On this date in history:

In 1775, the first slavery abolition society in North America was founded by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.

In 1828, Noah Webster published his American Dictionary of the English Language. It was the first dictionary of American English to be published.

In 1861, the flag of the Confederacy was raised over Fort Sumter, S.C., as Union troops there surrendered in the early days of the Civil War.

In 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln during a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington. Lincoln died the next morning. He was succeeded by Vice President Andrew Johnson.

In 1918, two U.S. pilots of the First Aero Squadron shot down two enemy German planes over the Allied Squadron Aerodome in France during World War I. It was the first U.S.-involved dogfight in history. One of the pilots, Lt. Douglas Campbell, would eventually shoot down five enemy aircraft, making him the first U.S. flying ace.

In 1927, the first Volvo was produced in Sweden.

In 1931, King Alfonso XIII was deposed, ending 981 years of monarchical rule in Spain, and ushering in the Second Spanish Republic, the republican regime that governed Spain from 1931 to 1939.

In 1939, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck was published.

In 1963, police broke up an Easter Sunday anti-segregation protest march in Birmingham, Ala., that saw African Americans attend services at two white churches.

In 1986, Bishop Desmond Tutu was named Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa.

In 1994, in what was called a tragic mistake, two U.S. warplanes shot down two U.S. Army helicopters in northern Iraq's no-fly zone. All 26 people aboard were killed.

In 2003, U.S. military officials declared that the principal fighting in Iraq was over after Marines captured Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home town.

In 2007, 32 people died in the collision of a truck and a bus carrying elementary schoolchildren on a highway in Turkey.

In 2008, Silvio Berlusconi swept back into power in a third term as prime minister of Italy in a new election that gave him control of both houses of Parliament.

In 2010, the devastating magnitude-7.1 Yushu earthquake staggered northwest China. Officials reported the death toll eventually surpassed 2,600, with many thousands of people injured.

In 2013, Nicolas Maduro was elected president of Venezuela.

In 2018, Beyonce became the first black woman to headline the Coachella music festival in California. Her former Destiny's Child members, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, joined her on stage for three songs.

Copyright 2019 by United Press International