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 May 11:

Date	Type	Event
1895		William Grant Still Jr., an American composer of nearly 200 works, including five symphonies, four ballets, eight operas, over thirty choral works, plus art songs, chamber music and works for solo instruments, is born in Mississippi. Still grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, attended Wilberforce University and Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Due to his close association and collaboration with prominent African-American literary and cultural figures, Still is considered to have been part of the Harlem Renaissance. Often referred to as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers," Still was the first American composer to have an opera produced by the New York City Opera. Also of note, Still was the first African-American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra, the first to have a symphony performed by a leading orchestra, the first to have an opera performed by a major opera company, and the first to have an opera performed on national television. Learn more.
1963		White supremacists bomb the parsonage of Rev. A. D. King, brother of Martin Luther King Jr., and the African American-owned A.G. Gaston Motel, specifically targeting room 30, where King and others organizing the Birmingham campaign, a mass protest for civil rights, had stayed. Historians believe the bombings were carried out by members of the Ku Klux Klan, in cooperation with Birmingham police. Four months later, white supremacists would bomb Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church, killing four young Black girls and injuring 14 other congregation members. Learn more.
1968		The first nine caravans of poor people arrive in Washington, D.C., for the first phase of the Poor People's Campaign, or Poor People's March on Washington, that will get underway the next day (May 12). The Poor People’s Campaign was a 1968 effort to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States. It was organized by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and carried out under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy in the wake of King's assassination in April 1968. Learn more.
2010		Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signs into law HB 2281, a legislative act to prohibit Ethnic Studies classes in the state. This law banned schools from engaging with certain books written by authors of color and temporarily eliminated the Mexican American Studies program in Tucson schools, preventing hundreds of students from engaging with their history and culture within a school setting for almost a decade. Years later, a federal court found that HB 2281 was passed with the specific intention “to advance a political agenda by capitalizing on race-based fear.” HB 2281 was formally invalidated as unconstitutional in 2017, nearly a decade following its passage, and after the law had already denied hundreds of students the opportunity to study within a culturally diverse setting. Learn more.