October 30, 2012 - 12:22am
This Week in History: Classes dismissed early for Armistice Day parade
BY DANIELLE RAYKHINSHTEYN
Seventy years ago this week: (November 1, 1942): University ROTC and NROTC units, local military and civilian defense units announced plans to host the first Armistice Day parade in recent history on Nov. 11, The Michigan Daily reported.
From 10 a.m. until noon on Nov. 11, classes were dismissed so students could participate in and watch the parade.
Organizations invited to participate included the University Band, Ann Arbor High School band, state guards, city air raid wardens, firemen, policemen, Boy Scouts, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and numerous women’s organizations.
Forty years ago this week (October 29, 1972): The Council for Black Concerns held “programs involving speakers, plays, art shows and entertainers,” in order to encourage acceptance and diversity between racial groups, The Daily reported.
The CBC was in the process of forming a weekend retreat for student leaders of all ethnicities, in which participants could discuss problems minority students faced at the University.
Lee Gill, then-director of the CBC, said it was essential that students understand individuals of different backgrounds in order to avoid any racial tensions or problems.
Twenty years ago this week (October 27, 1992): Ann Richards, then-governor of Texas, gave a speech on the Diag to campaign for then-Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton and then-U.S. Rep. William Ford (D–Ypsilanti Township) who was running for re-election, the Daily reported.
The Daily reported that Richards delivered an address intended to mock then-President George H. W. Bush’s claims of responsibility for critical international events.
“I am the successful governor of a large state, and in just the two short years that I have been governor of Texas, the Berlin Wall has come down and the Soviet Union has dissolved,” Richards said during the rally.
Richards encountered opposition when students from the University’s chapter of College Republicans came to protest, holding up “Clean Congress” attached to broomsticks.
