Seeds of Fire: A People’s Chronology

Recalling events that happened on this day in history.
Memories of struggle, resistance and persistence.

Compiled by Ulli Diemer

June 3, 1926
Birth of Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997), American poet, political activist and leftist. Quote: “Just because I like to suck cock doesn’t make me any less American than Jesse Helms.” Related Topics: Poets
June 3, 1935
Hundreds of men board railway boxcars in Vancouver and start heading east on the On to Ottawa Trek. The Trekkers are unemployed workers, part of a group of thousands who have walked out of federal relief camps protesting dismal conditions and dangerous work. They plan to present their grievances directly to the federal government in Ottawa. The Trekkers make it as far as Regina, where, on July 1, they are attacked by police who kill one man, injure hundreds, and prevent the Trekkers from proceeding further east. Related Topics: Depression – Unemployed Movement
June 3, 1957
Thousands of scientists issue a call for banning nuclear weapons testing. Quote: “Each nuclear bomb test spreads an added burden of radioactive elements over every part of the world. Each added amount of radiation causes damage to the health of human beings all over the world and causes damage to the pool of human germ plasm such as to lead to an increase in the number of seriously defective children that will be born in future generations.... An international agreement to stop the testing of nuclear bombs now could serve as a first step toward a more general disarmament and the ultimate effective abolition of nuclear weapons, averting the possibility of a nuclear war that would be a catastrophe to all humanity.” Related Topics: Nuclear Disarmament – Nuclear Weapons Testing Ban – Radioactivity – Scientists – Weapons of Mass Destruction
June 3, 1979
The Ixtoc I oil spill. A blowout in an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico causes one of the largest oil spills in history. Related Topics: Oil Spills