1260 – Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire
1640 – King Charles I of England dissolved the Short Parliament, the first parliament to be summoned in 11 years.
1862 – Mexico repelled the French forces of Napoleon III at the Battle of Puebla, a victory that became a symbol of resistance to foreign domination and is now celebrated as a national holiday, Cinco de Mayo.
1941 – Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa
1955 – West Germany is granted full sovereignty by its three occupying powers
1961 – Alan Shepard, Jr., made a 15-minute suborbital flight in the Freedom 7 spacecraft, becoming the first U.S. astronaut to travel in space.
1965 – First large-scale US Army ground units arrive in South Vietnam
1980 – Siege at Iranian Embassy in London ends as the SAS and police storm the building
1981 – After 66 days on hunger strike, 26 year old Provisional IRA member and British MP Bobby Sands dies in the Maze Prision. Nine more hunger strikers die in the next 3 months.
Births & Deaths: 1988 – English pop singer and songwriter Adele, whose soulful emotive voice and traditionally crafted songs made her one of the most broadly popular performers of her generation, was born.
Sport: 1904 – Cy Young pitches the first perfect game in “modern” baseball for Boston Americans against Philadelphia Athletics’s (3-0)
1969 – Milwaukee Bucks sign #1 NBA Draft pick, star UCLA center Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)
Music: 1891 – Music Hall (Carnegie Hall) opens in New York, Tchaikovsky is guest conductor 2018 – Childish Gambino aka Donald Glover releases the music video to new single “This is America” to wide acclaim
