MAY 6
Today in America's Present Past
1626 | Peter Minuit organizes the purchase of Manhattan Island from the Indians for 60 guilders’ worth of goods. (A present-day value of $1,500.)
1787 | Civil Rights: The first African American Masonic Lodge forms Prince Hall, Boston.
1833 | POTUS: President Andrew Jackson was the first President physically assaulted when Robert B. Randolph struck him.
1837 | Blacksmith John Deere creates the first steel plow.
1844 | Anti-Catholic “Nativist” riots commence in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1851 | Entrepreneur John Gorrie patents a “refrigeration machine” to make ice.
1851 | Entrepreneur Linus Yale Sr. patents the Yale cylinder lock
1856 | Explorer Robert Peary was born.
1860 | Indian Wars: Paiute War starts.
1862 | Philosopher Henry David Thoreau died.
1870 | Entrepreneur Amadeo Giannini was born.
1877 | Indian Wars: Chief Crazy Horse surrendered, ending the Great Sioux War.
1882 | POTUS: Republican President Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act.
1915 | Actor and Director Orson Welles was born.
1915 | Journalist Theodore H. White was born.
1919 | Author L. Frank Baum died.
1931 | Baseball Pro Willie Mays was born.
1937 | The German airship Hindenburg explodes in flames at Lakehurst, New Jersey.
1940 | John Steinbeck was awarded a Pulitzer Prize.
1945 | Musician Bob Seger was born in Detroit, Michigan.
1957 | John F. Kennedy was awarded a Pulitzer Prize.
1960 | POTUS: Republican President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act.
1961 | Actor George Clooney was born.
1972 | Entrepreneur Donald Pritzker died.
2002 | Entrepreneur Elon Musk forms SpaceX.
2004 | TV: The final episode of “Friends” aired with 52.5 million views.
2015 | Congress: Speaker Jim Wright died.