May is a month of bursting vitality in the North East and New England. It is the time to garden with children, hike, explore, run in fields and meadows, climb mountains, play in the forest, and explore the rivers. Birds, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and insects are mating and having babies. Trees are flowering, and plants and shrubs are shooting up, blossoming and growing. Plants and pollinators are doing their dance. The Full Flower Moon is May 23rd. Get outside and cultivate curiosity, wonder and an enduring love of the earth and the place where you live.
May 1st
May Day: International Day of Workers Struggle
Beltane, Gaelic May Day Fire Festival, celebrates the halfway point between Spring and Summer
Irish American labor radical activist, school teacher, Mother Jones, namesake of Mother Jones magazine ( https://www.motherjones.com/) b. 1830
May 2
World Mental Health Day
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, queer theory pioneer, author of Epistemology of the Closet that demonstrated how ignorance is used as an excuse for the exercise of power, b. 1950
Children’s March fills the jails in Birmingham, Alabama, as kids ditch class and march for justice, 1963
Elijah McCoy, African American inventor notable for his many inventions many of which involved the lubrication of the steam engine, 1844
Ospreys lay and incubate eggs
Joanna Macy, environmental activist, author, and scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology, b. 1929
May 3rd
World Press Freedom day
100,000 people protest, the US intervention in El Salvador, in 1981
Pete Seeger, radical folksinger, ecologist, purveyor of countless children’s folk songs as well as political protest songs, took up the mantle of Woodie Guthrie, and all around good socialist fighting for the people, b. 1903
Septima Clark, community educator, teacher, and civil rights organizer, organized the literacy and citizenship workshops that played an important role in the Voting Rights and Civil Rights movement, b. in 1898
James Brown, godfather of soul, b. 1933
Red Squirrels make several nests for their babies, moving the babies around as the mother sees best
May 4th
Kent State Massacre Memorial Day
Keith Haring, queer graffiti artist and activist, b. 1958
Igor Sikorsky obtains a patent for helicopter controls, 1943
Muskrats divide up the labor of taking care of the young with the mothers nursing, and the fathers gathering bedding for the nest and food for the mother
May 5th
Karl Marx, German philosopher and writer of Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto, b. 1818
John Scopes arrested for teaching evolutionary theory in 1925
Cinco de Mayo, celebrates the Battle of Puebla, a victory of the Mexican people over Napoleon, in 1862
Mary Kies is the first woman to receive a patent for a new technique of weaving straw with thread and silk to make hats in 1809
Soren Kierkegaard, existentialist Christian philosopher, father of negative theology, b. 1813
Leo Lionni, beloved children’s author of Frederick, Leo the Late Bloomer, Swimmy and many, many other wonderful books, b. 1910
May 6th
Beginning of Teacher Appreciation Week
Henry David Thoreau, back to the land environmentalist, anarchist, philosopher, writer, author of Walden Pond, b. 1862
Sigmund Freud , founder of psychoanalysis, b. 1856
Dutchmen Peter Minuit, purchased Manhattan Island from the Lenape Indians in 1626, led to years of the English, Dutch and Native Americans struggling for control of the island
Ted Lewin, striking illustrator of picture books for older elementary school children, uses his travel adventures to create exciting stories from around the world, b. 1935
Barbara Mcclintock, tough to pigeonhole children’s illustrator and author, who reworks classics, and writes books about ballet, nature, history, drawing and creating itself, b. 1955
Chinese Exclusion Act which prohibited Chinese immigration signed into law in 1882
May 7th
Nonny Hogrogrian, modern fabulist of the fairy folk tale, read One Fine Day for starters, b. 1932
Pontiac Rebellion, where an alliance of Native Nations revolted against British rule and besieged Detroit for 5 months ( following the “Seven Year War”) in 1763
