Today in history 5/4/2021-5/7/2021

5/4/2021:

Today in history, In England, the Yorkists defeat the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471.

Today in history, American Indians sell Manhattan Island for $24 in cloth and buttons in 1626.

Today in history, A French manufacturer debuts the first folding umbrella in 1715.

Today in history, Rhode Island declares independence from England in 1776.

Today in history, The Battle of Chancellorsville ends when Union Army retreats in 1863.

Today in history, A balloon soars over 40,000 feet for the first time in 1927.

Today in history, Mahatma Gandhi (see picture below) is arrested by the British in 1930.

Today in history, The Battle of the Coral Sea (see picture below) commences in 1942.

Today in history, 13 civil rights activists, dubbed Freedom Riders, begin a bus trip through the South in 1961.

5/5/2021:

Today in history, Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Jamaica, which he names Santa Gloria in 1494.

Today in history, The first mainland railway line opens in Belgium in 1834.

Today in history, Mexican forces loyal to Benito Juarez defeat troops sent by Napoleon III in the Battle of Puebla in 1862.

Today in history, Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda begins publishing in 1912.

Today in history, Eugene Jacques Bullard (see picture below) becomes the first African-American aviator when he earns a flying certificate with the French Air Service in 1917.

Today in history, American Jesse Owens (see picture below) sets the long jump record in 1935.

Today in history, Alan Shepard (see picture below) becomes the first American in space in 1961.

Today in history, 173rd Airborne Brigade arrives in Bien Hoa-Vung, Vietnam, the first regular U.S. Army unit deployed to that country in 1965.

Today in history, Pulitzer Prize awarded to Norman Mailer for his ‘nonfiction novel’ Armies of the Night (see picture below), an account of the 1967 anti-Vietnam War march on the Pentagon in 1969.

Today in history, The Sun, Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn align – Earth’s moon is also almost in this alignment – leading to Doomsday predictions of massive natural disasters, although such a ‘grand confluence’ occurs about once in every century in 2000.

5/6/2021:

Today in history, German troops begin sacking Rome. Libraries are destroyed, the Pope is captured and thousands are killed in 1527.

Today in history, Babur defeats the Afghan Chiefs in the Battle of Ghaghra, India in 1529.

Today in history, King Louis XIV moves his court to Versailles, France in 1682.

Today in history, U.S. Army troops from Fort Tejon and Fort Miller prepare to ride out to protect Keyesville, California, from Yokut Indian attack in 1856

Today in history, The dirigible Hindenburg (see picture below) explodes in flames at Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1937.

Today in history, Bob Hope (see picture below) gives his first USO show at California’s March Field in 1941.

Today in history, British runner Roger Bannister breaks the four minute mile in 1954.

Today in history, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960 in 1960.

Today in history,The first nuclear warhead is fired from a Polaris submarine in 1962.

Today in history, The Channel Tunnel (see picture below) linking England to France is officially opened in 1994.

5/7/2021:

Today in history, The dome of the church of St. Sophia in Constantinople collapses. Its immediate rebuilding is ordered by Justinian in 558.

Today in history, The Second Council of Lyons opens in France to regulate the election of the pope in 1274.

Today in history, Joan of Arc (see picture below) breaks the English siege of Orleans in 1429.

Today in history, Congress divides the Northwest Territory into two parts. The western part will becomes the Indiana Territory and the eastern section remains the Northwest Territory in 1800.

Today in history, Beethoven’s “Ninth Symphony” premieres in Vienna in 1824.

Today in history, The American Medical Association is formed in Philadelphia in 1847.

Today in history, In the Battle of the Coral Sea  (see picture below). Japanese and American navies attack each other with carrier-launched warplanes. It is the first time in the history of naval warfare where two fleets fought without seeing each other.Two crucial battles in 1942 marked the turning point of the war in the Pacific.

Today in history, Germany signs an unconditional surrender, effectively ending World War II in Europe in 1945.

Today in history 3/1/2021-3/3/2021

3/1/2021:

Today in history, York, Maine becomes the first incorporated American city in 1642.

Today in history, Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne and Tituba are arrested for the supposed practice of witchcraft in Salem, Mass in 1692.

Today in history, Pennsylvania becomes the first U.S. state to abolish slavery in 1780.

Today in history, Congress passes the Civil Rights Act in 1875, which is invalidated by the Supreme Court in 1883.

Today in history, 1,000 Black students pray and sing the national anthem on the steps of the old Confederate Capitol in Montgomery, AL in 1960.

