1626 - Dutch colonist Peter Minuit bought Manhattan Island from local Indians for 60 guilders worth of trinkets, a few days after landing there.
    1740 - Birthday of John Penn, signer of the Declaration of Independence, born at Caroline County, VA. Died September 14, 1788.
http://www.rebelswithavision.com/JohnPenn.com/
http://www.colonialhall.com/penn/penn.asp
       1812 - Birthday of Martin R. Delaney in Charles Town, VA, now WV.  Ethnologist, Black newspaper publisher, the first African-American to receive a regular army officer commission (Major) and African-American nationalist, he is considered to be the grandfather of Black Nationalism.  He was also one of the first three blacks admitted to Harvard Medical School. Trained as an assistant and a physician, he treated patients during the cholera epidemics of 1833 and 1854 in Pittsburgh, when many doctors and residents fled the city. He worked alongside Frederick Douglass to publish the “North Star”.                   His active role in recruiting blacks for the U.S. Colored Troops led to his commission as Major.  He died in 1885.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASdelaney.htm
http://afgen.com/delaney.html
    1829 - Phebe Ann Coffin was born Phebe Hanaford in Sciasconset, MA. She is the first woman ordained in New England as a minister. Coffin was a successful author in addition to being a Universalist minister.
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/h/a/n/hanaford_pac.htm
    1833 – John Deere made its first steel plough
    1835 – James Gordon Bennett published the first issue of the New York Herald.  The price: 1 cent.
    1851 - Dr. John Gorrie of Apalachicola, FL, was granted a patent for a mechanical freezer, "an improvement in the process for the artificial production of ice."  At a dinner on July 14, 1850, at the Mansion House, Apalachicola, Gorrie produced blocks of ice the size of bricks. He installed his system in the U.W. Marine Hospital in Apalachicola.
    1851 – Linus Yale patented the Yale lock.
    1853 – The first major rail disaster in the US occurred, killing 46 in Norwalk, CT.
    1856 - Birthday of Robert E. Peary in Cresson, PA.  Peary was thought to be the first to discover the North Pole.  As reported in This Day in American History on May 3, the first airplane flight to the North Pole revealed that he did not discover the "true" North Pole as originally claimed. The plane was piloted by Lieutenant Colonel William Pershing Benedict of San Rafael, CA, and copilot Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Otis Fletcher of Shawnee, OK. In 1997, historian Robert M. Bryce published the results of research indicating that no previous explorer succeeded in reaching the Pole, despite two long standing claims, and that Fletcher was the first human known to set foot on it.  In addition, Dr. Albert Paddock Crary, who was in this party, on February 12, 1961, reached the South Pole by tracked vehicle as part of a scientific expedition.   He became then the only explorer to set foot"
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may06.html
    1856 - U.S. Army troops from Fort Tejon and Fort Miller prepared to ride out to protect Keyesville, California, from Yokut Indian attack.
    1860 – The first athletic club in the US, The Olympic Club, was formed in San Francisco.
    1861 – Arkansas and Tennessee became the ninth and tenth states to secede.  Jefferson Davis approved a bill declaring War between the US and the Confederacy
    1864 - General Sherman began to advance on Atlanta.
    1877 - Chief Crazy Horse surrenders to US troops, who later murder him.  On Sept 5th, he is bayoneted in the back on orders.  Dakota Sioux Chief Sitting Bull leads 5,000 of his followers into Canada to ask protection from the Queen and petition land for a reserve after defeating Gen. Custer and the US 7th Cavalry at the Little Big Horn. The Canadian government refuses.
    1882 - Congress passes the first Chinese Exclusion Act over the veto of President Garfield, making it unlawful for Chinese laborers to enter the US for the next 10 years and denying naturalized citizenship to the Chinese already here. Chinese immigration is essentially shut off for the next 60+ years, as the act is extended in both 1902 and 1904.  The act was repealed on December 17, 1943.
