This Day in History – May 20, 2011

1310 Shoes were made for both right & left feet 1639 Dorchester MA, forms 1st school funded by local taxes 1775 Citizens of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina declare independence of Britain 1830 1st railroad timetable published in newspaper (Baltimore American) 1861 Kentucky proclaims its neutrality in Civil War 1861 North Carolina becomes 11th & last state to secede from Union 1862 Homestead Act provides cheap land for settlement of the West 1868 Republican National Convention, meets in Chicago, nominates Grant 1874 Levi Strauss markets blue jeans with copper rivets, price $13.50 dozen 1875 International Bureau of Weights & Measures established by treaty 1892 George Sampson patents clothes dryer 1916 Codell KS hit by tornado (also on same date in 1917 & 1918) 1916 Saturday Evening Post cover features Norman Rockwell painting 1926 Congress passes Air Commerce Act, licensing of pilots & planes 1926 Railway Labor Act became law 1926 Thomas Edison says Americans prefer silent movies over talkies 1927 At 7:40 AM, Lindbergh takes off from New York to cross Atlantic for Paris 1930 1st airplane catapulted from a dirigible, Charles Nicholson, pilot 1930 University of California dedicates $1,500 to research on prevention & cure of athlete’s foot 1932 Amelia Earhart leaves Newfoundland 1st woman fly solo across Atlantic 1942 US Navy 1st permitted black recruits to serve 1944 US Communist Party dissolves 1956 Atomic fusion (thermonuclear) bomb dropped from plane-Bikini Atoll 1959 Ford wins battle with Chrysler to call its new car “Falcon” 1959 Japanese-Americans regain their citizenship 1961 White mob attacks “Freedom Riders” in Montgomery AL 1967 10,000 demonstrate against war in Vietnam 1969 US troop capture Hill 937/Hamburger Hill Vietnam 1970 100,000 march in New York supporting US policies in Vietnam 1980 710 families in Love Canal area (Niagara Falls NY) are evacuated 1980 Drummer Peter Criss quits Kiss 1986 Flintstones 25th Anniversary Celebration airs on CBS-tv 1987 Wrestler Jerry Lawler sues WWF & Harley Race for trademark name “king” 1990 Hubble Space Telescope sends 1st photographs from space 1991 Chicago Bull Michael Jordan, named NBA’s MVP 1991 Soviet parliament approves law allowing citizens to travel abroad 1992 Rap singer raps 597 syllables in 55.12 seconds 1994 Bobcat Goldthwait charged with misdemeanors for fire on Tonight Show 1995 CBS News fires co-anchor Connie Chung]]]]> ]]>