WAY BACK WHEN for Tuesday, May 12, 2026
1861 Julia Ward Howe’s song “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” was performed for the first time at a flag-raising ceremony for Union recruits at a Fort near Boston.
1896 The New York City Department of Health passed a ban on spitting in public places and transit systems intended to help prevent the spread of disease. It was punishable by a $1 to $5 fine and up to a year in jail.
1930 The Adler Planetarium and Astronomical Museum of Chicago opened. It was the first public planetarium in the U.S and Western Hemisphere.
Music History
1967 The album “Are You Experienced” by the Jimi Hendrix Experience was released. The album features Jimi’s innovative approach to songwriting and playing electric guitar, which established a new direction in psychedelic and hard rock music. The album spent 106 weeks on the US Billboard Top LPs chart and is widely regarded as one of the greatest debuts in the history of rock music.
Notable Birthdays:
Actor Rami Malek 45. (He played Freddie Mercury in the Queen movie “Bohemian Rhapsody”)
Kim Fields 57 aka ‘Tootie’ on “The Facts of Life”
Actor Emilio Estevez 64
Musicians Steve Winwood 78, Burt Bacharach 95
Credit to:
Thisdayinmusic.com and Thisdaytrivia.com