    1884 - Brokerage firm of Grant & Ward, in which former President Ulysses S. Grant was a silent partner, failed under the weight of $16,725,466 worth of debts. It soon became known that Ward was a swindler who had used Grant's "good" name to perpetuate one fraud after another.
    1890 – The Mormon Church renounced polygamy.
    1895 - Birthday of Rodolpho Alfonzo Rafaello Pietro Filberto Gugliemi Di Valentina D'Antonguolla, whose professional name was Rudolph Valentino, was born at Castellaneta, Italy. Popular silent film star.  For years press reports claimed that "at least one weeping veiled woman in black bought flowers to his tomb" in Hollywood Memorial Park, every year on the anniversary of his death at New York, NY. August 23, 1926.
    1896 - Samuel Pierpont Langley flew an unpiloted Number 5 aircraft using a catapult launch from a boat on the Potomac River. The aircraft traveled almost 3/4 of a mile - ten times further than any previous heavier-than-air flying machine.
    1899 - Birthday of trombonist Charlie Irvis, New York City.
http://www.centrohd.com/biogra/i1/charlie_irvis_b.htm
    1903 – Bernard “Toots” Shor was born in Philadelphia.  Proprietor of a legendary saloon and restaurant, Toots Shor’s Restaurant in Manhattan, he ran three different establishments under that name, but his first – and most renowned – was located at 51 West 51st Street. He was known as a saloonkeeper, friend, and confidante to some of New York's biggest celebrities during that era…Jackie Gleason, Joe DiMaggio, Ernest Hemingway, Chief Justice Earl Warren among them.  He died in 1977.
    1904 - Country music pioneer Cliff Carlisle was born in Taylorsville, Kentucky. An associate of Jimmie Rodgers, he began his recording career in February, 1930 with Rodgers' "T for Texas." During the next 18 months, Cliff Carlisle recorded more than a dozen of Rodgers' songs, and many other tunes sung in Rodgers' style. Cliff later formed a duo with his brother Bill, and they were popular throughout the '30s and '40s. Cliff Carlisle retired from music in 1947.
http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/carlisle.htm
http://www.arhoolie.com/titles/7039.shtml
    1907 – NFL Hall of Fame Head Coach Weeb Ewbank was born Wilbur Charles Ewbank in Richmond, IN.  Ewbank coached and won two of the most important and famous games in NFL history:  In the 1958 NFL Championship game, the Baltimore Colts’ overtime victory over the New York Giants was the first overtime game in history and the first to be televised nationally; and in 1969, the AFL’s New York Jets upset win over the NFL Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, largely believed to be the impetus to the merger of the two leagues in 1970.  Ewbank was an assistant under the legendary Paul Brown and he developed two of the NFL’s greatest Hall of Fame QBs, Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath.  He died in 1998.
    1915 - George Herman "Babe" Ruth of the Boston Red Sox hit his first Major League home run in a game against the New York Yankees in New York. It was also his Major League pitching debut, winning 4-3. It is lost among his hitting prowess but Ruth pitched for the Red Sox from 1914-19 to a 93-46 record and an ERA of 2.28.  In 1915-17 he won 65 games, winning more than 23 and 24 in ’16 and ’17, respectively.  He was regarded then as one of the top lefties in the game and many considered him to be near the Walter Johnsons and Christy Mathewsons. http://www.baberuth.com/
    1915 - Birthday of Orson Welles, actor and director, was born at Kenosha, WI.  “Citizen Kane”, which he directed and in which he played the title role, is one of the most influential films ever made.  Other films in which he had a role include “The Third Man” and “The Magnificent Amersons”.   His radio show in 1938 brought listeners to believe the Earth was invaded from Mars.  Died at Los Angeles, CA, October 10, 1985. http://www.bway.net/~nipper/
    1918 - Canadian composer and teacher Godfrey Ridout was born in Toronto. During his association with the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music from   1948 until his retirement in 1982, he guided some of Canada's most famous musicians. As a composer, Ridout will be best remembered for his orchestral pieces, including "Music for a Young Prince," commissioned for the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959 and composed with Prince Charles in mind. Ridout died in 1984.
http://www.musiccentre.ca/CMC/dac_rca/eng/p_/Ridout_Godfrey.html
    1928 - The longest footrace in history began at City Hall in New York City. It concluded on July 24 in San Francisco, 3,415 miles later. 60-year-old Abraham Lincoln Monteverde, a veteran of more than 100 marathons, not only won the race, but he was also the only competitor to finish.
