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May 31
May 31 is the 31st day in May.
Events[edit]
1538 — New World: First of Hernando de Sotoʼs 1,000 conquistadors land on Florida coast, beginning a three-year pillage in a fruitless search for gold.
1578 — The Catacombs of Rome are discovered by accident.
1669 — Troubled by failing eyesight, Samuel Pepys, 36, concludes his famous personal Diary. [1]
1678 — England: Tax protester Lady Godiva rides naked through Coventry. [2]
1761 — At his home, No. 6 Wine Office Court, Fleet Street, Oliver Goldsmith entertains Samuel Johnson at dinner — the start of a famous friendship. [3]
1779 — United States of America: Washington orders Iroquois suppressed.
1819 — Walt Whitman lives (1819 — 1892).
1826 — France: In Paris, the Tribunal Correctionnel de la Seine orders the destruction of Denis Diderotʼs novel, Jacques le Fataliste et son maître and sends the editor to jail for a month. Other works by Diderot also earned official censure for "insulting public morals" — La Religieuse (in 1824 and 1826), Bijoux Indiscrets (in 1835).
1836 — France: Jean-Baptiste Clement (1836 — 1903) lives, in Boulogne. Communard and author of the famous song "The Time of Cherries". Clement was several times sent to prison for his writings and lampoons. See 1903 February 23.
1837 — England: Giuseppe "Joey" Grimaldi (1779 — 1837), "Michelangelo of Buffoonery," dies. “The Garrick of the Clowns†– “The Jupiter of the Practical Jokeâ€. One of the greatest and best-loved figures in the history of English Pantomime. His Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi were edited by Charles Dickens. [4]
1838 — England: According to 'official' history, the last battle on English soil occurs as armed Kentish peasants clash with troops at Bosendon Wood. [Source: Calendar Riots]
1859 — United States of America: What was baseball originally called? The Philadelphia Athletics were formally organized to play the game of "Town Ball". Baseball came almost 20 years later.
1868 — France: First bicycle race, held in Paris.
1870 — United States of America: E.J. DeSemdt patents the stuff that became the foundation of American culture: Asphalt. Got itʼs name when a test batch was incorrectly poured. A foreman screamed: "Itʼs your ass and your fault!" About 55% of the surface area of a typical American cityʼs core is paved with the stuff. [5]
1874 — Belgium: Jean Marestan (born Gaston Havard) (1874 — 1951) dies. Pacifist, author, anarchiste and militant néo-Malthusian.
1880 — United States of America: League of American Wheelmen forms in Newport, Rhode Island. The first national bicycle society organized in the US.
1884 — United States of America: Crackpot health nut Kellogg gets patent for manufacture of corn flakes.
1887 — Saint-John Perse lives (1887 — 1975). French poet/diplomat, awarded the Nobel in 1960. Associated with Paul Valéry, Paul Claudel, and others of the Nouvelle revue française. Wrote Éloges, and Other Poems; Anabasis, translated by T.S. Eliot, Friendship of the Prince; Exile, and Other Poems. [6]
1889 — United States of America: Johnstown Flood. 2,200 hundred people die as the South Fork Dam, long in a state of disrepair, finally broke, unleashing a 30-foot wall of water on the city of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
1890 — France: Louise Michel 31 mai 1890: Le mandat d'arrestation qui l'avait frappée est levé : mais Louise refuse (toujours pour les mêmes raisons) de quitter la prison. De colère, elle casse tout dans sa cellule. [Source: Michel Chronologie]
1899 — Leonid Leonov lives. Russian journalist, novelist and playwright. His novel The Russian Forest awarded 1957 Lenin Prize. His psychological portrayals are within in the tradition of Fyodor Dostoyevsky and reflect the doctrines of Socialist Realism.
1902 — Boer War Ends; Treaty of Vereeniging signed, Britain annexes Transvaal.
1905 — France: In Paris a bomb is tossed into a procession headed by French President Loubet and the king of Spain, Alphonse XIII. They were not hurt, but several people were wounded. The Spanish anarchist Alexander Farras (or Avino) was responsible, but never caught. Four anarchists, including Charles Malato, were arrested November 27, tried and acquitted of complicity in the attack. [7]
1906 — Spain: An anarchistʼs bomb, a belated wedding gift, explodes following King Alfonsoʼs wedding. In Madrid the young anarchist Mateo Morral tosses a bomb (hidden in a bunch of flowers) at King Alphonso XIIIʼs royal wedding party.
1908 — United States of America: Mid-to-late May, Emma Goldman presents two lectures in Spokane: "What Anarchism Really Stands For" and "The Menace of Patriotism."
1910 — United States of America: A car in which Emma Goldman and Ben Reitman are riding is struck by a freight train in Spokane, Washington. Emma is thrown from car and badly bruised. The plucky anarchist continues her speaking engagements, in Butte, Montana, Bismarck and Fargo, North Dakota; also travels through Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois.
1912 — Henry 'Scoop' Jackson, US Senator from Boeing, lives. It is not true that "pooper scoopers" are named after him. After Mount St. Helens blew her top a lot of ash fell in the Ritzville, Washington area. The clean-up entailed digging a giant pit east of town and filling it with the fall-out. It soon became known as the "Scoop Jackson Memorial Ashhole."
1915 — Poet Judith Wright lives, Armidale Australia.
1916 — During World War I British and German fleets fight Battle of Jutland.
1917 — United States of America: Emma Goldman speaks before a Jewish audience in Philadelphia on "Victims of Morality," addressing morality as it relates to private ownership, government and laws, and women. The police, always protecting the rights of free speech, warn her against speaking out against conscription when she begins to urge mothers to prevent their sons from fighting in the war. The event inspires the formation of a No-Conscription League in Philadelphia.
1921 — United States of America: Sacco and Vanzetti trial begins. "Both Nick [Sacco] and I are anarchists — the radical of the radical — the black cats, the terrors of many, of all the bigots, exploitators, charlatans, fakers and oppressors. Consequently we are also the more slandered, misrepresented, misunderstood, and persecuted of all. After all we are socialists, as the social democrats, the socialists, the communists, and the IWW are all Socialists. The difference — the fundamental one — between us and all the other is that they are authoritarian while we are libertarian; they believe in a State or Government of their own; we believe in no State or Government." — Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1927) [8] [9]
1921 — United States of America: More than 300 killed in race riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The worst racial violence in US history. Riled by false rumors, shooting by whites erupted the nite of the 31st, looting and burning in the wee hours of June 1st. Earlier today the Tulsa Tribune newspaper which contains a front page article entitled “Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in Elevator,†and a back page editorial entitled “To Lynch Negro Tonight.†The accusation proved false. But by the time this was determined, the black community of Greenwood was destroyed by a white mob, who murdered many and razed the entire 35 block area. See also tomorrow. [10] [11]
1925 — Julian Beck lives, New York. Cofounder of the infamous Living Theatre, along with his partner Judith Malina. Beck wrote and directed plays many plays throughout the course of his life. Julian led massive political demonstrations in NY in the 60s. All were involving peace. Julian Beck was a lifelong poet and anarchist. [12] [13] [14]
1931 — United States of America: "The Forward," a Yiddish socialist daily in New York, begins serialization of Emma Goldmanʼs autobiography, Living My Life; Emma is dissatisfied with both the translation and editor Abraham Cahanʼs introductory reminiscence of her.
1939 — Italy: L'Accademia dei Lincei perde la sua autonomia ed è incorporata nell'Accademia d'Italia. [Source: Crimini e Misfatti]
1940 — Emma Goldman, anarchist feministA memorial meeting for Emma Goldman is held at New Yorkʼs Town Hall, presided over by Leonard Abbott; films of Goldman in Spain, Canada, and of her funeral are shown; speakers include Norman Thomas, Rudolf Rocker, Roger Baldwin, Harry Kelly, Carlo Tresca, Eliot White, Rose Pesotta labor organizer and anarchist in the ILGWU, Martin Gudell, Dorothy Rogers, and Harry Weinberger.
1946 — Rainer Werner Fassbinder lives.
1947 — Henry W. Targowski lives.
