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History
Today is Saturday, May 4, the 124th day of 2002. There are 241 days left in the year.
Highlight
On May 4, 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded.
On this date:
In 1626, Dutch explorer Peter Minuit landed on present-day Manhattan Island.
In 1776, Rhode Island declared its freedom from England, two months before the Declaration of Independence was adopted.
In 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago, a labor demonstration for an eight-hour work day turned into a riot when a bomb exploded.
In 1932, mobster Al Capone, convicted of income-tax evasion, entered the federal penitentiary in Atlanta.
In 1945, during World War II, German forces in the Netherlands, Denmark and northwest Germany agreed to surrender.
In 1961, a group of “Freedom Riders” left Washington for New Orleans to challenge racial segregation in interstate buses and bus terminals.
In 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on anti-war protesters at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others.
In 1980, Marshal Josip Broz Tito, president of Yugoslavia, died three days before his 88th birthday.
In 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat signed a historic accord on Palestinian autonomy that granted self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
Ten years ago:
Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton toured riot-ravaged Los Angeles streets, blaming the destruction on what he called 12 years of Republican neglect.
Five years ago: IBM’s Deep Blue computer defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov, evening their six-game series at one game apiece. Cerefino Jimenez Malla became the first Gypsy beatified in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.
One year ago:
Pope John Paul II began a visit to Greece, where he issued a sweeping apology for the “sins of action and omission” by Roman Catholics against Orthodox Christians. Bonny Lee Bakley, wife of actor Robert Blake, was shot to death as she sat in a car near a restaurant in Los Angeles (Blake and his bodyguard, Earle Caldwell, were arrested April 18 in connection with Bakley’s death).
Today’s Birthdays:
The president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, is 74. Jazz musician Maynard Ferguson is 74. Opera singer Roberta Peters is 72. Jazz musician Ron Carter is 65. Rock musician Dick Dale is 65. Singer-songwriter Nick Ashford is 60. Actor Paul Gleason is 58. Pop singer Peggy Santiglia (The Angels) is 58. Singer Jackie Jackson (The Jacksons) is 51. Country singer Randy Travis is 43. Actress Mary McDonough is 41. Comedian Ana Gasteyer is 35. Rock musician Mike Dirnt (Green Day) is 30. Rock musician Jose Castellanos (Save Ferris) is 25. Singer Lance Bass (’N Sync) is 23.
