TODAY IN HISTORY

On May 9, 1860, writer J.M. Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, was born in Kirriemuir, Scotland.

In 1945, Soviet forces liberated Czechoslovakia from Nazi occupation.

In 1962, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology succeeded in reflecting a laser beam off the surface of the moon.

In 1980, 35 people were killed when a freighter rammed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida.

In 1994, South Africa’s newly elected parliament chose Nelson Mandela to

be the country’s first Black president.

In 2019, Pope Francis issued a groundbreaking new church law requiring all Catholic priests and nuns to report clergy sexual abuse and coverups by their superiors to church authorities.

In 2020, rock ’n’ roll pioneer Little Richard died at the age of 87.