TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT May 5, 1925

Schoolteacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating a state law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution.

ON THIS DATE 1891

New York’s Carnegie Hall had its official opening night, featuring Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky as a guest conductor.

1961

Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Mercury capsule Freedom 7.

1978

Ben & Jerry’s ice cream had its beginnings as Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield opened an ice cream parlor at a converted gas station in Burlington, Vermont.

2009

Texas health officials confirmed the first death of a U.S. resident with swine flu.