 members
arrested.
The
Senate Intelligence Committee, led by Frank Church (D-Idaho),
revealed in 1976 that William O'Neal, Hampton's bodyguard,
was an FBI informant who had delivered an apartment floor-plan
to the Bureau with an "X" marking the bed where
Hampton died. About 100 shots were fired by the police, just
one from the building. The survivors, including Deborah Johnson,
Hampton's pregnant girlfriend, were arrested and charged
with attempting to murder the police.
Chicago
police remove the body of Fred Hampton, slain by police
on Chicago's west side, Dec 4, 1969
“ You
can kill a revolutionary, but you can’t kill a
revolution!” –Fred
Hampton
Remembrance
by someone who worked with Deputy Chairman Fred Hampton
December 5, 1955
Five
days after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give
up her bus seat to a white man, the African-American
community of Montgomery, Alabama, launched a boycott
of the city's bus system.
The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was formed to
coordinate the boycott with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
elected as its president.
Out
of Montgomery’s 50,000 black residents, 30,000-40,000
participated. They walked or bicycled or car-pooled,
depriving the bus company of a substantial portion
of its revenue. The boycott lasted (54 weeks) until
it was agreed the buses would be integrated.
What
was the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
December 5, 1955
The American Federation of
Labor, which had historically focused on organizing craft
unions, merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
an organization of unions largely representing industrial
workers, to form the AFL-CIO with a combined membership
of nearly 15 million. George Meany was elected its first
president.
read
more
December 5, 1957
New
York became the first city to legislate against racial
or religious discrimination in housing (Fair Housing
Practices Law).
December 5, 1967
264 were arrested at a military induction
center in New York City during a Stop the Draft Week Committee
action. Dr. Benjamin Spock and poet Allen Ginsberg were
among those arrested for blocking (though symbolically)
the steps at 39 Whitehall Street where the draft board
met. 2500 had shown up at 5:00 in the morning to show their
opposition to the draft and the Vietnam War.
Dr.
Benjamin Spock
Allen
Ginsberg
December
5, 1980
The United Nations adopted the charter for the University
for Peace in Costa Rica. Its purpose would be “promoting
among all human beings the spirit of understanding,
tolerance and peaceful coexistence, to stimulate
cooperation among peoples and to help lessen obstacles
and threats to world peace and progress . . . .”
The
monument sculpted by Cuban artist Thelvia Marín
in 1987, is the world's largest peace monument.
It
also established short-wave Radio for Peace International
(RFPI)which was shut down by the University in 2004
when RFPI exposed a plan between the University for
Peace and the U.S. to hold anti-terrorist combat training
on campus.
Interview
with James Latham, CEO of RFPI when it was under siege
RFPI continues
on the web
December
6, 1849
Harriet Tubman, a slave
in Maryland, escaped her owners.
What
Harriet Tubman did with her freedom
December 6, 1865
The
state of Georgia provided the final vote needed for the
13th Amendment to become part of the U.S. Constitution,
abolishing slavery.
slave
auction
“ Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except
as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been
duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or
any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
first
vote
Two
days before, Mississippi’s
legislature had voted to reject ratification; Mississippi
didn’t ratify the anti-slavery amendment until 1995.
Details of ratification
December 6, 1978
The
voters of Spain approved a new constitution in a popular
referendum by nearly 8-1. It proclaimed Spain to be a parliamentary
monarchy and guaranteed its citizens equality before the
law and a full range of individual liberties, including
religious freedom. While recognizing the autonomy of seventeen
regions, it stressed the indivisibility of the Spanish
state.
There's more peace and justice history to see for this week.
For
a more complete listing for this week or to see another
month please visit Jan • Feb • March • April • May • June • July • Aug • Sept • Oct • Nov • Dec
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This
Week In History compiled by peacebuttons.info from
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McCarthy
on the campaign trail 
Steve
Biko 
slave
auction 
first
vote 
