November Events - Today in Civil Liberties History

November

Nov 1

1910

W. E. B. Du Bois Begins Editing NAACP’s “The Crisis”

1917

National Civil Liberties Bureau Reports Sweeping Government Censorship

1921

Margaret Sanger Founds American Birth Control League

1948

Smith Act Trial Begins – First Amendment Test Lies Ahead

1957

Alfred Kinsey Wins Sex Research Censorship Case

1963

“Freedom Vote” in Mississippi Begins

1968

Rated “X” – New Movie Ratings System Goes Into Effect

2001

President Bush Limits Access to Past Presidents’ Papers

Nov 2

1917

Post Office Ban on Anti-War “The Masses” Upheld – Repression of Dissent Expands

1920

Women Vote For First Time in Federal Elections

1948

President Truman Re-Elected – Two Civil Liberties Actions Play Major Role

1965

First Federally Supported Birth Control Clinic Opens

1969

First Gay Pride March Proposed

1972

“Trail of Broken Treaties” – 500 Native-Americans Occupy BIA Offices

1983

Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Established as National Holiday

2002

“Oh My G*D!” – Godless Americans March on Washington

2005

“Black Sites” – Washington Post Exposes Secret CIA Prisons

2010

Three Judges Removed From Iowa Supreme Court – Voted For Same-Sex Marriage

2013

“No Bit of Information Too Minuscule” – NSA Spying Philosophy Revealed

Nov 3

1924

Ralph Lazo, Hispanic Student Who Voluntarily Entered Japanese-American Internment Camps, Born

1936

Dennis Chavez First Hispanic Elected to the U.S. Senate

1964

First Washington, D.C., Vote for President

1986

Iran-Contra Scandal Exposed

2002

Secular Coalition for America Organized

2018

Ramona Ripston, Long-Time ACLU-Southern California Leader, Dies at Age 91

Nov 4

1907

Chicago Creates First Film Censorship Board in the U.S.

1918

“Disloyalists United” – Justice Department Slurs Anti-War Groups

1952

National Security Agency (NSA) Begins Operation

1953

President Eisenhower Privately Admits Loyalty Program Problems – Does Not Act on Them

1964

Lenny Bruce, Radical Comedian, Convicted of Obscenity in New York City

1978

President Jimmy Carter Signs Presidential Records Act

1988

U.S. Finally Ratifies UN Genocide Convention

2008

First African-American Elected President – Barack Obama

2008

Proposition 8 – California Bans Same-Sex Marriage

Nov 5

1917

Louisville Racial Segregation Ordinance Held Unconstitutional

1918

“As Natural as Breathing” – Women Vote for First Time in a New York Election

1946

Joe McCarthy Elected to Senate – “McCarthyism” Lies Ahead

1956

Nat King Cole Show, First to Star an African-American, Debuts on NBC television

1968

Shirley Chisholm First African-American Woman Elected to the House of Representatives

2013

Conservatives Block Ratification of UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Nov 6

1964

Conflict Arises Over Role of Women in the Civil Rights Movement

1978

Sarah Weddington, “Roe” Lawyer, Appointed Counsel to President Carter

1990

Seattle Voters Reject Repeal of Domestic Partnership Ordinance

2012

Tammy Baldwin Elected First Openly Lesbian/Gay U.S. Senator

2012

Quadruple Electoral Win for Same-Sex Marriage

Nov 7

1916

Jeannette Rankin Elected on This Day – First Woman Elected to Congress

1919

Repression! First Palmer Raids Seize Radicals in Twelve Cities

1922

Oregon Passes KKK-Sponsored Anti-Catholic Education Law

1932

Scottsboro Case Impact – Supreme Court Rules Lawyer Required in Capital Cases

1940

Universities Agree to AAUP Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure

1955

The Road to FOIA Begins – Rep. John Moss Opens Hearings on Government Secrecy

1967

Real Black Power Arrives: The New Elected Black Mayors

1973

Congress Overrides Nixon Veto – Passes War Powers Resolution

1973

New Jersey Civil Rights Division Rules Little League Must Admit Girls

1977

Harvey Milk, Openly Gay Man, Elected San Francisco Supervisor

1978

California Voters Reject Ban on Lesbians, Gays Teaching in Public Schools

2000

Congress Passes “Wartime Violations of Italian-Americans Act”

Nov 8

1919

Benjamin Gitlow Arrested – Makes Civil Liberties History in 1925

1965

Wall of Separation Breached – Limited Federal Aid to Parochial Schools Approved

1966

Edward W. Brooke First African-American Popularly Elected to U. S. Senate

1966

NYC Voters Abolish Civilian Complaint Review Board for the Police

1967

President Johnson Ends Barriers to Promoting Women in Military

1989

Douglas Wilder Elected First African-American Governor of Virginia

1994

Oregon Voters Approve Death with Dignity Act

2016

Donald Trump Elected President — Assault of Democracy Begins

Nov 9

1919

WWI Veterans Told to “Put Down Enemies at Home”

1964

Marxist Folk Music Critic Famously Criticizes Bob Dylan for Abandoning Protest Music

1965

Vietnam War Protester Sets Himself On Fire

1969

Fourteen Native-Americans Occupy Alcatraz

1970

Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Constitutionality of Vietnam War

Nov 10

1919

“Abrams” – Justice Holmes Delivers Landmark Dissent on Freedom of Speech

1919

American Legion Founded – Begins Anti-Civil Liberties Crusade

1919

Victor Berger Expelled From House of Representatives for Socialist, Anti-War Views

1924

Society for Human Rights, First Gay Rights Group, Founded

1961

Estelle Griswold Arrested – Road to a Right to Privacy Begins

1973

Lambda Legal Defense Fund Holds First Formal Meeting

1973

North Dakota School Burns Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five”

2001

Sikhs Allege Harassment Following 9/11 Attacks

Nov 11

1775

“They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”

1915

Pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) Founded

1921

First American Birth Control Conference

1950

Mattachine Society Founded – First National Gay Men’s Rights Group

1956

ACLU Releases Pioneering Report on Academic Freedom for Students

1961

CORE “Freedom Motorcade” in Maryland Cancelled

1961

Rep. Moss Charges Government Agencies Hide More Information Than They Release

Nov 12

1914

Civil Rights Leader Monroe Trotter Confronts President Wilson in White House Over Segregation

1958

Joseph Papp, Fired and Blacklisted, Ordered Reinstated in Job at CBS

1968

Freedom to Teach – Scopes Finally Vindicated in Epperson Case

1973

Airline Stewardesses Win Sweeping Discrimination Suit

1975

William O. Douglas Resigns from Supreme Court

Nov 13

1921

New York Police Halt Birth Control Meeting at Town Hall

1959

“The Lovers” Opens in Cleveland, Heads for Supreme Court

1969

“Impudent Snobs” – Vice President Agnew Attacks News Media

2001

Bush Orders Military Tribunals, Filled With Civil Liberties Problems

Nov 14

1919

Nebraska Governor Orders Arrest of All I.W.W. Members

1960

Tuskegee, Alabama,Voting District Violates the 15th Amendment

1972

“Maude’s Dilemma” – An Abortion Mentioned on a TV Sitcom

1985

Gay Rights Town Hall Meeting, GLAAD Formed

2001

Vice President Cheney: “Terrorists Don’t Deserve to be Treated as Prisoners of War”

2018

African-American Artists Re-Imagine Norman Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms;” Create an Inclusive Image of America

Nov 15

1915

American Union Against Militarism, Forerunner of the ACLU, Founded

1917

“Night of Terror” – Suffragists Brutalized in Washington, D.C. Workhouse

1934

American Library of Nazi Banned (and Burned) Books Opens

1939

“Grapes of Wrath” Ordered Burned in East St. Louis, IL

1967

CIA Delivers LBJ-Ordered Report on U.S. Peace Groups

1969

Second Anti-Vietnam War Moratorium – Massive Protests

Nov 16

1928

Rep. Fiorello LaGuardia Affirms Freedom of Speech

1947

Ayn Rand Publishes Anti-Communist “Screen Guide for Americans”

