TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – MAY 20
325 The Ecumenical council is inaugurated by Emperor Constantine in Nicea.
1347 Cola di Rienzo takes the title of tribune in Rome.
1520 Hernando Cortes defeats Spanish troops sent against him in Mexico.
1690 England passes the Act of Grace, forgiving followers of James II.
1674 John Sobieski becomes Poland’s first king.
1774 Parliament passes the Coercive Acts to punish the colonists for their increasingly anti-British behavior. The acts close the port of Boston.
1775 North Carolina became the first colony to declare its independence. This is the date that is on the George state flag even though the date of this event has been questioned.
1830 The fountain pen was patented by H.D. Hyde.
1861 During the American Civil War, the capital of the Confederacy was moved from Montgomery, AL, to Richmond, VA.
1862 President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act, providing 250 million acres of free land to settlers in the West.
1902 The U.S. military occupation of Cuba ends.
1927 Saudi Arabia becomes independent of Great Britain in the Treaty of Jeddah
1940 The first prisoners arrive at Auschwitz concentration camp
Auschwitz was the biggest extermination camp during World War II. From 1940 to 1945, the Nazi regime murdered at least 1.1 million people here.
1944 A group of officers from the German Army attempt an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler by exploding a bomb in his headquarters during a staffing meeting.
1951 During the Korean War, U.S. Air Force Captain James Jabara becomes the first jet air ace in history.
1952 With many workers wanting to keep pace with the increases in the cost of living pay increases of up to 15% are being requested with many employers already settling on wage increases ranging from 8% to 11% this year.
1961 A mob attacked a busload of “freedom riders” in Montgomery, Ala., setting the bus on fire.
1970 100,000 people march in New York, supporting U.S. policies in Vietnam.
1972 The Black Lung Benefits bill was signed into law by President Nixon prior to flying to Russia for further talks on promoting world peace. The bill extends the benefits to those who are incapacitated due to poor health from working in coal mines and will allow an additional 100,000 coal miners, widows, dependents and orphans to receive monthly benefits.
1983 In South Africa, a car bomb planted by anti-Apartheid activists kills 19
The Church Street Bombing was carried out by the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC). It was one of the bloodiest chapters in the ANC’s long and difficult struggle against racial segregation and oppression in South Africa.
1985 The FBI arrested U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer John Walker. Walker had begun spying for the Soviet Union in 1968.
1990 Hubble Space Telescope sends its 1st photographs from space
1994 North Korea is still insisting it will not allow full international inspections of it’s nuclear facilities and many fear they could be developing a nuclear weapons program.
1996 In a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court rejected a Colorado measure banning laws that protect homosexuals from discrimination.
1999 At Heritage High School in Conyers, GA, a 15-year-old student shot and injured six students. He then surrendered to an assistant principal at the school.
2010 Scientists announced that they had created a functional synthetic genome.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