Today in history, Mickey Mantle (see picture below) announces his retirement from baseball in 1969.

Today in history, The Pentagon accepts the theory that an atomic war would block the sun, causing a “nuclear winter” in 1985.

3/2/2021:

Today in history, Americans begin shelling British troops in Boston in 1776.

Today in history, Maryland ratifies the Articles of Confederation. It is the last state to sign in 1781.

Today in history, To put an end to robberies by the Barbary pirates, the United States declares war on Algiers in 1815.

Today in history, Texas declares independence from Mexico on Sam Houston’s 43rd birthday in 1836.

Today in history, The Territory of Washington is organized in 1853.

Today in history, Rutherford B. Hayes (see picture below) is declared president by one vote the day before the inauguration in 1877.

Today in history, Gabriel Lippmann (see picture below) introduces the new three-dimensional color photography process at the Academy of Sciences in 1908.

Today in history, Congress passes the Jones Act making Puerto Rico a territory of the United States and makes its inhabitants U.S. citizens in 1917.

Today in history,  MacArthur raises the U.S. flag on Corregidor in the Philippines in 1945.

Today in history, Claudette Colvin (see picture below) refuses to give up her seat in Montgomery, Alabama, nine months before Rosa Parks‘ famous arrest for the same offense in 1955.

Today in history, Czech pilot Vladimir Remek (see picture below) becomes the first non-Russian, non-American in space in 1978.

3/3/2021:

Today in history, Congress passes a resolution authorizing the U.S. Mint in 1791; legislation creating the mint will be passed on Apr. 2, 1792.

Today in history, The first impeachment trial of a U.S. judge, John Pickering, begins in 1803.

Today in history, Florida becomes the 27th U.S. state in 1845.

Today in history, Rutherford B. Hayes, the republican governor of Ohio, is elected president; his election is confirmed by an electoral commission after a disputed election the previous November in 1877.

Today in history, The first issue of Time magazine is published. Its editor, Henry R. Luce (see picture below), is just out of Yale in 1923.

Today in history, President Herbert Hoover signs a bill that makes Francis Scott Key’s “Star Spangled Banner,” the national anthem in 1931.

Today in history, Japan discloses its first defense plan since World War II in 1973.

Today in history, Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky (see picture below) appears on national television to explain her affair with President Bill Clinton in 1999.

Today in history 8/24/2020

8/24/2017:

Today in history, Mount Vesuvius (see picture below) erupts destroying Pompeii, Stabiae, Herculaneum and other smaller settlements in 79.

Today in history, German barbarians sack Rome in 410.

Today in history, British troops under General Robert Ross capture Washington, D.C., which they set on fire in retaliation for the American burning of the parliament building in York (Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada in 1814.

Today in history, In the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, the third carrier-versus-carrier battle of the war, U.S. naval forces defeat a Japanese force attempting to screen reinforcements for the Guadalcanal fighting in 1942.

Today in history, Congress outlaws the Communist Party in the United States in 1954.

Today in history, Mikhail Gorbachev (see picture below) resigns as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union; Ukraine declares its independence from USSR in 1991.

Today in history 8/13/2020-8/14/2020

 

8/13/2020:

Today in history, The first African-American nursing school opens at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia in 1881.

Today in history, The first coin-operated telephone (see picture below) is patented by William Gray in 1889.

Today in history, The US Court of Appeals rules Congress must save all emails in 1993.

8/14/2020:

Today in history, The first book ever printed is published by a German astrologer named Faust (see picture below). He is thrown in jail while trying to sell books in Paris. Authorities concluded that all the identical books meant Faust had dealt with the devil in 1457.

Today in history, Japan announces its unconditional surrender in World War II in 1945.

Today in history, Pakistan becomes an independent country in 1947.

Today in history 8/11/2020-8/12/2020

8/11/2020:

Today in history, President Abraham Lincoln (see picture below) appoints Union General Henry Halleck to the position of general-in-chief of the Union Army in 1862.

Today in history, Troops from Egypt and Morocco arrive in Saudi Arabia as part of the international operation to prevent Iraq from invading in 1990.

Today in history, NATO assumes command of the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, its first major operation outside Europe in 2003.

8/12/2020:

Today in history, Gold is discovered near Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada. After word reaches the United States in June of 1897, thousands of Americans head to the Klondike to seek their fortunes in 1896.

Today in history, Henry Ford‘s first Model T rolls off the assembly line in 1908.

Today in history, Computer giant IBM introduces its first personal computer (see picture below) in 1981.