1856    Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas ("Bleeding Kansas").

1886    The railroads of the Southern United States convert 11,000 miles of track from a five foot rail gauge to standard gauge, beginning May 31.

1947    The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride begins through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.

1961    American civil rights movement: The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the South.

2007    Tornadoes break out across the southern United States, killing at least 20; eight of the deaths are at a high school in Enterprise, Alabama.

2008    A major tornado outbreak across the Southern United States leaves 57 dead, the most since the May 31, 1985 outbreak that killed 88.