Today in Labor History August 14, 1846: The authorities jailed Henry David Thoreau for refusing to pay his taxes in protest of the Mexican War. Aside from this early act of American civil disobedience and war resistance, Thoreau also wrote, “Walden.” His essay, “Civil Disobedience,” influenced generations of activists and writers, including Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Tolstoy, Yeats, Proust, Hemingway, Upton Sinclair and Martin Buber.
Today in Labor History August 14, 1791: Dutty Boukman led a Vodou ceremony with enslaved people from Saint Domingue plantations that led to the start of the Haitian Revolution, the largest slave uprising since the Spartacist revolt against the Romam empire. Boukman was born in Senegambia. His name, Boukman, came from the English “Book Man,” because he not only knew how to read, but taught other enslaved people how to read. He, and priestess Cécile Fatiman, had led a series of meetings with enslaved people prior to August 14 to organized and plan for the uprising. Boukman was killed by French troops a few months into the revolution. Trinidadian Marxist writer C. L. R. James wrote the best book on the Haitian Revolution: “The Black Jacobins,” (1938). Also, be sure to check out the wonderful music of the contemporary Haitian pop group, Boukman Eksperyans, named for the Haitian revolutionary, Dutty Boukman. A fictionalized version of Boukman plays the title character in Guy Endore's novel “Babouk,” an anti-capitalist parable about the Haitian Revolution.
Today in Labor History August 12, 1952: The Soviet authorities murdered 13 prominent Jewish intellectuals and writers in the Night of the Murdered Poets. All were members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, which fought for the USSR against Nazi Germany. They were falsely accused of espionage and treason, and then imprisoned, tortured, and isolated for three years before being formally charged.
A 15yo coal miner needs a new home before his alcoholic uncle kills one of his siblings. So, he takes a job with a union leader, who’s also a gangster, while secretly courting his daughter. Now the gang leader, cops and rival gang all want him dead.
Today in Labor History August 11, 1894: Federal troops drove over 1,000 jobless workers from the nation's capital. Led by Charles "Hobo" Kelley, an unemployed activist from California, and Jacob Coxey, they camped in Washington D.C. starting in July. Kelley's Hobo Army included a young journalist named Jack London and a young miner-cowboy named Big Bill Haywood. Frank Baum was an observer of the protest and some say it influenced his Wizard of Oz, with the Scarecrow representing the American farmer, the tin man representing industrial workers and the Cowardly Lion representing William Jennings Bryan, all marching on Washington (Oz) to demand redress from the president (the Wizard). 650 miners, led by a "General" Hogan, captured a Northern Pacific train at Butte, Montana, en route to the protest. The Feds caught up with them at Billings, forcing a surrender, but a few eventually made it to Washington.
Today in Labor History August 10, 1923: Italian-American anarchist and IWW organizer Carlo Tresca was arrested in the United States on the charge of publishing anti-fascist literature. Tresca opposed fascism, Stalinism and mafia-infiltration of unions. He was assassinated in 1943. Some believe the Soviets killed him in retaliation for his criticism of Stalin. The most recent research suggests it was the Bonanno crime family, in response to his criticism of the mafia and Mussolini. Tresca wrote two books. His autobiography was published posthumously in 2003. He also wrote a book in Italian, “L'attentato a Mussolini ovvero il segreto di Pulcinella.”
I can beat that, a teacher told my whole class I would never make it as anything... But obedience does not equal intelligence, teachers only wish that it would 😂
Today in Writing History August 1, 1819: Herman Melville was born. He was one of the greatest American writers of all time. The death of his merchant father in 1832 left his family destitute. So, he became a merchant seaman, having many of the same brutal and exploitative experiences other seamen had in those days. Rum, sodomy and the lash! Consequently, he jumped ship in the Marquesas and lived with the local indigenous people. His first two books, “Typee” and “Omoo,” were about these experiences. His two greatest stories of all time, “Billy Budd,” and “Moby Dick,” were also influenced by his experiences as a seaman.
Melville also explored a variety of sexual themes in his writing, including homosexuality, celibacy, incest and impotence. Though his most famous works involve nearly all-male casts, he does explore the exploitation of women in “The Tartarus of Maids.” Homosexuality, in particular, was a common theme in many of his stories (e.g., Typee, Omoo, Redburn, Moby Dick, Billy Budd). Indeed, it is commonly believed that he was either gay or bisexual. He had a wife and kids, as well as long, romantic relationship with Nathaniel Hawthorne.
#OnThisDay in #history - Germaine de Staël died in 1817 at age 51. A native of #France Germaine was the daughter of Jacques Necker. A budding intellectual from an early age, Germaine sat in on salons run by her mother and refused to marry someone who wasn't intellectually stimulating to her.
As an adult, she ran her own salons and published political treatises (seen as proton-feminist) and novels (which caused Napoleon to exile her from Paris). #histodons#OTD@histodons#writer#author
Today in Labor History July 5, 1888: Three women were fired from the Bryant & May factory in East London for exposing the appalling working conditions there. Women typically had to work 14-hour days at very low wages and they often suffered debilitating diseases, like Phossy Jaw, from exposure to white phosphorus. The other 1400 women and girl laborers come out in solidarity leading to the “Match Girls' Strike” which was unsuccessful as a strike, but highly effective at generating solidarity and galvanizing the working-class movement. In 1966, Bill Owen and Tony Russell produced a musical about the strike called “The Matchgirls.” Welsh writer Lynette Rees wrote about it in her novel, “The Matchgirl.”
Hi everyone, as I'm closing in on the finish of the 4th booklet in this series, I thought I'd post a quick reminder about them:
The Hard SF Worldbuilding Cookbooks:
Find and inspire unique prompts. Choose the location. Write the story. Have the science for it, as needed.
Inspiration, then #worldbuilding.
Feedback is extremely welcome. This is a loving document, it can only be honed and get better with loving input from other users. What are your best tips for #creators?
I'm not #NewHere but a server migration reduced my follower count to 3 so it's like starting anew.
I'm an #erotica writer specialising in #mythology erotica. I'm interested in finding other mythology fans but also ancient #history and #writer friends.
Where are you? ❤️