GK:General Knowledge

Today in History - May 23 President William Howard Taft presided over the dedication of the New York Public Library on May 23, 1911. Continue reading. On May 23, 1865, the Army of the Potomac celebrated the end of the Civil War by parading down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washi…

Today in History - May 22 On May 22, 1802, the first of first ladies, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington died of a severe fever. Continue reading. Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments. #TodayInHistory

Today in History - May 21 On May 21, 1796, attorney and statesman Reverdy Johnson was born in Annapolis, Maryland. Continue reading. Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments. #TodayInHistory

Today in History - May 20 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act on May 20, 1862. Continue reading. Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments. #TodayInHistory

Today in History - May 19 Johns Hopkins was born to a Quaker family on May 19, 1795, in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Continue reading. On May 19, 1863, General Ulysses S. Grant attempted to take the Confederate stronghold at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Continue reading. Cli…

Today in History - May 18 Educator and political leader Mary McLeod Bethune died at the age of eighty on May 18, 1955, in Daytona Beach, Florida. Continue reading. On May 18, 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson ruled separate-but-equal facilities constitut…

Today in History - May 17 Popular rider Oliver Lewis rode H. P. McGrath’s thoroughbred Aristides to victory in the first Kentucky Derby on May 17, 1875, at the Louisville Jockey Club. Continue reading. May 17 is Norwegian Constitution Day, a commemoration of the adoption o…

Today in History - May 16 On May 16, 1868, the U.S. Senate voted 35 to 19, one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict President Andrew Johnson of "high crimes and misdemeanors," as he was charged under the eleventh article of impeachment. Continue reading. …

Today in History - May 15 Lyman Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was born on May 15, 1856, in Chittenango, New York. Continue reading. On May 15, 1856, residents of San Francisco organized a Committee of Vigilance to combat crime in their rapidly growing t…

Today in History - May 14 On May 14, 1607, English settlers, arriving under the authority of the Virginia Company of London chartered by King James I, established the first permanent British settlement in North America at a place they named Jamestown, Virginia. Continue rea…

Today in History - May 13 On May 13, 1864, a Confederate prisoner of war was buried on the grounds of Arlington House, now Arlington National Cemetery. He was the first soldier buried there. Continue reading. On May 13, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt delivered the op…

Today in History - May 12 On May 12, 1850, Republican statesman and noted historian Henry Cabot Lodge was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Continue reading. On Tuesday, May 12, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt paid an official visit to San Francisco. Continue reading. Cli…

Today in History - May 11 On May 11, 1858, Minnesota became the 32nd state admitted into the Union. Continue reading. Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments. #TodayInHistory

Today in History - May 10 Officials and workers of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railways held a ceremony on Promontory Summit, in Utah Territory, to drive in the Golden Spike on May 10, 1869. Continue reading. On May 10, 1865, Union troops captured Confederate…

Today in History - May 9 President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation on May 9, 1914, asking Americans to give a public expression of reverence to mothers through the celebration of Mother’s Day. Continue reading. On May 9, 1754, “Join, or Die,” considered to be the firs…

Today in History - May 8 On May 8, 1846, General Zachary Taylor defeated a detachment of the Mexican army in a two-day battle at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. Continue reading. Dr. John S. Pemberton, a pharmacist and inventor of patent medicines, sold the first Coca-Co…

Today in History - May 5 Mexican troops under General Ignacio Zaragoza successfully defended the town of Puebla on May 5, 1862, temporarily halting France’s efforts to establish a puppet regime in Mexico. Continue reading. On May 5, 1925, high school science teacher John S…

Today in History - May 4 On May 4, 1626, Dutch colonist Peter Minuit arrived on the wooded island of Manhattan in present-day New York. Continue reading. On May 4, 1894, Bird Day was first observed at the initiative of Charles Almanzo Babcock, superintendent of schools in …

Today in History - May 3 On May 3, 1494, Christopher Columbus sighted the island of Jamaica. Continue reading. Playwright William M. Inge was born in Independence, Kansas on May 3, 1913. Continue reading. Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments. …

Today in History - May 2 James F. Byrnes, a lawyer who had an influential role in the political careers of presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and Richard Nixon, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 2, 1882. Continue reading. Good Hous…