Today in “Hidden” History is a daily listing of important but little-known events illustrating the range of innovators, contributors, or incidents excluded from formal history lessons or common knowledge. Hidden history is intended not as an exhaustive review, but merely as an illustration of how popular narratives "hide" many matters of fundamental importance. Bookmark this page and check daily to quickly expand your knowledge. Suggest entries for Today in “Hidden” History by clicking the Contact Us link. Entries for May 20:
| Date | Type | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1893 |  African American abolitionist, suffragist, poet, teacher, public speaker, and writer (one of the first African American women to be published in the United States) Frances Ellen Watkins Harper delivers a speech titled “Woman’s Political Future” before the World’s Congress of Representative Women, meeting in their conference in Chicago, Illinois. Read the transcript. | |
| 1961 |  Freedom Riders traveling by bus through the South to challenge segregation laws are brutally attacked by a white mob at the Montgomery, Alabama, downtown Greyhound Station. Several days before, on May 16, the Riders faced mob violence in Birmingham so serious that it threatened to prematurely end the campaign. Montgomery Public Safety Commissioner L.B. Sullivan had promised the Ku Klux Klan several minutes to attack the riders without police interference and, upon arrival, the Riders were met by a mob of several hundred angry white people armed with baseball bats, hammers, and pipes. Montgomery police watched as the mob first attacked reporters and then turned on the Riders. Ignored by ambulances, two injured Riders were saved by good samaritans who transported them to nearby hospitals. Learn more. |
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