Freedom Riders

Throughout the month of May in 1961, groups of civil right activists, known collectively as the Freedom Riders, boarded interstate buses traveling through the southern United States.  Three separate United States Supreme Court decisions —  Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia (1946), Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company (1955) and  Boynton v. Virginia (1960) — had ruled segregation illegal on interstate buses and in the waiting rooms and restaurants that served those buses, allowing interstate travelers to disregard local laws upholding racial segregation.  The Freedom Riders sought to exercise their rights by testing the new federal law but were attacked by violent mobs and arrested by police willing to uphold local Jim Crow laws.

A group of Freedom Riders visiting with civil rights leader John LeFlore in Mobile, Alabama, 1961. Image courtesy of the University of South Alabama via Alabama Mosaic.

In Alabama, members of the Klu Klux Klan conspired with local police to end the Freedom Rides, and on May 14, 1961 Klansmen firebombed the first bus to arrive in the town of Anniston, Alabama and beat the riders mercilessly as they escaped from the bus.  Later, the injured riders were refused care at a local hospital because hospital staff feared the mob that has congregated outside.  Despite the severe brutality of these attacks, the Freedom Riders insisted on pushing forward and efforts continued throughout the month.  At the time, their actions were deemed disruptive and unpatriotic by much of the general public and even by the Department of Justice; however, by the end of the year, the Interstate Commerce Commission was fully compliant with the Supreme Court’s rulings, and the Freedom Riders served as an inspiration for many of the direct action initiatives that would soon follow.

You can learn more about the civil rights movement through Opening History, which includes such collections as the Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive and the Civil Rights Digital Library among others.

First Sale of Coca-Cola

On May 8, 1886, John S. Pemberton sold a new, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage called Coca-Cola for the first time.  Intended as a patent medicine, the recipe was a modified version of Pemberton’s French Wine Coca, which had been banned earlier in the year when the counties of Atlanta and Fulton in Georgia passed temperance laws.  The  new beverage was marketed to veterans of the American Civil War and women who suffered from nervous conditions, and it was believed to treat the effects of morphine withdraw, depression, anxiety, headaches, and stomach upset.

Coca-Cola advertisements outside Temple Pharmacy. Image courtesy of the Utah State Historical Society Research Center.

Pemberton’s bookkeeper, Frank Mason Robinson, named the beverage and designed its famous logo.  He is also credited with launching an unprecedented advertising campaign that included distributing coupons redeemable for a free Coke and posting promotional banners and signs throughout Atlanta.

Coca-Cola for sale at the Idaho Beverage Store. Image courtesy of the Idaho State Historical Society.

The sheer number of collections in Opening History that include images of Coca-Cola and related advertisements is a testament to the brand’s privileged, iconic status in American history. No longer relegated to pharmacy soda fountains or perceived as a restorative medicine, Coca-Cola is now distributed internationally and is the most widely consumed soft drink in the world.

Bing Crosby’s Birthday

On May 3, 1903, Harry Lillis Crosby was born to Harry Lincoln and Catherine Helen Crosby in Tacoma, Washington, the fourth of seven children. At the age of six, he earned the nickname “Bingo from Bingville.”  Shortened to “Bing,” the name stayed with him throughout his career.  Crosby performed with several bands throughout the 1920s and made his radio debut in 1931. Within a year he had performed in 10 of the top 50 songs on the radio. Throughout the 1940s his acting career proved as successful as his musical career, and today he is widely regarded as one of the most popular and successful performers of the twentieth century.  Crosby continued to perform until his death at the age of 74 in 1977.

Bing Crosby with Phil Harris and Bob Littler listening to record player, Seattle, 1956. Image courtesy of the Museum of History and Industry via King County Snapshots.

You can find primary source documents relating to Bing Crosby and the history of film and radio broadcasting at Opening History.

The Double Helix

On April 25, 1953, Francis Crick and James D. Watson described the double helix structure of DNA for the first time in an article entitled “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid”.

Francis Crick and James Watson, walking along the Backs, Cambridge, England in 1953. Image courtesy of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

The article was published in a volume of the scientific journal Nature, and it remains one of the most important publications in the fields of biology and genetics in the twentieth century.  The photograph below depicts a later model demonstrating the double helix structure, in which genetic instructions are stored and passed down from generation to generation.

Original DNA Demonstration Model from Watson's 1968 book "The Double Helix". Image courtesy of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Through Opening History you can discover many primary source documents from the history of science.  For more information about Crick and Watson’s work in molecular biology and genetics, check out Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s James D. Watson Collection.

April is National Poetry Month

The first National Poetry Month in the United States was observed in 1996 to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in America, and has been celebrated annually since 1999.  On April 1, 1996, in observance of the first National Poetry Month, President Bill Clinton proclaimed:

National Poetry Month offers us a welcome opportunity to celebrate not only the unsurpassed body of literature produced by our poets in the past, but also the vitality and diversity of voices reflected in the works of today’s American poetry [….] Their creativity and wealth of language enrich our culture and inspire a new generation of Americans to learn the power of reading and writing at its best.

An excerpt of Walt Whitman's manuscript for "American According to Old Bards." Image courtesy of the Walt Whitman Archive.

Celebrate National Poetry Month with Opening History by exploring poetry collections such as The Walt Whitman Archive, A Celebration of Women Writers, and A Poet’s Voice: A Digital Poetry Collection.

