Sunday, May 20, 2012

TODAY IN HISTORY

May 20
1961:A bus carrying pro-civil rights Freedom Riders is viciously attacked by a white mob at the Greyhound bus station in Montgomery, Ala. Attorney General Robert Kennedy would send in federal marshals to ensure the safety of the riders, who are mostly college students, both black and white.

1927: Twenty-five-year-old mail pilot Charles Lindbergh departs from Roosevelt Field in New York, flying the monoplaneThe Spirit of St. Louison what would be the first solo, nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. He would land at Le Bourget Field in Paris the following day.

1978: At age 53, South African distance runner Mavis Hutchinson (known as the Galloping Granny) becomes the first woman to run across the United States, completing the 2,871-mile journey from Los Angeles to New York City in 70 days. Today, 87-year-old Hutchinson is still an active, competitive runner.

1927:Charles Lindbergh takes off from New York aboard "Spirit of St. Louis"

1873:Levi Strauss patents blue jeans.

1570:Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius publishes the first modern atlas.

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