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1624 – After years of unprofitable operation Virginia’s charter was revoked and it became a royal colony.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

Intellectual Contributions and Pamphleteering

Otis’s legal and philosophical arguments were further developed in a series of influential pamphlets published during the early 1760s. Among these, The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved (1764) stands out as a seminal work. In this pamphlet, Otis argued that:

• Natural Rights Supersede Government Authority: He emphasized that all individuals are born with inherent rights, including life, liberty, and property. These rights, he asserted, are derived from nature and God, not from human institutions.
• Taxation Without Representation is Tyranny: Otis contended that taxes imposed by a government without the consent of the governed violated fundamental rights.
• Constitutional Government Must Serve the Public Good: He argued that government exists to promote the welfare of society as a whole, not to enrich a ruling elite or external authority.

These ideas resonated deeply with colonists who felt increasingly alienated by British policies, and they became rallying points for the burgeoning independence movement.

Renowned for opposing British-imposed writs of assistance that allowed unwarranted property searches, James Otis Jr. later criticized taxation measures, coining the phrase “taxation without representation is tyranny.”

Otis also explored themes of racial equality, a rare stance for his time. In his writings, he declared that “the colonists are by the law of nature freeborn, as indeed all men are, white or black.” His advocacy for universal liberty reflected the broader Enlightenment ideals that influenced many revolutionary thinkers.

Source: worldhistoryedu.com

On the other side of Mr Otis’ personality was the fact that he appeared to be a hypocrite: a Colonial Legislator and Slaveholder of at least one black

Keep your cookout safe

By News Desk on May 23, 2025

For Memorial Day weekend, millions of Americans will fire up grills and gather outdoors to honor fallen heroes. But with warm May temperatures, food safety is critical to prevent foodborne illnesses.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service offers guidance to ensure your holiday cookout remains safe and enjoyable.

For the complete article, foodsafetynews.com

As the end of May draws close, we must continue to educate ourselves and reconsider reconnecting with our History…

The First Memorial Day, May 1st – a story of Memorial Day that must be remembered. History Matters

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