19 November marks the birthday of Puerto Rican Nationalist Lolita Lebron. On a rainy March 1st in 1954, Ms. Lebron left New York City, where she had been working in a shoe factory, and arrived in …
American History
The New Frontier
55 years ago, on 23 October, Senator John F. Kennedy spoke at the Field House on the UW-Madison Campus as part of his campaign for the Presidency, included in his remarks was the following statement: …
Out of the Closet and Into the Streets of Philadelphia
On this date, 19 October, last year, Gloria Casarez died after living with cancer for five years. Casarez was a founding member and community organizer of Empty the Shelters, a national housing rights and economic …
Taking Oath
2 October marks the date of the swearing in of Thurgood Marshall, America’s first African-American Supreme Court Justice. Prior to his 1967 appointment he had come to the attention of the public by arguing the …
The Underbelly of the Gilded Age
This week marks the birthday of author Upton Sinclair in 1878. A Pulitzer Prize winning author, he was perhaps best known for his novel, The Jungle, which depicted the working conditions of immigrant workers in …
HUELGA!
On 8 September, 1965, labor organizers Cesar Chavez and Delores Huerta, among others, held a conference to demand that farm workers be allowed the right to choose if they wished to be represented by a …
A Good Day to Die
25 June 1876 marked one of the last major military engagements between the US Calvary and Native American Tribes. Known as the ‘Battle of the Little Bighorn’ it pitted George A. Custer, a veteran of …
Too Many Martyrs
June 21, 1964 – Three civil rights workers – James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner – left Meridian, Mississippi, at 9 a.m. to investigate a church burning. They were expected back by 4 p.m. When …
The Birth of “Fighting Bob”
14 June marks the birthday of one of Wisconsin’s most famous sons, Robert M. Lafollette (1855 – 1925). Lafollette served as both Governor and US Senator from Wisconsin, and launched an independent bid for the …
The Final Journey
On 6 June 1968, Robert F. Kennedy, at the time a US Senator and candidate for President, was shot and killed by an assassin. Following his funeral in New York City, Senator Kennedy’s body was …