| July 19, 1848 The first Women’s Rights Convention in the U.S. was held at Seneca Falls, New York. Its “Declaration of Sentiments” launched the movement of women to be included in the constitution.The Declaration used as a model the U.S. Declaration of Independence, demanding that the rights of women as individuals be acknowledged and respected by society. It was signed by sixty-eight women and thirty-two men. The impetus came from Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, both of whom had been excluded, along with all the other female American delegates, from the World Anti-Slavery Convention (London, 1840) because of their sex.  Frederick Douglass, the former slave and abolitionist leader attended the convention and supported the resolution for women’s suffrage. When suffrage finally became a reality in 1920, seventy-two years after this first organized demand in 1848, only one signer of the Seneca Falls Declaration, Charlotte Woodward, then a young worker in a glove manufactory, had lived long enough to cast her first ballot. The Seneca Falls Convention and the Early Suffrage Movement The Declaration of Sentiments |
| July 19, 1958 Several black teenagers, members of the local NAACP chapter (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), entered downtown Wichita’s Dockum Drug Store (then the largest drugstore chain in Kansas) and sat down at the lunch counter.  Wichita sit-in sculpture The store refused to serve them because of their race. They returned at least twice a week for the next several weeks. They sat quietly all afternoon, creating no disturbance, but refused to leave without being served. Though the police once chased them away, they were breaking no law, only asking to make a purchase, a violation of store policy. This was the first instance of a sit-in to protest segregationist policies. Less than a month later, a white man around 40 walked in and looked at those sitting in for several minutes. Then he looked at the store manager, and said, “Serve them. I’m losing too much money.” That man was the owner of the Dockum drug store chain. That day the lawyer for the local NAACP branch called the store’s state offices, and was told by the chain’s vice president that “he had instructed all of his managers, clerks, etc. (statewide), to serve all people without regard to race, creed or color.” |
| July 19, 1974 Martha Tranquill of Sacramento, California, was sentenced to nine months’ prison time for refusing to pay her federal taxes as a protest against the Vietnam War. |
| July 19, 1993 President Bill Clinton announced regulations to implement his “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy regarding gays in the military, saying that the armed services should put an end to “witch hunts.” The policy was developed by General Colin Powell, then Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and eventually summarized as “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue, don’t harass.” |
| July 19, 2000 A federal administrative law judge ordered white supremacist Ryan Wilson to pay $1.1 million in damages to fair housing advocate Bonnie Jouhari and her daughter, Dani. The decision stemmed from threats made against Jouhari by Wilson and his Philadelphia neo-Nazi group, ALPA HQ.  Bonnie and Dani Jouhari |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjuly.htm#july19
Scottie's Playtime 
Hi Ali. On the first story why is it accepted that the majority gets to rule on the rights of acceptance of the smaller minorities who are still humans not harming anyone just asking to live their lives. When we moved our RV to a site across the street was the former lifelong military man with tattoos all over him. He was straight and married to his female wife of their lifetime. He also liked to wear dresses and other “female clothing”. His point was if I am wearing it, then it is not female clothing. He was a great person and well respected in the community. He just loved the freedom to dress as he wished. Why is that bad?
I guess money is the end of racism.
I remember Clinton talking on his “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and he blamed the policy on the people / democratic majority not coming out to support him against the assault by the Republicans led by Sam Nunm and the republicans who felt that god did not want straight people working closely with …sinful gay people who would sin them by forcing them to have sex in the showers and such. I have to tell you that I was a gay kid who never had consensual sex until I joined the military. My mind was blown how many people like me were there. My first week in the Navy I had a new friend who wanted to spend time off ship. In the army I was older and understood more. I had a car so I was often asked by straight other students to go on a four days pass with them … and yes we had sex. Funny thing, one of the ones that asked me to do that most often we ended up in Germany together where we still had sex but he seemed more and more reluctant. He finally told me he couldn’t do it anymore. He later got married and then divorced because … he was not straight.
Not all the guys I had sex with were gays, some were bi and others were straight. But imagine you are in the peak of your prime, you are at the peak of your sexuality and you are surrounded by others of your same sex. You don’t think about it or what it means you simply really need to get some fun and release. Now I have to admit a lot of the straight boys I went on breaks with would have sex with me after a few beers, not to be explicit but they were both tops and bottoms as was I, who would later say that was a great time off the base but I was too wasted to know what we did. And a few weeks later asking me to go on another four day pass. I loved each experience and I don’t know what they had to do in their minds to still say they were straight other than … hey let’s just do what feels good at this time. Hugs
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All I can tell you about the first story is, well, it was 1848. I guess they were lucky they got as far as they got.
As to DADT, I wrote, called, and wrote some more; of course my federal legislators were all confounded by the very existence of fully grown gay people existing, much less functioning in society and the military. Pres. Clinton did respond, with a letter (that I don’t have anymore,) the upshot of which was it was the best he could do without full-out mutiny of the military.
We all wish we could do better for each other; we just have to keep on trying!
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