May Calendar: Today in History

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American Wetlands Month

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MAY DAY - Honored as a day to celebrate workers and the labor movement in numerous countries. ACCORDING TO MOTHER GOOSE - "The young maid who, the first of May, goes to the fields at break of day, and washes with dew from the hawthorn tree, will ever after handsome be." 1707 - Act of Union - England and Scotland became Great Britain. 1948 - North Korea was established. 2011 - U.S. President Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden, founder of the terrorist organization al Qaeda, was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

2	1994 - Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa.

3	2003 - New Hampshire's Old Man of the Mountain collapsed.

4	1626 - Peter Minuit landed on Manhattan Island. 1886 - Haymarket Square Riot. 1932 - Al Capone entered prison after being convicted of tax evasion. 1970 - Shooting of students at Kent State University (Ohio).

5	1925 - John Scopes was arrested for teaching evolution (Tennessee). 1961 - The first American went into space, Alan Shepard. CINCO DE MAYO - Mexican-American holiday honoring a Mexican victory over invading European forces.

6	1882 - Chinese Exclusion Act. 1937 - Hindenberg disaster (Lakehurst, New Jersey). NATIONAL SCHOOL NURSE DAY - National Association of School Nurses.

7	1847 - The American Medical Association was founded. 1915 - Sinking of the Lusitania (World War I). 1942 - Battle of the Coral Sea. 1945 - Germany's unconditional surrender ended World War II in Europe. 2000 - Vladimir Putin became president of Russia (the Russian Federation).

8	1794 - Antoine Lavoisier guillotined. 1942 - Battle of the Coral Sea. 1945 - V-E Day (Victory in Europe, World War II). 1973 - End of the occupation of Wounded Knee.

9	1926 - Floyd Bennett and Richard E. Byrd flew over the North Pole. 1962 - The Beatles signed their first record deal.

10	1775 - Fort Ticonderoga was captured from the British by Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys. 1869 - Completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. 1924 - J. Edgar Hoover became the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

11	1858 - Minnesota became a U.S. state. 1894 - Start of the Pullman Strike. 1949 - Siam became Thailand. 1997 - Gary Kasparov was defeated by IBM supercomputer Deep Blue.

12	1551 - The National University of San Marcos was founded in Lima, Peru. 2008 - The Wenchuan Earthquake killed over 69,000 people in China.

13	1717 - Birth of Austria's Maria Theresa. 1787 - The first fleet of convicts left England for Australia. 1846 - Official start of the Mexican-American War. 1888 - Brazil abolished slavery. 1981 - Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded in Rome.

14	1796 - Edward Jenner administered the first smallpox vaccine. 1804 - Lewis and Clark Expedition left St. Louis. 1948 - Birth of the State of Israel. 1955 - Signing of the Warsaw Pact. 1973 - Skylab was launched.

15	1862 - United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was created. 1972 - Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, was shot.

16	1770 - Wedding of Marie Antoinette and the future King Louis XVI. 1929 - First Academy Awards were held.

17	1792 - Formation of the New York Stock Exchange. 1954 - Brown v. Board of Education decision declared school segregation unconstitutional. 2004 - A law legalizing same-sex marriage was passed in Massachusetts.

18	1642 - Montreal, Quebec, was founded. 1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of France. 1896 - Plessy v. Ferguson decision declared segregation constitutional under the "Separate but Equal" doctrine. 1980 - Eruption of Washington's Mount St. Helens.

19	1536 - Anne Boleyn, the second wife of England's Henry VIII, was beheaded. 1921 - Emergency Quota Act passed by the United States Congress. 1992 - Amendment 27 of the United States Constitution.

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1506 - Death of Christopher Columbus in Spain. 1927 - Charles Lindbergh, a.k.a. "Lucky Lindy," began the first nonstop solo flight around the world aboard the Spirit of Saint Louis. 1932 - Amelia Earhart began her flight as the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean solo. 1961 - Busload of "Freedom Riders" attacked in Montgomery, Alabama. 2002 - East Timor became an independent nation.

21	1881 - Predecessor of the American Red Cross was founded by Clara Barton. 1956 - Hydrogen bomb dropped over the Bikini Atoll.

22	1972 - Ceylon became Sri Lanka. 1990 - North Yemen and South Yemen merged as the Republic of Yemen. INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY - Educate yourself on diverse species and the threats they face.

23	1873 - Predecessor of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police formed in Canada. 1934 - Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow killed by police. 1949 - Creation of the German Federal Republic.

24	1844 - Samuel Morse's first telegraph message: "What hath God wrought?" 1883 - Brooklyn Bridge opened.

25	1787 - Constitutional Convention convened in Philadelphia. 1961 - John F. Kennedy addressed Congress on the importance of sending a man to the moon. 1968 - Dedication of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.

26	1521 - Edict of Worms banned Martin Luther's works. 1978 - Opening of the first Atlantic City casino.

27	1703 - Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg, Russia. 1937 - San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge opened.

28	1937 - Opening of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. 1998 - Pakistan performed nuclear tests.

29	1692 - The Battle of la Hogue, part of the War of the English Succession, began near France's Cherbourg Peninsula. 1790 - Rhode Island became a U.S. state. 1848 - Wisconsin became a U.S. state.

30	1431 - Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.

31	1790 - First United States copyright law was enacted. 1943 - End of the Japanese occupation of the Aleutian Islands. 1961 - South Africa became independent.

May has witnessed several significant historical events that have shaped the world. On May 8, 1945, Victory in Europe (V-E) Day marked the official end of World War II in Europe, following the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, a pivotal moment that brought peace to the continent after years of devastating conflict. Another landmark event is the founding of the Red Cross on May 8, 1863, by Henry Dunant, establishing a humanitarian organization that has since provided crucial aid during times of war and disaster. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered its landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, declaring racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional and paving the way for the Civil Rights Movement. Additionally, on May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was established, leading to significant geopolitical changes in the Middle East. Furthermore, the first transcontinental railroad in the United States was completed on May 10, 1869, revolutionizing transportation and commerce across the country. These events highlight May as a month of profound historical milestones that have had lasting impacts on global politics, society, and humanitarian efforts.

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