On This Day: February 5th

It is the 5th day of the 2nd month of the 10th year of the 21st century.  Gents, you’ve got 9 days until Valentine’s Day.  As usual, please feel free to check up on these facts using your friendly neighborhood search engine.  Let’s begin!!!

• 1631 – Roger Williams, the founder of the Rhode Island Colony, emigrates to Boston.
• 1778 – South Carolina ratifies the Articles of Confederation, being the first state to do so.
• 1885 – The Belgian Congo is founded by King Leopold II, who keeps it as a personal possession.  All resources in the colony are the personal property of the king for nearly 20 years.
• 1917 – Congress passes the Immigration Act of 1917, which bans immigration from almost all of south and southeast Asia.  Ironically, Woodrow Wilson, who hosted a White House screening of the movie The Birth of a Nation, vetoed the bill.
• 1918 – Stephen W. Thompson shoots down a German airplane, marking the first aerial victory for the U.S. military.
• 1945 – As promised, General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.
• 1958 – A hydrogen bomb is lost near Tybee Island, off the coast of Savannah, GA, by the U.S. Air Force.
• 1972 – Bob Douglas becomes the first African-American elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
• 1994 – Byron de la Beckwith is convicted for the murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, which occurred 31 years earlier.

Did I miss a fact that you find important?  Post it in the comments!

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