Today in history, 1954: The Supreme Court unanimously rules that the Fourteenth Amendment applies to all races, nationalities and ethnicities. The decision in Hernandez v. Texas broadened civil rights laws to include Mexican Americans and other groups. /1

#ResistanceRoots Peter Hernandez was a Mexican American agricultural worker who was convicted of murder in 1951. His pro bono legal team appealed the ruling because there were no Mexicans on the jury, even though Jackson County, Texas, had a large Hispanic population. /2

Today in history, 1954: The Salk polio vaccine field trials begin at Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Va. More than 1.6 million children in the U.S., Canada and Finland participated, making it one of the largest clinical trials ever conducted. /1

#ResistanceRoots Polio is an infectious disease that occurs primarily in children, often resulting in paralysis. It had reached epidemic proportions in the early 20th century and was associated with the “iron lung” that was used to help those with respiratory paralysis breathe. /2

Today in history, 1963: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested and jailed in Birmingham, Ala., for his anti-segregation protests. Dozens of other protestors were also arrested for defying an injunction against their activities. /1

#ResistanceRoots The protests, which began on 3 April, were orchestrated by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and its partners. Birmingham’s mayor accused “outsiders” of stirring up trouble, and the Commissioner of Public Safety obtained the injunction. /2

Today in history, 1972: The U.S. Senate passes the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and sends it to the states for ratification. Ratification seemed certain until a “conservative” backlash led by Phyllis Schlafly derailed the amendment. /1

#ResistanceRoots The ERA was designed to ensure legal equality of the sexes and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. It was first proposed in 1923 but languished until the 1960s. U.S. Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY) and feminists Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem pushed for its passage. /2

Today in history, 1962: In the waning days of the Red Scare, American folk group The Weavers are told they must sign a political loyalty oath to appear on The Jack Paar Show. Every member of the group refused, and their appearance on the show was canceled.

#ResistanceRoots The Weavers were founded in 1948 by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays. The group was instrumental to the folk music revival of the 1950s, helping launch many other careers. Their rendition of “Goodnight Irene” stayed at No. 1 for 13 weeks in 1950, and they sold millions of records. /2

My cousin underwent a lobotomy sometime in the 1940s or 1950s. No, she wasn’t mentally ill. She was subjected to this surgery simply because her husband authorized it. In those days, lobotomy was often prescribed for women to alleviate anxiety and insomnia. /1

#ResistanceRoots At the time, the mentally ill were institutionalized in understaffed, overcrowded asylums. Neuropsychiatrist Dr. Walter Freeman popularized transorbital lobotomy to rescue patients from this fate. He and surgeon James Watts published a paper on the surgery’s benefits in 1937. /2

It’s interesting to see how the two major parties have switched sides over the past 125 years. The 1896 presidential election is instructive. Some history books focus on the battle between gold standard (Repubs) and bimetallism (Democrats) but there’s more. /1

#ResistanceRoots The election took place amid the Panic of 1893, a depression that caused widespread unemployment. By this time, many Americans were wage earners not farmers or shopkeepers. The high unemployment rate was devastating. The Populist Party emerged from this economic environment. /2

Today in history, 1948: Dense smog claims 11 elderly victims in Donora, Penn. Fog had trapped toxic pollutants from a zinc smelting plant close to the ground, making thousands sick. The tragedy led to the passage of the 1955 Clean Air Act. /1

#ResistanceEarth
#ResistanceRoots The zinc smelting plant had been releasing high levels of sulphuric acid, carbon monoxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere for years. There was no regulation of air pollution at that time. Everything changed when fog rolled into Donora on Oct. 26, 1948. /2

Trump spoke this week about his plan to revive economic nationalism. He was speaking to (supposed) autoworkers about how such policies would protect their jobs. It is insanity. When the Great Depression hit, countries engaged in such policies to great loss. /1

#ResistanceRoots As depression gripped the world, the response of capitalist governments was to retrench and impose “beggar-thy-neighbor” policies. Historian Eric Hobsbawm described it as “a vicious circle” of severe protectionism that addressed everything except astronomical unemployment. /2

In May 1957, the Supreme Court ruled that school segregation violated the Fourteenth Amendment, and in the fall of that year nine students attempted to integrate Central High School in Little Rock. Blocking their way was bald-faced Christofacism. /1

#ResistanceRoots Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus believed that the existing social, cultural and economic hierarchy was more important than the U.S. Constitution. His position was supported by prominent faith leaders in the South. R.A. Raney, a Missionary Baptist minister provides an example. /2

Today in history, 1981: Reaganomics begins with the signing of the Economic Recovery Tax Act (ERTA), a package of tax and budget cuts that establish Reagan’s “trickle-down economics” policy. We still feel the effects of it today. /1

