Check out This Day in History for Oct. 2, MainStream’s daily look at significant progressive, intersectional historical events.
1919: President Woodrow Wilson suffers a stroke and is permanently partially paralyzed.
1925: Josephine Baker performs for the first time ever in Europe, at Paris’ Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Her performance in La Revue Nègre, which combined burlesque with jazz and dance, catapaulted her career.
Above: Thurgood Marshall, Josephine Baker, and Rock Hudson
1937: Samuel Caldwell becomes the first person incarcerated under the new Marihuana Tax Act, serving four years and paying a $1,000 fine for selling two cannabis cigarettes.
1967: Thurgood Marshall becomes America’s first African American Supreme Court Justice
1985: Rock Hudson, America’s super-masculine leading man, dies of AIDS at age 59 after hiding the condition for years. Also, Congress passes $190 million in AIDS funding far beyond President Ronald Reagan’s recommended amount of $120 million.Â
2018: Saudi American journalist Jamal Khashoggi enters the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where it’s later learned he was murdered in a plot premeditated by the Saudi government.
2019: Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America is approved by Congress with the goal of eradicating HIV by 2030.
2020: President Donald Trump announces he and First Lady Melania Trump have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
2021 The Women’s March for Reproductive Rights happen nationwide, involving 90 nationwide groups helping to lead events in 600 locations throughout all 50 states. The march happens two days before the U.S. Supreme Court convenes for a session during which they will eventually strike down Roe V. Wade. the 1973 landmark ruling on which abortion rights had been based.
References for today’s history nuggets include history.com, On This Day and HIV.gov. Photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
