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THIS WEEK IN PEOPLE’S HISTORY, JAN 8–14  
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_ Educational TV Gets Schooled About Race (1975), ‘It Was the Right
Thing To Do’ (1930), Negligence Kills, But Only the Victims Pay
(1860), Paul Robeson Is John Henry (1940), New Technology Remakes an
Industry (1960), A Classic Ragtime Spiritual (1925) _

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_TEACHING EDUCATIONAL TV A LESSON ABOUT RACE _

JANUARY 8 IS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY of an unprecedented decision by the
Federal Communications Commission, to cancel the broadcasting license
of Alabama Educational Television because the station "excluded blacks
from the decision-making process," and rejected "most of the
Black-oriented programming available to it," in a state where 30
percent of population was Black. In addition, the station's signal did
not even reach seven of the nine Alabama counties where Blacks
outnumbered whites. 

The FCC's wake-up call to Alabama's racist good-ole-boy network had
the desired effect. After the station hired a substantial number of
Black managers, adjusted its programming to reflect the interests of
the state's entire population and expanded the reach of its signal, it
was allowed to reapply for the license, which was renewed.
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_‘IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO’_

JANUARY 9 IS THE 95TH ANNIVERSARY of a strangely forgotten episode in
the relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. 

On January 9, 1930, the very large and successful architectural firm
of Albert Kahn Associates, which was headquartered in Detroit and
operated both internationally and throughout the U.S., signed a
contract with the Soviet government to be the consulting architect for
all industrial construction in the Soviet Union for the next five
years, that is, for the duration of the Soviet Union's first 5-year
plan. 

At a time when the U.S. did not recognize the USSR's government and
had no diplomatic relations with it, which meant that doing business
in the USSR involved an unusual amount of risk. Albert Kahn Associates
assumed the responsibility for eventually designing 521 Soviet
factories and other industrial projects. In addition, the firm
established an office in Moscow that trained more than four thousand
architects and engineers, close to the number of design professionals
graduated by all the architectural and engineering schools in the U.S.
during the same period.

Albert Kahn Associates was renowned for having designed production
facilities for scores of major U.S. corporations, including all the
large automobile manufacturers. Kahn was a believer in the notion that
producing practical designs for industrial buildings was a key task in
the success of any industrial society. In 1930, the Soviets had very
little experience in that realm, and Kahn was more than happy to share
his expertise with them. 

Kahn did not profess to be a leftist. When asked why he undertook the
unusual project in the Soviet Union, he said that he believed “the
Russian people – regardless of their form of government – were
entitled to help after all their generations of suffering under the
czars. It was the right thing to do.” 

Less than a decade later, when the Third Reich came to grief in its
failed attempt to obliterate the Soviet Union, more than a few
observers believed that Kahn's contribution to the USSR's industrial
infrastructure and nurturing a cadre of Soviet architects and
engineers played a significant role in the outcome of World War 2.
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_NEGLIGENCE KILLS, BUT ONLY THE VICTIMS PAY_

JANUARY 10 IS THE 165TH ANNIVERSARY of an unprecedentedly massive
industrial catastrophe, the 1860 collapse, without warning, of the
brick, 5-story Pemberton Textile Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts. 

At least 145 workers died and more than 150 were hurt, many of them
critically. Investigation after the collapse found that the 7-year-old
mill had been built with substandard cast-iron columns and substandard
mortar, but no individual or company was ever held responsible for the
deaths and injuries. If you visit the Zinn Education Project's page,
you can watch an informative 15-minute video about the collapse and
its aftermath
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_PAUL ROBESON IS JOHN HENRY_

JANUARY 11 IS THE 85TH ANNIVERSARY of the second day of an
unsuccessful (6-day) Broadway run of the musical “John Henry” at
the Forty-fourth Street Theater on Broadway.

With a book by Roark Bradford and music by Jacques Wolf, “John
Henry” starred Paul Robeson and Ruby Elzy with Josh White, Joseph
Attles, Musa Williams, and Bayard Rustin. You can hear Josh White’s
rendition of its song "I Don't Care Where They Bury My Body" here:
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_NEW TECHNOLOGY REMAKES AN INDUSTRY_

JANUARY 12 IS THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY of the beginning of a revolution in
ocean shipping that would result in the speedy remaking of every major
port city and a tsunami of unemployment among the residents of those
cities.

In January 1960, a radically new kind of ship, designed to carry many
specially designed metal containers instead of loose cargo, for the
first time steamed into the port of New York to tie up at Newark,
where it was loaded with containers bound for Venezuela. The loading
took place at an old-style pier not specifically designed to handle
shipping containers. Nearby the world's first maritime container port
was under construction, but it would not open until August 1962. 

The containerization of cargo has substantially reduced the number of
workers needed to load and unload ships, with the result that the size
of the dockworker workforce has fallen sharply.  At the same time,
the dockworkers' unions have negotiated contracts that significantly
increased the incomes of the remaining workforce. Another major effect
of containerization has been to change the geography of the industry.
Because container ports require much more land than old-style ports,
port operations in densely populated locations have almost
disappeared, to be replaced by operations in places where land is
available for the vast networks of roads and parking lots that are
required.
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_A CLASSIC RAGTIME SPIRITUAL_

JANUARY 14 IS THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY of the recording session during
which Bessie Smith on vocals, Louis Armstrong, cornet, and Fred
Longshaw, harmonium, recorded the huge hit, W.C. Handy's unforgettable
The St. Louis Blues. You can listen to it here:
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