History

April 7, ‘American Can Company workers on strike’

April 4, 2014 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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Good morning. Today is the 97th day of the year.

 

The Flatbush Development Corporation’s weeklong market on Courtelyou Road begins today. There will be self-guided bar crawls, prix fixe food offerings, shopping, and more. … A new show, “Hiccup Help,” from children’s theater company Paper Bag Players opens today at 10 a.m. in Downtown Brooklyn. … There is a special meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School in Brooklyn Heights at 6:30 p.m. … Brooklyn Law School is hosting Councilman Brad Lander for a talk on land use and housing in the de Blasio era. … The Moth StorySLAM is coming to the Bell House in Gowanus today at 8 p.m. … PowerHouse Arena in DUMBO is hosting a book launch for celebrated author Julia Glass’s new book “And the Dark Sacred Night” from 7 to 9 p.m.

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Today is International BeaverDay, which celebrates the species that restores the most valuable terrestrial ecosystem—wetlands. Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife, an educational nonprofit organization, created this event to highlight the animal that acts as our life-support system by restoring wetlands, which absorb carbon dioxide and help moderate the droughts and major floods that are increasing with global warming. Beaver exhibits, talks, and hikes to ponds will be held, and free beaver materials distributed.

International Snailpapers Day, a day to celebrate hard-copy media! Celebrating by picking up a print newspaper (like this one) today.

The moon enters First Quarter Phase today at 4:31 am.

When the Cullen-Harrison Act went into effect at 12:01 today in 1933, thirsty customers could buy a beer that was 3.2 percent alcohol by weight instead of the “near beer” they had suffered with all through Prohibition. The public lined up on “New Beer’s Eve” (Apr 6) at breweries in 20 states and Washington, D.C., and purchased 1.5 million barrels. April 7 has remained National Beer Day, an unofficial holiday celebrating beer in the U.S.

Today is the anniversary of the New York Slave Revolt of 1712 by 27 slaves, the rebellion was begun by setting fire to an outhouse; as whites came to put the fire out, they were shot. The state militia was called out to capture the rebels, and the city of New York responded to the event by strengthening its slave codes. Nine white people were killed, while twenty-one slaves were executed as participants, and six alleged participants committed suicide. New York outlawed slavery in 1799, though the last slaves were not freed until 1827.

Rwanda Genocide Remembrance Day is a national holiday commemorating the massacres of April 7, 1994.

Leading British anthropologist, author and teacher Bronislaw Malinowski was born today in Krakow, Poland, in 1884. His pioneering anthropological fieldwork in Melanesia inspired his colleagues and students. In 1939 he became a visiting professor at Yale University. He died in New Haven in 1942.

Billie Holiday was born today in 1915. She was born Eleanora Fagan, and nicknamed “Lady Day.” She is considered by many jazz critics to have been the greatest jazz singer ever recorded. In her 26-year career, despite having received no formal training, she demonstrated a unique style with sophisticated and dramatic phrasing. Among her best-known songs are “Love Man,” “God Bless the Child,” “Don’t Explain” and “Strange Fruit.” Holiday was born in Philadelphia. She died in New York in 1959.

Born today in Varanasi, India, in 1920, sitar player and composer Ravi Shankar introduced Indian music to the western world. He began performing music and dance as a child and was soon recognized and trained by the head musician of the Maihar court. A key figure in the movement to bring world music to the attention of mass audiences, he toured extensively and taught around the world—influencing such musicians as George Harrison, John Coltrane and Philip Glass. Shankar also used his music to bring attention to the plight of the poor around the world, especially in Bangladesh.

Journalist, broadcaster, reporter and gossip columnist Walter Winchell was born in New York, N.Y. today in 1897. He was admired for his way with turning a phrase. His show business columns were voraciously read by millions of Americans between 1924 and 1963. He died in Los Angeles in 1972.

Other notable people born today include the actor Jackie Chan, who was born in Hong Kong in 1954, the actor Russell Crowe, who was born in New Zealand in 1964, the singer John Oates, of Hall & Oates, who was born in New York in 1948, and the filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, who was born in Detroit in 1954.

On this day in 1902,the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that 3,000 factory hands, employees of the American Can Company, were on strike. The company had recently been sold, and the new owners were requiring that employees make out daily details of their labor. The employees rejected this requirement. The paper reported that a meeting of strikers was to be held that afternoon to decide what course to pursue. The American Can Company owned three factories in Brooklyn at the time. One, in Gowanus on 3rd Street and 3rd Avenue, was recently renovated and can be rented for offices, work spaces, or studios. There is also an event space in the building. … The paper also reported that two lawyers in the First District Civil Court room at the corner of State and Court streets had broken out in a fist fight. Justice John J. Walsh had not yet ascended to the bench when the fight began, but he entered the court in time to see the wind up of the fight with fists between lawyers Felix Feifschneider of 1051 Prospect Pl., and William B. Smith of 77 Johnson St. The “wild scene” was said to last nearly five minutes, and began when Smith asked Feifschneider if he would not consent to an adjournment of the hearing. What followed was not entirely clear, but Feifschneider asserted that Smith had called his honesty into question.


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