Events in History
- May 5 Anti-Jewish rioting in Kyiv, Ukraine
Stanley's 1st Congo Contract
May 8 Henry Morton Stanley signs the first of many contracts with the Congolian monarch
Recorder of Deeds Frederick Douglass
May 17 Frederick Douglass appointed recorder of deeds for the District of Columbia
- May 17 Revised version of New Testament
Event of Interest
May 21 American Red Cross founded by Clara Barton
- May 24 Overloaded Canadian river ferry "Princess Victoria" sinks near London, Ontario, 180 die
- May 24 Turkey cedes Thessaly and Arta back to Greece.
Birthdays in History
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938)
May 19 1st President of Turkey (1923-38) and founder of the Republic of Turkey, born in Salonica, Ottoman Empire
- May 20 Władysław Sikorski, Polish World War II general and Prime Minister of Poland in exile (1939-43), born in Tuszów Narodowy, Austria-Hungary (d. 1943)
- May 23 Artur de Sacadura Freire Cabral, Portuguese aviator (1st flight across the south Atlantic), born in Celorico da Beira, Portugal (d. 1924)
- May 27 Rudolf Pannwitz, German writer and philosopher (Urblik), born in Crossen/Oder, Province of Brandenburg, Prussia (now in Poland) (d. 1969)
- May 30 Georg von Küchler, German field marshal and WWII war criminal, born in Schloss Philippsruh, German Empire (d. 1968)
Weddings in History
Ivan Pavlov
May 1 Physiologist Ivan Pavlov (32) weds Seraphima Karchevskaya
Deaths in History
- May 1 John S. Preston, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 72
- May 3 Josip Jurčič, Slovene writer (Schone Vida), dies of tuberculosis at 37
- May 11 Henri-Frédéric Amiel, Swiss writer (Journal Intime), dies at 59
- May 24 Samuel Palmer, British landscape painter and etcher (Valley of Vision), dies at 76
- May 26 Jakob Bernays, German philologist (b. 1824)
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists