MAY
1st
(1866) American Equal Rights Association forms
(1867) Reconstruction of South begins, black voter registration
2nd
(1920) 1st game of National Negro Baseball League played in Indianapolis
(2013) Rhode Island becomes the tenth US state to legalize same-sex marriage
3rd
(1845) The first black lawyer, Macon B. Allen, admitted to the bar
(1933) Ms Nellie Ross was the first woman to direct the United States Mint
4th
(1891) Provident Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, the first black-owned and operated hospital in the United States, was established by Dr. Daniel Hale Williams.
(1961) A group of 13 African-American and white civil rights activists launched the Freedom Rides, a series of bus trips through the American South to protest segregation in interstate bus terminals. The Freedom Riders, who were recruited by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a U.S. civil rights group, departed from Washington, D.C., and attempted to integrate facilities at bus terminals along the way into the Deep South.
5th
(1809) Mary Kies is 1st woman issued a US patent (weaving straw)
(1862) The Battle of Puebla, in which General Ignacio Zaragoaza’s Mexican troops, were outnumbered and defeated Napoleon III’s French forces took place. This is also known as "Cinco de Mayo."
(1971) Race riot in Brownsville section of Brooklyn (NYC)
6th
(1797) 1st Black Masonic Lodge (African # 459) forms Prince Hall, Boston
(1981) "Inacent Black" opens at Baltimore Theater NYC for 14 performances
7th
(1843) The first Japanese immigrants to the United States
(2013) Delaware becomes the 11th US State to legalize same-sex marriage
8th
(1775) First African-American U.S. military regiment: the 1st Rhode Island Regiment
(1858) John Brown holds antislavery convention
(1967) Muhammad Ali is indicted for refusing induction in US Army
9th
(1899) John Albert Burr patents the lawnmower
(1966) 1st black member of Federal Reserve Board (A F Brimmer)
10th
(1869) Completion of the transcontinental railroad -(1872) Victoria Woodhull is the first woman nominated for President of the US
(1994) Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as president of South Africa. Mandela had won the first free election in South Africa despite attempts by various political foes to deter the outcome.
11th
(1919) Race riot in Charleston SC, 2 blacks killed “Red Summer”
(1944) Smith v Allwright (excluding Blacks from primary voting) is illegal
12th
(1949) 1st foreign woman ambassador received in USA
(1963) Racial bomb attacks in Birmingham Alabama
13th
(1844) Macon Bolling Allen became the first licensed African-American attorney in the United States
(1966) US Federal education funding is denied to 12 school districts in the South because of violations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act
14th
(1961) Bus with 1st group of Freedom Riders bombed & burned in Alabama
(1970) Cops kill 2 students in racial disturbance (Jackson State U, Miss)
(2013) Brazil becomes the 15th country to legalize same-sex marriage
15th
(1869) National Woman Suffrage Association forms founder was Susan B Anthony
(1970) Elizabeth Hoisington & Anna Mae Mays named 1st female US generals
16th
(1862) During the American Civil War, Union General Benjamin Butler, military governor of New Orleans, issued his "Woman Order" declaring that any Southern woman showing disrespect for Union soldiers or the U.S. would be regarded as a woman of the town, or prostitute. This and other controversial acts by Butler set the stage for his dismissal as military governor in December 1862.
(1991) Queen Elizabeth II becomes 1st British monarch to address US congress
(1994) John Conyers Jr created the Violence Against Women Act
17th
(1909) White firemen on Georgia lroad strike to protest against hiring blacks
(1954) In Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that segregation of public schools "solely on the basis of race" denies black children "equal educational opportunity" even though "physical facilities and other 'tangible' factors may have been equal. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." Thurgood Marshall had argued the case before the Court. He went to become the first African American appointed to the Supreme Court.
18th
(1896) US Supreme court affirms race separation (Plessy v Ferguson)
(1953) Jacqueline Cochran was the first woman to break the sound barrier for female aviators during WWII
19th
(1930) Lorraine Hansberry was born. She reached commercial success as a playwright and opened doors for other Black writers. Hansberry enrolled in the University of Wisconsin in Madison as a painting major then switched to writing. Hansberry was famous for her play A Raisin in the Sun, which became the first by an African-American to be produced on Broadway.
(1991) Willy Ribbs becomes first black driver to make the Indianapolis 500
20th
(1932) Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
(1942) US Navy 1st permitted black recruits to serve
(1959) Japanese-Americans regain their citizenship
21st
(1881) American Red Cross founded by Clara Barton
(1918) US House of Representatives passes amendment allowing women to vote
22nd
(1940) Bernard Shaw, one of the pioneer African-American broadcasters, was born. He was best known for his role as an anchor with CNN
(2002)-A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four black girls in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church
23rd
(1871) Landrow Bell of Washington, D. C. received patent number 115,153 for the invention of new and useful improvements in smokestacks or chimneys for locomotives or other engines.
(1952) Wendell Oliver Scott broke the color barrier in Southern stock car racing when he drove a car in a race at the Danville, Virginia Fairgrounds Speedway
24th
(1930) 1st woman to fly from England to Australia solo, lands (Amy Johnson)
(1951) Racial segregation in Wash DC restaurants ruled illegal
25th
(1935) Jesse Owens sets or ties four track and field world records in a span of 45 minutes.
(1943) Riot at Mobile, Alabama, shipyard over upgrading 12 black workers
(1959) US Supreme Courtt rules Louisiana prohibiting black-white boxing unconstitutional
26th
(1907) Charles W. Anderson, Jr. the first African American elected to a southern state legislature in the 20th century, was born in Louisville, Kentucky. Anderson earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Wilberforce University in 1927 and his Juris Doctor degree from Howard University in 1931.
(1961) Freedom Ride Coordinating Committee establishes in Atlanta
27th
(1943) US forbids racial discrimination in war industry
(1958)Ernest Gideon Green became the first Black graduate of the newly desegregated Central High School in Pulaski County of Little Rock, Arkansas
28th
(1863) The first black regiment from the North left Boston to fight in the Civil War
(1863) The most notable African-American regiment of the Civil War, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, left Boston for combat
(1875) Isaac Payne, John Ward, and Pompey Factor received the Congressional Medal of Honor, America’s highest military decoration, for their actions during the Indian Wars.
29th
(1851) Abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth addressed the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio with her "Ain't I a Woman? " speech
(1973) Tom Bradley became the first African-American elected mayor of Los Angeles
30th
(1908) 1st federal workmen's compensation law approved
(1909) National Conference on the Negro is held
31st
(1870) Congress passes first Enforcement Act (rights of blacks)
(1909) First NAACP conference held in NYC in the United Charities Building