1862 - President Lincoln issues a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which sets a date for the freedom of more than 3 million enslaved in the United States and recasts the Civil War as a fight against slavery. Before, the war was cast as preserving the Union and not about slavery.
1888 - National Geographic publishes its first issue, without photos. The magazine has so few subscribers that editor Gilbert H. Grosvenor personally addresses each copy and carries the whole pile of them to the post office.
1861 - President John F. Kennedy signs legislation establishing the Peace Corps as a permanent government agency. Kennedy believed that the Peace Corps could provide a new and unique weapon in the war against communism. It was a successful PR stunt for America.
1928 - Galvin Manufacturing Corporation of Chicago introduces the first commercial car radio called the Motorola radio.
1957 - Nine black students are escorted into the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas by the U.S. Unfortunately, they were then evacuated after a mob of 1,000 white residents got unruly. President Eisenhower sent in more troops to guard the school for the remaining school year. The Nine returned the next day.
1985 - Willy Nelson and Bob Dylan help organize the first Farm Aid concert in Champaign, Illinois to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and raise funds to keep families on their land. 80,000 people attended the largest Country and Rock concert ever.
Willy Nelson Helps Small Farmers
It started with an offhand remark made by Bob Dylan during his performance at Live Aid, the massive fundraising concert in the summer of 1985 famous for bringing awareness to the famine in Ethiopia and Freddy Mercury’s career-defining performance.
Dylan remarked, “I hope that some of the money ... maybe they can just take a little bit of it, maybe ... one or two million, maybe ... and use it, say, to pay the mortgages on some of the farms and, the farmers here, owe to the banks." He was greatly criticized for saying this at a fundraiser for Africans, but the famous country artist was inspired.
By the mid-1980s American farmers were facing economic hardships not seen since the Great Depression. Droughts in 1980 and 1983 had wrought devastation in the Corn Belt, Midwest States and Northeast. Land values and farm product prices plummeted as loan interest rates soared, unfair lending practices flourished, and millions of people were forced from their land facing bankruptcy and foreclosure.
Willie Nelson had a heart for the farmer, having been raised in rural Texas during the Great Depression. He partnered with John Mellencamp and Neil Young to organize the first Farm Aid on September 22, 1985 in Champaign, Illinois. Their aim was to “raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep families on their land.”
Some 80,000 people showed up for the largest country and rock event in history. It raised $7 million and brought the plight of the farmer to the U.S. Congress. Nelson became an activist and helped support the passing of the Agricultural Credit Act in 1987. The Act saved thousands of farms from foreclosure. Farm Aid became a yearly event to continue supporting small farms in America and has raised $57 million to date.
Performers included Bob Dylan, Hoyt Axton, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Billy Joel, Tom Petty, B.B. King, Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, Loretta Lynn, Joni Mitchell and Charley Pride.
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