American Toad males calling, trilling and vibrating to communicate with other toads
“Ramps,” wild leeks, are maturing and can be foraged
May 8th
Painted Trillium flowering
Miguel Hidalgo, Mexican priest and revolutionary, leader of the Mexican War of Independence, b. in 1753
May 9th
John Brown, slavery abolitionist, b. 1800
James Barrie, author of Peter Pan, stalker of the Du Maurier family, b. 1860
Ann Snitow, founded the New York Radical Feminists, wrote The Powers of Desire: the Politics of Sexuality, and was at the center of a collectivist, dialogical, feminist movement as a writer, teacher and activist, b. 1921
Richard Adams, author of Watership Down, advocate for the prevention of cruelty to animals, b. 1920
Barbie Doll invented by Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel, debuts in 1959
May 10th
Migratory Bird Day
Christopher Paul Curtis, African American writer of hard hitting, historical fiction and quirky chronicles of everyday life for teenagers, b. 1954
Ben Franklin tested his lightning rod in 1752
May 11th
Salvador Dali, surrealist painter, b. 1904
Whirligig beetles going around in circles around the surfaces of ponds and slow streams, and sometimes diving deep into the water by carrying an air bubble while it is underwater
May 12th
Florence Nightingale, English social reformer, scientist, statistician, and founder of modern nursing, b. 1820
Agnes Heller, Hungarian radical Marxist-Humanist philosopher, b. 1929
Edward Lear, writer of nonsense rhymes for children and adults, b. 1812
Farley Mowat, writes about animals, the environment, and the Far North, b. 1921
The Poor People’s Campaign was a multi-racial effort to gain economic justice for poor people, began in 1968
Fannie Richards, Detroit educator, tireless fighter against segregated schools, helps Joseph Workman bring his case to the Michigan Supreme Court, in 1867, that ultimately outlawed segregated schools in Michigan
May 13th
Question Mark Butterflies active and flying around
US declares war against Mexico in 1846
Manning Marable, American professor, author of the biography of Malcolm X, and founder and director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies, b. 1950
Philadelphia police drop bombs on MOVE houses, starting a fire that killed 11 people in 1985
Stevie Wonder, soul, funk, R and B music maestro, b. 1950
May 14th
Mother’s Day
My mother, Mary Sherman Cassidy Malone (b. 1943-d. 2018), my daughter, and my grandson Casey
David Byrne, American musician, leader of The Talking Heads, b. 1952
Eoin Colfer, author of Artemis Fowl, and other modern fantasy, techno adventures, b. 1965
George Selden, author of Cricket in Times Square, b. 1929
Ben Fletcher, American IWW leader organizes more than four thousand Philadelphia longshoreman to go on strike, in 1913
May 15th
Bike to Work Day
L. Frank Baum, creator of The Wizard of Oz, b. 1856
Dante Alighieri, writer of The Divine Comedy, b. 1256
Louis Riel surrenders, ending the Metis ( mixed French and Cree descent) Rebellion in Canada, in 1885
Jackson State killings where two college students were killed by police during an antiwar demonstration in 1970
May 16th
Adrienne Rich, radical, lesbian , feminist poet and essayist, b. 1929
Margaret Rey co-created the Curious George books with her husband H. A. Rey, b. 1906
Painted Turtle nests raided for their eggs by raccoons, skunks and fox
May 17th
Pierre Clastres, French, anarchist anthropologist who theorized society against the state, b. 1934
Supreme Court outlaws segregation in the Brown v. Board Ruling in 1954
First merry-go-round introduced in Turkey, in 1620
Gary Paulsen, writer of nature adventure stories for young people, b. 1939
Young otters begin to explore the world outside their den
May 18th
Augusto Sandino, Nicaraguan revolutionary leader, anti-colonialist guerrilla, and martyr, b.1895
Lillian Hoban, author of the delightful Francis the Badger books, b. 1925
Edwin Beard Budding of England signs a licensing agreement for the manufacture of his invention of the lawn mower in 1830. Our relationship to nature has never been the same since!
