1. On April 22, 1931, Gaston County native and baseball Hall of Famer James "Rabbit" Maranville played his last Major League Baseball game for the Boston Braves. Maranville played for 23 seasons and was known for his defensive skills, winning four straight National League pennants with the Braves in the 1910s.

2. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill opened its doors on April 22, 1795. The school was the first public university in the United States and was founded with the mission of providing an education to the people of North Carolina.

3. On April 22, 1902, the Wright brothers flew their glider over the sands of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The flight was their first successful “controlled and sustained” flight, and it laid the foundation for their later powered flights.

4. On April 22, 1865, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered his army to Union General William T. Sherman near Durham Station, North Carolina. The surrender effectively ended the Civil War in North Carolina.

5. North Carolina poet Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. Angelou spent much of her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas, but later moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she attended Wake Forest University. Angelou went on to become a legendary writer, poet, and civil rights activist.