1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,600 Speaker 1: Hey, y'all, Eve's here. We're doubling up today with two 2 00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:06,760 Speaker 1: events in history on with the show. Welcome to this 3 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 1: Day in History class, where history waits for no one. 4 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:23,880 Speaker 1: The day was March seventeenth, nineteen twelve. Bired Taylor Rustin 5 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:28,159 Speaker 1: was born on this day in Westchester, Pennsylvania, to a 6 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:33,319 Speaker 1: mother named Florence and a father named Archie Hopkins. As 7 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:37,680 Speaker 1: a young student, Bired performed extremely well in school and sports, 8 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:41,479 Speaker 1: and in high school and college he became more socially 9 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:45,680 Speaker 1: and politically active. Throughout the rest of his life. Fired 10 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: would advocate for peace and civil rights. He co founded 11 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 1: the Congress of Racial Equality, advocated for Black workers rights, 12 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,360 Speaker 1: helped organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 13 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:01,400 Speaker 1: and was the first executive director of the a f 14 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:06,800 Speaker 1: l c i OS A Philip Randolph Institute. His contributions 15 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: to pacifism, civil rights activism, the labor movement, and other 16 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:15,200 Speaker 1: social movements are invaluable, but his career did have both 17 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: ups and downs. It was clear from Bayard's early years 18 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: that activism would be a big part of his life. 19 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 1: His grandmother, Julia Rustin, was active in the community, and 20 00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: his roots as a Quaker and in the African Methodist 21 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: Episcopal Church greatly influenced his views on non violence, equality 22 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 1: and community. Institutions in Westchester were segregated, as was standard 23 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,199 Speaker 1: at this time, and there are several instances that showed 24 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: Buyer's penchant for protests. On one school road trip, he 25 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: insisted that black players be housed in the same hotel 26 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: as white players, and he was arrested for sitting in 27 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: the whites only section of a movie theater. Preston attended 28 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:05,920 Speaker 1: some college and was active in the Youth Communist League 29 00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: for a while, advocating for equal rights and economic opportunity, 30 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:14,240 Speaker 1: but he left the organization once its missions no longer 31 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: aligned with his. But after college is when his activism 32 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: really started to gain momentum. In nineteen forty one, he 33 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 1: joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a pacifist organization led by A. J. Musty. 34 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:32,720 Speaker 1: On an interstate trip on a segregated bus in nineteen 35 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 1: forty two, fired set in the white section and refused 36 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 1: to move, an action that police officers beat him for. 37 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: He was firmly against World War two and conscription, and 38 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: he was imprisoned for being a conscientious objector and refusing 39 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:54,120 Speaker 1: to register for the draft. In nineteen forty four, he 40 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:57,640 Speaker 1: spent twenty eight months in prison, during which time he 41 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: protested for integration within the prison and face a sexual 42 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:07,680 Speaker 1: misconduct investigation. Bired was openly gay, which affected the way 43 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: some people viewed him and led to some social and 44 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:15,640 Speaker 1: legal persecution. After a j mustie tided him for letting 45 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 1: his sexuality get in the way of his social advocacy, 46 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:22,840 Speaker 1: Fired ended up resigning from his post as the field 47 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:28,680 Speaker 1: secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Later in nineteen fifty three, 48 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: he and two other men were arrested on charges of 49 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: lewd vagrancy and sent to prison. Because of the charge, 50 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:41,760 Speaker 1: Rustin became a convicted sex offender. As this news spread 51 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 1: throughout his community of friends and fellow activists, people began 52 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:49,520 Speaker 1: to distance themselves from him, and it became harder for 53 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 1: him to work on the front lines of social movements. Still, 54 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:59,000 