In today’s blog post, the Center for Social Solutions takes a look back at the historic events that occurred during the month of May. While these occasions are now matters of the past, each one has had a significant impact on contemporary America. Events related to each of the center’s four initiatives—Diversity and Democracy; Slavery and Its Aftermath; Water, Equity and Security; and the Future of Work—are included.

 

May 1, 2006

As part of one of the biggest protests in American history, more than a million immigrants boycotted work to highlight the contributions of immigrants to the U.S. workforce in what became known as the Great American Boycott.

 

May 11, 1894

The Pullman Strike was a deadly national railroad strike which began on May 11,1984 and went until July 20 of the same year. The event marked the first time that a federal injunction was used to break a strike and led to the popularization of government and military intervention in strikes. The strike also led to the creation of Labor Day as President Grover Cleveland signed the holiday into law to ease tensions by showing support for workers.

 

May 17, 1954

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a landmark civil rights case in which the U.S. supreme court ruled that the segregation of public schools based on race was unconstitutional because separate public facilities were inherently unequal, establishing a new national precedent.  

 

May 19, 1925

Civil rights activist and black nationalist Malcolm X was born on this day in Omaha, Nebraska. Malcolm X was a key figure in the Black Power movement that emerged in the 1960s and often acted separately from the ongoing civil rights movement, claiming that the civil rights movement did not go far enough in addressing racial injustice.

 

May 31, 1889

The neglected Johnstown Dam broke on this catastrophic day leading to a flood that killed 2,209 people in central Pennsylvania and destroyed Johnstown city. The flood also marked the first major peacetime disaster relief effort by the Red Cross and showed a national need for water infrastructure improvement.

 

May 1993

The first Asian Pacific Heritage Month was celebrated in May 1993. The month of May was chosen to commemorate Asian Pacific Heritage because the first Japanese immigrants arrived in the United States during May 1843, and the transcontinental railroad, which was built primarily by Chinese immigrants, was completed on May 10, 1869.