In 1851, Fairbank helped a slave named Tamar escape from Kentucky to Indiana.

On November 9 of that year, with the connivance of the sheriff of Clark County, Indiana and Indiana Governor Joseph A. Wright, marshals from Kentucky abducted Fairbank and took him back to their state for trial.

After going to Kentucky in 1851 to aid in another escape, Fairbank was successful in helping an enslaved woman get to Indiana.  There, he was apprehended by Kentucky state marshals, who took him back to Kentucky to stand trial for violating the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. He was sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor in prison, where he was singled out for exceptionally harsh treatment.  Fairbank was whipped on a regular basis, and he calculated that over the duration of his imprisonment he received over 35,000 lashes.  His health suffered greatly.  

Source: nationalabolitionhalloffameandmuseum.org

onthisday.com

In memory!

Comcast and the Trump administration are working to strike down key provisions of one of the oldest and most important civil rights laws in the country: the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

For more than 150 years, this law has been a bedrock protection from racial discrimination in employment, housing, banking, and consumer and business transactions. Now, Comcast is petitioning the Supreme Court to allow racial discrimination in business transactions as long as racism is not the only reason for denying someone a service.1,2 If the Supreme Court sides with Comcast and the Trump administration, it will strike down one of the most important tools we have for protecting our communities from discrimination. Such a decision has the potential to fundamentally change how racial discrimination claims are decided for decades to come.

We cannot allow Comcast’s board and executive leadership to quietly dismantle civil rights laws so that it can pad its bottom line by discriminating against Black people. We still have time to force Comcast to withdraw its petition from the Supreme Court. But we need to act fast to turn up the pressure on its board of directors before it’s too late!

Demand Comcast withdraw its Supreme Court petition challenging the Civil Rights Act of 1866, our oldest civil rights statute.
Color Of Change has reached out to Comcast executives and board members directly to request its Supreme Court petition to be dropped. However, Comcast and its executives refuse to accept its legal defense will roll back civil rights protections. For a company that prides itself on being dedicated to diversity and inclusion in all facets of its business, it is clear these efforts may be contradicted at any time to protect the Comcast’s bottom-line.

Black people already face extensive barriers in accessing justice and economic equality in this country, and this petition would serve only to allow corporations off the hook for their discriminatory practices.

For Tatiana Denson, a 40-year-old Black woman who had the police called on her for trying to open a business checking account at a PNC Bank, or Judi Brown, a Black transgender woman who was subjected to transphobic and racist slurs and harassment by her manager and coworkers at a Circle K, this law is their only pathway to justice.3,4 Comcast’s petition would make it so that Black people like Tatiana and Judi would have to prove that racism was the only driver of a decision or denial. Instead of affirming that racism has no place in the negotiation of a commercial contract, Comcast is partnering with a Department of Justice that is openly hostile to the civil rights of Black people. Together, they condone the inclusion of racism as a legitimate basis for refusing to enter into a contract with Black people — as long as racism is not the “only reason.”5
We must ensure there are proper protections for our people now and for years to come. Demand Comcast drop its Supreme Court petition for a Civil Rights Act of 1866 hearing.

Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 places Black people on equal footing with white Americans by outlawing conduct that would prevent our communities from developing the means to work, build wealth, or have access to the justice system to vindicate our rights. Comcast is using an important piece of legislation to win a legal battle in an effort to disregard the large-scale effects of an adverse Supreme Court decision.6 What is at stake is more important than television programming.

Comcast’s persistent pursuit of a ruling undermining civil rights laws, despite our efforts to engage the corporation directly, places it at the forefront of coordinated efforts by this administration to strike down centuries of civil rights progress. Comcast must be held accountable for attempting to reverse legislation enacted to ensure the economic and civil protections of Black People. Demand Comcast drop its Civil Rights Act of 1866 Supreme Court petition.
By leveraging a relationship with an administration that pursues white nationalist ideals to block Black economic and media power, Comcast is standing on the wrong side of history, and this cannot go without consequence. It is critical that Comcast reconsider its petition to the Supreme Court, given the extensive harms that a ruling in its favor could extend to Black people, Black businesses, and Black economic equality.

