May

1914: Historian May Spencer Ringold was born in Winona, Mississippi.

1957: The Town, a novel by William Faulkner and volume two of the Snopes trilogy, was published by Random House.

1955: Pulitzer Prizes were awarded to William Faulkner for A Fable and to Tennessee Williams for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

1981: Journalist John Osborne died of emphysema in Washington, D.C.

1925: William Faulkner published “The Rosary” in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

1935: Garden writer Neil G. Odenwald was born in Heathman, Mississippi.

1699: Construction of Fort Maurepas was completed on the eastern shore of Biloxi Bay, near present-day Ocean Springs, as part of the first French settlement in what is now Mississippi under the command of Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville.

1943: Tennessee Williams signed a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. During the following months, while awaiting a studio assignment, he wrote The Gentleman Caller, which he later renamed The Glass Menagerie.

1700: Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville, leader of the first French colony in what is now Mississippi, established a peace treaty with the Natchez Indians, who cede land on which to build Fort Rosalie near present-day Natchez, though the actual fort would not be built until 1716.

2002: Cable network C-SPAN aired a live broadcast on William Faulkner from Rowan Oak, his former home in Oxford, Mississippi, as part of its American Writers II: The Twentieth Century television series.

1942: William Faulkner published “The Bear” in the Saturday Evening Post.

1919: Writer and English professor Louise Blackwell was born in Benmore, Mississippi.

1932: William Faulkner arrived in Culver City, California as an MGM contract writer.

1989: Economist Earl Hamilton died in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

1998: Myres Smith McDougal, professor of law and one of the originators of the originators of the New Haven school of jurisprudence, died in North Branford, Connecticut.

1541: Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto arrived at the Mississippi River, nearly five months after entering present-day Mississippi. The massive river impeded his westward journey for nearly a month as his men built barges to cross the river.

1926: Theatre scholar Barbara Izard was born in Gulfport, Mississippi.

1932: Chemist John Fredric Garst was born in Jackson, Mississippi.

1944: Novelist and short story writer Jack Butler was born in Alligator, Mississippi.

1952: Playwright Beth Henley was born in Jackson, Mississippi.

1993: Theologian C. E. Autrey died in Pensacola, Florida.

1905: Writer and educator Miriam Weiss was born in Tupelo, Mississippi.

1987: Writer Willie Morris spoke at the dedication of the Confederate cemetery in Raymond, Mississippi.

1925: William Faulkner published “The Cobbler” in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

1990: Walker Percy died of cancer in Covington, Louisiana.

1942: Go Down, Moses, an episodic novel by William Faulkner, was published under the mistaken title Go Down, Moses, and Other Stories by Random House. Faulkner’s original title was restored to subsequent editions.

1977: Tennessee Williams’ play Vieux Carre opened at St. James Theatre, New York. It closed after ruinous notices and only five performances.

1909: Theologian and philosopher James Brown was born in Laurel, Mississippi.

1953: Mystery and romance novelist Carolyn Haines was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

2001: The motion picture Big Bad Love, based on the short story collection by Larry Brown, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in France.

No information has yet been entered for this date. Please check back later.

1885: Writer William Alexander Percy, who became legal guardian of his cousin Walker Percy after the death of Walker’s parents, was born in Greenville, Mississippi.

1892: English professor Palmer Hudson was born in Attala County, Mississippi.

1941: Poet and fiction writer Paul Ruffin was born in Millport, Alabama.

1904: Historian John C. Osborn was born in Learned, Mississippi.

1952: William Faulkner addressed the Delta Council in Cleveland, Mississippi.

1952: William Faulkner left Mississippi for a one-month trip to France, England, and Norway.

1990: Filmmaker and puppeteer Jim Henson, renowned as the creator of the popular Muppets characters, died of pneumonia in New York City.

1884: Historian J. F. H. Claiborne, “the father of Mississippi history” died, less than two months after a fire at his home in Natchez, Mississippi, destroyed the manuscript of what would have been volume two of his history of Mississippi.

1899: Economist Earl Hamilton was born in Houlka, Mississippi.

1922: Journalist Bill Minor was born.

1925: William Faulkner published “Chance” in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

1937: “A Piece of News” by Eudora Welty was accepted for publication by Southern Review. It appeared later heavily revised in A Curtain of Green.

No information has yet been entered for this date. Please check back later.

1909: Anne Clark, a former ambassador’s wife and author of several books, was born in Metcalfe, Mississippi.

1919: Science writer William C. Harrison was born in Corinth, Mississippi.

1919: Novelist and short story writer Berry Morgan was born in Port Gibson, Mississippi.

1925: English professor William Edward Walker was born in Meridian, Mississippi.

1936: Poet Glen R. Swetman was born in Biloxi, Mississippi.

1979: Eudora Welty’s Ida M’Toy was published by the University of Illinois Press in Urbana.

No information has yet been entered for this date. Please check back later.

No information has yet been entered for this date. Please check back later.

1899: Railroad magnate Edward H. Harriman embarked on a scientific expedition to Alaska, which became the subject of Looking Far North: The Harriman Expedition to Alaska, 1899, by Mississippi writer Kay Sloan and William H. Goetzmann.

1925: William Faulkner published “Sunset” in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

1962: William Faulkner accepted the Gold Medal for Fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters in New York.

1904: According to a local legend, a “witch” broke out of some chain links surrounding her grave and burned down Yazoo City, Mississippi, a feat made famous in the book Good Ole Boy by Willie Morris.

1926: Poet and playwright John Crews was born in Monroe, Michigan.

1937: Novelist Jean Davison was born in Spanish Fort, Mississippi.

1736: French forces under Bienville were defeated by the Chickasaw in the Battle of Ackia, near present-day Tupelo.

1892: Poet Maxwell Bodenheim was born in Hermanville, Mississippi.

1925: Marketing professor Charles L. Broome was born in Prentiss, Mississippi.

1952: Cecil Kuhne, author of several books on river rafting, was born in Louisville, Mississippi.

1941: Richard Wright’s signed appeal against American intervention in the European war appeared in the New Masses.

1700: After having established a French colony in what is now Mississippi, Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur D’Iberville returned to France.

1916: Novelist Walker Percy was born in Birmingham, Alabama.

1921: Poet J. Edgar Simmons was born in Natchez, Mississippi.

1959: Filmmaker and “Muppet” creator Jim Henson married Jane Anne Nebel, a puppeteer and business executive.

1966: Novelist and memoirist Reuben G. Davis died in Yazoo City, Mississippi.

1925: Richard Wright graduated from Smith Robertson Junior High School, in Jackson, Mississippi, as valedictorian.

1989: Choral suite from the opera Pamelia, libretto by Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith, was performed at Carnegie Hall in New York.

1961: William Faulkner’s grandson, A. Burks Summers, was born.

1925: William Faulkner published “The Kid Learns” in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

1939: Writer and musician Al Young was born in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

1941: William Faulkner published “The Tall Men” in the Saturday Evening Post.