January 6: This Day In History

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

January 6, 2015 – Segment 1

Marc talks about what happened on this day in history, including the day President Franklin Delano Roosevelt talked about his Four Freedoms in the 1941 State of the Union Address, the day the New England Anti-Slavery Society was organized, and the day former KKK leader Edgar Ray Killen was arrested for the murders of three civil rights workers who were killed during Freedom Summer in Mississippi.

A transcript of this segment is included below.

This is Marc Steiner, and today is January the 6th.

(President Franklin Delano Roosevelt – Four Freedoms Speech)

That was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. A passage from his 1941 State of the Union Address, which he delivered on this day as World War II raged on in Europe and the Pacific. These were the four freedoms he believed that people “everywhere in the world” should enjoy: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom From Want, and Freedom from Fear. President Roosevelt walked a fine line during the speech — at once discouraging American entry into the war, but he also spoke on the threat of national security and democratic governments around the world…

Today in 1832, the New England Anti-Slavery Society was organized in Boston at the African House by William Lloyd Garrison. Through lecturers and agents, the society promoted the idea of immediate emancipation of Blacks in America and spoke out against the American Colonization Society and the idea of sending African Americans back to the Africa. The preamble of the New England Anti-Slavery Society stated:

“Whereas, we believe that Slavery is contrary to the precepts of Christianity, dangerous to the liberties of the country, and ought immediately to be abolished; and whereas, we believe that the citizens of New-England not only have the right to protest against it, but are under the highest obligation to seek its removal by a moral influence; and whereas, we believe that the free people of color are unrighteously oppressed, and stand in need of our sympathy and benevolent co-operation; therefore, recognizing the inspired declaration that God ‘hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth,’ and in obedience to our Savior’s golden rule, ‘all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them,’ we agree to form ourselves into a Society.”

And 41 years after the crime, former KKK leader Edgar Ray Killen was arrested in 2005 for the murders of three civil rights workers who were killed in Mississippi. Their names were James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. They were in Mississippi registering black voters during the “Freedom Summer” of 1964. While traveling on a rural dirt road to investigate a church that was on fire, they were shot to death. Their bodies were found buried in a dam a few miles away.

Today in 1937, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade formed to fight fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Roughly 4,000 American men and women fought for the Republicans against Francisco Franco. For most of them, it was in violation of U.S. law. Between 750-800 volunteers died in action — either from wounds or from sickness. The Abraham Lincoln Brigade was part of a larger International Brigade, made up of volunteers from all around the world.

And in 1907, physician, educator and feminist Maria Montessori opened her first school and daycare center. It was called Casa dei Bambini, and was meant for the working class children in Rome, Italy.

Here’s a song for us to think about on this January the 6th. It’s by a jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer and occasional singer that we lost in 1993. He was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, into a home filled with music. His father was a bandleader, and this artist taught himself how to play the trumpet and trombone by the age of 12. We know him as the architect and king of Bebop, with an Afro-Cuban flare. Do you know who I’m talking about? … That’s right: the great Dizzy Gillespie. We’re going out here with a song from Dizzy Gillespie and his Quintet, “And Then She Stopped.”

(Dizzy Gillespie – And Then She Stopped)

To continue your exploration of This Day In History, visit steinershow.org for resources. Thanks for listening.

To continue your exploration of this day in history, take a look at some of our favorite sources: Charles H. Wright Museum: Today in Black History; African American Registry; BlackPast; NYTimes on this Day; EyewitnessToHistory.com; The Civil War Trust; Voices in Labor: Today in Labor History; Union Communication Services at The Worker Institute: Today in Labor History; BBC On This Day; The Holocaust History Project; PBS African American World; PBS; Today in Women’s History; South African History Online; This Day In North American Indian History; Jewish Virtual Library; The People History; Wikipedia List of Historical Anniversaries; Yenoba; and This Day in Music