Seeds of Fire: A People’s Chronology

Recalling events that happened on this day in history.
Memories of struggle, resistance and persistence.

Compiled by Ulli Diemer

July 9 - 15, 1854
American naval forces bombard and burn the town of San Juan del Norte in Nicaragua to avenge an insult to the American minister to Nicaragua. Related Topics: Arson – Bombing – Intervention – Nicaragua – U.S. Imperialism
July 9, 1905
Birth of Myles Horton (1905-1990), radical educator and socialist, founder of the Highlander Folk School, which played an important role in teaching organizers and activists in the American Civil Rights Movement. Further Reading: The Extraordinary Myles Horton We Make the Road By Walking: Conversations on education and social change Related Topics: Critical Pedagogy – Democratic Values – Folk Schools – Organizing – Popular Education – Social Change
July 9, 1948
With the fall of the ‘color bar’ which prevented blacks from playing in baseball’s segregated ‘major leagues’, 42-yer-old Satchel Paige, a star of the Negro Leagues since the 1920s, becomes the first black pitcher in the American League. Considered by many to be the best pitcher of all time, Paige pitches his last game in major league baseball in 1965, at the age of 59, playing for the Kansas City Athletics. Related Topics: Baseball
July 9, 1955
The Russell-Einstein Manifesto, signed by Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, and nine other scientists, warns that the development of weapons of mass destruction has created a choice between war and survival of the human species. The Manifesto concludes with these words: “As human beings, we have to remember that, if the issues between East and West are to be decided in any manner that can give any possible satisfaction to anybody, whether Communist or anti-Communist, whether Asian or European or American, whether White or Black, then these issues must not be decided by war. We should wish this to be understood, both in the East and in the West. There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? We appeal, as human beings, to human beings: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise; if you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death.” Related Topics: Nuclear War – Nuclear Weapons – Weapons of Mass Destruction