Sculpture commemorating the Jarrow March

The Jarrow March (5–31 October 1936) was a protest against the unemployment and poverty suffered in the Tyneside town of Jarrow, in the north-east of England, during the 1930s. Around 200 men marched from Jarrow to London to petition the government to restore industry in the town after the closure in 1934 of Palmer's shipyard. Palmer's had launched more than 1,000 ships since 1852. In the 1920s, mismanagement and changed world trade conditions caused a decline which led to the yard's closure. When plans for its replacement by a steelworks were thwarted, the lack of any large-scale employment in the town led the borough council to organise the march. The House of Commons received the petition but took no action, and the march produced few immediate results. The Jarrovians went home believing that they had failed. In subsequent years the Jarrow March became recognised as a defining event of the 1930s and helped to prepare the way for wide social reform after the Second World War. (Full article...)

Sodankylä Old Church

• ... that Sodankylä Old Church (pictured) is one of the oldest preserved wooden churches in Finland?
• ... that due to his Hungarian background, composer Henri Berény was banned from living and working in Paris during World War I and his home was seized by the French government?
• ... that despite its name meaning 'unscented', Hypericum × inodorum can smell strongly of goat?
• ... that Ruth Gottesman donated $1 billion to ensure free tuition for all students at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine?
• ... that Gabriel García Márquez asked his sons to destroy Until August, but they instead published it after his death?
• ... that Zig Jackson is the first contemporary Native American photographer to be represented in the collections of the Library of Congress?
• ... that hundreds of actors and other artists, as members of Artists4Ceasefire, are calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza?
• ... that Ernie Shore pitched a combined no-hitter with Babe Ruth?
• ... that actor Corey Feldman knocked his own tooth out at Shank Hall?

Wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge

• A bus falls from a bridge in Limpopo, South Africa, killing 45 people.
• The Francis Scott Key Bridge in the U.S. city of Baltimore collapses (wreckage pictured) after being hit by a container ship.
• Bassirou Diomaye Faye is elected President of Senegal.
• A mass shoot­ing and ex­plo­sions kill 143 people at the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, Russia.
• Following the Indonesian general election, Prabowo Subianto wins the presidential election, and the Democratic Party of Struggle wins the most votes in the legislative election.

March 31: Easter (Western Christianity, 2024); Cesar Chavez Day in various U.S. states (1927); International Transgender Day of Visibility

Woodcut picture of Matthew C. Perry

• 1854 – U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry (Japanese depiction pictured) and the Tokugawa shogunate signed the Convention of Kanagawa, forcing the opening of Japanese ports to American trade.
• 1959 – After a two-week escape journey from Tibet, the 14th Dalai Lama reached the Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh in India.
• 1964 – The Brazilian Armed Forces overthrew President João Goulart, establishing a military dictatorship that lasted 21 years.
• 2004 – The Old National Library Building in Singapore was closed to make way for a tunnel, despite widespread protests.