The Panic of 1837 (1837)

In 1836, US President Andrew Jackson issued the Specie Circular, an executive order requiring purchases of government land to be made only with gold and silver currency, or specie. A shortage of specie soon made loans harder to acquire, and the US economy suffered. When the speculative bubble burst in 1837, every bank in New York City stopped payment in specie. The Panic was followed by a nationwide depression involving record bank failures and unemployment levels. Who was blamed for the Panic? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Mother’s Day (United States)

The setting aside of a day each year to honor mothers was the suggestion of Anna M. Jarvis of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, whose own mother had died on May 9, 1906. She held a memorial service and asked those attending to wear white carnations—a gesture that soon became a tradition. By 1914, President Woodrow Wilson had proclaimed a national day in honor of mothers, and some people still wear carnations on the second Sunday in May—pink or red for mothers who are living and white for those who have died. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Sid Vicious (1957)

Born John Simon Ritchie, Sid Vicious was an English punk rock musician who played bass for the Sex Pistols. After the band broke up in 1978, he embarked on a solo career, with his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, acting as his manager. The two—heroin addicts—quickly spun out of control. On October 12, 1978, he awoke to find Spungen dead from a stab wound on the bathroom floor of their hotel room. Though he claimed to have no memory of the event, Vicious was arrested for her murder. Did he kill her? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Cumin

Cumin is a low annual herb of the parsley family. Its fruits resemble the related caraway and are similarly used in cooking. Drought tolerant and requiring long hot summers for healthy growth, cumin was originally cultivated in Iran and the Mediterranean region. It is mentioned in the Bible and was known to the ancient Greeks, who kept cumin at the dining table and used it much like black pepper is frequently used today. What spice is often mistaken for cumin? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Victory Day (1945)

Still celebrated in most of the Soviet successor states, Victory Day marks Nazi Germany’s capitulation to the USSR in WWII. Signed on the evening of May 8, 1945—May 9 in Moscow’s time zone—the surrender followed Germany’s initial capitulation to the Allies. When the first surrender document was being signed, only one Soviet representative was present, and he had no instructions from Moscow nor any means of immediate contact with Soviet leaders. Was he punished or lauded for deciding to sign it? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Lemuralia

In ancient Rome, the lemures—the ghosts of the family’s dead—were considered to be troublesome and therefore had to be exorcized on a regular basis. The Lemuralia or Lemuria was a yearly festival held on the 9th, 11th, and 13th of May to get rid of the lemures. Participants walked barefoot, cleansed their hands three times, and threw black beans behind them nine times to appease the spirits of the dead. On the third day of the festival, a merchants’ festival was held to ensure a prosperous year for business. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

John Brown (1800)

Brown was an American abolitionist who advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish all slavery. After murdering five proslavery settlers in Kansas in 1856, Brown led an unsuccessful raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, in 1859. He was convicted of treason and hanged. His raid made him a martyr to northern abolitionists and increased the sectional animosities that led to the American Civil War. What future general captured Brown at Harpers Ferry? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary