audio by artist jackie kook

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In the spirit of post-Civil War reconstruction, the 14th Amendment was ratified, officially adding the citizenship clause and the due process clause to the United States Constitution. This famous Amendment states anyone born on U.S. soil would automatically become a citizen, otherwise known as "birthright citizenship".  Birthright citizenship included former slaves, but continued to exclude indigenous peoples. The second part of the 14th Amendment, the Due Process Clause, forbid any state to deny a person of their 'life, liberty, or property without due process of law'. You may also know it as the law that helps you enforce your own rights against your government when it violates you.

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The bodies of American Civil Rights activists James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman were found in the Mississippi River after disappearing two months earlier.  The three young activists had traveled together to Mississippi to register black voters and investigate the bombing of a black church.  After being arrested for supposed speeding, they were rleeased onto a dark remote road and greeted by carloads of Ku Klux Klan members.  The Klansmen shot the two Jewish New Yorkers, Schwerner and Goodman.  Chaney, a black Mississippi native, was brutally beaten with chains and mutilated before being shot.  The killings received massive media attention, and ignited public sympathy.  Civil Rights activists criticized the publicity, stating that had two o

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U.S. President Reagan fired 11,345 striking air-traffic controllers.  Two days earlier, after months of frustrating and futile negotiations with the federal government, the air-traffic controllers union went on strike to raise wages and improve working conditions. When the strike began, almost 13,000 air-traffic controllers did not show up to work, forcing over 7,000 flights to be canceled.  That same day, President Reagan condemned the strike illegal under U.S. law, which banned strikes by government unions.  He threatened to fire any air controller who did not return to work within 48 hours.

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The United States and Japan signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, which opened Japanese ports to foreign trade and signaled the end of Japan's strict isolationist policies and its resistance to foreign powers.  This treaty sparked a number of similar treaties between Japan and various European nations, which were often referred to as 'unequal treaties' because they subjected Japan to the financial whims of powerful foreign nations.  This period of 'unequal treaties' pushed Japan into economic and political crises that compelled Japan to adopt Western-style political, judicial and military institutions.  This legacy is an integral part of Japan's transformation into not only an industrialized world power, but East Asia's version of the colonial power.

• produced by Jackie Kook
• in 2008

Due to its huge success as a local radio series, the show "Amos n' Andy" debuted on the NBC Blue Network, and three months later expanded again in its coast-to-coast debut. The two white men who created Amos n' Andy voiced the shows black characters mocking black dialect and using minstrel-style stereotypes to produce one of the most popular situation comedies in the United States. Although a couple of activists and groups protested the Amos n' Andy show due to its racially offensive material, the show continued to be successful well into the 50's.

• produced by Jackie Kook
• in 2008

The 19th amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified. By prohibiting both the federal and state governments from denying any citizen the right to vote based on sex, women in the U.S. were finally allowed to vote. The passage of this amendment by the U.S. government took years and may never have occurred without the committed and persistent work of thousands of women's suffrage activists. One such group called the Silent Sentinels mobilized thousands of people to hold demonstrations in front of the White House six days a week for over two years. Many other groups, from community organizations to public interest groups also joined the struggle for women's suffrage. Wow. See what happens when people work together and unite?

• produced by Jackie Kook
• in 2008

The New York Sun newspaper began publishing reports about life on the moon, giving detailed descriptions of shocking discoveries of bison, goats, unicorns, and bat-like winged humanoids who built temples. According to the reports, oceans and beaches had also been discovered. The author, who many think was one o New York Sun's own journalists, attributed these amazing Moon discoveries to Sir John Herschel --possibly the best known astronomer of his time. It took several weeks before it was all discovered to be a prank, which later became known as the Great Moon Hoax. But even so, it is said to have significantly increased the New York Sun's circulation.

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American union organizer and widowed mother, Fannie Sellins was shot and killed while defending a picketing coal miner from being beaten by company guards.  Herself a garment worker, Sellins had earned a reputation as an effective labor organizer, and had been assigned to direct that coal mining strike in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Sellins who mainly organized garment workers and coal miners, she took care of and galvanized the poor, the sick, children, and mothers.  She was as infamous with coal mining companies as she was respected by the people she fought for.  Four years after her death, the two deputies accused of her