May 1st, 1931

The Empire State Building, which at the time was the tallest building in the world with a height of 1,250 feet, officially opened to the public.

May 2nd, 2011

United States forces killed Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and other key U.S. landmarks.

May 3rd, 1978

Many of the users of ARPANET, the first public computer network, received an ad that is believed to have been the very first spam email.

May 4th, 1970

Four protestors of the Vietnam War were shot and killed at Kent State University by the Ohio National Guard. Several others were wounded and public opinion against the war strengthened.

May 5th, 1862

Mexico beat the French in the Battle of Puebla. The victory was a symbol of Mexico’s resistance to foreign intervention and is celebrated each year on Cinco de Mayo.

May 6th, 1882

American President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act into law. The law prohibited Chinese immigration to the United States and was the first and only time that the US barred the immigration of a specific ethnicity.

May 7th, 1896

Henry Howard Holmes, more commonly known as H. H. Holmes, was hanged after confessing to 130 murders. He was the first American serial killer and it is thought by some that he could have actually killed over 200 people.