January 26, 1917: 106 years ago, Jan 25 1917, a delegation of 300 San Francisco sex workers [...]
106 years ago, Jan 25 1917, a delegation of 300 San Francisco sex workers confronted anti-prostitution crusader Rev. Paul Smith at his Tenderloin church. Explaining that they had turned to sex work due to low wages, one woman asked Smith: “Why don’t you attack those conditions?”
February 20, 1918: 106 years ago, Feb 20 1918, 16-year-old San Francisco socialist Hazel [...]
106 years ago, Feb 20 1918, 16-year-old San Francisco socialist Hazel Stewart refused to pledge allegiance to the American flag in opposition to US involvement in World War I. Her suspension led to a wave of student anti-war protest, triggering a crisis for the SF school board Stewart was a …
June 7, 1918: 106 years ago, June 7 1918, a judge denied a divorce to Percival Jackson, [...]
106 years ago, June 7 1918, a judge denied a divorce to Percival Jackson, a wireless operator in Marshall, Marin County. He had filed for divorce on the grounds that his wife Mary “attended anarchist meetings, read anarchist publications, and adopted anarchist philosophy.”
March 18, 1919: 105 years ago, March 18 1919, a bomb exploded at the Oakland home of [...]
105 years ago, March 18 1919, a bomb exploded at the Oakland home of banker George Greenwood, killing his wife. Within days, Russian-born IWW member Pavel Melnikov was arrested for the murder on scant evidence. He was deported without trial in December 1919 as a “dangerous alien” Melnikov, who had …
March 22, 1919: 102 years ago, Mar 22 1919, Oakland police arrested Russian IWW member [...]
102 years ago, Mar 22 1919, Oakland police arrested Russian IWW member Pavel Melnikov on suspicion of the murder of prominent local banker George Greenwood’s wife. Greenwood’s home by Lake Merritt had been dynamited four nights before Melnikov, who had participated in revolutionary groups in Russia, was arrested at the …