5/27 Open Thread: Slavery Abolition Day (Guadeloupe, Saint Bartholemy, Saint Martin)

Abolishing slavery became sort of a thing in France. Louis X abolished slavery in France in 1315, but it nonetheless continued in parts of Provence and in some French Colonies. In 1658, Louie XIV officially articulated the conditions for slavery in the French Colonies. Then, on 4 February 1794, the first Assembly of the First Republic (under Robespierre) abolished slavery in all French colonies. OK, and well and good, but Bonaparte (Cue Randy Newman's "Short people") re-introduced slavery in France's sugarcane-growing colonies in 1802. Then, confusingly enough, wee Macron Napoleon abolished the slave trade, but not, mind you, slavery itself. Then, in 1818, Louis XVIII re-abolished the slave trade, presumably because he thought it didn't count unless a Louis did it (Cue "louie-louie??). Finally, in April 1848, the Second Republic abolished slavery once again and included the colonies. The decree proclaiming this had a deferred effective date, but, thanks to some uprisings and such, was brought forward for the above colonies to May 27, 1848.

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On this day in history:

1703 -- Peter the Great founded Saint Petersburg.

1848 -- Slavery was abolished in Guadeloupe, Saint Bartholemy, and Saint Martin

1905 -- The Battle of Tsushima started **

1907 -- The first US Bubonic plague epidemic broke out in San Francisco.

1919 – The NC-4 aircraft arrived in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight.

1933 -- The Federal Securities Act was signed

1937 -- The Golden Gate Bridge opened to pedestrian traffic

1962 -- The Centralia mine fire started

1965 -- US warships began shelling targets in South Vietnam.

1967 -- Australia passed a constitutional referendum allowing the government to make laws benefitting Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census.

1980 – South Korean airborne and army troops took the city of Gwangju from militias, killing at least 207.

1999 – The first shuttle mission to dock with the International Space Station.

2016 -- Barack Obama visited Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

** This has been said to have been the most important naval battle since Trafalgar and it the only significant one in which one fleet crossed the T on the other.

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Some people who were born on this day:

It will not do to say that it is out of woman’s sphere to assist in making laws, for if that were so, then it should be also out of her sphere to submit to them.”

~~ Amelia Bloomer

1774 – Francis Beaufort, hydrographer and naval officer 1818 -- Amelia Bloomer, activist and journalist 1819 -- Julia Ward Howe, poet, activist, abolitionist, and songwriter 1836 -- Jay Gould, swindler, robber baron 1837 -- Wild Bill Hickok, gambler and gunslinger 1871 -- Georges Rouault, painter and illustrator 1894 – Louis-Ferdinand Céline, physician, author, and anti-semite 1894 -- Dashiell Hammett, writer 1897 -- John Cockcroft, physicist 1907 -- Rachel Carson, biologist, environmentalist, and author 1912 -- John Cheever, novelist and short story writer 1915 -- Ester Sore', singer and songwriter 1915 -- Herman Wouk, novelist 1923 -- Henry Kissinger, war criminal 1925 – Tony Hillerman, journalist and author 1930 -- John Barth, author 1934 -- Harlan Ellison, author and screenwriter 1935 -- Ramsey Lewis, jazz pianist and composer 1939 -- Don Williams, country singer, songwriter and guitarist 1943 -- Cilla Black, singer and actress 1945 -- Bruce Cockburn, singer, songwriter and guitarist 1946 -- Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, bassist and comoser 1948 – Pete Sears, bass player and keyboardist 1950 -- Dee Dee Bridgewater, singer, songwriter, and actress 1957 – Eddie Harsch, keyboard player and bass player 1957 -- Siouxsie Sioux, singer, songwriter and musician 1963 – Gonzalo Rubalcaba, pianist and composer

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Some people who died on this day:

The violin is my mistress, but the guitar is my master.

~~ Niccolo Paganini

1564 -- John Calvin, religionist 1610 – François Ravaillac, regicide 1707 -- Francoise-Athenais, marquise de Montespan, royal mistress 1831 – Jedediah Smith, hunter, explorer, and author 1840 – Niccolò Paganini, violinist and composer 1867 -- Thomas Bulfinch, mythologist 1910 -- Robert Koch, physician and microbiologist, 1949 -- Robert Ripley, cartoonist and publisher 1971 – Béla Juhos, philosopher from the Vienna Circle 1988 – Ernst Ruska, physicist and academic, 1992 -- Uncle Charlie Osborne, fiddler 2007 – Izumi Sakai, singer, songwriter, and producer 2011 -- Gil Scott-Heron, poet, activist, singer, songwriter, and musician, accused of inventing rap 2017 – Gregg Allman, musician, singer and songwriter

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Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: Slavery Abolition Day (Guadeloupe, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin) Navy Day (Japan)

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Today's Tunes

Jay Gould

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