Seeds of Fire: A People’s Chronology
Recalling events that happened on this day in history.
Memories of struggle, resistance and persistence.
Compiled by Ulli Diemer
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July 27, 1816
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An American military expedition attacks the ‘Negro Fort’ in Florida, where several hundred escaped slaves are living. The free settlement is loathed by American slaveowners because it stands as a constant symbol of resistance to slavery. As the American troops approach the vicinity of the fort, they encounter armed black militia allied with indigenous Seminole and Choctaw warriors. The fort falls when a bombardment by American cannon results in a massive explosion of the fort’s powder magazine. Most of the occupants of the fort are killed or injured in the explosion. The leader of the black militia, Garson, is captured and killed. The other survivors are enslaved.
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July 27, 1918
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United Mine Workers organizer Ginger Goodwin is shot and killed by a private cop near Cumberland, British Columbia. On August 2, workers in Vancouver hold a one-day general strike to protest his murder.
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July 27, 1919
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Riots break out in Chicago after Eugene Williams, a black youth floating on a raft crosses an unseen ‘color line’ at the 29th Street Beach and is drowned by a rock-throwing white man. Chicago police refuse to arrest the killer. 38 people die and more than 500 are injured in the ensuing eight days of rioting.
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July 27 - 28, 1932
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The Bonus Army, U.S. World War I veterans, most of them unemployed and in desperate financial straits, are forcibily dispersed by troops commanded by General Douglas MacArthur.
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July 27, 1942
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Two Japanese-American men, Toshiro Kobata, a farmer, and Hirota Isomura, a fisherman, are shot to death by guards at the Lourdsburg, New Mexico internment camp for ‘enemy aliens.’ Authorities claim the men were trying to escape, but subsequent reports indicate that the men were so ill that they had been unable to walk from the train station to the camp gate.
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July 27, 1953
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The United States, China, and North Korea agree to a truce, ending the Korean War.
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July 27, 1996
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Four female peace activists are arrested for pouring their on blood on weapons at the Naval Submarine Base at Groton, Connecticut, on the morning of the launch of the Trident submarine the U.S.S. Louisiana.
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