World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (UN sanctioned international holiday) - May 21
Navy Day (Chile) commemorates the Iquique Naval Combat in the War of the Pacific (1879) - May 21
Rajiv Gandhi (elder son of Indira Ghandi and 9th Prime Minister of India) is assassinated by a suicide bomber, a woman known as Dhanu (1991) - May 21
Amelia Earhart (American aviation pioneer and author) lands in Derry, Ireland making her the first woman to make a solo trans-Atlantic flight (1932) - May 21
American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton (1881) - May 21
Charles Lindbergh (American aviator, author, inventor and explorer) lands at Le Bourget Airport, France on the world's 1st solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic (1927) - 5/21
Derby School is granted a royal charter by Queen Mary I (1554) - May 21
Great Atlanta Fire begins just after noon and lasts for 10 hours destorying 300 acres and displacing 10,000 people (1917) - 5/21
Henry VI of England is imprisoned in the Tower of London where he dies at his altar in St. Thomas's Tower under suspicious circumstances (1471) - May 21
Lauren Bacall (age 20) marries Humphrey Bogart (age 45) at Malabar Farm, Lucas, OH in the country home of author Louis Bromfield (1945) - 5/21
Montengro (country located in Southeastern Europe) separates from Serbia based on a referendum (2006) - May 21
John III Sobieski is elected King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania by the nobility (1674) - 5/21
Louis V of France (aka the Indolent or the Sluggard) dies from suspected poisoning by his mother (987) - 5/21
Manchester Ship Canal in England is officially opened by Queen Victoria (1894) - 5/21
Mary Campbell (American colonial settler) is abducted at age 12 by the Lenape Indian's near Penn's Creek (1758) - May 21
Mary Robinson (7th and 1st female President of Ireland) is born in Ballina, County Mayo (1944) - May 21
Otto III (4th ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire) is crowned emperor at age 16 (996) - May 21
The Imperial Order of St. Alexander Nevsky is established in Russia by Catherine I (1725) - May 21
Philip II of Spain (son of Charles I of Spain and Isabella of Portugal) is born in Valladolid Spain (1527) - May 21
Lawrence Knasas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces (1856) - May 21
Saint Helena Island is discovered by the Portugese navigator Joao da Nova on his voyage home from India (1502) - May 21
Michelangelo's Pieta is damaged when Laszlo Toth, a mentally disturbed geologist, walked into the chapel and took a hammer to the statue shattering Mary's nose (1972) - May 21
Cutty Sark (clipper ship built in 1869) is badly damaged by fire due to an industrial vacuum cleaner being left switched on for 48 hours (2007) - May 21
Tornado sweeps southern England in a 66 mile path killing two and injuring several more (1950) - May 21
Alexander Pope (18th century English poet best known for his satirical verse and translation of Homer) is born in London (1688) - May 21
Icelandic Volcano (Grimsvotn) erupts causing air flight delays in Europe again (2011) - May 21
Waitstaff Day - May 21
May 22, 2017
Aaron Burr (Vice President of the USA) is indicted by the grand jury for treason for his duel with Alexander Hamilton (1807) - 5/22
The Great Migration occurs when an estimated 700 to 1000 emigrants leave Independence, MO for Oregon on the Oregon trail (1843) - May 22
Wright Brothers are granted a U.S. Patent for a "Flying Machine" (1906) - May 22
Lassen Peak (southernmost active volcano in the Cascade Range) explodes in a powerful eruption that blasted volcanic ash and gas more than 30,000 feet into the air (1915) - 5/22
The Great Chilean Earthquake, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded (9.5 on Richter scale), strikes Chile and spawns a tsunami that kills 6,000 people (1960) - 5/22
Continental Airlines Flight 11 explodes in air while en route from O'Hare Airport to Kansas City, MO (1962) - May 22
Republic of Yemen is created when North and South Yemen unite (1990) - May 22
Windows 3.0 is released by Microsoft (1990) - May 22
Chandra Levy's remains are discovered in Rock Creek Park near her apartment in Washington, DC (2002) - May 22
Felipe, Prince of Asturias marries Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano, an award-winning TV journalist with CNN in the Almundena Cathedral in Madrid (2004) - May 22
Hallam Nebraska is struck by an F4 tornado that stretched 2.5 miles in some places destroying approximately 95% of the buildings injuring 37 and killing 1 person (2004) - 5/22