The Sinking of the RMS Titanic

On April 15, 1912, the RMS Titanic, en route from Southampton, UK to New York, NY, sank after having struck an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland late the previous evening.  Over the course of two and half hours, from the time of the collision at 11:40 pm until 2:20 am the next morning, the ship gradually took on water while passengers and crew attempted to evacuate.  The ship, however, did not have enough lifeboats, and only 710 out of the 2224 people on board survived.

Composite of five mounted photographs of wireless operator on shipboard receiving distress call; life boats bringing Titanic's survivors to the Carpathia; Capt. Smith of the Titanic--1912. Image courtesy of the George Grantham Bain Collection at the Library of Congress.

The ship had launched on its maiden voyage to great acclaim as one of the largest and most luxurious ocean liners ever created.  Its state of the art features and facilities included restaurants, libraries, a gymnasium, and a wireless telegraph.  Outdated safety regulations, however, allowed the ship to sail with only 20 lifeboats, accommodating 1,178 people.  Moreover, during the evacuation process, several lifeboats were launched before reaching full capacity.  Due to the famous “women and children first” protocol, the survival rate for men was considerably lower across all passenger classes and among the crew.

Crowd awaiting survivors from CARPATHIA. Image courtesy of the George Grantham Bain Collection at the Library of Congress.

News of the disaster was met with a combination of moral outrage and morbid fascination, and it has remained a popular subject of books, music, and film for the past 100 years.  In addition to primary source materials documenting the ship, the wreck, and the lives of its survivors, Opening History provides a glimpse into how the Titanic captured the public’s imagination.  Indiana University’s Sam DeVincent Collection of American Sheet Music includes several ballads about the sinking of the Titanic and Harvard University’s Immigration to the United States (1789-1930) collection includes the full text of Sinking of the Titanic, a book published in 1912 that provides a contemporary, sensational account of the disaster.

Gainesville Tornado

On the morning of April 6,1936, a storm system that had been moving east through Alabama the previous evening struck Gainesville, GA.  Two tornadoes touched down separately and then merged to form what is often regarded the fifth deadliest tornado in United States history with an intensity of F4 on the Fujita scale.  A total of 203 people were confirmed dead in the wake of the storm and 40 additional people went missing. Below is an image of the destruction at the Cooper Pants Factory, which collapsed and caught fire, killing 70 workers on duty.  Recovery and relief efforts began in earnest three days later when President Roosevelt arrived in Gainesville with representatives from the American Red Cross, Civilian Conservation Corps, and Works Progress Administration.  The tornado caused over $13 million in damages, and it took two years to restore the city.

Cooper Company building demolished, Hall County, Georgia historical photograph collection, Hall County Library System.

Opening History includes an entire collection devoted to the Gainesville tornado and its aftermath.  In 2007, the Digital Library of Georgia worked in association with the Hall County Library System and the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection to create “1936 Gainesville Tornado: Disaster and Recovery“.

U.S. Enters World War I

On April 6, 1917, the United States Congress declared war on Germany at the request of President Woodrow Wilson, thereby entering World War I and ending a long period of neutrality. While the war in Europe had started nearly three years earlier, Wilson and many Americans were committed to non-intervention. Popular opinion in the United States was split by many factors, especially ethnic affiliations that made it difficult to choose sides in a war so heavily concerned with European politics and nationalism. The German sinking of the U.S. submarine Luisitania in 1915 began to help sway public opinion against Germany and the Central Powers. The renewal of Germany’s attacks on the U.S. naval force and the publication of the Zimmerman telegram, which revealed Germany’s negotiations for an alliance with Mexico against the U.S., helped spur the declaration of war in 1917.

A poster advertising an American war relief bazaar in Nov.-Dec. 1917. Image courtesy of the University of Minnesota

Give me Liberty, or give me Death!

On March 23, 1775 Patrick Henry delivered a speech that shifted the political tide in Virginia, leading the House of Burgesses to pass a resolution that troops from the colony would serve in the Revolutionary War.  Not only did the speech capture the imaginations of those in attendance, but it has been celebrated widely through history for the declaration, “Give me Liberty, or give me Death!”

Saint-John's Church, Richmond, Virginia, where Patrick Henry delivered his famous speech. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Sadly, the full text of the speech did not survive, but in 1815 William Wirt made an effort to reconstruct its contents through correspondence with the men who were present at the time.  He published his results a year later in The Life and Character of Patrick Henry. One possible reconstruction suggests that the speech concluded as follows:

Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

The final line became a rallying cry for the war, and it is even reported that those in attendance took up the call and shouted it upon the conclusion of the speech.  Of course, all wars have an opposing side, and the following document expresses outrage at Henry’s open and unlawful rebellion.

A broadside in opposition to Patrick Henry from May 1775. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

You can find more primary sources relating to iconic moments in American History and the Revolutionary War at Opening History.

Cotton Gin Patented

On March 14, 1794, Eli Whitney was granted a patent for a modern mechanical cotton gin that he had created the year before.  Short for cotton engine, this machine pulls cotton fibers from their seeds in a fraction of the time it would take to do manually.  The growth of the cotton industry in the southern United States is attributed to this invention.  Despite the fact that it was intended as a labor-saving device, the mechanized production of cotton also increased the dependency on plantation agriculture and slavery to harvest the supply.  In the 19th century, cotton became a dominant economic force, and the cotton gin is often listed as one of the factors in the changing social, economic, and political atmosphere that eventually led to the American Civil War.

Engraving of a thread mill and cotton gin from the latter half of the 19th century. Image courtesy of The Historic New Orleans Collection.

You can find out more about patents, inventions, and their social effects through Opening History.