July 19, 1966: 57 years ago, Jul 18 1966, queer youth group Vanguard began picketing Gene [...]
57 years ago, Jul 18 1966, queer youth group Vanguard began picketing Gene Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco. The conflict at the cafeteria, a meeting place for gay & transgender people, soon led to the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, a major flashpoint in early LGBT struggles Vanguard was formed in 1965 …
August 8, 1966: Port Chicago Napalm Weapons Blockade
August 8 1966, over 30 people were arrested for blocking trucks carrying napalm bombs from entering the Concord Naval Weapons Station at Port Chicago. The blockade followed a march of over 300 people from Todos Santos Plaza in Concord to Port Chicago the previous day.
September 28, 1966: Hunters Point Uprising Begins After Police Murder
September 27 1966, a black 17 year-old teen, Matthew “Peanut” Johnson, Jr., was murdered by white SFPD officer Alvin Johnson in Hunters Point, sparking nearly five days of rioting and unrest known as the Hunters Point Uprising. Matthew Johnson was killed while fleeing a crashed, reportedly-stolen car in a ditch …
October 12, 1966: 57 years ago, Oct 11 1966, the Hunters Point Tenants Union, which [...]
57 years ago, Oct 11 1966, the Hunters Point Tenants Union, which represented ten families living in public housing managed by the San Francisco Housing Authority, called a rent strike. Denouncing “deplorable conditions,” the strike soon spread to the entire SFHA system Beginning mere weeks after the murder of a …
October 15, 1966: 55 years ago, Oct 15 1966, Huey P. Newton & Bobby Seale, radical [...]
55 years ago, Oct 15 1966, Huey P. Newton & Bobby Seale, radical students at Oakland’s Merritt College formed the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. Inspired by SNCC’s Lowndes County Freedom Organization, the BPP would have an enormous impact on global revolutionary politics While they quickly made a major impact …