Howe Caverns (caverns in Schoharie County, NY) is discovered by farmers Lester Howe and Henry Wetsel when they stumble upon a large gaping hole in the ground (1842) - May 22
SS Ionic (White Star Line ocean liner) is launched (1902) - 5/22
USW (United Steelworkers Union) is established by a convention of representatives from Amalgamated Assoc of Iron, Steel; Tin Workers and Steel Workers (1942) - May 22
International Day for Biological Diversity is established to commemorate the adoption of the Convention at the Rio Earth Summit (1992) - May 22
National Maritime Day is observed to honor those who served as merchant mariners and commemorates the day USS Savannah set sail of the 1st transoceanic voyage - 5/22
Victor Hugo (French poet, playwright, novelist best known for his novels Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame) dies in Paris, France at age 83 (1885) - May 22
Constantine the Great (Roman emperor) dies at age 65 in Nicomedia (337) - May 22
Princess Elizabeth (7th child and 3rd daughter of George III of the UK) is born at Buckingham Palace, London (1770) - May 22
Wilhelm Richard Wagner (German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist) is born in Leipzig Germany (1813) - May 22
Arthur Conan Doyle (Scottish author most noted for his stories about Sherlock Holmes) is born in Edinburgh, Scotland (1859) - 5/22
Multiple vortex tornado strikes Joplin Missouri becoming the deadlies tornado to hit the United States since 1947 killing at least 123 people (2011) - May 22
Air India Express Flight 812 crashes after overshooting the runway at Mangalore International Airport with 158 fatalaities and 8 survivors (2010) - May 22
HMS Beagle (Cherokee class 10-gun brig sloop of the Royal Navy) sets sail from Plymouth departing on its 1st voyage with Charles Darwin (1826) - May 22
Saint Rita of Cascia (Patron Saint of the Impossible) dies in Perugia, Umbria, Italy (1457) - May 22
Late May Tornado Outbreak sequence results in over 250 tornadoes being reported with 235 confirmed including a F5 twister and 12 deaths (2008) - May 22
Johnny Carson (U.S. TV Host) hosts the Tonight Show for the last time (1992) - May 22
Victoria Day (Canadian Holiday to officially recognize Queen Victoria's birthday is celebrated the Monday closest to or on May 24 (2016) - May 23
May 23, 2017
Joan of Arc is captured at the Battle of Compiegne by the Burgundians (1430) - May 23
Girolamo Savonarola (Italian Dominican priest and leader of Florence) is burned at the stake on the orders of Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) in (1498) - May 23
Catherine of Aragon's marriage to Henry VII of England is declared null and void by a special court convened at Dunstable Priory overseen by Thomas Cramner (1533) - 5/23
The Second Defenestration of Prague occurs at Prague Castle when Protestants throw the Governors of Bohemia out of the high windows of the Bohemian Chancellery (1618) - May 23
William Kidd (Scottish sailor) is hanged for murder and 5 counts of piracy at 'Execution Dock' in Wapping then gibbeted (hung in an iron cage) over the River Thames (1701) - 5/23
Declaration of Bab occurs when the Bab (founder of Babism) declares to Mulla Husayn that he is Siyyid Kazim's successor and the bearer of divine knowledge (1844) - 5/23
New York Public Library main branch (5th Avenue between 40 and 42nd streets) is officially opened in a ceremony presided over President Taft (1911) - May 23
Bonnie and Clyde (notorious American bank robbers) are ambushed by Texas and Louisiana officers and die under a barrage of automatic rifles and pistols (1934) - 5/23
USS Squalus (Sargo-class submarine) sinks during a series of test dives off Portsmouth, NH causing the death of 26 sailors (1939) - May 23
Federal Republic of Germany is established (1949) - May 23
Britannia Bridge (Welsh bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales) catches fire when boys drop a burning torch on it (1970) - May 23
The Alfred P. Murrah Building is demolished three months after the Oklahoma City bombing (1995) - 5/23
Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport's terminal 2E (a daring design with wide open spaces) suffers a ceiling collapse not long after its inauguration that kills 4 people (2004) - 5/23
Late May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence occurs (May 22 thru May 31) spawning 235 confirmed tornados causing approximately 13 deaths (2008) - May 23
