Ceremonial last spike for railroad

• On May 10, 1869, the presidents of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah, and drive a ceremonial last spike into a rail line that connects their railroads, making transcontinental railroad service possible for the first time in U.S. history.

• On May 12, 1925, a Philadelphia radio station broadcasts the first all-star radio program featuring film actors and actresses. The broadcast marked the first time that most listeners had heard the voices of silent-film stars like Lillian Gish and Marion Davies.

• On May 14, 1944, “Star Wars” filmmaker George Lucas is born in Modesto, Calif. Lucas was the first director to hold out for ancillary rights, and in the 20 years following the release of “Star Wars” he sold more than $3 billion in merchandise based on the movies.

• On May 13, 1958, Vice President Richard Nixon’s car is attacked by an angry crowd while traveling through Caracas, Venezuela. The incident dramatized anger over America’s failure to address the pressing economic and political needs of many Latin American nations.

•On May 9, 1960, the Food and Drug Administration approves the world’s first commercially produced birth-control pill. Development of “the pill” was commissioned by birth-control pioneer Margaret Sanger and funded by heiress Katherine McCormick.

•On May 8, 1973, on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, armed members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) end their 71-day siege of Wounded Knee and surrender to federal authorities after White House officials promise to investigate their complaints of broken treaties.

•On May 11, 1981, reggae legend Bob Marley dies of cancer in Miami Beach, Fla. Marley, born in Jamaica in 1945, formed his band, the Wailers, in 1963. In the early 1970s, the band’s records began to catch on outside Jamaica, assisted by Eric Clapton’s cover of “I Shot the Sheriff.”