TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: MAY 18
1291 After 100 years of Crusader control, Acre is the last Crusader stronghold reconquered and destroyed by the Mamluks under Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil
1642 The city of Montreal was founded by the French.
1643 Queen Anne, the widow of Louis XIII, is granted sole and absolute power as regent by the Paris parliament, overriding the late king’s will.
1652 Rhode Island enacts 1st law declaring slavery illegal
1804 Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed Emperor of France by the French Senate
1830 Edwin Budding of England signs an agreement for manufacture of his invention, the lawn mower – Saturdays are destroyed forever
1852 Massachusetts rules all school-age children must attend school
1896 The Supreme Court’s decision on Plessy v. Ferguson upholds the “separate but equal” policy in the United States.
1896 Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field, Moscow, during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, results in the deaths of 1,389 people
1917 The U.S. Congress passes the Selective Service act, calling up soldiers to fight World War I.
1918 TNT explosion in chemical factory in Oakdale PA kills 200
1927 45 people die in the United States’ worst school massacre
1933 President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Tennessee Valley Authority Act.
1934 Congress approves “Lindbergh Act”, makes kidnapping a capital offense
1951 The United Nations moves its headquarters to New York city
1964 Supreme Court rules unconstitutional to deprive naturalized citizens of citizenship if they return to home country for more than 3 years
1967 Tennessee Governor Ellington repeals “Monkey Law”, upheld in 1925 Scopes Trial
1971 President Nixon rejects the 60 demands of Congressional Black Caucus
1980 After rumbling for two months, Mount Saint Helens, in Washington, erupts 3 times in 24 hours.
1983 Senate revises immigration laws, gives millions of illegal aliens legal status under an amnesty program
1992 Supreme Court rules states could not force mentally unstable criminal defendants to take anti-psychotic drugs
1994 Israeli troops withdrew from the Gaza strip after three decades of occupation and Palestinians took over.
2000 A bill was finally passed that removed the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse.
2009 Sri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides.
REFERENCE: HISTORY.NET, ONTHISDAY.COM, TIMEANDDATE.COM, INFOPLEASE.COM, FACTMONSTER.COM, SCOPESYS.COM, ON-THIS-DAY.COM, THEPEOPLEHISTORY.COM
