History for May 5

History for May 5 - On-This-Day.com 

Karl Marx 1818 - Socialist writer ("Das Kapital", "The Communist Manifesto"), founder of communism

• 1862 - The Battle of Puebla took place. It is celebrated as Cinco de Mayo Day.
• 1865 - The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified, abolishing slavery in the U.S.
• 1892 - The U.S. Congress extended the Geary Chinese Exclusion Act for 10 more years. The act required Chinese in the U.S. to be registered or face deportation.
• 1912 - Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda began publishing.
• 1917 - Eugene Jacques Bullard becomes the first African-American aviator when he earned his flying certificate with the French Air Service.
• 1945 - A Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon. A pregnant woman and five children were killed.
• 1961 - Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr., aboard Mercury capsule Freedom 7, became the first American in space when he made a 15 minute suborbital flight.