National Radio Month
Mental Health Awareness Month
Better Hearing and Speech Month
National Physical Fitness & Sports Month

National Spelling Bee (May 29th & 30th)    www.spellingbee.com

1	Law Day - Encourage respect for the law. School Principals Day Empire State Building completed in New York City, 1931. National Historic Preservation Week National Physical Education and Sports Week (1-7) 2007-2008 SY
2	Gone With The Wind wins Pulitzer Prize, 1937.
3	Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, born 1729.
4	Four students killed at Kent State University in Ohio, by National Guard Troops, over a protest against US invasion of Cambodia in 1970 during the Vietnam War.  Several were killed in Jackson, Mississippi. Teacher Appreciation Week  (4-10) 2007-2008 SY Be Kind to Animals Week (4-10) 2007-2008 SY   National Music Week  (4-11) 2007-2008 SY
5	Kentucky Derby established at Churchill Downs, 1875. Karl Marx, German social philosopher, born 1818. Cinco de Mayo   FACTOID: " The Fifth Of May", commemorates the victory of the Mexicans over the French army at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862.
6	John Steinbeck wins a Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath, 1940. Hindenburg disaster, 1937.     photos  http://www.vidicom-tv.com/tohiburg.htm Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist, born  1856. Teacher Appreciation Day 2007-2008 SY
7	Lusitania, British ocean liner sunk by German sub, 1915. National School Nurse Day [2008] (Week 6-12)
8	VE Day, 1945.   FACTOID: War is Europe is over, British and Americans celebrate.   Museum web site http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/wwii/veday.htm Harry S. Truman, 33 president (1945), born 1884. Mississippi River discovered in 1541 by Hernando De Soto (d. 5/21/1542).
9	John Brown, American abolitionist, born 1800.  FACTOID: "The old man was very calm before and during his ordeal and, while being driven to the gallows, he looked at the passing view and said, 'This is a beautiful country.'"  Hung in the public square at Charleston, Virginia for his raid on Harpers Ferry, VA., December 2, 1859.
10	First Transcontinental Railroad completed in Utah, 1869. First Planetarium in United States opened in Chicago, 1930.    Visit VBCPS Planetarium
11	Minnesota became the 32nd state (settled in 1805), 1858. Salvador Dali, Spanish artist, born 1904. John Chapman, also known as "Johnny Appleseed," planter of thousands of apple trees, born 1768. National Transportation Week  (11-17th) 2008    (www.ntweek.org) Mother's Day [2008]
12	Florence Nightingale, English nurse and hospital Administrator, born 1820. (d. 8/13/1910). Reading Is Fun Week (12-18)     (www.rif.org)
13	First permanent English settlement in the new world, Jamestown, founded near the James River in Virginia, 1607. Captain John Smith was elected as one of the 7 council members to govern this new colony. Mexican War - War declared on Mexico, 1846.
14	Lewis & Clark  In 1804, Merriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774) and William Clark (August 1, 1770) left St. Louis, Missouri for Pacific Coast  to explore the Louisiana Purchase. FACTOID: Completed 2 years, 4 months and 10 days later on September 23, 1806. They traveled over 8,000 miles by boat, horse, and on foot. Israel declared an independent nation, 1948. Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, German physicist, born 1686.
