Plessy v Ferguson effectively legalized racial segregation by permitting separate but supposedly equal facilities.

These original New York stockbrokers traded from the Tontine Coffee House at 82 Wall Street before moving to their first dedicated trading space in 1817.

The Battle of Alamance has since been seen by some as a precursor to the American Revolution.

Richard and Maurice McDonald opened the first McDonald’s restaurant in San Bernardino, California.

They quickly began to construct a triangular fort containing a number of houses alongside a storehouse and a church, which they named James Fort after King James I.

The Battle of Palmito Ranch ended in a Confederate victory. Union private John J. Williams died in the battle, likely making him the last battlefield fatality of the Civil War.

On May 12th 1949, the Soviet Union ended its blockade of West Berlin.

The world’s earliest dated printed book, a copy of the Diamond Sutra, was created in China.

The First Barbary War lasted until June 1805, but continuing tensions led to the Second Barbary War in 1815.

Colonel Thomas Blood attempted to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London.

The 8th May 1945 was Victory in Europe Day – a public holiday to celebrate the end of the Second World War.

The British ship RMS Lusitania sank after being attacked by the German U-boat U-20 off the coast of Ireland.

On the 6th May 1937, the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg experienced a mid-air explosion at Lakehurst, New Jersey and was engulfed in flames in just 32 seconds.

The flight lasted for 15 minutes and 22 seconds and reached a maximum altitude of 116 miles before returning to earth for splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.