Page 17 – Zinn Education Project

May 19, 1972: First Malcolm X Day Celebration in D.C.

In a personal essay about the longest-running, largest annual event to celebrate the legacy of Malcolm X, Charles Stephenson describes the celebration’s founding and impact of that day in history.

May 19, 1930: Lorraine Hansberry Born

Lorraine Hansberry was an author and activist who wrote “A Raisin in the Sun.”

Portrait of Yuri Kochiyama with raised fist.

May 19, 1921: Yuri Kochiyama Born

Political activist Yuri Kochiyama was born in San Pedro, California.

May 19, 1918: Mary Turner Lynching

Mary Turner, a young African American woman who was eight months pregnant, was lynched in Lowndes County, Georgia.

May 19, 1856: Charles Sumner Crime Against Kansas Speech

Charles Sumner delivered a speech denouncing slavery and the need for Kansas to become a free state.

May 18, 1896: Plessy v. Ferguson Ruling

Plessy v. Ferguson upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities.

Newspaper following the Miami Riots of 1980.

May 17, 1980: Miami Riots Begin

Following the acquittal of four Miami police officers in the brutal murder of Arthur McDuffie, Black residents rose up in protest at the injustice of these acquittals.

May 17, 1968: Catonsville Nine Burn Draft Records

Nine people entered the Selective Service Offices, removed and burned draft records, and were collectively arrested in protest of the Vietnam War — they became known as the Catonsville Nine.

Spottswood Thomas Bolling Jr. and his mother Mrs. Sarah Bolling of the Bolling v. Sharpe school desegregation case, decided on the same day as Brown v. Board. Image: © The Washington Post by permission from the Washingtoniana Division.

May 17, 1954: Brown v. Board Ruling

After decades of organizing and strategic efforts by parents, teachers, lawyers, and more — the U.S. Supreme Court issued the unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education on school segregation.

May 16, 1950: Briggs v. Elliott Challenges School Segregation

With the help of the NAACP, local African American parents in South Carolina fought back against school segregation in a case that eventually helped to end segregation of public facilities across the nation.

May 16, 1918: The Sedition Act of 1918 Enacted

The Sedition Act of 1918 was enacted to extend the Espionage Act of 1917. It forbade the use of “disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language” about the U.S. government.

May 16, 1912: Studs Terkel Born

Studs Terkel was an author, activist, historian, and broadcaster.

May 15, 2010: Kalief Browder Arrested, Held for Three Years with No Trial

Kalief Browder was arrested at the age of 16 for allegedly stealing a backpack weeks before in the Bronx.

May 15, 2005: Howard Zinn Gave Commencement Address at Spelman

Howard Zinn gave the commencement address at Spelman University, at the invitation of President Beverly Daniel Tatum.

May 15, 1970: Jackson State Killings

College student Phillip Lafayette Gibbs (21) and high school student James Earl Green (17) were killed by the police during an anti-war protest at Jackson State College.

May 15, 1956: Elloree 21 Refuse to Sign Anti-NAACP Teacher Oath

Twenty-one teachers at the Elloree Training School were fired when they refused to sign an oath denying membership in the NAACP.

May 14, 2022: Buffalo Massacre

After posting a racist manifesto online before targeting a majority-Black neighborhood, a white supremacist killed ten people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.

May 14, 1960: Firehoses Confront Free Speech in S.F. City Hall

Peaceful protesters formed a picket line at the House on Un-American Activities Committee hearings.

May 14, 1913: Longshore Strike in Philadelphia

More than four thousand Philadelphia longshoremen, organized by African American IWW leader Ben Fletcher, went on strike and shut down one of the busiest ports in the United States.

May 13, 2011: Scholastic Inc. Withdraws Coal Pamphlet

Amid overwhelming criticism that Scholastic Inc. was lying to students about the benefits of coal use, the education publisher cut ties with the coal industry.

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