This day in history

[May 28, 2011]  (AP)  Today is Saturday, May 28, the 148th day of 2011. There are 217 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On May 28, 1961, the human rights group Amnesty International had its beginnings in the form of an article by lawyer Peter Benenson that was published in the British newspaper The Observer. Titled "The Forgotten Prisoners," the essay called for mobilizing public opinion to defend "prisoners of conscience" worldwide.

On this date:

In 1533, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declared the marriage of England's King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn valid.

In 1863, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, made up of freed blacks, left Boston to fight for the Union in the Civil War.

In 1892, the Sierra Club was organized in San Francisco.

In 1918, the Battle of Cantigny (kahn-tee-NYEE') began during World War I as American troops captured the French town from the Germans.

In 1934, the Dionne quintuplets -- Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie and Yvonne -- were born to Elzire Dionne at the family farm in Ontario, Canada.

In 1937, Neville Chamberlain became prime minister of Britain.

In 1940, during World War II, the Belgian army surrendered to invading German forces.

In 1959, the U.S. Army launched Able, a rhesus monkey, and Baker, a squirrel monkey, aboard a Jupiter missile for a suborbital flight which both primates survived.

In 1972, Prince Edward, the Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated the English throne to marry Wallis Warfield Simpson, died in Paris at age 77.

In 1985, David Jacobsen, director of the American University Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, was abducted by pro-Iranian kidnappers (he was freed 17 months later).

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush honored America's veterans with the Memorial Day signing of legislation to construct a World War II monument on the National Mall. U.S. Rep. Joseph Moakley, D-Mass., died at age 74.

Five years ago: Pope Benedict XVI visited the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. Barry Bonds hit his 715th home run during the San Francisco Giants' 6-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies to slip past Babe Ruth and pull in right behind Hank Aaron's long-standing record of 755. Sam Hornish Jr. won the second-closest Indianapolis 500 ever, by point-0635 seconds.

One year ago: President Barack Obama visited Grand Isle, La., where he personally confronted the spreading damage wrought by the crude gushing into the Gulf of Mexico -- and the bitter anger rising onshore. Gary Coleman, the former child star of the 1970s TV sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes," died at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo two days after suffering a brain hemorrhage; he was 42. Suspected Islamist militants attacked two mosques packed with hundreds of worshippers from a minority sect in eastern Pakistan; at least 93 people were killed and dozens wounded.

Today's birthdays: Rockabilly singer-musician Sonny Burgess is 82. Actress Carroll Baker is 80. Producer-director Irwin Winkler is 80. Actor John Karlen is 78. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Jerry West is 73. Actress Beth Howland is 70. Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is 67. Singer Gladys Knight is 67. Actress-director Sondra Locke is 67. Singer Billy Vera is 67. Singer John Fogerty is 66. Country musician Jerry Douglas (Alison Krauss and Union Station) is 55. Actor Brandon Cruz (TV: "The Courtship of Eddie's Father") is 49. Country singer Phil Vassar is 49. Actress Christa Miller is 47. Singer-musician Chris Ballew (Presidents of the USA) is 46. Rapper Chubb Rock is 43. Singer Kylie Minogue (KY'-lee mihn-OHG') is 43. Actor Justin Kirk is 42. Television personality Elisabeth Hasselbeck ("The View") is 34. Actor Jesse Bradford is 32. Actress Monica Keena is 32. Pop singer Colbie Caillat (kal-LAY') is 26. Actress Carey Mulligan is 26. Actor Joseph Cross is 25.

Thought for today: "All the troubles of man come from his not knowing how to sit still." -- Blaise Pascal, French philosopher (1623-1662)

[Associated Press]

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