TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Tuesday, May 31, the 151st day of 2022.

Today’s highlight in history

On May 31, 1889, some 2,200 people in Johnstown, Pa., perished when the South Fork Dam collapsed, sending 20 million tons of water rushing through the town.

On this date

In 1790, President George Washington signed into law the first U.S. copyright act.

In 1859, the Big Ben clock tower in London went into operation, chiming for the first time.

In 1921, a race riot erupted in Tulsa, Okla., as White mobs began looting and leveling the affluent Black district of Greenwood over reports a Black man had assaulted a White woman in an elevator; hundreds are believed to have died.

In 1970, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake in Peru claimed an estimated 67,000 lives.

the Trans-Alaska oil

In 1977,

pipeline, three years in the making despite objections from environmentalists and Alaska Natives, was completed.

One year ago: Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open before her second-round match and said she would be taking a break from competition; she said she experienced “huge waves of anxiety” before speaking to the media, and that she had “suffered long bouts of depression.” (Osaka had been fined for skipping the postmatch news conference after her first-round victory.)

Today’s birthdays

Actor-director Clint Eastwood is 92. Singer Peter Yarrow is 84. Humanitarian Terry Waite is 83. Singer-musician Augie Meyers is 82. Actor Sharon Gless is 79. Football Hall of Famer Joe Namath is 79. Broadcast journalist Bernard Goldberg is 77. Actor Tom Berenger is 72. Actor Gregory Harrison is 72. Actor-comedian Chris Elliott is 62. Actor Lea Thompson is 61. Singer Corey Hart is 60. Rapper DMC is 58. Actor Brooke Shields is 57. Actor Colin Farrell is 46. Rapper Waka Flocka Flame is 36.