Bertrand Russell, English mathematician, philosopher and peace advocate, b. 1872
May 19th
Malcolm X, Black Nationalist, political and spiritual activist, b. 1925
First annual frog jumping contest in Calaveras County, California in 1928
Lorraine Hansberry author and activist who wrote “A Raisin in the Sun,” b. 1930
May 20th
World Bee Day
Toussaint L’Ouverture, leader of the Haitian slave revolt, b. 1743
Mary Pope Osborne, author of the Magic Treehouse series, b. 1959
May 21st
First aerial test of the hydrogen bomb makes Bikini Atoll uninhabitable, in 1956
The Notorious B.I.G, one of the greatest rappers of all time, b. 1972
Wild Columbine blooms just as Ruby Throated Hummingbirds return hungry for flower nectar
May 22nd
Gerrard de Nerval, proto-surrealist poet, walked his pet lobster on a blue ribbon through the streets of Paris, “because it does not bark and knows the secrets of the sea” b. 1805
Mary Cassatt, American Impressionist painter, b. 1884
Arnold Lobel, author of the gentle, loving Frog and Toad books, b. 1933
Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian spiritual teacher, proponent of not-knowing, meditation, and advocated for the necessity of a total, psychic, individual change for social change to take place, b. 1895
International Day for Biological Diversity
First bicycles, called “swift walkers,” introduced in New York City, in 1819
Anatol Rappport, Russian mathematician and biologist, invented game theory, b. 1911
May 23rd
Brooklyn Bridge, engineering marvel opens in 1893
World Turtle Day
Margaret Wise Brown, children’s book author of Goodnight Moon, the Runaway Bunny, The Little Island and many other wonderful picture books for very young children. She once famously said “I don’t very much like children,” and led a fascinating life which you can read about in The Green Room: The Brilliant and Bold Life of Margaret Wise Brown, b. 1910
“Trail of Tears” begins forced removal of the Cherokee Indians from their original homeland, in 1838 and 4,000 people die
May 24th
Bob Dylan, musician, songwriter, b. 1941
Uvalde school shooting in Texas, 19 children and two teachers killed, 2022
May 25th
George Floyd murdered by Minneapolis police, one of whom kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes, while others stood around and watched, in 2020
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American philosopher, writer, and New England transcendentalist, b. 1803
Bald eagle nestlings growing, gaining roughly a 1/4 lb. a day, and nearly reach the size of adults in four weeks
May 26th
Dorothea Lange, socially conscious, sentimental ( in a good way), realist photographer, b. 1895
Lisbeth Zwerger, extraordinary illustrator of classic children’s stories and original work, b. 1954
Hundreds of Pequot villagers were massacred by the Puritans in Mystic, Connecticut in 1637
Lauryn Hill, singer songwriter, member of the Fugees, b. 1975
Buddha Day celebrating the birth of the Buddha in India and Nepal, May 15th CHina Hong Kong and Vietnam, and May 26th Tibet, Indonesia and Singapore
May 27th
Rachel Carson, marine biologist, ecology pioneer, writer, activist, author of Silent Spring that put a spotlight on the Pesticide Companies that were ( and are ) wreaking havoc with the environment, b. 1907
James McLean was issued a patent for the piano in 1796
Christopher Lee, actor, famous for his portrayal of Dracula, b. 1922
May 28th
Indian Removal Act, “relocates” Native Americans west of the Mississippi, primarily to Oklahoma, in 1830
Amnesty International established in 1961
Jim Thorpe, Native American poly-athlete ( football, baseball, lacrosse, swimming, basketball, swimming and hockey). One of the greatest athletes of all time, b. 1888
John Muir established the Sierra Club in 1892
A group of college students and a professor held a sit-in at a Woolworth’s in Jackson Mississippi to protest segregation and racial discrimination in 1963
May 29th
Lydia Flood Jackson starts California’s first school for Black children in Sacramento California in 1854
Dragonflies emerge from their larval stage by crawling up on reeds where its skin splits and the adult dragonfly emerges in a process called “eclosing”
Memorial Day
May 30th
Countee Cullen, African American poet, key member of the Harlem Renaissance, b. 1903
Michael Bakunin, anarchist theorist, writer, activist, “We are convinced that liberty without socialism is privilege, injustice; and that socialism without liberty is slavery and brutality.” b. 1814
Pennsylvania Evening Post, first daily newspaper in the US, begins in 1783
Morel mushrooms fruiting
May 31st
White supremacists attempt to destroy a thriving Black community in Oklahoma, in what came to be known as the Tulsa Massacre in 1921. The extraordinary fictional tv series The Watchman explores this event and its historical and cultural reverberations
White-Tailed Deer are giving birth to their young
Walt Whitman, American poet, singer of the Body Electric, I am Multitudes, Nature, Eidolons, Brooklyn Bridge, and The People. Writer of Leaves of Grass, b. 1819
