Day Tripping: June 16

Travesties, Trajectories, and Transitions

Justice Too Late

Tried and convicted in just eighty-three days in 1944, George Stinney Jr was executed by electric chair for the murder of two young white girls though there was no physical evidence presented at the trial. George was 14-years-old, the youngest person ever to be put to death in the 20th century. The prosecution's case centred on Stinney Jr, a black boy who was seen with the white girls the day before they went missing. Police also claimed that George had confessed to the gruesome murders.

Convinced that their brother had been coerced into the confession, George’s siblings began a campaign to clear his name after the end of the JimCrow era in South Carolina. Seventy years later in 2014, George Stinney Jr’s case was vacated for lack of evidence.

Female Orbitor

Say what you will about the Soviet Union of the Cold War era, but in the beginning of their space program, they were an equal opportunity employer. In 1963, the Vostok 6 space mission was launched, carrying the first woman into space. Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was chosen from 400 applicants to fly the mission that made 48 orbits of Earth, lasting nearly three days.

The first American female astronaut, Sally Ride didn’t reach space until 1983 with the Space Shuttle mission when she was thirty-two. When Tereshkova flew she was only twenty-six, remaining the youngest woman to fly in space and the only one to do it solo.

Persona On Parade

David Bowie launched a new era in concept album music in 1972 with the release of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Bowie’s incarnation of an orange-haired Martian demigod broke new ground in rock music, selling over 7 million copies on its initial release. His persona of the androgynous Ziggy who has come to warn humanity in their last five years of life explores sexuality in a way never seen before.

The album was recorded in Trident Studio, the same studio used by the Beatles to make Hey Jude. Bowie toured as Ziggy Stardust only for about a year, but it left a legacy that has influence generations of talent like Queen, Lady Gaga, and Adam Lambert.

Musical Milestones

The greatest Rock Festival of them all preceded Woodstock by two years when Monterey Pop opened in 1967 at the County Fairgrounds. The numbers in attendance paled by comparison to the Woodstock weekend but the first festival of its kind featured acts including The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Stev Miller, The Grateful Dead, Canned Heat, and The Animals.

The Who and Hendrix flipped a coin to see who would get to go on first because both planned to trash their instruments. The Who won the toss, but Jimi went the extra mile by playing the guitar with his teeth and then lighting his axe on fire.

Narratives

Dan Akroyd and John Belushi took their Blues Brothers Saturday Night Live Skit and launched the duo black-suited singers into a movie version. The film premiered in Chicago in 1980 as a homage to the Soul and R & B era of the sixties, sparking new interest in the careers of James Brown, Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin.

Remembrance

Best known for playing Superman on television in the fifties, George Reeves made his film debut in the opening scene of Gone With The Wind. Tragedy befell Reeves in 1959 when he died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The story has it that Reeves was distraught over his failing career after playing the man of steel.

Notable Births

1890 — Always getting Ollie in another fine mess, Stan Laurel

1970 — Lefty just won another major Golf tournament. Phil Mickelson is fifty-one today.

K. Barrett Katie Wallace Maria Rattray Maryam Merchant Dr Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon Myriam Ben Salem Phil Truman Chelsea Mandler MAT Terry Mansfield Hollie Petit, PhD. Terry Trueman Dr Preeti Singh John Gruber Bill Abbate James G Brennan ScienceDuuude Marcus Liam Ireland Claire Kelly Noorain Hassan, BMS Amy Pierovich David Acaster Nora Thewriteyard David Perlmutter Joe Luca

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