Ridgefield Allies

Today in “Hidden” History is a daily listing of important but little-known events illustrating the range of innovators, contributors, or incidents excluded from formal history lessons or common knowledge. Hidden history is intended not as an exhaustive review, but merely as an illustration of how popular narratives "hide" many matters of fundamental importance. Bookmark this page and check daily to quickly expand your knowledge. Suggest entries for Today in “Hidden” History by clicking the Contact Us link. Entries for February 05:

Date	Type	Event
1917		Congress passes the Immigration Act of 1917, also known as the Asiatic Barred Zone Act. Intended to prevent “undesirables” from immigrating to the U.S., the act primarily targeted individuals migrating from Asia. Under the act, people from “any country not owned by the United States adjacent to the continent of Asia” were barred from immigrating to the U.S. The bill was not meant to impact immigrants from Northern and Western Europe but targeted Asian, Mexican, and Mediterranean immigrants. The bill remained law for 35 years, until the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952 eliminated racial restrictions in immigration and naturalization statutes. Learn more.
1917		Frederick C. Flemister, an artist most recognized for his paintings during the early 1940s, while he was based in Atlanta, Georgia, is born in Jackson, Georgia. He was one of the foremost artists to emerge from a group taught and influenced by Hale Aspacio Woodruff (1900-1980), founder of Atlanta University’s School of Art. Flemister’s most famous paintings include works such as “Self Portrait” (1941), “Man with a Brush,” “The Mourners,” and “Madonna,” were all produced between 1939 and 1945. Though he emerged during the 1940s, his works are often associated with the Harlem Renaissance artists of the 1920s. His style has been described as expressionistic and is often compared to that of 16th-century Italian Renaissance painters. His professor Hale Woodruff was a major artistic influence. Another was El Greco (1541-1614). Flemister’s work has been featured in several exhibits including the High Art Museum in Atlanta, Dillard University, New Orleans; the American Negro Exposition, Chicago; the Institute of Modern Art in Boston; the Albany Institute of History and Art; City College of New York; Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio; and the Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts. In February 1944 his work was featured as part of “The Negro in Art” exhibition at the Barnett-Aden Gallery, Washington, D.C. Learn more.
1951		The remaining three of the Martinsville Seven are executed by electrocution, the first four having been executed three days before. The Martinsville Seven were a group of young Black men convicted of raping a white woman in Martinsville, VA. On the evening of January 8, 1949, Ruby Stroud Floyd accused 13 black men of raping her while she passed through a poor African American neighborhood in Martinsville, Virginia. The trials and the electrocutions became a cause célèbre similar to the Scottsboro Case of the 1930s. NAACP officials focused national attention to the case, hoping to delay or overturn the death penalty judgment. NAACP lawyers argued on appeal that Virginia’s legal code was hardly race-neutral since whites convicted of rape “seldom if ever” received the death penalty. All appeals were quickly exhausted. Learn more.
1995		Birth of Trayvon Martin, whose tragic death at age 17 in 2012 became the first catalyst for the national Black Lives Matter movement. Learn more.