| 1626 |
|
Indians
sell Manhattan Island for $24 in
cloth and buttons. |
| 1715 |
|
A
French manufacturer debuts the first
folding umbrella. |
| 1776 |
|
Rhode
Island declares independence from
England. |
| 1795 |
|
Thousands
of rioters enter jails in Lyons,
France, and massacre 99 Jacobin
prisoners. |
| 1814 |
|
Napoleon
Bonaparte disembarks at Portoferraio
on the island of Elba in the
Mediterranean. |
| 1863 |
|
The
Battle of Chancellorsville ends when
Union Army retreats. |
| 1864 |
|
Union
General Ulysses S. Grant's forces
cross the Rapidan River and meet
Robert E. Lee's Confederate army. |
| 1927 |
|
A
balloon soars over 40,000 feet for
the first time. |
| 1930 |
|
Mahatma
Gandhi is arrested by the British. |
| 1942 |
|
The
Battle of the Coral Sea commences. |
| 1942 |
|
The
United States begins food rationing. |
| 1961 |
|
13
civil rights activists, dubbed
Freedom Riders, begin a bus trip
through the South. |
| 1970 |
|
Ohio
National Guardsmen open fire on
student protesters at Kent State
University, killing four and
wounding nine others. |
Born on May 4 |
| 1796 |
|
Horace
Mann, educator and author. |
| 1820 |
|
Joseph
Whitaker, bookseller and publisher (Whitaker's
Almanac) |
| 1825 |
|
Thomas
Henry Huxley, British biologist. |
| 1827 |
|
John
Hanning Speke, English explorer. |
| 1874 |
|
Frank
Conrad, electrical engineer and
broadcasting pioneer. |
| 1884 |
|
Agnes
Fay Morgan, American nutritionist
and biochemist. |
| 1928 |
|
Thomas
Kinsella, Irish poet. |
| 1929 |
|
Audrey
Hepburn (Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Rusten),
actress, later U.N. special
ambassador. |
| 1939 |
|
Amos
Oz, Israeli novelist (The Black
Box, TheThird State). |
| 1949 |
|
Graham
Swift, British novelist (The
Sweet Shop Owner, Out of this
World). |
