On this date...

Mrs. Emma Clarissa Clement

In 1776, Washington was managing an overworked army. He directs brigade majors to ensure every regiment shares equally in duty.

In 1776, Commodore Esek Hopkins, the commander in chief of the Continental Navy, writes from Providence, thanking him for the temporary use of army men. Hopkins says he will send them back to New York in the sloop Providence, but he also reports that the fleet remains “sickly onboard all the Vessels” and cannot yet put to sea.

In 1777, 18-year-old Agrippa Hull became the first black man to enlist in the Continental Army when regulations were changed allowing black enlistment.

In 1778, the Battle of Crooked Billet Tavern (present-day Hatboro, Pennsylvania) occurred when the British launched a surprise attack against sleeping Pennsylvania militia.

In 1844, the Whig Party nominated Henry Clay as its presidential candidate at the Whig Convention in Baltimore.

In 1848, the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta was founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

In 1862, Major General Benjamin Butler's Union forces completed the occupation of New Orleans after facing no resistance.

In 1866, A white mob in Memphis, Tennessee, began a three-day attack on Black residents, 46 of whom were killed. The racially motivated violence helped to win passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, which ensured equal protection for formerly enslaved Black Americans who had gained their freedom after the Civil War.

In 1891, Legendary pitcher Cy Young won the first game played at Cleveland's League Park; the Cleveland Spiders 12, the Cincinnati Redlegs 3

In 1898, the U.S. Navy defeated the Spanish Pacific fleet in the Battle of Manila Bay, resulting in the fall of the Philippines and contributing to the final U.S. victory in the Spanish-American War.

In 1900, the Scofield Mine disaster: a premature blast collapses a mine tunnel, killing at least 200 in Scofield, Utah.

In 1901, the Pan-American Exposition opened in Buffalo, New York, and ran until November 2.

In 1915, the British liner Lusitania leaves New York for Liverpool on its last fateful journey.

In 1916, employees of the Puritan Underwear Company participated in the May Day workers’ parade in New York City. As captured in a photograph by the Bain News Service, a crowd of marchers parts for the camera, revealing a group of jaunty young women wearing pins and sashes while proudly hoisting a banner in the form of an oversized chemise, fastened with a Puritan pennant on its front. They may have also been on strike.

In 1924, Iodized salt first went on sale in the United States, available at grocery stores in Michigan. The state was then part of a region known as “the goitre belt,” a reference to enlargement of the thyroid gland due to iodine deficiency.

In 1926, Ford Motor Company became one of the first companies in America to adopt a five-day, 40-hour work week for its workers in its automotive factories. The policy would be extended to Ford’s office workers the following August.

In 1930, the dwarf planet Pluto was named.

In 1931, the Empire State Building in New York City officially opened. For four decades, it was the tallest building in the world, and it remains a U.S. landmark.

In 1937, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Neutrality Act, banning travel on belligerent ships and imposing an arms embargo on warring nations.

In 1941, Orson Welles's Citizen Kane, considered by many critics to be the greatest film ever made, premiered in New York City.

In 1946, Mrs Emma Clarissa Clement was named "American Mother of the Year" by the American Mothers Committee of the Golden Rule Foundation in New York.

In 1948, Idaho Senator Glen Taylor was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, for trying to enter a meeting through a door labeled "for Negroes."

In 1954, The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation to form the American Motors Corporation [1]

In 1958, the United States celebrated its first "Law Day," one day after President Eisenhower announced the observance to honor the role of law in the creation of the U.S. Three years later, Congress followed suit by passing a joint resolution establishing May 1 as Law Day.

In 1960, while on a reconnaissance flight deep inside the Soviet Union, a U.S. U-2 plane was shot down and its pilot—Francis Gary Powers, who worked for the CIA—was taken prisoner. The resulting confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union resulted in the collapse of a diplomatic summit and an escalation of Cold War tensions.

In 1961, the first major airplane hijacking within the United States occurred when a man forced a commercial airliner en route from Miami to Key West, Florida, to detour to Cuba.

In 1962, the first Target discount store opened in Roseville, Minn.

In 1962, US President John F. Kennedy authorizes the Area Redevelopment Act (ARA)

In 1963, after enduring a brief but grueling stint as a Bunny in Manhattan's Playboy Club, feminist writer Gloria Steinem publishes the first half of her landmark account, "A Bunny's Tale," in SHOW magazine. Steinem's undercover reporting increased her profile and stripped back the glamorous facade of Hugh Hefner's empire to reveal a world of misogyny and exploitation.

In 1963, Jim Whittaker, joined by Sherpa mountaineer Nawang Gombu, became the first American to summit Mount Everest.

In 1964, the computer programming language BASIC (Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) was first run by its inventors, Dartmouth College professors John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz.

In 1969, Children's educational television host Fred Rogers testifies before US Senate Subcommittee on Communications to secure funding for creation of PBS.

In 1971, Amtrak began service in the United States. It had been established by Congress in 1970 to take control of passenger train service from the country's private rail companies.

In 1991, Rickey Henderson stole the 939th base of his career, surpassing Lou Brock's Major League Baseball record.

In 1991, Texas Rangers starter Nolan Ryan pitches MLB record 7th no hitter; beats Toronto, 3-0; at 44, Ryan is oldest to throw no-hitter.

In 1992, on the third day of the Los Angeles riots, Rodney King appeared in public to appeal for calm, asking, "Can we all get along?"

In 2003, President George W. Bush, in a speech delivered from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which bore a banner reading “Mission Accomplished,” stated, “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.” (The last U.S. combat troops would not withdraw from Iraq until December 2011.)

In 2011, President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden during a U.S. commando operation, which took place in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in the early morning hours of May 2 local time.

In 2015, six Baltimore police officers were charged with felonies ranging from assault to murder in connection with the death of Freddie Gray, a Black man who’d suffered a spinal injury while riding in a police van. (None of the officers would ultimately be convicted.)

In 2020, U.S. regulators allowed emergency use of remdesivir, the first drug that appeared to help some COVID-19 patients recover faster.