Moments in Time – June 7, 2023

#MiddleburyCT

• On June 19, 1968, 50,000 people participated in The Poor People’s March, organized by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, to address economic justice. The campaign culminated in Washington, D.C., to demand aid for America’s most impoverished communities and focused not just on Blacks, but all minorities.
• On June 20, 1947, gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was murdered at the Beverly Hills, California, mansion of his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, while reading the evening newspaper. Though the case has never officially been solved, one theory holds that Siegel died by order of mob associates disgruntled about the soaring costs of his pet project, the Flamingo resort in Las Vegas.
• On June 21, 2006, two recently discovered moons orbiting Pluto were named Nix, after the Greek goddess of darkness and night, and Hydra, after a mythological, multiheaded serpent defeated by Hercules. The moons had initially been spotted by the Hubble Space Telescope a year earlier.
• On June 22, 1940, the first Dairy Queen restaurant opened on historic Route 66 in Joliet, Illinois. While frozen sweet treats are, sadly, no longer served at the site (especially at their original prices of 5 cents for a cone and 8 cents for a sundae), it remains a local landmark.
• On June 23, 1951, a hailstorm in El Dorado, Kansas, dropped over 12 inches of ice and caused $1.5 million in crop damage, with another stunning $14 million in property damage.
• On June 24, 1916, Mary Pickford (born Gladys Marie Smith), affectionately known as “America’s Sweetheart” during the silent-film era, became the first female actress to be offered a million-dollar contract, which also allowed her the freedom to choose the movies she would star in.
• On June 25, 1978, the rainbow flag was flown for the first time at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. Previously, gay pride had been represented by a pink triangle, but as that symbol was used during the Holocaust to identify homosexuals, people wanted a more positive image.

© 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.