1951 — USSR: Russia claims inventing the television in 1907.
1952 — France: Bordeaux, 31 mai-2 juin. La Fédération anarchiste, réunie en congrès, adopte une motion d’orientation communiste libertaire. [Source: Le Libertaire Chronologie]
1955 — Supreme Court orders school integration "with all deliberate speed."
1956 — Brendan Behan becomes a folk hero overnight, appearing, drunk and unintelligible, on a BBC television interview with Malcolm Muggeridge. [15]
1957 — Playwright Arthur Miller is convicted for contempt of Congress for refusing to play snitch during the witchhunts conducted by HUAC. The conviction is overturned on appeal in 1958. John Steinbeck eloquently defended Miller in the June 1957 Esquire. Miller once said he thought theater could "change the world," and notes that a playwright, "is one of the audience who happens to know how to speak." The Crucible, which premiered in 1953, is a fictionalization of the Salem witch-hunts of 1692, but it also deals in an allegorical manner with the House Un-American Activities Committee. In a note to the play, Miller writes, "A political policy is equated with moral right, and opposition to it with diabolical malevolence." Dealing as it did with highly charged current events, the play received unfavorable reviews and Miller was cold-shouldered by many colleagues. [16]
1958 — Dick Dale invents "surf music" with "Letʼs Go Trippin" for all the Dick heads in the world. [17]
1961 — Chuck Berry opens Berry Park, an amusement park in Wentzville, Missouri. The 30-acre complex has a swimming pool, miniature golf course, ferris wheel, a childrenʼs barbecue pits.
1961 — Dominican Republic: Dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo assassinated. [18]
1962 — Adolph Eichmann is hanged. Just doing his job.
1963 — Brazilian poet/short story writer, Ribeiro Couto, dies, Paris, France. A leading figure of the Modernismo movement of the 1920s. Wrote fluently in Portuguese and French of the humble aspects of everyday life. [19] [20]
1963 — United States of America: 600 children arrested for marching [Jackson?? or Birmingham?]
1968 — 3l mai 68 Les pompes à essence sont réapprovisionnées pour le week-end de la Pentecôte. The cabinet is reshuffled and elections are announced for June 23 and 30. Exchange controls are re-established and demonstrations of support for the government are held throughout France.
1968 — United States of America: Works of Robert Edward Duncan exhibited by the San Francisco Museum of Art as part of its celebration of Frisco underground art 1945-1968. [21]
1969 — Rolling Stone reports Frank Zappa is a lecturer on the college circuit, speaking at New York Cityʼs New School, UCLA, Villanova and the University of South Carolina. Gets $1,500 for speaking on such subjects as "Pigs, Ponies and Rock and Roll." [22]
1970 — At 03:23 PM, Yungay, Peru leveled by earthquake. (50-70,000 die).
1973 — Greg Ruddue fly a paper airplane 1126 yards. [23]
1978 — Hannah Höch (1889 — 1978), dies.
1982 — Canada: No 'Power to the People'? Vancouver Island: "Direct Action" group blows up BC hydro power substation.
1986 — United States of America: Biggest Death Row Escape: Six condemned men led by Linwood Briley overpower guards, steal uniforms, and escape Mecklenberg Correctional Center. All re-captured within three weeks, Boydton, Virginia.
1986 — China: "18th day" of Chinese demonstrations; 100,000(?) in Tienamen Square.
1995 — MDMA, better known as Ecstasy — a kind of "baby acid" that has become the drug of choice among yuppies desperate for the artificial feeling of well-being it induces — is banned by the government.
1995 — Vietnam: Government turns over 100 pages of maps and reports about US servicemen killed or captured during the war. An American veteranʼs map helps locate a mass grave of communist soldiers killed during the war. In June Senators Kerry and John McCain say they plan to offer a Senate resolution approving normalized relations.
2000 — Mexico City: Protesting teachers burn pamphlets at a fence around the Los Pinos presidential residence as riot police attempt to protect the building. Teachers from various Mexican states have been protesting for better wages and education reform since May 15.
2000 — Argentina: 20,000 protesters take to the streets against £649m in spending cuts announced on the 29th.
