April 20

Thirteen students murdered in Columbine High School mass shooting (1999); Danica Patrick is first woman to win IndyCar race (2008); RIP Dorothy Height, civil and women’s rights activist (2010); Deepwater Horizon oil rig explodes, killing 11 and starting six-month oil spill (2010).

April 17

RIP Benjamin Franklin (1790); Bay of Pigs Invasion begins in Cuba (1961); Apollo 13 returns safely to Earth (1970); HBD Victoria Beckham (1974); RIP Barbara Bush (2018).

April 16

Actor Charlie Chaplin born (1889); Harriet Quimby is first woman to fly across English Channel (1912); HBD Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1947); Singer-songwriter Selena Quintanilla-Pérez born (1971); 32 die, 17 injured in Virginia Tech mass shooting (2007).

April 15

Webster’s Dictionary is first published (1828); President Abraham Lincoln is mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth (1865); RIP marine biologist and environmentalist Rachel Carson (1964); Human Genome Project is completed (2003).

April 14

Leonardo da Vinci born (1452); RIP Abraham Lincoln (1865); RMS Titanic sinks after hitting an iceberg, killing more than 1,500 (1912); HBD actress Emma Watson (1990); Two bombs explode at Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring 264 (2013).

April 13

President Thomas Jefferson born (1743); NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art founded (1870); Author Eudora Welty born (1909); Sidney Poitier becomes the first African American male to win Best Actor at Oscars (1964).

April 10

"The Great Gatsby” published (1925); HBD labor rights activist Dolores Huerta (1930); HBD football personality John Madden (1936); Paul McCartney leaves the Beatles (1970); Good Friday Agreement is signed (1998).