#ResistanceRoots Prior to Reaganomics, U.S. tax policy was demand-driven — lower tax rates gave consumers an incentive to buy. Reagan flipped that around to a supply-side theory, which used tax cuts as an incentive for workers and businesses to produce more goods. /2

Today in history, 1966: James Meredith is shot one day into his solo civil rights march from Memphis, Tenn. to Jackson, Miss.. The civil rights activist undertook his “March Against” Fear” to encourage African Americans to register to vote. /1

#ResistanceRoots Meredith had gained notoriety in 1962 when he became the first student to integrate the University of Mississippi. The governor of Mississippi defied a court order to block his entrance, but Meredith ultimately began classes and graduated with a degree in political science. /2

“America has power, but not justice.
In prison, we were victimized as if we were guilty.
Given no opportunity to explain, it was really brutal.
I bow my head in reflection but there is
nothing I can do.”

We don’t know who wrote this, but we know why. /1

#ResistanceRoots It is one of more than 200 poems carved into the walls of the Angel Island immigration station by Chinese detainees. Called the Ellis Island of the West, the station was built in San Francisco harbor in 1910 to control the entry of Asian immigrants into the U.S. /2

Norwegian polymath and Nobel Prize laureate Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen died on this day in 1930. His humanitarian efforts after WWI led him to develop the “Nansen passport,” which enabled refugees to cross borders legally. /1

#ResistanceRoots Before WWI, Nansen was a scientist who studied marine life, and an adventurer who undertook numerous Arctic voyages. In these voyages he contributed to the development of modern oceanographic equipment, and also designed expeditionary and scientific equipment. /2

Today in history, 1893: Workers for Pullman Palace Car Co. go on strike, protesting 25% wage cuts without decreases in rents and costs at the Pullman company town. It led to a large-scale strike and boycott that disrupted rail traffic for months. /1

#ResistanceRoots The American Railway Union wanted to support the Pullman workers, but they didn’t exactly work on the railroads. The ARU decided it would ask its members to refuse to connect or disconnect Pullman cars from trains unless the company made concessions. /2

Today in history, 1945: The deadliest disaster at sea that you’ve never heard of. The Wilhelm Gustloff was crowded with Germans fleeing the advancing Red Army. A Russian submarine torpedoed the ship, with as many as 9,000 lives lost in the icy Baltic Sea. /1

#ResistanceRoots A ticket for the Wilhelm Gustloff was a chance for Germans in East Prussia to escape the vengeful Russians. Ultimately, a ticket was unneeded – the boarding was chaos, with desperate people packing the ship many times capacity. It’s not known how many people boarded. /2

Women make up just 34% of the STEM workforce. Most women in scientific fields are social scientists (65%) and life scientists (48%). Women represent just 35% of physical scientists, 26% of computer and mathematical scientists, and 16% of engineers. /1

#ResistanceWomen The gender stereotypes that fuel the STEM gender gap begin at an early age. Children as young as 6 have begun to believe that boys are more interested in STEM than girls, and learning materials often show boys engaging in scientific activities. /2

postandcourier.com/news/we-learne…

Kevin McCarthy and the far-right maga Repubs have made a mockery of the office of Speaker – the office that Nancy Pelosi helmed so artfully for eight years.

Let’s look at how the office of the Speaker has evolved and what the future holds for McCarthy. /1

#ResistanceRoots Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution states that the “House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker,” but says nothing more about it. This has left wide latitude for individual Speakers to shape the office. /2

The shocking story of a man sitting on death row because prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence.

It should be shocking, but in Louisiana violations of the Brady Rule are standard operating procedure for many prosecutors. /1

#ResistanceJustice

law360.com/access-to-just… The Brady Rule stems from the landmark case Brady v. Maryland (1963), which requires prosecutors to disclose material evidence that could negate a defendant's guilt, reduce a defendant's sentence, or impugn the credibility of a witness. /2

law.cornell.edu/wex/brady_rule

Today in history, 1933: Germany begins the sterilization of 400K people as prescribed by the “Law for the Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary Diseases” passed on 14 July 1933. Prior to the 1930s, the U.S. had been the world leader in forced sterilizations. /1

#ResistanceRoots The German law mandated the sterilization of certain individuals with hereditary physical and mental disabilities or mental illness, including bipolar disorder, epilepsy, blindness, deafness and physical deformities. "Undesirables" such as Jews and Roma were also sterilized. /2

Today in history, 1900: The French National Assembly passed a law granting amnesty to everyone involved in the Dreyfus Affair.

Let's explore how this notorious case involving military coverups and corruption helped bring anti-Semitism to a head in Europe. /1

#ResistanceRoots In 1894, Alfred Dreyfus, a Jew and captain in the French army, was falsely accused of espionage, convicted of treason and sentenced to life on Devil’s Island. An investigation identified French Army major Ferdinand Esterhazy as the real culprit, but Esterhazy was acquitted. /2