History The month of October

Oct. 1, 1949. 500,000 steel workers in 29 states struck for pensions and wage increases.

Oct. 11, 1987. National Coming Out Day established at National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay rights.

Oct. 12, 1492, Native Americans discovered Columbus.
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Oct. 14, 1949. Eleven member of the Communist Party USA National Board convicted under the Smith Act; ten sentenced to 5 years. In the next few years, 138 other CPUSA leaders arrested for their political beliefs and organizing work.

Oct. 14, 1964. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. received Nobel Peace Prize.

Oct. 15, 1969. 2 million demonstrated nationwide against the Vietnam war

Oct. 16, 1859. John Brown and 21 African American and white abolitionists seized U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, W. Va.

Oct. 16, 1916. Margaret Sanger opened first public clinic in U.S. offering birth control.

Oct, 17, 1950. Copper miners, mostly Mexican American, struck in Silver City, N.M. Strikers wives walked picket line because of injunction against strikers; struggle immortalized in film “Salt of the Earth.”

Oct. 19, 1980. J.P. Stevens & Co., textile giant in the Carolinas and Alabama, forced to sign first union contract with ACTWU after 17 year battle and boycott.

Oct. 20, 1835. Gold discovered on Georgia Cherokee land; state demanded they cede land; they refused, after 3 years of struggle forced march to Oklahoma; 1000 Cherokee died on “Trail of Tears.”

Oct. 22, 1962. Pres. Kennedy ordered blockade of socialist Cuba . [continues to this day.]

Oct. 23, 1971. Conference of 1500, sponsored by 4 Mexican American and Puerto Rican Congressmen, passed resolution condemning colonial status of Puerto Rico and called for UN review.

Oct. 26, 1968. The Fort Hood Three were freed: James Johnson, Dennis Mora, and David Samas; the first G.I.s to refuse to fight in Vietnam.

Oct. 28, 1886. Dedication of Statue of Liberty; gift of people of France; foundation paid for by contributions of U.S. workers.

Oct. 29, 1966. National Organization of Women (NOW) founded in Chicago.