Today In History
Today is Friday, May 18, the 138th day of 2018. There are 227 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
› 1953: Jacqueline Cochran, 47, became the first woman to break the sound barrier as she piloted a Canadair F-86 Sabre jet over Rogers Dry Lake, California.
ON THIS DATE
› 1642: The Canadian city of Montreal was founded by French colonists. (On this date in 1765, one-quarter of Montreal was destroyed by a fire.)
› 1652: Rhode Island became the first American colony to pass a law abolishing African slavery; however, the law was apparently never enforced.
› 1896: The U.S. Supreme Court, in Plessy v. Ferguson, endorsed “separate but equal” racial segregation, a concept renounced 58 years later by Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
› 1933: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a measure creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
› 1967: Tennessee Gov. Buford Ellington signed a measure repealing the law against teaching evolution that was used to prosecute John T. Scopes in 1925.
› 1980: The Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state erupted, leaving 57 people dead or missing.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Actor Bill Macy is 96. Actress Priscilla Pointer is 94. Hall of Fame sportscaster Jack Whitaker is
94. Actor Robert Morse is 87. Actor Dwayne Hickman is 84. Baseball Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson is 81. Actress Candice Azzara is 77. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., is 70. Country singer Joe Bonsall (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 70. Rock musician Rick Wakeman (Yes) is 69. Rock singer Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo) is
68. Actor James Stephens is 67. Country singer George Strait is 66. Actor Chow Yun-Fat is 63. International Tennis Hall of Famer Yannick Noah is
58. Contemporary Christian singer Michael Tait is
52. Singer-actress Martika is 49. Comedian-writer Tina Fey is 48. Rapper Special Ed is 44. Rock singer Jack Johnson is 43. Rhythm and blues singer Darryl Allen (Mista) is
38. Actor Matt Long is 38. Actor Allen Leech is 37. Christian-rock musician Kevin Huguley (Rush of Fools) is 36. Christian singer Francesca Battistelli is 33. Actor Spencer Breslin is 26. Actress Hala Finley is 9.