Stop Comcast from setting an oppressive precedent that would make proving racial discrimination practically impossible.
Until justice is real,

–Jade, Rashad, Arisha, Evan, Johnny, Future, Eesha, Samantha, Marcus, FolaSade and the rest of the Color Of Change team

References:
1. “The Civil Rights Act of 1866: History and Impact,” Thought Co., February 3, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/195186?t=15&akid=38977%2E1174326%2EFQiLgW
2. “Civil Rights Act of 1866,” African American Civil Rights Movement, 2017, http://act.colorofchange.org/go/195187?t=17&akid=38977%2E1174326%2EFQiLgW
3. “Black Woman Uses 153-Year-Old Civil Rights Law to Sue PNC Bank for Racial Profiling,” The Grio, September 9, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/195188?t=19&akid=38977%2E1174326%2EFQiLgW
4. “Transgender Woman Sues Circle K, Citing Slurs, Harassment, Firing After Pride Parade: ‘I Was in Absolute Shock,” Chicago Sun Times, August 21, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/195189?t=21&akid=38977%2E1174326%2EFQiLgW
5. “Exclusive: Comcast & Trump Dismantling Civil Rights Over $20 Billion Entertainment Studios Lawsuit,” Forbes, August 23, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/195190?t=23&akid=38977%2E1174326%2EFQiLgW
6. “Comcast Defends Civil Rights Record as Discrimination Lawsuit Heads to Supreme Court,” Fierce Video, August 23, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/195191?t=25&akid=38977%2E1174326%2EFQiLgW

Resource: colorofchange.org

1857 – The “Atlantic Monthly” first appeared on newsstands and featured the first installment of “The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table” by Oliver Wendell Holmes.

1872 – A fire destroyed about 800 buildings in Boston, MA.

1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt left for Panama to see the progress on the new canal. It was the first foreign trip by a U.S. president.

1911 – George Claude of Paris, France, applied for a patent on neon advertising signs.

1918 – Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II announced he would abdicate. He then fled to the Netherlands.

1923 – In Munich, the Beer Hall Putsch was crushed by German troops that were loyal to the democratic government. The event began the evening before when Adolf Hitler took control of a beer hall full of Bavarian government leaders at gunpoint.

1935 – United Mine Workers president John L. Lewis and other labor leaders formed the Committee for Industrial Organization.   

1938 – Nazi troops and sympathizers destroyed and looted 7,500 Jewish businesses, burned 267 synagogues, killed 91 Jews, and rounded up over 25,000 Jewish men in an event that became known as Kristallnacht or “Night of Broken Glass.”

1953 – The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a 1922 ruling that major league baseball did not come within the scope of federal antitrust laws.

1961 – Major Robert White flew an X-15 rocket plane at a world record speed of 4,093 mph.

1961 – The Professional Golfer’s Association (PGA) eliminated its “caucasians only” rule.

1963 – In Japan, about 450 miners were killed in a coal-dust explosion.

1963 – In Japan, 160 people died in a train crash.

1965 – The great Northeast blackout occurred as several states and parts of Canada were hit by a series of power failures lasting up to 13 1/2 hours.

1967 – A Saturn V rocket carrying an unmanned Apollo spacecraft blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a successful test flight. 

1976 – The U.N. General Assembly approved ten resolutions condemning the apartheid government in South Africa.

1979 – The United Nations Security Council unanimously called upon Iran to release all American hostages “without delay.” Militants, mostly students had taken 63 Americans hostage at the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, on November 4.

1981 – U.S. troops began arriving in Egypt for a three-week Rapid Deployment Force excercise. Somalia, Sudan and Oman were also involved in the operation.

1981 – The Internation Monetary Fund approved a $5.8 billion load to India. It was the highest loan to date.

1982 – Sugar Ray Leonard retired from boxing. In 1984 Leonard came out of retirement to fight one more time before becoming a boxing commentator for NBC.

1984 – A bronze statue titled “Three Servicemen,” by Frederick Hart, was unveiled at the site of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC.

1989 – Communist East Germany opened its borders, allowing its citizens to travel freely to West Germany.

1990 – Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed a non-aggression treaty with Germany.

1992 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin, visiting London, appealed for assistance in rescheduling his country’s debt, and asked British businesses to invest.

1997 – Barry Sanders (Detroit Lions) became the first player in NFL history to rush for over 1,000 yards in nine straight seasons. In the same game Sanders passed former Dallas Cowboy Tony Dorsett for third place on the all-time rushing list.

1998 – A federal judge in New York approved the richest antitrust settlement in U.S. history. A leading brokerage firm was ordered to pay $1.03 billion to investors who had sued over price-rigging of Nasdaq stocks. 

1998 – PBS aired its documentary special “Chihuly Over Venice.”

2004 – U.S. First Lady Laura Bush officially reopened Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House to pedestrians

If you say you have a concept of a plan, is that code for having no plan for equal pay or in general?

Why did it appear as if trump’s campaign will not engage with women’s increased workforce participation

Do you have a Plan For Working Families

Will he make sure Companies pays female employees fairly

What will the trump admin do to change the appearance that his has zero interest in increasing access to high-quality, affordable childcare

I don’t know about you, but I did NOT hear trump or anyone in his campaign discuss or have a plan for working families before election 2024. Working families need comprehensive national solutions to pay equity and child care— which the campaign either lacks or outright opposes— but in order to ensure that working families have a fair shot at financial stability, families also need access to paid family and medical leave, paid sick days, a fair minimum wage, fair scheduling, and access to reproductive health care.

– CAP 2017