Today in history

May 13

1888
Brazil, which imported more African slaves than any other Western Hemisphere country (including the U.S.), abolished slavery.

1908
President Theodore Roosevelt opened a conference on the conservation of natural resources saying, “the natural resources of our country are in danger of exhaustion if we permit the old wasteful methods of exploiting them longer to continue,” propelling conservation issues into the forefront of public consciousness.

1932
“We Want Beer” marches were held in cities all over America, with 15,000 unionized workers demonstrating in Detroit. Prohibition (the 18th amendment to the U.S. Constitution barring “the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors”) was repealed the following year.

1954
Natives of the Marshall Islands pleaded for an end to atmospheric H-Bomb testing in the south Pacific.

1958
During a goodwill trip through Latin America, Vice President Richard Nixon’s limousine was attacked with rocks and bottles by an angry crowd and nearly overturned while traveling through Caracas, Venezuela. The crowd was angered by U.S. Cold War policies and their effect on Latin America. Five days before, the Vice President was shoved, stoned, booed, and spat upon by protesters in Peru.

1964
Anti-apartheid demonstrators sat down on the tennis court at Maserud Arena, Oslo, to protest a Davis Cup match between Norway and the all-white South African team.

1966
In the first action against violators of the desegregation guidelines of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, federal funding for education is denied to 12 school districts in the South.

1967
250 Chicano students from Los Angeles colleges & universities meet to form the United Mexican American Students (UMAS).

1968
Workers joined Paris students’ protest in a one-day general strike calling for the fall of the government and protesting police brutality. The protest by French students included occupation of The Sorbonne; by the end of the month over 10,000,000 had been involved in school and workplace occupations.

View and read about the great poster art from Paris ‘68