Speaker 1: Bired was politically and socially active throughout his lifetime. He 55 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:03,360 Speaker 1: spent months in da studying Gandhi's movement of nonviolent resistance 56 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: and speaking to civil rights leaders, and he connected with 57 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:13,640 Speaker 1: activists in countries in Africa resisting British colonialism. In nineteen 58 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:17,160 Speaker 1: forty seven, he protested bus segregation by taking part in 59 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:21,279 Speaker 1: the Journey of Reconciliation. He worked with the labor and 60 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: civil rights movement leader A. Philip Randolph on the Committee 61 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: Against Discrimination and the Armed Forces. He continued his anti 62 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:34,360 Speaker 1: war and pacifist activism and bired famously did a lot 63 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:38,119 Speaker 1: of organizing work for the civil rights movement. He worked 64 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:41,600 Speaker 1: in Montgomery on the bus boycotts, organizing acts of non 65 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,920 Speaker 1: violent resistance, and working out some of the finer points 66 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:49,040 Speaker 1: of planning a protest. He helped Martin Luther King Jr. 67 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:54,279 Speaker 1: Organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference byed even helped plan 68 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 1: the March on Washington, landing a cover of Life magazine 69 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: with A. Philip Randolph soon after. In nineteen sixty five, 70 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:07,680 Speaker 1: he and A. Philip Randolph formed the A. Philip Randolph Institute, 71 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:12,520 Speaker 1: which fought for racial justice, jobs, and freedom. But as 72 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:16,799 Speaker 1: some civil rights activists began to criticize his moderate stances 73 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:22,040 Speaker 1: and cooperation with politicians, fired turned to more international issues 74 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 1: like refugee advocacy. In the later years of his life, 75 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:31,520 Speaker 1: Rustin participated in the gay rights movement. He died in 76 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:37,359 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties seven of a misdiagnosed perforated appendix. Fired was 77 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:42,680 Speaker 1: awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And I'm Eve Jeff 78 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:45,719 Speaker 1: Cooke and hopefully you know a little more about history 79 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. If you want to know 80 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:52,760 Speaker 1: more about buy It Rustin's life, you can listen to 81 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:56,039 Speaker 1: the two part episode of Stuffy misson History Class. The 82 00:05:56,080 --> 00:06:00,240 Speaker 1: first one called Fired, Rustin Angelic Troublemaker and the second 83 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:05,080 Speaker 1: one called by Rustin and the Civil Rights Movement. We 84 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:07,520 Speaker 1: love it If you left us a comment on Twitter, 85 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:13,640 Speaker 1: Instagram or Facebook. At t d I h C podcast, 86 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:26,720 Speaker 1: come back tomorrow for another tibet from history. Hello everybody, 87 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:30,359 Speaker 1: I'm Eves and you're tuned into this Day in History Class, 88 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:33,160 Speaker 1: a show where we travel back in time one day 89 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: at a time. The day was March. The chief of 90 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,840 Speaker 1: the Ecology and Epidemiology branch of dug Way Proving Ground 91 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:52,719 Speaker 1: got a call saying thousands of sheep were found dead 92 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 1: in the Skull Valley area of Utah. The incident is 93 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 1: connected to chemical and biological weapons testing at Dugway Proving Ground, 94 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:06,000 Speaker 1: a U. S. Army facility in Utah. The Eneva Protocol 95 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:09,120 Speaker 1: prohibited the use of chemical and biological weapons in war. 96 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:12,880 Speaker 1: Though it went into force in night, it did not 97 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 1: define restrictions regarding the production and storage of such weapons. 98 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: Dugway Proving Ground was established in nineteen forty two during 99 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:24,200 Speaker 1: World War Two, as the US thought that the German 100 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: and Japanese militaries may be developing these weapons. Because the 101 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 1: site was so remote, conventional weapons testing and ranger desert 102 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:35,520 Speaker 1: training took place there as well. Some of the weapons 103 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:40,120 Speaker 1: tested included artillery shells, aerial bombs, and aerial spray tanks 104 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:44,840 Speaker 1: made to disperse chemical and biological agents. On March thirteenth, 105 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,000 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight, a jet sprayed three d and twenty 106 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: gallons of v X nerve agent across Dugway and a 107 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 1: weapons test. V X is a tasteless, odorless nerve agent 108 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 1: that was developed in the United Kingdom in the early 109 00:07:56,560 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties. It is extremely toxic. It's sim terms include 110 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:05,480 Speaker 1: blurred vision, headache, cough, and vomiting. Exposure to large doses 111 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:10,360 Speaker 1: can cause convulsions, paralysis, and even respiratory failure, leading to death. 