Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
May 5, 2014 – Segment 1
May 5, 2014 – Segment 1On this day in history, Carnegie Hall in New York had its grand opening, German philosopher Karl Marx was born, and the day in 19991 that a riot broke out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after police shot a Salvadoran man.
EVENTS
1835 – In Belgium, the first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen.
1886 – The Bay View Tragedy: A militia fires into a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, killing seven.
1891 – The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor.
1904 – Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
1904 – Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
1925 – The government of South Africa declares Afrikaans an official language.
1934 – The first Three Stooges short, Woman Haters, is released.
1941 – Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; the country commemorates the date as Liberation Day or Patriots’ Victory Day.
1945 – World War II: The Prague Uprising begins as an attempt by the Czech resistance to free the city from German occupation.
1955 – West Germany gains full sovereignty.
1968 – Buffalo Springfield split up. Richie Fury formed Poco and Stephen Stills teamed up with David Crosby and Graham Nash in Crosby Stills & Nash.
1969 – The Beatles single ‘Get Back’ was released in the US. John Lennon claimed in 1980 that “there’s some underlying thing about Yoko in there”, claiming that Paul McCartney looked at Yoko Ono in the studio every time he sang “Get back to where you once belonged.”
1973 – Secretariat (horse) wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59 2/5, a still standing record.
1981 – Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27. 1
987 – Iran-Contra affair: start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States of America
1991 – A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after police shoot a Salvadoran man.
1994 – American teenager Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism, a punishment that many in the United States deemed to be excessive for a teenager committing a non-violent crime. However, significant numbers of Americans were also in favor of it.
1996 – Rage Against The Machine went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Evil Empire’. The album’s title is taken from the phrase “evil empire”, which was used by former US President Ronald Reagan and many conservatives in describing the former Soviet Union. The album won the 1996 Grammy award for Best Metal Performance.
2006 – The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army.
2007 – All 114 aboard Kenya Airways Flight 507 die when the pilots lose control of the plane and it crashes in Douala, Cameroon.
2010 – Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek debt crisis.
BIRTHS
1813 – Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher and author (d. 1855)
1818 – Karl Marx, German philosopher (d. 1883)
1901 – Blind Willie McTell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1959)
1942 – Tammy Wynette, US Country singer
1943 – Michael Palin, English actor and screenwriter
1945 – Kurt Loder, American journalist
1988 – Adele, English singer-songwriter and musician
DEATHS
1821 – Napoleon, French general and emperor (b. 1769)
1972 – Blind blues guitarist Reverend Gary Davis died of a heart attack aged 76. His unique finger-picking style influenced many other artists.
2008 – Jerry Wallace, American singer (b. 1928)
Sources: The People History; This Day in Labor History; Wikipedia List of Historical Anniversaries; This Day in Women’s History; This Day in African History;History.com; History Orb; Yenoba; Selected Black Facts; Phil Konstantin’s North American Indian History; and This Day in Music
