Check out This Day in History for Nov. 1, in MainStream’s daily look at significant progressive, intersectional historical events.
1210: In a moment that gives context to ongoing persecution of Jews over centuries, King John of England begins imprisoning Jews throughout England after first doing so with a group of Jewish leaders he summoned to his castle on this day. Freedom for those imprisoned required huge financial payments. Experts say the king was responding to public sentiment against Jewish people, who had been relegated to financial service occupations ever since the Catholic Church forbade business dealings among its members. King John’s persecution of Jews follows years of Jewish leaders growing closer to monarchs because of their financial skills, experiencing attacks by the public who resented that closeness, receiving protection from the kings they served, and then being attacked by both the English public, and its monarchy.
1349: Brussels’ Duke of Brabant orders the killing of all Jews, blaming them for poisoning wells and causing the “Black Death” of the Bubonic Plague to spread across western Europe. This would eventually lead to the killing of up to 100,000 Jews across Western Europe over three years.
Above, The Women Strike for Peace rally; the Sistine Chapel; Jet magazine’s early logo; and cover of the first edition of Ebony magazine.
1512: Painter Michelangelo Signorile reveals the Sistine Chapel to the public in Rome’s Vatican City after four years of dangerous work painting the chapel ceilings on scaffolds. The artwork depicts nine scenes from the Old Testament book of Genesis; Signorile would add “The Last Judgment” 22 years later.
1765: A new British tax on colonists triggers uprisings and a boycott on British goods. The Stamp Act, passed despite months of objections expressed by the Americas, required stamped paper for newspapers, pamphlets, almanacs, playing cards, and all all commercial and legal papers. It’s considered a key inspiration for the Revolutionary War.goes into effect
1848: Boston Women’s Medical College, considered to be the first medical college for women in the world, opens and later becomes part of the Boston University School of Medicine.
1911: Italian pilot Giulio Gavotti drops four grenades over Libya, triggering a new era of aerial bombing in war that will replace hand-to-hand combat.
1945: Ebony magazine debuts, aiming to “show “show not only the Negroes but also white people that Negroes got married, had beauty contests, gave parties, ran successful businesses, and did all the other normal things of life,” says publisher John H. Johnson.
1951: John H. Johnson debuts yet another magazine pivotal to America’s Black community, Jet Magazine. Unlike Ebony, which Johnson debuted in 1945 and focused on Black culture and entertainment, Jet aimed to serve a “fast-paced, news-hungry audience.” It stopped print publication in 2014 but is still available in digital form.
1950: An assassination attempt on U.S. President Harry Truman fails, when White House Police apprehend two Puerto Ricans seeking to promote Puerto Rico’s independence from the United States. Officer Leslie Coffelt who fatally injured one of the assassins, is killed in the line of duty.
1961: More than 50,000 women in 60 cities nationwide demand an end to war, and in particular nuclear proliferation, in the Women Strike for Peace march. The nonprofit would go on to protest against the Vietname War and against all nuclear weapons.
1972: America experiences its first-ever gay-themed television movie. “That Certain Summer” stars Hal Holbrook and Martin Sheen.
1993: The European Union (EU) forms with six countries and eventually grows to include 27, all of which commit to support peace and economic stability throughout Europe.
2008: International Drug Users Day is honored for the first time ever, to advocate for the rights of people who use drugs; to stand up against the stigma of health care providers against people who use drugs; and to promote measures such as improved harm reduction programs, decriminalization of drug possession, and more support for HIV treatment and support services.
Photos courtesy Wikimedia Commons
