There is always much to learn from quotes and their historical significance. Read on for a collection of quotes and general history from May 9th – 15th.
May 9, 1914
“I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me… do hereby direct… the second Sunday in May as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country.”
Happy Mother’s Day! President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation declaring the first national Mother’s Day on May 9, 1914. The campaign to establish Mother’s Day was mostly driven by Anna Jarvis in honor of her mother, Ann, who died on May 9, 1905. She specifically noted that “Mother’s” should be a singular possessive for each family to honor its own mother rather than a plural possessive commemorating all mothers. Unfortunately, the commercialization of Mother’s Day led Anna to protest her own creation later in life, seeing greeting cards and other gifts as a sign of being too lazy to write a personal letter. Today, Mother’s Day is one of the most commercially successful American holidays with an estimated $2.6 billion spent on flowers and is the most popular day of the year to dine out.
May 10, 1869
“This is our history – from the Transcontinental Railroad to the Hoover Dam, to the dredging of our ports and building of our most historic bridges – our American ancestors prioritized growth and investment in our nation’s infrastructure.”
– Cory Booker
The golden spike was driven at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory, completing the First Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869. The ceremony joined the rails of the Central Pacific Railroad from Sacramento and the Union Pacific Railroad from Omaha. Interestingly, the ceremonial 17.6-karat gold final spike was engraved with the date May 8th but the ceremony had to be postponed two days for bad weather and a labor dispute that delayed the Union Pacific side of the rail line. Driven by Leland Stanford, the original golden spike is now on display in the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.
May 11, 1969
“Everything I’ve ever done can be distilled to at least one Python sketch. If comedy had a periodic element table, Python would have more than one atom on it.”
– Mike Myers
On May 11, 1969, the British comedy troupe Monty Python formed in a Kashmir tandoori restaurant in Hampstead. Their sketch comedy television show Monty Python’s Flying Circus aired on BBC from 1969 to 1974. The success of the show led to a much larger scope, including touring stage shows, films, albums, books, and musicals. The Python’s work has become a huge influence on comedy, sometimes being compared to the Beatle’s influence on music!
May 12, 1191
“Berengaria’s life illustrates very clearly the constraints under which medieval women, even aristocratic ones, were obliged to live.”
– Historian Ann Trindade, Berengaria: In Search of Richard the Lionheart’s Queen
Princess Berengaria of Navarre married Richard the Lionheart on May 12, 1191, in the Chapel of St. George at Limassol on Cyprus making her the queen of England. Following the marriage, she accompanied Richard on the start of the Third Crusade but was sent back to live in his French possessions long before he returned from the Holy Land. As a childless marriage and having spent little time together, whether the marriage was ever consummated remains a matter for conjecture. Her main claim to fame is being known as “the only English queen never to set foot in the country”. However, she may have visited England seeking to collect the pension she was due after becoming Richard’s widow.
May 13, 1940
“I would say to the House as I said to those who have joined this government: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering.
– Winston Churchill, May 13, 1940
You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs—Victory in spite of all terror—Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.”
Winston Churchill gave his first speech as Prime Minister to the British House of Commons on May 13, 1940. Occurring during the first year of World War II and the Battle of France, he asked the House to declare its confidence in his Government. The motion passed unanimously! The phrase “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat” has since become famous. Inspiration for the phrase may have originated with Giuseppe Garibaldi’s 1849 rallying cry to his revolutionary forces in Rome. However, it’s also been called a direct quote from Theodore Roosevelt’s 1897 address to the US Naval War College.
May 14, 1607
“Jamestown changed the world in many ways, but perhaps it shaped our nation most profoundly the day Africans arrived. I can’t think of a more relevant place to talk about the issues facing our community today than the place where African culture became American culture.”
– Tavis Smiley
The Virginia Company of London established the first permanent English settlement in America at Jamestown on May 14, 1607 N.S. The colony was briefly abandoned in mid-1610 after more than 80% of the colonists died in the Starving Time winter of 1609-10 but they soon returned after meeting a resupply convoy in the James River. After surviving this period, unlike several other failed colonies like the Lost Colony of Roanoke, Jamestown became the colonial capital from 1616 until 1699. The first recorded slaves in British North America arrived at Jamestown in August 1619, many years before slavery in the colonial United States was formalized in 1640. Sadly, Jamestown is only an archaeologic site today, having been deliberately burned during Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676 and then abandoned for good in 1699 when the colonial capital was moved to Williamsburg, Virginia.
May 15, 1928
“I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.”
– Walt Disney
Mickey Mouse first appeared in the Disney short Plane Crazy on May 15, 1928. However, the silent film failed to screen well and Mickey’s public debut came later that year in Steamboat Willie, the first Disney cartoon with synchronized sound. Mickey was created as a replacement for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an earlier Disney cartoon character that was owned by Universal Pictures. Often appearing alongside his girlfriend Minnie Mouse, his pet dog Pluto, and his friends Donald Duck and Goofy, Mickey Mouse went on to appear in over 130 films. Mickey is now one of the most recognizable characters in the world and became the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1978!
In case you missed last week’s quotes, see History May 2nd – 8th.
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