    1931 - Birthday of “The Say Hey Kid”, Willie Howard Mays, Hall of Fame outfielder and one of baseball’s greatest players of all-time, at Westfield, AL. He spent most of his career with the New York/San Francisco Giants.  Mays won two National League MVP awards and shares the record of most All-Star Games played (24) with Hank Aaron and Stan Musial.   Mays ended his career with 660 home runs, third at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-time. He also won a record-tying 12 Gold Glove awards beginning in 1957 when the award was introduced.  He is arguably the greatest player in baseball history and is certainly in that conversation, possessed of blinding speed, a great arm, hit and hit with power, a great defensive fielder and a disruptive force for the opposition.  [As a kid growing up on the Jersey Shore in the 1950s, I went to many Giants, Yankees, and Dodgers games every summer.  The argument about the best ballplayer was always “Mays or Mantle”, a time gone by that will never be repeated.]
http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/
hofer_bios/mays_willie.htm
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/all_time_stats/players/
m/42662/index.html
    1935 - Executive Order 7034 created the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
    1936 - Birthday of singer Sylvia Robinson was born Sylvia Vanderpool in New York City. Singer/songwriter/producer/ label owner. In the mid-'50s, she teamed with Mickey Baker as Mickey & Sylvia. Had million-selling "Love Is Strange" in 1956-57. Married Joe Robinson and founded All Platinum Records which later became Sugar Hill Records, the first major rap label.
http://www.picosearch.com/cgi-bin/ts.pl
    1937 - At 7:20pm, the dirigible Hindenburg exploded as it approached the mooring mast at Lakehurst, NJ, after a trans-Atlantic voyage.  Of its 97 passengers and crew, 36 died in the accident, which ended the dream of mass transportation via dirigible.
http://www.vidicom-tv.com/tohiburg.htm
    1939 - Herbie Cox, lead singer of the '50s and '60s vocal group the Cleftones, was born in Cincinnati.
    1940 - John Steinbeck's “The Grapes of Wrath” wins the Pulitzer Prize as most distinguished novel of 1939. He gets the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.  Banned in 1980 in two Iowa high school sophomore classes after a parent complained the book was "profane, vulgar, and obscene."  The head of the school board defended the action, noting the US was "going pell mell downhill" morally and they were reversing the trend.
http://steinbeck.sjsu.edu/home/
    1941 – Bob Hope performed his first USO Show, at March Field in CA.
    1942 - David Freisen, American jazz bassist, was born in Tacoma, Washington. http://www.globalbass.com/archives/may2001/david_friesen.htm
    1944 - The first flight of the Mitsubishi A7M fighter, designed to replace the Zero, takes place. Technical problems and Allied bombing raids prevent mass production.
    1945 – Bob Seger was born in Lincoln Park, MI.  In 1973, he put together the Silver Bullet Band, a group of Detroit-area musicians, with whom he became most successful on the national level with the album “Live Bullet”, recorded live at Cobo Hall in Detroit. In 1976, he achieved a national breakout with the studio album “Night Moves”.  Seger has recorded many hits, including “We’ve Got Tonight”, “Against the Wind”, “Shakedown” (written for “Beverly Hills Cop II).  He also co-wrote the Eagles’ number-one hit "Heartache Tonight". His iconic recording of "Old Time Rock and Roll” was named one of the Songs of the Century in 2001.  Seger was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
    1948 - KNXT (now KCBS) TV channel 2 in Los Angeles first broadcast
    1951 - Liz Taylor's 1st divorce, from Conrad Hilton Jr.
