October 21, 1921
President Warren G. Harding delivered a speech in Birmingham, Alabama in which he condemned lynchings—illegal hangings committed primarily by white supremacists against African Americans in the Deep South. It was the first speech in the South by a sitting president on race. The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) reported that, in 1920, lynching claimed, on average, the lives of two African Americans every week. Harding explained that race was becoming an issue and could no longer remain a solely regional concern. Harding spoke of the great migrations of black laborers to the North during World War I, the meritorious service given by black soldiers during the war, and then spoke of political equality as a guarantee of the U.S. Constitution: “Let the black man vote when he is fit to vote; prohibit the white man voting when he is unfit to vote.” While white listeners fell largely silent, African Americans cheered from their segregated section of the park. Calling for “an end of prejudice” Harding went further than any president since Abraham Lincoln.
October 21, 2003
Four male models posed in front of a banner to promote PETA’s campaign “Bare Skin, Not Bear Skin” in London. PETA (People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals) were campaigning against The Household Guards bear skin hats that can use as many as two entire bear hides to make just one hat.
