1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,239 Speaker 1: Hey, history enthusiasts, you get not one, but two events 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:05,960 Speaker 1: in history today. With that said, on with the show 3 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:11,440 Speaker 1: hi Um Eves. Welcome to This Day in History Class, 4 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:14,520 Speaker 1: a show that reveals a little bit more about history 5 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:25,279 Speaker 1: day by day. The day was February twelfth, nineteen o nine, 6 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: in New York City, a group of black and white 7 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:33,200 Speaker 1: people meant to talk about the status of black people 8 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:36,960 Speaker 1: in the United States. There were sixty people at the meeting, 9 00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:43,560 Speaker 1: including suffragists, philanthropists, journalist, clergyman, educators, and people from other 10 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:46,920 Speaker 1: traditions and attendance, and some of them have been part 11 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:51,160 Speaker 1: of the Abolitionist movement. Many of the people there had 12 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:54,080 Speaker 1: also been part of the Niagara Movement, which was a 13 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: civil rights group founded in nineteen o five by sociologists 14 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 1: and activists W. E. B. Du Bois, an editor and 15 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:05,959 Speaker 1: activist William Monroe Trotter. The date of this meeting was 16 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 1: notable because it was the hundredth anniversary of former US 17 00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 1: President Abraham Lincoln's birth, which many found meaningful because Lincoln 18 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:19,640 Speaker 1: issued the Emancipation Proclamation, but anti black violence was still 19 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: endemic in the United States, and the people who met 20 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: in New York on this day were committed to fighting 21 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 1: racism and discrimination in the US by starting what was 22 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:35,399 Speaker 1: sometimes called a new abolition movement. At the time, Jim 23 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: Crow laws enforced racial segregation in the South, though discrimination 24 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: on the basis of race was a constant throughout the 25 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: United States. Thousands of black people were being lynched by 26 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,560 Speaker 1: white mobs at public events that were made into spectacles, 27 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: and deadly race riots were taking place across the country. 28 00:01:55,960 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: In the period after the Reconstruction era. Interpersonal and institutionalized 29 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: racism were plaguing American society, but activists, reformers, and revolutionaries 30 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: were organizing and fighting to combat the rampant racism and 31 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:15,359 Speaker 1: violence in the country. In August nineteen o eight, there 32 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:19,360 Speaker 1: was a violent race riot in Springfield, Illinois, where mobs 33 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 1: of white people destroyed the homes and businesses of black 34 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: people in the community and killed and lynched others. Author 35 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: and activist Anna Strunsky and her husband William English Walling, 36 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:36,360 Speaker 1: a socialist and journalist, went to Springfield to investigate the riot, 37 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: and in September a magazine called The Independent published an 38 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 1: article while Walling titled the Race War in the North. 39 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,640 Speaker 1: In the article, he wrote that people must revive the 40 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:53,400 Speaker 1: spirit of the abolitionists and treat black people as social 41 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 1: and political equals, or else the race war would continue 42 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:01,120 Speaker 1: to spread across the country, and Walling went on to 43 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:05,520 Speaker 1: write the following the day these methods become general in 44 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:09,520 Speaker 1: the North, every hope of political democracy will be dead. 45 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: Other weaker races in classes will be persecuted. In the North, 46 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: as in the South, public education will undergo an eclipse, 47 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:24,440 Speaker 1: and American civilization will await either a rapid degeneration or 48 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:29,919 Speaker 1: another profounder and more revolutionary civil war, which shall obliterate 49 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 1: not only the remains of slavery, but all other obstacles 50 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:37,840 Speaker 1: to a free, democratic evolution that have grown up in 51 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: its wake. Who realizes the seriousness of the situation, and 52 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: what large and powerful body of citizens is ready to 53 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:52,560 Speaker 1: come to their aid. Marie White Ovington, a social worker 54 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: and writer, heated Walling's call and sent him a letter 55 00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 1: in support. So in January nine, eighteen o nine, she 56 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:06,160 Speaker 1: met with Walling and social worker Henry Moskovitz at Walling's 57 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 1: New York apartment to discuss proposing an organization that would 58 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 1: fight for the civil and political rights of black people. 