DAVID MELENDY

In Blacksburg, VA, on this day in 2007, a student killed 33 people at Virginia Tech before killing himself.

The 23-year-old student gunman Seung-Hui Cho.

In Texas City, TX. on this day in 1947, the French ship Grandcamp, carrying ammonium nitrate fertilizer, caught fire and blew up, leaving
576 people dead.

    
   

On this day in 1917, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin returned to Russia to start Bolshevik Revolution after years of exile.

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (April 16, 1889 – December 25, 1977)

Comedic silent film icon Charlie Chaplin gained world fame for portraying
his character, The Tramp (1915) and starred in The Great Dictator (1940)
and Modern Times. He had a career that lasted over 75 years, and became
one of the most important people in film history.

On this day in 1996, Britain’s Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah, the Duchess of York, announced that they were in the process of getting
a divorce.

   
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
 
The Rolling Stones released their debut album on this day in 1964.

   

Michael Jordan played his last NBA game on this day in 2003.

Michael Jordan, who was on the bench and unlikely to enter the game,
was re-inserted into the line-up by Washington Wizards coach Doug
Collins with 2:35 left in the fourth quarter after the crowd of 20,000+
chanted Michael’s name.

SANDY KOZEL

At Appomattox Court House, Virginia on this day in 1865, General Robert E.
Lee surrendered his Confederate Army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant
in the parlor of Wilmer McClean’s home. Grant allowed Rebel officers to keep
their side arms and permitted soldiers to keep their horses and mules. Though there were still Confederate armies in the field, the war was officially over. The
four years of fighting had killed 360,000 Union troops and 260,000 Confederate troops.

On this day in 2003, Saddam Hussein’s statue is toppled in Baghdad.

NASA announced the selection of America’s first seven astronauts
on this day in 1959.

On this day in 1939, Marian Anderson sang a landmark 1939
concert at the Lincoln Memorial, and blazed a trail for other
black classical singers.

More than 75,000 people come to the Lincoln Memorial on that
Easter Sunday to hear Anderson. She had been scheduled to
sing at Washington’s Constitution Hall, but the Daughters of
the American Revolution, a political organization that helped
manage the concert hall, denied her the right to perform
because of her race. Instead, and at the urging of Eleanor
Roosevelt who had resigned the DAR in protest of their
decision, Marian performed a free open air-concert at the
Lincoln Memorial.

Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897 – April 8, 1993)

Britain’s Prince Charles with his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall acknowledges the crowd at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in England following their wedding on this day in 2005.

The Official Wedding photograph of Prince Charles and Camilla
with Prince Harry, Prince William, Laura and Tom Parker Bowles.

SANDY KOZEL

The U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson due to his attempt to dismiss Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The U.S. Senate later acquitted Johnson.

Artists depiction of President  Andrew Johnson’s impeachment
trial.

First major meeting of what became known as the Nazi Party was on
this day in1920.

During World War II on this day in 1945, the Philippine capital of
Manila, was liberated by U.S. soldiers.

Japanese prisoners of war in Manila.

Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Britain’s Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer on this day in 1981.

On this day in 1999, Lauryn Hill won five Grammy awards for her
debut solo album (below) "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill."

Lauryn Noelle Hill will be 43 on May 26. She was born in East Orange,
New Jersey.

TIM MAGUIRE

The funeral of Jordan’s King Hussein was on this day in 1999.

President Clinton (center) among those attending the funeral of
King Hussein.

The Birth of a Nation (originally called The Clansman) is a 1915
American silent epic drama film directed and co-produced by D.
W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted
from the novel and play The Clansman, both by Thomas Dixon
Jr. Griffith co-wrote the screenplay (with Frank E. Woods), and
co-produced the film (with Harry Aitken). The film premiered on
this day in 1915.

Lillian Diana Gish
(October 14, 1893 – February 27, 1993)

A civil rights protest in Orangeburg, South Carolina turned deadly
on this day in 1968. The incident became know as the Orangeburg
Massacre.

William D. Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America on this
day in 1910.

William Dickson "W. D." Boyce
(June 16, 1858 – June 11, 1929)

James Byron Dean  (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955)

Actor James Dean starred in “Rebel Without a Cause” and “East of
Eden” (both 1955). He became a cultural icon well before he died in
a car crash at age 24. He became the first actor to have received
multiple posthumous acting nominations.  

      TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1964, Pan Am flight 101 was greeted by over 5,000
Beatles fans as it arrived at New York’s JFK airport, bringing The
Beatles to the U.S. for the first time.

Ramzi Yousef, a Pakistani national who planned and carried out
the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center that killed six people
and injured 1,000 others, was arrested on this day in 1995.

Hussein bin Talal (November 14, 1935 – February 7, 1999)

Hussein was King of Jordan from the abdication of his father,
King Talal, on 11 August 1952, until his death from cancer in
1999.

Charles John Huffam Dickens (February 7, 1812 – June 9, 1870)

Charles Dickens was a prolific and highly influential 19th century British
author, who penned such acclaimed works as ‘Oliver Twist,’ ‘A Christmas
Carol,’ ‘David Copperfield’ and ‘Great Expectations.’

singer/songwriter Troyal Garth Brooks is 56 years old today.

According to the RIAA, Garth Brooks is the best-selling solo albums artist
in the U.S. with 148 million domestic units sold, ahead of Elvis Presley, and
is second only to the Beatles in total album sales overall. He is also one of 
the world’s best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 170 million records. Brooks was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame October
21, 2012. He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2011.