TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS TUESDAY, MAY 4, the 124th day of 2021. There are 241 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1961, the first group of “Freedom Riders” left Washington, D.C., to challenge racial segregation on interstate buses and in bus terminals.
In 1626, Dutch explorer Peter Minuit landed on what is now Manhattan Island.
In 1776, Rhode Island declared its freedom from England, two months before the Declaration of Independence was adopted. In 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago, a labor demonstration for an eight-hour workday turned into a deadly riot when a bomb exploded.
In 1932, mobster Al Capone, convicted of income tax evasion, entered the federal penitentiary in Atlanta. (Capone was later transferred to Alcatraz Island, in San Francisco Bay.)
In 1942, the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first naval clash fought entirely with carrier aircraft, began in the Pacific during World War II. (The outcome was considered a tactical victory for Japan, but ultimately a strategic one for the Allies.)
In 1945, during World War II, German forces in the Netherlands, Denmark and northwestern Germany agreed to surrender.
In 1959, the first Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Domenico Modugno won Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)”; Henry Mancini won Album of the Year for “The Music from Peter Gunn.”
In 1968, the Oroville Dam in Northern California was dedicated by Gov. Ronald Reagan; the 770-foot-tall earthfilled structure, a pet project of Reagan’s predecessor, Pat Brown, remains the tallest dam in the United States but was also the scene of a near disaster in February 2017 when two spillways collapsed, threatening for a time to flood parts of three counties in the Sierra Nevada foothills.
In 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire during an anti-war protest at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine.
In 1998, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was given four life sentences, plus 30 years, by a federal judge in Sacramento, California, under a plea agreement that spared him the death penalty.
In 2006, a federal judge sentenced Zacarias Moussaoui to life in prison for his role in the 9/11 attacks, telling the convicted terrorist, “You will die with a whimper.”
In 2010, a Pakistani-born U.S. citizen was charged with terrorism and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in the botched Times Square bombing. (Faisal Shahzad later pleaded guilty to plotting to set off the propane-and-gasoline bomb in an SUV, and was sentenced to life in prison.)
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Katherine Jackson, matriarch of the Jackson musical family, is 91. Jazz musician Ron Carter is 84. Pulitzer Prize-winning political commentator George Will is 80. Pop singer Peggy Santiglia Davison (The Angels) is 77. Actor Richard Jenkins is 74. Country singer Stella Parton is 72. Actor-turned-clergyman Hilly Hicks and Irish musician Darryl Hunt (The Pogues) are 71. Singer Jackie Jackson (The Jacksons) is 70. Singer-actor Pia Zadora is 69. Rhythm-and-blues singer Oleta Adams is 68. Violinist Soozie Tyrell (Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band) is 64. Country singer Randy Travis is 62. Actor Mary McDonough is 60. Comedian Ana Gasteyer is 54. Actor Will Arnett is 51. Rock musician Mike Dirnt (Green Day) and contemporary Christian singer Chris Tomlin are 49. TV personality and fashion designer Kimora Lee Simmons is 46. Sports reporter Erin Andrews is 43. Singer Lance Bass (’N Sync) is 42. Actor Ruth Negga is 40. Rapper/singer Jidenna is 36.