Category: History

“We Want Beer” and More, in Peace & Justice History for 5/13

May 13, 1888
Brazil, which had imported more African slaves than any other country (nearly 40% of the 11 million Africans shipped to the western hemisphere), abolished slavery.
May 13, 1932
“We Want Beer” marches were held in cities all over America, with 15,000 unionized workers demonstrating in Detroit. Prohibition (the 18th amendment to the U.S. Constitution barring “the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors”) was repealed the following year.
May 13, 1954
Natives of the Marshall Islands pleaded for an end to atmospheric H-Bomb testing in the south Pacific.
A ground zero forgotten  The Washington Post
May 13, 1958
During a goodwill trip through Latin America, Vice President Richard Nixon’s limousine was attacked with rocks and bottles by an angry crowd and nearly overturned while traveling through Caracas, Venezuela. The crowd was angered by U.S. Cold War policies and their effect on Latin America. Five days earlier in the trip, the Vice President had been shoved, stoned, booed, and spat upon by protesters in Peru.
May 13, 1967
250 Chicano students from Los Angeles colleges & universities met to form the United Mexican American Students (UMAS).
May 13, 1968

“We are the power”
Workers joined Paris students’ protest in a one-day general strike calling for the fall of the government and protesting police brutality. The protest by French students included occupation of The Sorbonne; by the end of the month over 10,000,000 French citizens had been involved in school and workplace occupations.
View and read about the great poster art from Paris ‘68 
May 13, 1970
The Movement for a New Congress—to elect peace candidates—was founded at Princeton University.
May 1968, month of intense protest and political organizing around the country 
May 13, 1992
Ecuador’s government granted 148 native communities legal title to more than three million acres (slightly less than the size of the state of Washington) in the Amazon Basin.

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorymay.htm#may13

Some History Posts By Wendy The Druid

Snippets of each. Simply click on the “Read on Substack” links to finish each bit. History is important, and ought to be known. Again, be warned about some language within.

Queer History 104: Martha May Eliot & Ethel Collins Dunham by Wendy🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🌈

Two brilliant women who revolutionized medicine while sharing one bed and one beautiful life Read on Substack

Let me tell you about a love story so powerful it saved millions of children’s lives. Martha May Eliot and Ethel Collins Dunham weren’t just pioneering scientists in a time when women were told to shut up and make babies—they were soulmates who supported each other through nearly six decades of groundbreaking work, homophobia, and institutional sexism. Their love letters tell a story of passion so deep it changed the fucking course of medical history.

Ethel Collins Dunham - Wikipedia

When I think about these two women finding each other in the early 1900s—holding hands under tables at medical conferences, stealing kisses between hospital rounds, and building a home together despite the judgment of their peers—I’m not just impressed. I’m goddamn moved to tears. This is the kind of queer history that reminds us we’ve always been here, always been brilliant, always been changing the world even when the world tried to erase us. (snip-MORE)

Queer History 106: Reed Erickson by Wendy🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🌈

The Trans Guy Millionaire with a Pet Leopard Who Bankrolled a Revolution: How one man’s wealth, vision, and complicated legacy shaped transgender rights in America Read on Substack

Holy shit, you need to hear about Reed Erickson—a transgender millionaire who casually took his pet leopard on private planes while funding the movements that would eventually give trans people like himself basic human rights. This isn’t some fictional character from a Ryan Murphy series; this was a real fucking person who lived hard, loved harder, and threw his considerable fortune behind a revolution most people weren’t ready for.

The Complicated History of Reed Erickson | Autostraddle

Reed’s story hits me in the gut because it’s so goddamn messy and human. He wasn’t a sanitized LGBTQ+ icon with a perfect narrative arc. He was brilliant, visionary, and deeply flawed—a three-time divorcee who became a drug fugitive while still managing to fundamentally reshape how America understood gender. His life reads like a fever dream, but his impact on transgender rights was dead serious. (snip-MORE)

Queer History 107: The Daughters of Bilitis by Wendy🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🌈

From secret social club to revolutionary force – the women who changed queer history forever Read on Substack

In a world where being yourself could get you arrested, institutionalized, or worse, eight women decided to host a goddamn picnic. That picnic club – the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) – became the first recognized lesbian civil rights organization in the United States and sparked a revolution that would change queer history forever. This isn’t just another boring historical footnote; it’s the story of women who risked everything to carve out space for themselves when no one else would.

The Women of Color Behind the Daughters of Bilitis — Malinda Lo

Let’s be real – what started as a way for “Sapphics to dance and talk together” (the most lesbian thing I’ve ever heard) evolved into the first nationally published lesbian magazine in America and eventually led to the first gay wedding in California. These women weren’t just creating community; they were planting the seeds of a movement while the rest of society was trying to pretend they didn’t exist. (snip-MORE)

More History

Kickass Women in History: Ta-bu-ce

The Poor People’s Campaign in Peace & Justice History for 5/12

May 12, 1968
The Poor People’s Campaign, organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) began when contingents of the poor, mainly from the south, began pitching tents in a “Resurrection City” near the Lincoln Memorial. It was dismantled by police on June 24.
Aerial view of Resurrection City, next to the Lincoln Memorial
How a Photographer Illuminated the Plight of the ‘Invisible Poor’ 
The Poor People’s Campaign Today!