15	First copyright law passed in Massachusetts, 1672.
16	First five-cent piece minted & circulated, 1866.
17	Racial segregation in public schools declared unconstitutional by U.S. Supreme Court, 1954.          Brown vs Board of Education, 1954 New York Stock Exchange established in 1792, making Wall Street and the stock market a major factor for the economy. Kingdom of Norway founded 1782.  FACTOID: The viking age began about 750 AD, emerging from Norway across to America 500 years before Christopher Columbus. Gary Paulsen, born 1939. Newbery Award winning author whose book, "Hatchet" impacted readers so much they sent letters stating the story of Brian Robeson was left unfinished by his early rescue. Paulsen decided to write "Brain's Winter" showing what would have happened if Brian had not been rescued. Armed Forces Day - Celebrates Army, Air Force, and Navy Day. [2008]
18	Tsar Nicholas II born in St. Petersburg, Russia, 1868. Mt. Saint Helens erupts in 1980, killing 57 people and devastating over 210 miles of wilderness. Monsters: Head of the "Lochness monster"  first discovered, 1964.  FACTOID: Sightings of Sasquatch "Big Foot" in American Northwest or the "Abominable Snowman" in the Himalayas have also been reported. National Educational Bosses' Week (18-24th) 2007-2008 SY
19	Anne Boleyn (Mother of Elizabeth I), who was married to King Henry VIII for 3 years, beheaded in 1536. Malcolm X, leader of Black Militant group, born 1925. Lorraine Hansberry, born 1930. (D. 1/12/1965) American playwright whose drama, A Raisin In the Sun, received many awards and recognitions. National Hurricane Awareness Week 19-23rd   [2008]     (www.weather.gov)
20	Dolly Madison born 1768.  FACTOID: She was White House hostess (1801-1809) and First Lady (1809-1817). Rescued many pieces of art & papers during White House fire during the War of 1812, including the famous painting of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart (born December 23, 1755). Homestead Act signed by President Lincoln to grant public lands to small farmers at a low cost, 1862.
21	First test explosion of Hydrogen bomb conducted in Pacific Ocean, 1956. American Red Cross founded 1881. Amelia Earhart completes her transatlantic flight, 1932.
22	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, doctor and author who wrote many science fiction novels, romances, and plays, most famous for creating detective Sherlock Holmes, born 1859. (d. 7/7/1930)
23	South Carolina became the 8th state (settled in 1670), 1788. FACTOID: One of the original 13 colonies.
24	Morse Code - First telegraph message, "What hath God Wrought?" was transmitted by Samuel F. B. Morse, an American inventor in 1844.  FACTOID: First Atlantic telegraph cable between England and United States was completed on July 27, 1866. Exploration of Grand Canyon by John W. Powell, an American Geologist began, 1869. Brooklyn Bridge opened after 14 years and 27 deaths while being constructed, 1883.
25	Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, philosopher, and poet, born 1803.
26	Memorial Day  - Day to honor the memory of those killed in all wars, not just the Civil War as it first started out. The Funeral ship of the Egyptian Pharaoh Cheops was unearthed in a limestone chamber near the Great Pyramid in Egypt, 1954. Smallpox epidemic, 1721. Actor John Wayne, born 1907. NHTSA Buckle Up America Week (26-30) 2008 SY- Seat belt Safety
27	First witchcraft execution in America witnessed, 1647.  FACTOID:  The Salem Witch Trial "witches" were hung on June 10, 1692. Golden Gate Bridge opened in San Francisco, 1937. National Missing Children's Day [2008]
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29	John F. Kennedy, 35th President (1961), born 1917.  FACTOID:  He was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade along the streets of Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963. Wisconsin became the 30th state (settled in 1766), 1848. Rhode Island became the 13th state (settled in 1636), 1790. FACTOID: One of the original 13 colonies. National Spelling Bee (May 29th-30th, 2008)    www.spellingbee.com
30	Tsar Peter the Great born in Moscow 1672. American poet Walt Whitman, born 1819. "Leaves of Grass" FACTOID: Died penniless on March 26, 1892. Football player, Joe Namath, who led the New York Jets to the 1969 Super Bowl championship, born 1943.  First Arctic expedition organized 1853. Sheet Asphalt pavement patented 1870. Joan of Arc (b. 1412), a peasant girl who became the savior of France, is burned at the stake for heresay, 1431. National Spelling Bee (May 29th-30th, 2008)   www.spellingbee.com
31	Johnstown Flood: Heavy rain and a neglected dam lead to the catastrophe in which 2,209 people die and a once prosperous town is destroyed by a 30 ft high debris filled wall of water nearly a half mile wide, 1889.
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