A Brief History On October 16, 1968, the island country of Jamaica, a majority Black African heritage nation (92%+ African heritage population) experienced riots because a Black Guyanese professor, Dr. Walter Anthony Rodney, was banned from returning to Jamaica to teach at the University of the West Indies. An African history scholar, Rodney was a leading proponent of the Black Power movement that had taken hold in the United States and other countries. The Jamaican government that banned Dr. Rodney was led by Prime Minister Hugh Shearer, himself of African descent. Riots in the capital city of Kingston ensued! Digging…
Browsing: October 16
A Brief History On October 16, 2019, we take a critical look back at last night’s Democratic Presidential Debate among the 12 major candidates still remaining in the race for the Democratic nomination for President. (Click link for full transcript.) No earthshaking news this time, and no candidate was either blown out of contention or latched onto a rocket of success in the next poll, but we believe there were some definite winners and losers. Digging Deeper Loser, Senator Elizabeth Warren. As the co-front runner this time around, she was not immune to attacks from the other candidates, though the…
A Brief History On October 16, 1916, Margaret Sanger (nee Higgins), nurse, writer, and sexual educator opened the first family planning (birth control) clinic in the United States. While Sanger did not invent the idea of birth control or the methods, she was an activist for preventing unwanted pregnancy and was the first person to coin the phrase, “birth control.” Humans, unlike any other known animal, have been trying to prevent unwanted pregnancies for thousands of years and have tried a variety of methods. Digging Deeper Probably the most simple methods of birth control came after it was realized that…
A Brief History On October 16, 1991, a disturbed man crashed his pick-up truck into a Luby’s cafeteria in Texas, and proceeded to shoot and kill 24 people, including himself. George Hennard wounded another 27 with gunshots, which up until June 11, 2016 had been the worst non-school mass shooting in United States history. (On that day 49 people were gunned down at the Orlando, Florida gay nightclub called “Pulse.”) When Stephen Paddock, age 64, opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino in Las Vegas on a crowd attending a country music concert and…
A Brief History On October 16, 1972, a Cessna 310 light airplane carrying Congressman Nick Begich (D-Alaska) and Congressman Hale Boggs (D-Louisiana) along with the pilot and Begich’s aide disappeared on a flight from Anchorage to Juneau. The disappearance of two members of Congress is a big deal, and a massive search was mounted, continuing for 39 days until no hope of finding the plane’s occupants alive remained. No trace of the plane or its passengers was ever found, and this incident led to legislation requiring Emergency Locating Transmitters on all US commercial flights. Digging Deeper Incredibly, both men were…