59 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:19,440 Speaker 1: So Oswald Garrison Valar grandson of the Abolitionist William Lloyd 60 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: Garrison wrote the call, which was a summons for civil 61 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:27,839 Speaker 1: rights activists to form an organization that would advocate for 62 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:32,679 Speaker 1: ending racial injustice in America and fight for African Americans rights. 63 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:37,680 Speaker 1: The call was endorsed by sixty people, including W. E. B. 64 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:42,520 Speaker 1: Du Bois, journalists and activist Ida B. Wells, philosopher and 65 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:48,560 Speaker 1: reformer John Dewey, and activist Jane Adams. And on February twelve, 66 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:53,039 Speaker 1: nineteen o nine, a group including Mary Church Terrell, Charles 67 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: Edward Russell, and Florence Kelly, among others, met for a 68 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:01,359 Speaker 1: national conference, but they didn't hold their first large meeting 69 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:05,720 Speaker 1: until May, when they organized as the National Negro Committee. 70 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: There was some conflict at that first session as leaders 71 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:12,920 Speaker 1: tried to get the more conservative book or T. Washington 72 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: to join in on the meetings. Also, tensions rose between 73 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 1: white and black members and the press fear the radical 74 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:24,919 Speaker 1: nature of the conference. But by nineteen ten, members of 75 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:29,320 Speaker 1: the Committee had formed the National Association for the Advancement 76 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:32,200 Speaker 1: of Colored People or the INN Double A c P. 77 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:37,479 Speaker 1: The n Double A cp S mission was quote to 78 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:41,839 Speaker 1: promote equality of rights and to eradicate cast or race 79 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:46,120 Speaker 1: prejudice among the citizens of the United States, to advance 80 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:50,320 Speaker 1: the interests of colored citizens, to secure for them impartial suffrage, 81 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:54,840 Speaker 1: and to increase their opportunities for securing justice in the courts, 82 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: education for the children, employment according to their ability, and 83 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:05,279 Speaker 1: complete equality before law. The organization established its national office 84 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:08,520 Speaker 1: in New York City and named a board of directors 85 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:13,760 Speaker 1: and president. More filled story. At this time W. E. B. 86 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: Dubois was the only black executive in the organization, but 87 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 1: that same year Dubois started The Crisis, a journal that 88 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 1: offered discussion on race relations, politics, and black life, and 89 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:32,600 Speaker 1: presented black intellectual and artistic work. In Double A CP 90 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: members went on to challenge segregation laws, stage Boycott's, start 91 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:42,040 Speaker 1: an anti lynching campaign, and lobby and advocate for new legislation. 92 00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: The Double A CPS methods aren't loved by people who 93 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:51,560 Speaker 1: use more direct action tactics, but the organization did make 94 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:54,480 Speaker 1: gains in the movement for black civil rights, and it's 95 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:59,360 Speaker 1: still going today. I'm Eves, Jeff Coote, and hopefully you 96 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:03,919 Speaker 1: know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 97 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:10,200 Speaker 1: We'll see you tomorrow. Hi, everyone, I'm Eves. Welcome to 98 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:13,200 Speaker 1: this day. In History Class, a podcast for folks who 99 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: can never have enough history knowledge. The day was February twelfth, 100 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:29,040 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy four. Russian author Alexander Solja Neetson was arrested, 101 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 1: charged with treason and stripped of his citizenship. The year prior, 102 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:38,240 Speaker 1: Solja Neetson had published The Gulag Archipelago, a book on 103 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: the communist Soviet forced labor camp system. Solja Neetson was 104 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 1: born in nineteen eighteen in Russia, the year after the 105 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:49,680 Speaker 1: Russian Revolution took place and the Russian Civil War began. 106 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: He was raised by his mother as his father was 107 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:56,360 Speaker 1: killed in an accident. He studied at the University of Rostov, 108 00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:00,800 Speaker 1: majoring in physics and mathematics. It was in the nineteen 109 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 1: forties when he began to get negative attention from Soviet authorities. 110 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 1: During World War Two, Solja Neetson was drafted into the 111 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:13,440 Speaker 1: Soviet Union's Red Army. In nineteen five, he was arrested 112 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:17,080 Speaker 1: for writing letters to a friend that criticized Soviet dictator 113 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:21,120 Speaker 1: Joseph Stalin. He spent the next eight years in prison 114 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:25,600 Speaker 1: in labor camps for political prisoners. His sentence ended in 115 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:29,000 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty three and his first day without armed guard 116 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:33,440 Speaker 1: was March five, the same day that Stalin died, But 117 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:36,319 Speaker 1: after he served his sentence, he was sent into exile 118 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: for life in Kazakhstan. There he taught math and physics 119 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:44,720 Speaker 1: and wrote poems, plays, sketches, and a novel. In the 120 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 1: following years, Solja Neetson underwent treatment for cancer and survived. 