May 1961

Thursday 04:

American civil rights movement: The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the South.

Friday 05:

Mercury program: Mercury 3 – Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into space, making a sub-orbital flight of 15 minutes.

Sunday 14:

American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama, and the civil rights protestors are beaten by an angry mob.

Friday 19:

Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back data).

Sunday 21:

American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.

Wednesday 24:

American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus.

Thursday 25:

Apollo program: U.S. president John F. Kennedy announces before a special joint session of Congress his goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the moon" before the end of the decade.

Sunday 28:

Peter Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.

Wednesday 31:

Creation of the Republic of South Africa.