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorymay.htm#may12

Peace & Justice History for 5/11

May 11, 1973
Charges against former Pentagon analyst Daniel Ellsberg (including conspiracy, espionage and larceny) for his role in the release of The Pentagon Papers (a comprehensive classified study of the origins and conduct of the Vietnam War) were dismissed.
Judge William M. Byrne cited government misconduct, including attempts to bribe him with an appointment as FBI Director, and previously undisclosed wiretaps of Ellsberg. His compatriot, Tony Russo, a former RAND Corporation analyst, was also released.

Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers a book review
 Daniel Ellsberg’s website 
May 11, 1975
80,000 turned out in New York City’s Central Park to celebrate the end of the Vietnam War.

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorymay.htm#may11

Peace & Justice History for 5/10

May 10, 1857
The Sepoy Rebellion was triggered in Meerut, India, when native troops (known as Sepoys, which also designated a rank equivalent to private) turned on their British officers.It was the first instance of armed resistance against colonial rule. Indians constituted 96% of the 300,000-man British Army. Loading the Lee-Enfield Rifled Musket assigned to the Sepoys involved biting the end of a cartridge greased in a combination of pig fat and beef tallow.

“Attack of the Mutineers,” a British illustration of the Sepoy Rebellion
The former is haraam (forbidden) under Islamic law, the latter offensive to Hindus who consider the cow as aghanya (that which may not be slaughtered). When the Sepoys, including both Hindu and Muslim Indians, became aware of this, some refused to load their weapons. Mangal Pandey, a soldier in the Army shot his commander for forcing the Indian troops to use the controversial rifles. When others were charged with mutiny for refusing, Sepoys turned on their officers and released the imprisoned soldiers.
The rebellion is now considered the first Indian war for independence.
More on the rebellion 
May 10, 1967
Army Captain Howard Levy, a physician, was imprisoned three years for refusing to train U.S. Special Forces soldiers for Vietnam. He refused an order to perform the training as he considered it a violation of his medical ethics.
“The United States is wrong in being involved in the Viet Nam War. I would refuse to go to Viet Nam if ordered to do so. I don’t see why any colored soldier would go to Viet Nam: they should refuse to go to Viet Nam and if sent should refuse to fight because they are discriminated against and denied their freedom in the United States, and they are sacrificed and discriminated against in Viet Nam by being given all the hazardous duty and they are suffering the majority of casualties.”
– From the Supreme Court case, Parker, Warden, et al. v. Levy.
May 10, 1968

Peace talks began in Paris between the U.S. and North Vietnam with businessman, former New York governor, ambassador and cabinet secretary W. Averell Harriman representing the United States. Former Foreign Minister Xuan Thuy, heading the North Vietnamese delegation, immediately demanded cessation of U.S. bombing.
May 10, 1972
Jane Briggs Hart, the wife of Senator Philip A. Hart (D-Michigan), informed the Internal Revenue Service that she wouldn’t pay some of her taxes; instead, she deposited her quarterly estimated tax of $6,200 in a special bank account.
She wrote: “I cannot contribute one more dollar toward the purchase of more bombs and bullets.”

Jane Briggs Hart
More about Jane Briggs Hart 
May 10, 1980

The National Organization for Women (NOW) organized 85,000 people to march in Chicago in support of Illinois’s ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

A chronology of the Equal Rights Amendment, 1923-1996 
Visit the NOW Foundation 
May 10, 1980

A federal judge in Salt Lake City, Utah, found the U.S. government negligent for its above-ground testing of nuclear weapons in Nevada from 1951 to 1962.
The land of the Nevada Test Site is scarred with craters from nuclear testing.
May 10, 1994

Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president. He had won the country’s first election in which all South Africans could vote, regardless of race. Mandela had spent nearly three decades imprisoned for his part in the struggle to attain political and civil rights for black and colored citizens. This ended more than three centuries of white rule, beginning with the Dutch in 1652.
Biography of Nelson Mandela 
South African chronology 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorymay.htm#may10

Trump & Deportations: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

John Oliver discusses the recent deportations by the Trump administration, the conditions in the facility people are being sent to abroad, and why even Henry Winkler could be in danger of being expelled from the U.S. Yeah, even national treasure Henry Winkler.