121 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 1: He began writing down the experiences he had as a prisoner. 122 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 1: Nikita Khrushchev, the new Soviet premier, denounced Stalin. Solja Neetson 123 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:02,480 Speaker 1: was then free from exile, and he moved back to Russia, 124 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: where he continued teaching and writing. His novel One Day 125 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:09,920 Speaker 1: in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, about life in one 126 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 1: of Stalin's labor camps, was published in the Soviet literary 127 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:17,360 Speaker 1: journal Novemir in November of nineteen sixty two. The novel 128 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:19,840 Speaker 1: was popular with its Soviet readers for the way it 129 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:23,800 Speaker 1: depicted that everyday struggles of life in a forced labor camp. 130 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: The book inspired others to depict their own hardships in 131 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: Soviet labor camps and gained a global audience. It was, however, controversial, 132 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:37,200 Speaker 1: as sol Jannetzen was accused of being anti Soviet The 133 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:42,640 Speaker 1: book aggravated the rift between anti Stalinists and conformists. Khrushchev 134 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:47,040 Speaker 1: fell from power in nineteen sixty four. Sol Jansen was 135 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:50,880 Speaker 1: increasingly targeted by authorities as he continued to write short 136 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:56,440 Speaker 1: stories and denounce government policies. After nineteen sixty seven, his 137 00:09:56,520 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: work wasn't published again in the Soviet Union until ninete. 138 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:05,280 Speaker 1: For years, the KGB, the Soviet Union's security agency, collected 139 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:08,480 Speaker 1: information about him and seized his writing as he was 140 00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:12,440 Speaker 1: deemed an enemy of the state. In nineteen sixty nine, 141 00:10:12,559 --> 00:10:15,920 Speaker 1: Soljian Netson was expelled from the Union of Soviet Writers. 142 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:19,680 Speaker 1: The next year, Solja Neatson won the Nobel Prize for 143 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:23,040 Speaker 1: Literature for quote the ethical force with which he has 144 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:28,760 Speaker 1: pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature, but Soviet authorities 145 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:31,679 Speaker 1: did not let him go to the awards ceremony. They 146 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:35,280 Speaker 1: continued to harass him, with the KGB even attempting to 147 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:39,080 Speaker 1: assassinate him with rice In in nineteen seventy one, but 148 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 1: he continued to publish his work. In nineteen seventy three, 149 00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 1: he published The Gulag Archipelago abroad after the KGB seized 150 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:51,480 Speaker 1: a copy of the manuscript in the Soviet Union. The 151 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:54,760 Speaker 1: word gulag refers to the network of labor camps in 152 00:10:54,840 --> 00:11:00,599 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union. The book provides a record of the arrest, interrogation, conviction, 153 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:04,160 Speaker 1: and imprisonment of people in the system, along with Soljia 154 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:09,640 Speaker 1: Neatson's personal accounts. The Soviet press denounced him as a trader, 155 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:13,840 Speaker 1: and on February twelve, nineteen seventy four, he was arrested 156 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:18,040 Speaker 1: and charged with treason. The next day, he was exiled 157 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:22,200 Speaker 1: from the Soviet Union. He proceeded to travel throughout Europe, 158 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:25,600 Speaker 1: and by nineteen seventy six he had settled in the US. 159 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:29,199 Speaker 1: He lived in the US until nineteen ninety four, when 160 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:33,920 Speaker 1: he returned to Russia after the Soviet Union dissolved. Back 161 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:37,320 Speaker 1: in Russia, he praised the leadership of President Vladimir Putin. 162 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:41,360 Speaker 1: He died in Moscow in two thousand eight, remembered for 163 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:45,480 Speaker 1: writing works that criticized the Soviet Union and communism and 164 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:50,280 Speaker 1: revealed the conditions people faced in the forced labor camp system. 165 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:52,800 Speaker 1: I'm Eve jeffco and hopefully you know a little more 166 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:56,840 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. If you've seen 167 00:11:56,960 --> 00:11:59,880 Speaker 1: any good history means lately you can send them to 168 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:05,319 Speaker 1: us on social media at t d I h C podcast, 169 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:08,079 Speaker 1: or if you want to get a little more fancy, 170 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:11,080 Speaker 1: you can send us an email at this day at 171 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:14,640 Speaker 1: i heart media dot com. Thanks for tuning in and 172 00:12:14,679 --> 00:12:27,640 Speaker 1: we'll see you again tomorrow. For more podcasts from I 173 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 174 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.