History Blog

May 31

Happy Birthday RIP Walter “Walt” Whitman(1819–1892) Denholm Elliott(1922–1992) Dominic “Don” Ameche(Amici 1908–1993) ; Clinton Eastwood Jr–91 Sharon Gless–78 Joseph “Joe” Namath–78 Thomas Berenger(Moore)–72 Christopher Elliott–61 Lea Thompson–60 Corey Hart–59 Brooke Shields–56 Colin Farrell–45 Johnathan Tucker–39 ; 1921 – The Tulsa race massacre took place where mobs of White residents, many of them deputized and given weapons by city officials, attacked Black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa. This is also called the Black Wall Street Massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_massacre ; 1929 –The first talking Mickey Mouse cartoon, “The Karnival Kid”, is released ; 1959 – Cooper’s Donuts in DTLA (Downtown Los Angeles) had a small riot where several blocks on Main street were barricaded after gay men and trans people rioted over harassment by police (five were arrested for sexual misconduct). Many establishments like this one known to be hangouts for gay men and transgender women had raids and entrapment during that time frame. Reportedly at Cooper’s they threw paper cups and plates and food at the officers ; 2005 – Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was Deep Throat, the Watergate scandal’s whistleblower