1948

Anti-National Health Care “Thought Control in Medicine” Denounced

1957

Catholic Bishops Adopt Plan to Fight Obscenity

1993

Congress Passes Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)

Nov 17

1955

Civil Rights Bloc Formed in Congress

1961

Albany, Georgia, Civil Rights Campaign Begins – Kennedy Administration Fails to Support

1961

U.S. Civil Rights Commission Finds Police Brutality “A Serious Problem” Nationwide

1973

President Nixon: “I Am Not a Crook”

1978

Women Against Pornography Conference Poses Challenge to First Amendment

1981

CBS Broadcasts Docudrama on Skokie Free Speech Controversy

1987

Dick Cheney Gives Early Warning – Asserts Presidential Power in Iran-Contra Report

Nov 18

1913

Mass Suffrage Meeting In Washington Hears Noted British Suffragist

1917

Suffragist Leader Alice Paul, in Hunger Strike, Transferred to Prison Hospital

1921

Margaret Sanger Gives Previously Banned Speech -“The Morality of Birth Control”

1943

Liberal, Racial Minority, and Labor Groups Urge Post Office Ban on Hate Mail

1964

FBI Director Hoover Calls Martin Luther King the “Most Notorious Liar”

1977

KKK Member Convicted in 1963 Birmingham, AL, Church Bombing

2003

Massachusetts State Court Establishes Right to Same-Sex Marriage

Nov 19

1924

Women’s Groups Recommend Appointment of Women to NY State Board of Regents

1925

Columbia Univ. President, Congressman Blast KKK as Contrary to American Ideals

1928

Supreme Court Upholds NY Restrictions on KKK and Similar Groups

1938

ACLU to Aid Nazi Groups on First Amendment Rights

1961

Rash of Speaker Bans at City University in New York City, Hits Left, Right Speakers

1969

Nixon White House Tries to Explain Phone Calls to TV Stations

1972

Free Speech Protects Right to Warn Drivers About Police Radar

1986

Reagan Fumbles Truth at Iran-Contra Scandal Press Conference

2019

Walter J. Minton, Publisher of “Lolita” and Other Controversial Books, Dies

Nov 20

1789

Congratulations New Jersey! First State to Ratify the Bill of Rights

1910

Pauli Murray, Civil Rights and Feminist Activist, is Born

1926

Protests Greet Planned Speech by Communist/Atheist Anthony Bimba in Boston

1930

Judge Accused of Denying Lawyer to 17 Year-Old Communist

1947

Americans United Launches Fight for Separation of Church and State

1961

Supreme Court Unanimously Upholds Exclusion of Women From Juries

1962

“Stroke of the Pen” – JFK Finally Issues Ban on Housing Discrimination

1969

79 Native-Americans Occupy Alcatraz Island

Nov 21

1938

Library Bill of Rights Born at Des Moines Public Library

1945

Manzanar Relocation Center for Japanese-Americans Closed

1964

FBI Sends Infamous Blackmail Letter to Dr. Martin Luther King

1972

Maude Has An Abortion, Part 2 – No Controversy Results

1986

Oliver North’s Iran-Contra “Shredding Party” Begins

2011

GOP Candidate Rick Santorum Wants U.S. Under “God’s Law”

2013

Alabama Pardons Last Three Scottsboro Defendants; Historic Civil Rights Case Finally Ends

2018

Chief Justice Roberts Delivers Historic Rebuke to President Trump

Nov 22

1909

23 Year-Old Clara Lemlich Shavelson Inspires “Uprising of 20,000” Strike of Shirtwaist Workers

1938

Eleanor Roosevelt Integrates Birmingham, Alabama, Meeting

1942

Council for Democracy Calls for End to WW II Restrictions on Aliens

1968

First Interracial Kiss on National TV

1971

Breakthrough: Women Covered by Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment

