Erskine Sims (1881 - 1964)

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1881 - In the year that Erskine Sims was born, on March 4th, James A. Garfield became the 20th President of the United States. On July 2nd, he was shot by Charles Guiteau, a lawyer, in Washington, D.C. The wound became infected and Garfield died on September 19. Vice President Chester A. Arthur immediately became the 21st President.

1884 - At the age of merely 3 years old, Erskine was alive when on May 1st, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions - a US association - first resolved that "eight hours shall constitute a legal day's labour from and after May 1, 1886, and that we recommend to labour organisations throughout this jurisdiction that they so direct their laws as to conform to this resolution by the time named." Previously, workdays would consist of 10 to 16 hours a day - 6 days a week. It would take years before the 8 hour workday became common practice - and longer before it became a law.

1905 - At the age of 24 years old, Erskine was alive when federal spending was $0.57 billion, unemployment was 4.3%, and the cost of a first-class stamp was $0.02. Current U.S. government spending is $4.268 trillion.

1915 - At the age of 34 years old, Erskine was alive when the Superior Court in Fulton County Georgia accepted the charter for the establishment of the new Ku Klux Klan, succeeding the Klan that flourished in the South in the late 1800's. This iteration of the Klan adopted white clothing and used many of the code words from the first Klan, adding cross burnings and mass marches in an attempt to intimidate others.

1964 - In the year of Erskine Sims's passing, in June, three young civil rights workers - Andrew Goodman and Mickey Schwerner from New York City, and James Chaney from Meridian, Mississippi - were kidnapped and murdered in Mississippi. Working with "Freedom Summer", they were registering African-Americans to vote in the Southern states. Their bodies were found two months later. Although it was discovered that the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the Neshoba County Sheriff's Office and the Philadelphia, Mississippi Police Department were involved, only 7 men were convicted and served less than six years.

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