112 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: In the following days, ranchers began noticing that their sheep 113 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:18,880 Speaker 1: were dazed collapsing and dying. They began calling veterinarians for help, 114 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:22,640 Speaker 1: but the vets could not diagnose the illness. People began 115 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:26,000 Speaker 1: to suspect that the nearby Dugway proving Ground was responsible 116 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:29,560 Speaker 1: for the deaths of the sheep. On March seventeen, Dr 117 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:33,479 Speaker 1: Keith Smart of the Ecology and Epidemiology branch of Dugway, 118 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 1: got a call saying that rancher Alvin Hatch reported three 119 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:40,000 Speaker 1: thousand sheep did in the Skull Valley area. Some of 120 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:43,319 Speaker 1: the sheep died within twenty four hours, while others lived 121 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:47,960 Speaker 1: for weeks before dying. In the end, around six thousand 122 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:52,120 Speaker 1: sheep died due to the VX nerve agent. Though spokespeople 123 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 1: for the Dugway facility denied any weapons testing in the 124 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:58,760 Speaker 1: days before the sheep died, U S Senator Frank Moss 125 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: released a document that said Dugway had released v X 126 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:06,840 Speaker 1: nerve agent on March thirteen. Other tests involving chemical warfare 127 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:09,840 Speaker 1: agents took place that day, but only the aerial spray 128 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:12,560 Speaker 1: test of v X nerve agent was associated with the 129 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:16,720 Speaker 1: death of the sheep. In subsequent investigations, it was found 130 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:19,400 Speaker 1: that the jets releasing the v X had a malfunction 131 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:22,320 Speaker 1: in their delivery tanks and released the nerve agent at 132 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: a higher altitude than intended. This made the VX spread 133 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:29,080 Speaker 1: farther than the Dugway testing grounds and effect sheep in 134 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:32,839 Speaker 1: Skull Valley. The Army never released a full report on 135 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:35,320 Speaker 1: the incident, but it did pay around three hundred and 136 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:37,360 Speaker 1: seventy six thousand dollars for the sheep at the end 137 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:41,319 Speaker 1: of the investigation. Officials and people in the region weren't 138 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:44,560 Speaker 1: too concerned with the investigation because the military was a 139 00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 1: big employer in the state, but the incident did raise 140 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:52,319 Speaker 1: concerns about the development of chemical and biological weapons. In 141 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 1: November of nineteen sixty nine, Congress did pass a law 142 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:58,920 Speaker 1: forbidding the open air testing of any lethal, chemical or 143 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 1: biological warfare agent within the United States, with exceptions. In 144 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:08,760 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventy two Biological Weapons Convention banned the development, production, 145 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:14,480 Speaker 1: and stockpowering of biological and toxin weapons. I'm Eve Jeff Coote, 146 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:17,160 Speaker 1: and hopefully you know a little more about history today 147 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:20,360 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you'd like to follow us 148 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:23,760 Speaker 1: on social media, you can do so at T D 149 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:29,280 Speaker 1: I h C Podcast on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, or 150 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:31,240 Speaker 1: if you want to get a little more fancy, you 151 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:34,080 Speaker 1: can send us an email at this day at i 152 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:38,200 Speaker 1: heart media dot com. Thanks again for listening and have 153 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,439 Speaker 1: a fantastic twenty four hours until we see you again. 154 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:49,480 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the iHeart 155 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:52,000 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 156 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:52,680 Speaker 1: favorite shows.