Nov 23

1938

Justice Hugo Black Sees Progress Toward “Equal Justice” in the South – Little Progress Evident, However

1947

Clergy Seek Amnesty for Imprisoned WW II Conscientious Objectors

1949

New York County Bar Association Urges Ban on Wiretapping

1950

Judge Orders End to Mexican-American School Segregation in Arizona

1962

Son of Supreme Court Justice Douglas Spends Night in Jail to Assert His Rights

1977

WASPS, WWII Women Pilots, Get Retroactive Military Status

1981

President Reagan Signs Secret Directive Authorizing Illegal Aid to Contras

Nov 24

1859

Darwin Publishes “On the Origin of Species”– The Battle Over Science and Religion Begins

1930

U.S. The “Most Lawless” Country in the World, Says Top ACLU Official

1941

Supreme Court: The Poor Can Come to California!

1946

Playwrights Force Issue of Racial Integration in Washington, D.C.

1962

Justice Brennan Warns of Government “Whittling Away” Individual Rights

1965

Sharp Racial Divisions Mar White House Civil Rights Conference

Nov 25

1915

Cross Burned on Stone Mountain, Georgia – KKK Revived

1916

Inez Millholland, Extraordinary Suffragist Leader, Dies from Exhaustion

1918

“Patriotic” Mob Attacks Socialist Rand School of Social Science

1930

Anti-Lynching Congress Delivers Protest to President Herbert Hoover

1956

Oscar-Nominated Film . . . Has No Screenwriter!

2000

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

Nov 26

1935

NYC Burns “Tons” of Books

1956

Three NY Times Employees Indicted for Contempt of Congress

1963

LBJ: “What the Hell’s the Presidency For?”

1970

Native-Americans Protest at Plymouth Rock

Nov 27

1928

ACLU Wins Right to Speak in NYC Schools

1933

California Governor Praises Lynch Mob – ACLU, NAACP Protest

1934

NYC Police Commissioner Tells Officers to “Muss Up” Known Criminals

1950

Senate Report: “Homosexuals . . . Are Not Proper Persons to be Employed in Government”

1965

Tens of Thousands of Vietnam War Protesters Picket the White House

1967

First Gay Book Store Opens in New York City

1978

Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone Assassinated in San Francisco

Nov 28

1919

Charlotte Anita Whitney Arrested, Heads for Supreme Court

1919

Red Scare Proposal for Radicals: “Ship ‘Em or Shoot ‘Em”

1925

American Legion Leader Says “Reds” Forfeit Right of Free Speech

1931

NYC Police Raid Anti-Fascist Newspaper’s Office – ACLU Protests

Nov 29

1936

State Senator Calls Cornell University “Center of Revolutionary Propaganda”

1944

Mistrial in Chaotic Right-Wing Sedition Trial

1961

JFK Press Conference Remarks Prompt IRS Investigation of Right-wing Groups

1990

Homosexuality No Longer a Bar to Immigration

2015

NSA Ends Bulk Collection of Americans’ Telecommunications Data

2019

Edna Smith Primus, Lawyer and Plaintiff in Landmark Supreme Court Case on Right of Advocacy on Reproductive Rights, Dies

Nov 30

1880

Belva Ann Lockwood, First Woman to Argue Before the Supreme Court

1919

“Primitive” Delaware Still Has Whipping Post, Indenture

1924

Shirley Chisholm, First African-American Woman in Congress, Is Born in Brooklyn, NY

1930

Clarence Darrow, Jane Addams Attend Gala “Blacklist” Dinner in Chicago

1949

University of California Faculty Organize Opposition to Loyalty Oath

1950

Author of Book Critical of the FBI Attacked, Smeared on the Floor of Congress

1954

National Swimming Star Virginia Hopkins Watson Dies of Illegal Abortion

Index

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