TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Sunday, May 2, the 122nd day of 2021. There are 243 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On May 2, 1994, Nelson Mandela claimed victory in the wake of South Africa’s first democratic elections; President F.W. de Klerk acknowledged defeat.
On this date:
In 1519, artist Leonardo da Vinci died at Cloux, France, at age 67.
In 1670, the Hudson’s Bay Co. was chartered by England’s King Charles II.
In 1863, during the Civil War, Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was accidentally wounded by his own men at Chancellorsville, Virginia; he died eight days later.
In 1890, the Oklahoma Territory was organized.
In 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Buck v. Bell, upheld 8-1 a Virginia law allowing the forced sterilization of people to promote the “health of the patient and the welfare of society.”
In 1957, Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., died at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.
In 1972, a fire at the Sunshine silver mine in Kellogg, Idaho, claimed the lives of 91 workers who succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning. Longtime FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover died in Washington at age 77.
In 1982, the Weather Channel made its debut.
In 2005, Pfc. Lynndie England, the young woman pictured in some of the most notorious Abu Ghraib photos, pleaded guilty at Fort Hood, Texas, to mistreating prisoners. (However, a judge later threw out the plea agreement; England was later convicted in a court-martial and received a three-year sentence, of which she served half.)
In 2010, record rains and flash floods in Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee caused more than 30 deaths and submerged the Grand
Ole Opry House stage. Actor Lynn Redgrave died in Kent, Connecticut, at age 67.
In 2018, two Black men who’d been arrested for sitting at a Philadelphia Starbucks without ordering anything settled with the company for an undisclosed sum and an offer of a free college education; they settled separately with the city for a symbolic $1 each and a promise to set up a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs.
In 2019, North Carolina lawyer Cheslie Kryst won the Miss USA crown; for the first time, Black women held the titles of Miss USA, Miss Teen USA and Miss America.
Ten years ago: Osama bin Laden was killed by elite American forces at his Pakistan compound, then quickly buried at sea after a decade on the run. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper won a coveted majority government in Canadian elections while the opposition Liberals and Quebec separatists suffered a shattering defeat.