1471 – Battle of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, final battle between the Houses of Lancaster and York: Prince of Wales, Edward of Westminster killed and King Edward IV restored to his throne. Re-restores political stability to England until his death in 1483.
1814 – King Ferdinand VII of Spain signs the Decree of the 4th of May, returning Spain to absolutism
1886 – Violence between police and labour protesters erupted in the Haymarket Riot in Chicago, dramatizing the labour movement’s struggle for recognition in the United States.
1904 – Construction begins by the United States on the Panama Canal
1961 – The first Freedom Ride—a political protest against the segregation of interstate bus travel in the South—began as a group of white and black Americans departed Washington, D.C., on buses bound for New Orleans.
1970 – An anti-Vietnam War demonstration at Kent State University turned deadly when the Ohio National Guard shot four unarmed students and wounded nine others, further turning public opinion against the war.
1979 – Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman to be elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
2000 – British politician Ken Livingstone was elected mayor of London, the first time that British voters had directly elected a candidate to an executive office at any level of government.
Births & Deaths: 1929 – Belgian-born British actress Audrey Hepburn, who was best known for her roles in films such as Roman Holiday (1953), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), and My Fair Lady (1964), was born.
Sport: 1869 – Cincinnati Red Stockings play their first official game as the sport’s first professional side against the Great Western Base Ball Club winning 45-9
Music: 1959 – First Grammy Awards: Perry Como & Ella Fitzgerald win
TV & Film: 2008 – Seth MacFarlane reaches an agreement worth $100 million with Fox to keep “Family Guy” and “American Dad” on television until 2012, making MacFarlane the world’s highest paid television writer