http://www.bestofcolumbus.com/fussichen/otde.htm
http://www.who2.com/conradhilton.html
    1953 - Alva "Bobo" Holloman of the St. Louis Browns pitched a no-hitter in his first major league start, defeating the Philadelphia Athletics, 6-0.  He is one of two pitchers to throw a no-hitter in his first Major League start.  His early appearances with them, all in relief, yielded an ERA close to 9.00. Undaunted, the confident Holloman pestered manager Marty Marion to give him a chance as a starter. He took the mound in that capacity for the first time on a rainy night before a hometown crowd of 2,473 and no-hit the Athletics 6-0. The 29-year-old rookie embellished his performance with three RBI and his only two hits in the Majors.   He went down to the minors in 1954 and retired thereafter.
http://www.pubdim.net/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/H/Holloman_Bobo.stm
http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hollobo01.shtml
http://www.pubdim.net/baseballlibrary/sabr/tbi/H/Holloman_Bobo.tbi.stm
    1954 - Running for the British Amateur Athletic association in a meet at Oxford University, Roger Bannister broke the four-minute barrier with a time of 3?59:4.  Four minutes for a mile at the time was considered not only a physical barrier but also a psychological one. In this epic race, Bannister relied on two teammates to pace him. Chris Brasher helped Bannister for the first two laps with times of 57.5 and 1:58.2.  Chris Chataway sprang to the lead for the third quarter (3.00:5). Bannister followed Chataway around the curve and started his kick on the backstretch.  He sprinted past Chataway and, as he broke the tape, into track history.  But his record lasted little more than a month, until John Landy of Australia ran 3:58.0 on June
21.
    1957 - Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy of Massachusetts was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his book "Profiles in Courage".
http://www.johnfkennedy.org/
    1957 - Eugene O'Neill became the first writer to win a Pulitzer Prize four times for drama: 1957,"for his play "Long Day's Journey Into Night." His other awards were in 1920 for "Beyond the Horizon," in 1922 for "Anna Christie," and in 1928 for "Strange Interlude."
http://www.almaz.com/nobel/literature/1936a.html
http://www.eoneill.com/
    1958 - Top Hits
“Tequila” - The Champs
“The Witch Doctor” - David Seville
“Wear My Ring Around Your Neck” - Elvis Presley
“Oh Lonesome Me” - Don Gibson
    1959 - The Pablo Picasso painting of a Dutch girl was sold for $154,000 in London. It was the highest price paid to that time for a painting by a living artist.
    1963 - William Faulkner wins a posthumous one for The Reivers; Samuel Barber wins for his "Piano Concerto No. 1."
    1964 - The first election in the District of Columbia was the primary election, when the Reverend Edward Franklin Jackson, a Methodist minister who was African-American, defeated Frank Daniel Reeves for the office of Democratic committee-man.
    1965 - In their Clearwater, Florida hotel room, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards work out the opening guitar riff of "Satisfaction", following Richard's purchase of a Gibson fuzz-box earlier that day.
    1965 - James Brown reworks a song called "I Found You" by Yvonne Fair and comes up with "I Got You" (I Feel Good). It will become the biggest hit of his career, reaching #3 in the US.
    1966 - Top Hits
“Good Lovin'” - The Young Rascals
“Monday Monday” - The Mamas & The Papas
“Sloop John B” - The Beach Boys
“I Want to Go with You” - Eddy Arnold
    1967 - Two weeks after being pushed out of the top spot on the Cashbox Best Sellers list by The Monkees' "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", Nancy and Frank Sinatra return to the top spot with "Something Stupid".
