Bound Volumes, Hometown History
August 20, 2026
160 YEARS AGO
Military Encampment—We see by orders posted about our streets that the 39th Regiment commanded by Colonel Hubbard, and the 41st Regiment commanded by Colonel Dunbar, will encamp in this village on land owned by E.R. Ford, Esq. for drill &c., commencing Monday September 17 and will remain until Saturday, September 22. These regiments comprise the towns in the First and Second Assembly Districts of this County, and are under command of efficient officers, and if uniformed as the regiments should be, will make a fine appearance. We doubt not our citizens will cordially welcome them and prepare for their wants, thereby making their stay in our village as pleasant as possible. The military organizations of the State should be encouraged by every good citizen.
August 1866
70 YEARS AGO
In a proposed Civil Rights plank, Republican Party Platform drafters called today for elimination of racial segregation in public schools with “all deliberate speed.” They said this should be done “locally through federal courts.” The tentative plank—approved by the 105-member Platform Committee—said the Republican Committee concurs in the U.S. Supreme Court decision outlawing segregation in the schools and in the court’s direction that this be accomplished with “all deliberate speed.”
August 1956
30 YEARS AGO
August 1996
20 YEARS AGO
Raids conducted last week on 20 brothels in the Northeast U.S. uncovered more than 70 suspected sex slaves, exposing a long-ignored national problem found in towns large and small with immigrants and U.S. citizens alike as victims. “It’s a very overwhelming subject for a lot of people to recognize that there is slavery at this time in our country,” said Carole Angel, staff attorney with the Immigrant Women Program of the women’s rights advocacy group Legal Momentum in Washington, D.C. “It’s hard for us as humans to contemplate what this means.” Jolene Smith, executive director of Free the Slaves, a Washington based organization dedicated to ending slavery world-wide, agreed that the idea of 21st century slavery was foreign to most people. “Americans are conditioned to believe that slavery was a thing of the past,” Smith said. “We have to re-educate ourselves about this reality.” Last Tuesday, federal and local law enforcement agents raided brothels disguised as massage parlors, health spas, and acupuncture clinics in six states and the District of Columbia. Thirty-one people were arrested on trafficking charges while 70 sex workers were taken to undisclosed locations for questioning and the provision of basic services. “There are so many faces on this,” Carol Angel said. “It happens in rural communities and big cities.”
August 2006
