will we still be able to access our accounts and look at our past questions and answers after May 4? how do we access our email?

You can still get into your Yahoo Email Account its only Yahoo Answers that will be Inaccessible All other Parts of Yahoo will Remain in Operation 

No I think everyone will be suspended. 

Reading is fundamental:

Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

The info in the help link in the banner across the top of every YA page clearly states that no other Yahoo properties will be affected. Your Yahoo account, email, etc will all be the same (just no YA). 

You can download all questions and answers by following the "help" link in the above notice. NO OTHER YAHOO PRODUCTS ARE AFFECTED!!