Day Tripping: June 1

Protest, Punishment, and Peace

Great Orator

Isabella Bomfree was born into slavery in Dutch-speaking New York and was bought and sold on four separate occasions. One year before abolition in New York, she ran away with her young child where an abolitionist family named Van Wagener bought her freedom. In 1843, Bomfree changed her name to Sojourner Truth and began a campaign to speak the truth wherever she travelled. Truth had converted to Methodist on this day, Pentecost Sunday, declaring “the Spirit calls me, and I must go”.

Sojourner’s tour of the American northeast eventually took her west to Akron, Ohio where she gave a speech for women’s rights and that of all races in her famous Ain’t I a woman? address. At six feet tall and a black woman, Truth challenged not only the perception of gender weakness but also the notions of racial inequality.

Bad Rubbish

After being tired and convicted for war crimes in 1962, former Nazi SS officer Adolf Eichmann was hanged by the Israeli government near Tel Aviv. The man who American reporter Hannah Arendt described as the banality of evil, was the architect of the “final solution to the Jewish question”, planning the collection and extermination of the Jews of Europe.

Eichmann’s demeanour toward his crimes was so without empathy that before he was put to death he said, “I will leap into my grave laughing because the feeling that I have five million human beings on my conscience is for me a source of extraordinary satisfaction”.

Messenger of Peace

John Lennon and his new wife Yoko Ono book an entire floor in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal and recreate their famous recent honeymoon bed-in for peace in 1969. While there for a week in bed, the duo is visited by a large number of notable journalists and famous people to whom Lennon keeps repeating the phrase, give peace a chance.

On this day they record their famous anti-war anthem with the accompaniment of guests like Timothy Leary, Petula Clark, and Allen Ginsberg. The song Give Peace a Chance was not only John’s first solo hit, but it stirred demonstrations for peace across America and beyond. A powerful reminder of what’s possible.

Musical Milestones

In the department of Wait, What?, the United Kingdom album charts conducted a survey of all-time top albums in 2006. Until that time, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was generally recognized as the greatest album of all time with Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys close behind. The result of the new survey though, put Definitely Maybe by Oasis on top.

Narratives

Thomas Edison was granted a patent in 1869 for the Electric Vote Machine. So, how come nobody’s blaming old Tom?

Remembrance

There may never be a better example of perseverance in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles than Helen Keller. The first blind-deaf person ever to earn a Bachelor’s degree, the prolific writer died peacefully in 1968 at the age of 87.

Notable Births

1926 —Meteoric and tragic in her life all at once, Marilyn Monroe

1937 — Undoubtedly the most recognizable voice in film and television today, actor Morgan Freeman

1973 — The first German-born supermodel to adorn the cover of Victoria’s Secret, entrepreneur Heidi Klum

K. Barrett Katie Wallace Maria Rattray Maryam Merchant Dr Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon Myriam Ben Salem Phil Truman Chelsea Mandler MAT Terry Mansfield Hollie Petit, PhD. Terry Trueman Dr Preeti Singh John Gruber Bill Abbate James G Brennan ScienceDuuude Marcus Liam Ireland Claire Kelly Noorain Hassan, BMS Amy Pierovich David Acaster Nora Thewriteyard David Perlmutter Joe Luca

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