    1968 - PATTERSON, ROBERT MARTIN, Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Troop B, 2d Squadron. 17th Cavalry. Place and date: Near La Chu, Republic of Vietnam, 6 May 1968. Entered service at: Raleigh, N.C. Born: 16 April 1948, Durham, N.C. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Patterson (then Sp4c.) distinguished himself while serving as a fire team leader of the 3d Platoon, Troop B, during an assault against a North Vietnamese Army battalion which was entrenched in a heavily fortified position. When the leading squad of the 3d Platoon was pinned down by heavy interlocking automatic weapon and rocket propelled grenade fire from 2 enemy bunkers, Sgt. Patterson and the 2 other members of his assault team moved forward under a hail of enemy fire to destroy the bunkers with grenade and machinegun fire. Observing that his comrades were being fired on from a third enemy bunker covered by enemy gunners in l-man spider holes, Sgt. Patterson, with complete disregard for his safety and ignoring the warning of his comrades that he was moving into a bunker complex, assaulted and destroyed the position. Although exposed to intensive small arm and grenade fire from the bunkers and their mutually supporting emplacements. Sgt. Patterson continued his assault upon the bunkers which were impeding the advance of his unit. Sgt. Patterson single-handedly destroyed by rifle and grenade fire 5 enemy bunkers, killed 8 enemy soldiers and captured 7 weapons. His dauntless courage and heroism inspired his platoon to resume the attack and to penetrate the enemy defensive position. Sgt. Patterson's action at the risk of his life has reflected great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
    1970 – The Peace Movement becomes more violent. The next
twelve days student strikes disrupt 448 colleges, involving 1 million+ students (possibly as many as "4 million students." The movement
grows to 750+ campuses of 2500 nationwide with demonstrations   against sending troops to Cambodia. Even Stanford University experiences "worst riots in its history." 75 campuses stayed closed thru rest of the school year).
http://world.std.com/obi/Emi.Anthology/tears.html
    1972 - Elton John's "Rocket Man" is released in the US, where it will reach #6.
    1973 - The New England Whalers won the first championship of the World Hockey Association. They defeated the Winnipeg Jets, 9-6, to win the final series, four games to one. Both teams later moved into the National Hockey League.
    1973 - Paul Simon began his first solo tour in Boston, three years after splitting up with Art Garfunkel. Some of the shows were recorded and selections released on the following year's "Live Rhymin'" album.
    1974 - Top Hits
“The Loco-Motion” - Grand Funk
“Dancing Machine” - The Jackson 5
“The Streak” - Ray Stevens
“Things Aren't Funny Anymore” - Merle Haggard
    1977 - Ten weeks after entering the Billboard singles chart, The Eagles' masterpiece, "Hotel California" became the band's fourth US #1 hit.
    1980 - NBC came to terms with its superstar, Johnny Carson. Johnny signed a new three-year contract for approximately $5 million a year. Carson also reduced his "Tonight Show" to one hour from ninety minutes and cut his work week to four nights. Plus, he got billing in the show's title, as it became "The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson".
http://www.johnnycarson.com/carson/indexflash.jsp
    1981 - A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selected Maya Ying Lin’s design for the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial from 1,421 other entries.  The memorial sits on 3 acres in Washington, DC and was competed in 1982, and receives over 3 million visitors annually.
    1982 - Gaylord Perry of the Seattle Mariners became the 15th pitcher in the Majors to win 300 career victories. Perry, known for his spitball as well as a variety of other pitches, led the Mariners past the New York Yankees 7-3. He was long suspected of doctoring the baseball with his saliva.  Perry pitched for eight different teams over 22 years and won 314 games.  He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/perryga01.shtml1982
    1982 - Top Hits
“I Love Rock 'N Roll” - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
“Chariots of Fire” - Titles - Vangelis
“Ebony and Ivory” - Paul McCartney with Stevie Wonder
“Mountain Music” - Alabama
    1984 - Tina Turner's comeback hit, "What's Love Got to Do With It," was released. The song went to number one, won Grammys for record and song of the year, and established Turner as a major solo star.         
