1. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, which would ultimately lead to the successful American Revolutionary War against Britain.

2. In 1863, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the first African American regiment to be raised in the North during the Civil War, participated in the assault on Fort Wagner in South Carolina. The regiment's bravery and sacrifice helped to dispel racist notions of black soldiers being unfit for combat.

3. In 1925, the famous modernist architect Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus School in Massachusetts, which would become a pioneering institution in the fields of art, architecture, design and education.

4. In 1955, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) successfully tested the first-ever computerized language translator, which translated Russian-to-English using a digital algorithm. This technological breakthrough paved the way for modern machine translation.

5. In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro, a native of Massachusetts, became the first woman selected as a major-party nominee for vice president of the United States, running alongside presidential candidate Walter Mondale on the Democratic ticket. Although they ultimately lost to incumbent Ronald Reagan, Ferraro's nomination marked a significant step forward for women in American politics.