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 July 17:
| Date | Type | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1888 |  African American school teacher, patent solicitor, and inventor Miriam E. Benjamin obtains U.S. patent no. 386,289 for her invention of the Gong and Signal Chair for Hotels. The chair had both a gong and signal connected to it and would "reduce the expenses of hotels by decreasing the number of waiters and attendants, to add to the convenience and comfort of guests and to obviate the necessity of hand clapping or calling aloud to obtain the services of pages." The chair worked when the person sitting would press a small button on the back of the chair which would then send a signal to a waiting attendant. A light would illuminate as well, allowing the attendant to see which guest needed help. The system was eventually adopted by the United States House of Representatives and was a precursor to the signaling system used on airplanes for passengers to seek assistance from flight attendants. (On December 4, 1917, she received U.S. patent no. 1,249,000 for her Sole for Footwear. This invention was intended to help with temperature regulation in the foot; additionally, music historians believe she, under the gender-neutral pseudonym E.B. Miriam, also composed marches, one of which was used by Theodore Roosevelt's 1904 presidential campaign). Learn more. | |
| 1944 |  Munitions detonate while being loaded onto a cargo vessel bound for the World War II Pacific Theater of Operations, killing 320 sailors and civilians and injuring 390 others at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California. Approximately two-thirds of the dead and injured in the Port Chicago Disaster are enlisted African American sailors. A month later, the same white officers that had been in command at the time of the disaster ordered 328 African American sailors to restart munitions loading under the same dangerous conditions. In an act known as the Port Chicago Mutiny, the sailors refused to load the munitions, citing the dangerous conditions. Fifty men—called the "Port Chicago 50"—were convicted of mutiny and sentenced to 15 years of prison and hard labor, as well as dishonorable discharge. During and after the trial, questions were raised about the fairness and legality of the court-martial proceedings. Widespread publicity surrounding the case turned it into a cause célèbre among Americans opposing discrimination targeting African Americans; it and other race-related Navy protests of 1944–45 led the Navy to change its practices and initiate the desegregation of its forces beginning in February 1946. Forty-seven of the Port Chicago 50 were released in January 1946; the remaining three served additional months in prison. On June 11, 2019, a concurrent resolution sponsored by U.S. Representative Mark DeSaulnier was introduced in the 116th United States Congress. The resolution recognizes the victims of the explosion and officially exonerates the 50 men court-martialed by the Navy. Learn more. | |
| 2001 |  More than 45 years after the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Harvard University’s Civil Rights Project publishes a study on the resegregation of school districts. In the report, Dr. Gary Orfield evaluated statistics from the 1998-1999 school year and concluded that school districts across the nation -- and particularly in the South -- were resegregating at an alarming rate, with many Southern school districts already reflecting segregation levels comparable to those of the early 1970s. The study linked this resegregation trend to a series of early 1990s Supreme Court cases that crippled desegregation efforts and unraveled much of America's fragile progress toward achieving racial integration in public schools. Learn more. | |
| 2014 |  Eric Garner is killed in the New York City borough of Staten Island after Daniel Pantaleo, a New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer, put him in a prohibited chokehold while arresting him. Video footage of the incident generated widespread national attention and raised questions about the appropriate use of force by law enforcement. NYPD officers approached Garner on suspicion of selling single cigarettes from packs without tax stamps. After Garner told the police that he was tired of being harassed and that he was not selling cigarettes, the officers attempted to arrest Garner. When Pantaleo placed his hands on Garner, Garner pulled his arms away. Pantaleo then placed his arm around Garner's neck and wrestled him to the ground. With multiple officers pinning him down, Garner repeated the words "I can't breathe" 11 times while lying face down on the sidewalk. After Garner lost consciousness, he remained lying on the sidewalk for seven minutes while the officers waited for an ambulance to arrive. Garner was pronounced dead at an area hospital approximately one hour later. The medical examiner ruled Garner's death a homicide. According to the medical examiner's definition, a homicide is a death caused by the intentional actions of another person or persons. Specifically, an autopsy indicated that Garner's death resulted from "[compression] of neck, compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police". Asthma, heart disease, and obesity were cited as contributing factors. On December 4, 2014, a Richmond County grand jury decided not to indict Pantaleo. This decision stirred public protests and rallies, with charges of police brutality made by protesters. In 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice declined to bring criminal charges against Pantaleo under federal civil rights laws. A New York Police Department disciplinary hearing regarding Pantaleo's treatment of Garner was held in the summer of 2019; on August 2, 2019, an administrative judge recommended that Pantaleo's employment be terminated. Pantaleo was fired on August 19, 2019, more than five years after Garner's death. Learn more. |
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