TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – MAY 1
1308 King Albert is murdered by his nephew John, because he refused his share of the Habsburg lands.
1486 Christopher Columbus convinces Queen Isabella to fund expedition to the West Indies.
1707 Acts of Union comes into force, uniting England and Scotland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain
1805 The state of Virginia passes a law requiring all freed slaves to leave the state, or risk either imprisonment or deportation.
1841 First emigrant wagon train leaves Independence, Missouri, for California
1844 Samuel Morse sends 1st telegraphic message
1863 Confederate “National Flag” replaces “Stars & Bars”
1867 Reconstruction in the South begins with black voter registration.
1898 The U.S. Navy under Commodore George Dewey defeats the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines.
1927 Adolf Hitler holds his first Nazi meeting in Berlin.
1934 The Philippine legislature accepts a U.S. proposal for independence.
1937 President Franklin Roosevelt signs an act of neutrality, keeping the United States out of World War II.
1941 Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane, considered by many the greatest film ever made, premiered in New York.
1950 Gwendolyn Brooks becomes the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry called Annie Allen.
1952 Mr Potato Head, introduced
1960 Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 spy plane is shot down over Russia
1961 Fidel Castro declares Cuba a socialist nation and bans elections
1981 Radio Shack releases Model III TRSDOS 1.3
1986 The Tass News Agency reports the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.
1989 US Supreme Court rules employees have legal burden to prove non-discriminatory reasons for not hiring or promoting
1992 Los Angeles Dodgers postpone 3 games due to racial riots due to Rodney King
1993 Bomb attack on Sri Lankan President (26 die)
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
