This day in "radical" history- Rose Pastor Stokes, Mandela, Gonzo born

[underpants]

July 18
Things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=17214#18

1879: Birth of Rose Pastor Stokes (sic), radical sentenced to ten years in prison for writing an anti-war letter to the editor.


1918: Birth of Nelson Mandela, father of South Africa.

1939: Birth of Hunter S. Thompson, gonzo Doktor of Journalism.


Rose Pastor Stokes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Pastor_Stokes

Rose Pastor Stokes (1879 - 1933) was a Socialist Party leader and feminist. Born in Russia, she emigrated to the United States and became active in labor politics and women's issues. Scandalizing "polite" society, she married millionaire George Phelps Stokes, a personal friend of President Woodrow Wilson.

Rose began to travel throughout America, speaking and contributing articles to various newspapers. In 1918, Mrs. Stokes wrote a letter to the editor of the Kansas City Star criticizing US involvement in World War I. The communication berated the US government as being allied to profiteers. The controversy over her letter to the editor led to her federal indictment and trial in Kansas City, Missouri, for violating the Espionage Act of 1917.

After receiving a sentence of 30 years in prison, Stokes and her attorney, Seymour Stedman of Chicago, Illinois, successfully appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in St. Louis, Missouri. The government afterwards dropped the case against her.