A Brief History On January 21, 1908, the New York City Board of Alderman passed the Sullivan Ordinance, a law that banned women from smoking in any public establishment. Mayor George McLellan Jr. vetoed the ordinance 2 weeks later, and only one woman was fined $5 for disobeying the law. When she refused to pay the fine, she was arrested, but released the next day. Digging Deeper Laws targeting women separately from men, including those that demean or belittle the public stature of women are nothing new, and unfortunately are far from unknown today. Here we list 10 Laws That…
Browsing: January 21
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A Brief History On January 21, 1535, in the aftermath of “The Affair of the Placards,” French Protestants were burned at the stake in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. Digging Deeper Starting in October of 1534, in the largest French cities, Protestant activists had been hanging up posters (placards) casting aspersions on the Catholic Church, the most gutsy move being the hanging of such a poster on King Franςois I’s bedroom door! This action apparently was the last straw for the frightened King who reaffirmed his Catholic faith as the religion of the land and…
A Brief History On January 21, 1977, newly inaugurated President Jimmy Carter created perhaps the biggest controversy of his presidency by pardoning Viet Nam War era draft dodgers. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the United States in the 1960s and 1970s severely divided over support for the war in Viet Nam. With Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Senator Eugene McCarthy and other prominent Americans vociferously opposed to the war, large portions of the population sided with them. The anti-war feeling went beyond just the political aspects and dove into the moral aspects for each individual soldier as well. The…