May 6, 1937

1937Rubin Carter, American-Canadian boxer (died 2014)^[†]

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was a black American middleweight boxer who was wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for murder, until released following a petition of habeas corpus after spending 18 years and 4 months in prison.

1937Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.^[†]

The Hindenburg disaster was an airship accident that occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States. The LZ 129 Hindenburg was a German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume. Filled with hydrogen, it caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst. The accident caused 35 fatalities among the 97 people on board, and an additional fatality on the ground.