May 24, 1961: Twenty-seven Freedom Riders, headed for New Orleans, were arrested as soon as they arrived in the bus station in Jackson, Mississippi. Many of the riders were sentenced to two months inside Mississippi’s worst prison, Parchman. Within a few months, police arrested more than 400 Freedom Riders. Eric Etheridge features portraits of the Riders (then and now) in his book, Breach of Peace. Their journeys are captured in Raymond Arsenault’s book, Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice, and Stanley Nelson’s documentary, Freedom Riders.

RELATED STORY: Freedom Riders recall violence faced 55 years ago

RELATED STORY: Students join civil rights veterans on symbolic bus ride

May 25, 1774: A group of Africans held as slaves in Massachusetts Bay colony (a center for slave trade) declared that they were born free just like the white citizens and “have never forfeited this Blessing by any compact or agreement whatever.” In 1783, the Massachusetts Supreme Court found for freedom for all slaves. Chief Justice William Cushing declared slavery “inconsistent with our own conduct and Constitution.”

Source: for complete article clarionledger.com

1610 – Sir Thomas Gates institutes “laws divine moral and marshal,” a harsh civil code for Jamestown.

1624 – After years of unprofitable operation Virginia’s charter was revoked and it became a royal colony.

1689 – The English Parliament passed Act of Toleration, protecting Protestants. Roman Catholics were specifically excluded from exemption.

1738 – The Methodist Church was established.

1764 – Bostonian lawyer James Otis denounced “taxation without representation” and called for the colonies to unite in demonstrating their opposition to Britain’s new tax measures.

1798 – Believing that a French invasion of Ireland was imminent, Irish nationalists rose up against the British occupation.

1816 – Emamual Leutze was born in Germany. He was most famous for his paintings “Washington Crossing the Delaware” and “Columbus Before the Queen”.

1822 – At the Battle of Pichincha, Bolivar secured independence of the Quito.

1830 – The first passenger railroad service in the U.S. began service.

1844 – Samuel F.B. Morse formally opened America’s first telegraph line. The first message was sent from Washington, DC, to Baltimore, MD. The message was “What hath God wrought?”

1859 – Charles Gounod’s “Ave Maria” was performed by Madame Caroline Miolan-Carvalho for the first time in public.

1863 – Bushwackers led by Captain William Marchbanks attacked a U.S. Federal militia party in Nevada, Missouri.

1878 – The first American bicycle race was held in Boston.

1881 – About 200 people died when the Canadian ferry Princess Victoria sank near London, Ontario.

1883 – After 14 years of construction the Brooklyn Bridge was opened to traffic.

1899 – The first public garage was opened by W.T. McCullough.

1913 – The U.S. Department of Labor entered into its first strike mediation. The dispute was between the Railroad Clerks of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.

1930 – Amy Johnson became the first woman to fly from England to Australia.

1931 – B&O Railroad began service with the first passenger train to have air conditioning throughout. The run was between New York City and Washington, DC.

1935 – The Cincinnati Reds played the Philadelphia Phillies in the first major league baseball game at night. The switch for the floodlights was thrown by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt.

1941 – The HMS Hood was sunk by the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic. Only three people survived.

1950 – ‘Sweetwater’ (Nat) Clifton’s contract was purchased by the New York Knicks. Sweetwater played for the Harlem Globetrotters.

1954 – The first moving sidewalk in a railroad station was opened in Jersey City, NJ.

1958 – United Press International was formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.

1961 – The Freedom Riders were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi.

1962 – The officials of the National Football League ruled that halftime of regular season games would be cut to 15 minutes.

1967 – California Governor Ronald Reagan greeted Charles M. Schulz at the state capitol in observance of the legislature-proclaimed “Charles Schulz Day.”

1974 – The last “Dean Martin Show” was seen on NBC. The show had been aired for 9 years.

1976 – Britain and France opened trans-Atlantic Concorde service to Washington.

1980 – The International Court of Justice issued a final decision calling for the release of the hostages taken at the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979.

1983 – The Brooklyn Bridge’s 100th birthday was celebrated.

1983 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal government had the right to deny tax breaks to schools that racially discriminate.

1986 – Montreal won its 23rd National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup championship.

1990 – The Edmonton Oilers won their fifth National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup.

1993 – Roman Catholic Cardinal Juan Jesus Posada Ocampo and six other people were killed at the Guadalajara, Mexico, airport in a shootout that involved drug gangs.

1993 – The Ethiopian province of Eritrea declared itself an independent nation.

1994 – The four men convicted of bombing the New York’s World Trade Center were each sentenced to 240 years in prison.

1999 – 39 miners were killed in an underground gas explosion in the Ukraine.

2000 – Five people were killed and two others wounded when two gunmen entered a Wendy’s restaurant in Flushing, Queens, New York. The gunmen tied up the victims in the basement and then shot them.

2000 – The U.S. House of Representatives approved permanent normal trade relations with China. China was not happy about some of the human rights conditions that had been attached by the U.S. lawmakers.

2000 – A Democratic Party event for Al Gore in Washington brought in $26.5 million. The amount set a new record, which had just been set the previous month by Republicans for Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

2001 – Temba Tsheri, 15, became the youngest person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

2011 – NASA announced the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) spacecraft. It is intended to facilitate exploration of the Moon, asteroids and Mars.

on-this-day.com

Sign the Petition!

Crew members at four Trader Joe’s stores have now voted to unionize, with more on the way.

But Trader Joe’s, which cultivates a progressive brand, has rolled out intense union-busting campaigns at every store that’s filed for a union election, and refuses to bargain in good faith with its workers.

This movement is not going away. Trader Joe’s crew members have watched the company culture change from one that values its workers with good pay, benefits, and atmosphere to a company with increasing turnover, declining benefits, and stagnating wages.

Instead of supporting workers’ right to organize, Trader Joe’s has doubled down on union-busting — using the same tactics as companies like Amazon and Starbucks.

Trader Joe’s United needs your help to force Trader Joe’s to stop union busting and live up to the company’s own “number one core value” — integrity.

Can you sign our urgent petition telling Trader Joe’s you support the union

Like workers at Starbucks who recently won their first union elections, workers at Trader Joe’s are joining a new surge of union organizing. 

Trader Joe’s United has now won elections to represent workers at four Trader Joe’s stores, located in Oakland, Louisville, Minneapolis, and Hadley, Massachusetts. Yet, contrary to their progressive, worker-friendly image, Trader Joe’s has responded in Starbucks-like fashion, by aggressively cracking down on organizing and stonewalling in contract negotiations with the new union reps. 

On March 1, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found Trader Joe’s had illegally suspended and fired a worker at a Houston store who raised concerns about workplace policies. The company was required to reinstate the worker and award back pay.

Contribute to Democracy for America Advocacy Fund and fund the fight demanding Trader Joe’s stop union-busting now!

dfa-af.com