History of the Day for:
May 31
- 1678: Lady Godiva rode naked through Coventry in protest of taxes.
- 1814: The Treaty of Paris restored France to its 1792 boundaries.
- 1819: American poet Walt Whitman was born.
- 1859: The Philadelphia Athletics organized to play "town ball." The sport was renamed baseball 20 years later.
- 1870: E.J. DeSemdt patented asphalt pavement.
- 1879: Madison Square Garden opened.
- 1889: A dam broke in Johnstown, Pa., causing a flood which killed 2,000 people.
- 1907: Taxis first began running in New York City.
- 1909: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) held its first conference.
- 1913: The 17th Amendment to the Constitution, allowing for popular election of senators, came into effect.
- 1941: The first issue of "Parade" went on sale.
- 1955: The Supreme Court ordered a speedy integration of public schools.
- 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono recorded "Give Peace a Chance."
- 1974: Israel and Syria signed an agreement on the Golan Heights.
- 1976: The Who played the loudest concert in history.
- 1979: Zimbabwe proclaimed its independence.
- 1981: Burning of Jaffna library, Sri Lanka, It is one of the violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the twentieth century.
- 1985: 1985 United States-Canadian tornado outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead.
- 1985: Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) became a Schedule I drug in the United States.
- 1987: Athena 98.4 FM, the first legal private radio station starts broadcasting in Greece.