On this day in history…

On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight in a capsule launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

 

On May 5, 1864, Nellie Bly, the American newspaper writer who challenged herself in an around-the-world race, was born. Following her death on Jan. 27, 1922, her obituary appeared in The Times

 

On May 5, 1860, Harper’s Weekly featured a cartoon about the candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination

 

1925	John T. Scopes was arrested in Tennessee for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution.

For more of what happened on this day in history jump over to the New York Times website  for more!