    1986 - The Rev. Donald E. Pelotte, 41, was ordained in Gallup, New Mexico -- the first American Indian to be made a Roman Catholic Bishop in the U.S.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/drexel/news/1005bishop.htm
http://www.dioceseofgallup.org/
    1986 - From the “What an Ungrateful Thing to Do, Joan” file: Comedienne, Joan Rivers, put her foot in her mouth by announcing to the world that she was leaving "The Tonight Show" as permanent guest host to begin her own late-night gabfest on the new FOX TV Network.  She was immediately banned from appearing on “The Tonight Show” by Johnny Carson, even after her show folded.  She made her first appearance on that show when invited by host Jimmy Fallon in the premiere of “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” in 2014. http://www.joanrivers.com/
    1988 - "Have another doughnut, you fat pig!"  After a 6-1 loss to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup playoffs, New Jersey Devils Coach Jim Schoenfeld confronted referee Don Koharski as the officials left the ice.  In a scuffle, Kobarski either fell, or was pushed, causing Schoenfeld to mock him with the insult.  The league suspended Schoenfeld without a hearing, but a judge granted the Devils request for an injunction.  In response, regular officials chose not to work the next Devils-Bruins game. Instead, an amateur referee handled the game assisted by two off-ice officials acting as linesmen. The Devils won, 3-1.
    1990 - Top Hits
“Nothing Compares 2 U” - Sinead O'Connor
“I Wanna Be Rich” - Calloway
“How Can We Be Lovers” - Michael Bolton
“Love on Arrival” - Dan Seals
    1992 - Bruce Springsteen unveiled his new band at a surprise show at the Bottom Line in New York. The only holdover from the E Street Band was keyboardist Roy Bittan. The four-piece group backed Springsteen on "Saturday Night Live" three nights later. "The Boss" opened his world tour in Stockholm nine days after his New York appearance.
    1994 - Former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones filed a lawsuit against President Bill Clinton, alleging that he had sexually harassed her in 1991.  The Paula Jones case precipitated Clinton's impeachment. Charges of perjury and obstruction of justice were brought against Clinton based on statements he made during the depositions for the Jones lawsuit.  The case went through the courts, eventually reaching the Supreme Court on January 13, 1997. On May 27, the Supreme Court, and allowed the lawsuit to proceed.  Clinton dismissed Jones's story and agreed to move on with the lawsuit.  Clinton entered into an out-of-court settlement, agreeing to pay Jones and her attorneys a total of $850,000, before the lawsuit was dismissed pre-trial on the grounds that Jones failed to demonstrate damages.  In April 1999, Judge Wright found Clinton in civil contempt of court for misleading testimony in the Jones case. She ordered Clinton to pay $1,202 to the court and an additional $90,000 to Jones's lawyers for expenses incurred, far less than the $496,000 that the lawyers originally requested. Wright then referred Clinton's conduct to the Arkansas Bar for disciplinary action, and on January 19, 2001, the day before Clinton left office, he entered into an agreement with the Arkansas Bar under which Clinton was stripped of his license to practice law in Arkansas for a period of five years. His fine was paid from a fund raised for his legal expenses. 
    1998 - Chicago Cubs rookie pitcher Kerry Wood set the National League record and tied the major league record for most strikeouts in a 9-innning game when he fanned 20 Houston Astros in a 2-0 Chicago win. Roger Clemens set the major league record in 1986 and tied it in 1996. The former modern National League Mark, 19, was held by three pitchers, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver and David Cone.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/14836/index.html
    2004 - The series finale of “Friends” aired on NBC, after owning Thursday night The finale attracts 52.46 million viewers, sixth most watched overall series finale in U.S. television history, behind the finales of “M*A*S*H*”, “Roots”, “Cheers”, “The Fugitive”, and “Seinfeld” which were watched by 125, 100, 92.5, 78 and 76.3 million viewers, respectively.   
    2006 - Nancy Sinatra unveiled her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as she celebrated forty years in music since the debut of her 1966 hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin".
    2013 – Three women missing for more than a decade were found alive in Cleveland. Ariel Castro was taken into custody but committed suicide one month into custody.  Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Georgina "Gina" DeJesus were held against their will when Berry escaped with her six-year-old daughter and contacted the police.  Knight and DeJesus were rescued by responding officers and Castro was arrested within hours.