Muhammad Ali Refuses, and More in Peace & Justice History for 5/9

May 9, 1967
In April, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali had refused induction into the U.S. Army based on his religious convictions.He claimed, “I ain’t got no quarrel with those Vietcong.” On this day, following his indictment by 24 hours, he was stripped of his title and his license to fight by the World Boxing Association.
In June, a court found him guilty of draft evasion, fined him $10,000, and sentenced him to five years in prison. He remained free, pending numerous appeals, but was still barred from fighting for three years.
Muhammad Ali refuses Army induction 
Remembering Muhammad Ali’s act of defiance 
May 9, 1969
The New York Times revealed the United States had been secretly bombing Cambodia—officially a noncombatant, neutral country—during the Vietnam War.
May 9, 1970
Five days after the Kent State killings [see May 4, 1970], 100,000 marched in Washington, D.C. against the Vietnam War. On the same day, about 600 Canadian protesters defaced the Peace Arch at the U.S.-Canadian border in Blaine, Washington.
May 9, 1979
At least 18 demonstrators were killed and many wounded after police opened fire on anti-government protesters outside the Metropolitan Cathedral in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador.

CBS reporter: “The police continued to fire as bodies piled up on the cathedral steps”
More (including graphic video) on the cathedral bloodbath 
May 9, 1996
In San Salvador six soldiers were arrested in the slaying of Catholic church workers from the U.S.

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorymay.htm#may9

For What It’s Worth:

Dueling Substacks about the new Pope, one from Charlotte Clymer, one from The Alt Media (language alert); both inoffensively readable by those who frequent here. Well, the language thing maybe. Snippets, not full pieces.

An American for Pope and a Great Choice by Charlotte Clymer

I’m quite happy. Read on Substack

Chicago native Robert Francis Prevost has just been elected the 267th Bishop of Rome, the head of the Catholic Church, taking the name Leo XIV.

He was only made a cardinal in 2023 and was serving as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, or overseeing the selection of new bishops. Prior to that was a long pastoral career in Peru. He speaks English, Spanish, Italian, French, and Portuguese, and can read Latin and German.

Goodness gracious, y’all, I could not have been more wrong in my prediction for the new pope. I never thought the cardinal electors would select an American. To say I’m stunned would be an understatement.

However, for the record, I did humor his chances in my prediction:

For example, there’s a (very unlikely) scenario in which someone like Cardinal Robert Prevost is elected: a compromise candidate who’s broadly considered safe and palatable between both ends of the ideological spectrum. But there are other cardinals that fit this and Prevost could be in 20+ years.

Okay, so, here are my initial thoughts:

This is a great choice, and I’m quite happy.

Folks need to understand that any choice for the new pope was going to be nominally anti-LGBTQ in a number of ways. What’s important is compassion and openness toward LGBTQ folks, and I’m optimistic that Pope Leo XIV will continue that direction pursued by Pope Francis. (snip-MORE)

The Resistance Pope by Adam Parkhomenko

Thank God the new pope hates JD Vance too Read on Substack

Does everyone hate JD Vance?

Well does the pope shit in the woods?

We might have that second question wrong. But thanks to twitter, we know the answer to the first one. And while we doubt the new pope really hates Vance, it’s nice to know he at least disagrees with the ass-kissing couch-fuck.

Before he became Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, Robert Prevost was on twitter. And it was there that he wrote “JD Vance is wrong,” posting a story that was a rebuke of Vance’s hateful beliefs. It was on twitter that he suggested he wants to battle climate change and believes that Black lives matter and subtweeted about Trump laughing at Kilmar Garcia. Thanks to twitter, we know the new pope is nothing like the new president. https://embed.bsky.app/embed/did:plc:5xeqzwhqcwnczcb62wv3da7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3loohb33sps2i?id=5706215191635626

The new pope is an American. And there’s nothing more American than thinking JD Vance is a douchebag. (snip-MORE, and you can see the bluesky bit on the page)

The American Peace Society, Nguyen Thi Co, and More, in Peace & Justice History for 5/8

May 8, 1882
The American Peace Society was established when the peace societies of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania merged to become a national organization. Currently based in Boston, the merged organization was a result of the leadership of William Ladd, an advocate of a “Congress and High Court of Nations” for solving international disputes.

William Ladd, one of the founders of the American Peace Society
American Peace Society 
May 8, 1933
Mohandas Gandhi began a 21-day fast to support political rights for the Dalit (or untouchables) whom he called Harijans, the children of God. He had been jailed by the British to interfere with his movement to end colonial control of India. He was released the day after he began his personal purification because the colonial authorities were afraid he might die in prison.
Gandhi And His Fasts 
May 8, 1962
An estimated 9,000,000 people in Belgium participated in a ten-minute work stoppage to protest nuclear weapons.
May 8, 1971
Nguyen Thi Co immolated herself in protest of the Vietnam War, as did Thich Nu Tinh Nhuan later that month.
May 8, 1984
Presbyterian minister Reverend Benjamin Weir was kidnapped in Beirut, Lebanon, while out walking with his wife, Carol.
Members of Islamic Jihad (later known as Hezbollah), a terrorist group in Lebanon, held Weir for sixteen months—twelve of them in solitary confinement—along with six other Americans who were released later, including journalist Terry Anderson. Before the kidnapping, Weir had spent nearly three decades in Lebanon as a Christian missionary and teacher at the Near East School of Theology. In his various positions in the Presbyterian church since his release, Weir was a voice for reconciliation and tolerance.

Reverend Benjamin Weir

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorymay.htm#may8