Franz Mesmer (German physician and astrologist) is born in the village of Izang in Germany (1734) - 5/23
Seabiscuit (champion thoroughbred racehorse in the USA) is foaled at Claiborne Farm in Paris, KY (1933) - May 23
Henrik Ibsen (Norwegian playwright of realistic drama and poet) dies in Christiania (now Oslo) Norway after a series of strokes (1906) - May 23
Sabena Airlines (Belgium's national airline based at Brussels National Airport) is launched (1923) - 5/23
Bifocals Day - May 23
The Karnival Kid (first Mickey Mouse short in which he actually spoke) is first released (1929) - May 23
World Turtle Day - 5/23
May 24, 2017
Brooklyn Bridge is opened for traffic to great fanfare after 13 years of construction (1883) - May 24
Henry Irving (English stage actor in the Victorian era) becomes the first actor to be awarded a knighthood (1895) - May 24
Amy Johnson (pioneering English aviatrix) becomes the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia (1930) - 5/24
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" nursery rhyme is first published as an original poem by Sarah Josepha Hale (1830) - May 24
Baseball's first major league night game is played at Crosley Field in Cincinnati with the Cincinnati Reds beating the Philadelphia Philies 2-1 (1934) - May 24
Concorde (turboject-powered, supersonic passenger airliner SST) begins its first commercial service to the US between London and Washington, DC (1976) - 5/24
Jean-Paul Marat (Swiss-born physician, political theorist and scientist) is born in Boudry, Neuchatel (1743) - May 24
Victoria (niece of William IV and subsequently Queen of the United Kingdom) is born at Kensington Palace, London (1819) - May 24
Jim Jeffords (form U.S. Senator from Vermont) announces he is leaving the Republican party to become an independent (2001) - May 24
Jonathan Wild (famous London criminal of the 18th century) is hanged at Tyburn for the crime of stealing 50 yards of lace (1725) - May 24
Aldersgate Day (Methodist holiday) commemorating the day when John Wesley experienced his conversion in a meeting room on Aldersgate Street, London (1738) - May 24
Versailles wedding hall disaster occurs in Talpiot, Jerusalem when the 3rd floor of the 4 story building collapsed during a wedding party killing 23 people (2001) - May 24
May 25, 2017
Abdullah I of Jordan is crowned King in Amman Jordan (1946) - May 25
Africa Day is the annual commemoration of the founding of the Organization of African Unity (1963) - 5/25
Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo, Spain back from the Moors (1085) - May 25
American Airlines Flight 191 crashes during takeoff from O'Hare Airport in Chicago, IL, killing 271 on board and 2 people on the ground (1979) - May 25
China Airlines Flight 611 breaks up into pieces shortly after takeoff from Taiwan to Hong Kong with all 225 aboard killed (2002) - May 25
Constitutional Convention (presided over by George Washington) convenes in Philadelphia, PA to write a new Constitution for the United States (1787) - May 25
Diet of Worms (a general assembly of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire) ends with the Edict of Worms declaring Martin Luther an outlaw (1521) - May 25
Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton (English novelist, poet, playwright and politician) is born in London, England (1803) - May 25
Explorer 32 is launched by NASA to study the Earth's atmosphere (1966) - May 25
Halley's Comet has its first recorded description in the Chinese chronicle "Records of the Grand Historian" (240 BC) - May 25
Henry the Navigator is appointed as the governor of the Order of Christ (Portugese successor to the Knights Templar - 1420) - 5/25
John T. Scopes (teacher in Dayton, TN) is indicted for teaching Darwin's theory of Evolution (1925) - 5/25
25 de Mayo (Argentinian Revolution) ends when Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros is deposed and Cornelio Saavedra (above) the Primera Junta assumes government (1810) - May 25
Oscar Wilde (Irish playwright, poet and novelist) is sentenced to 2 years in prison for "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons" (1895) - May 25
Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire (2007) - May 25
Richard Cromwell (2nd Lord Protector of the Commonwealth 3rd son of Oliver Cromwell) resigns after the Rump Parliament agrees to pay his debts and provide a pension (1659) - 5/25
Star Wars IV: A New Hope (first movie released of the Star Wars series) premieres starting a six-movie franchise (1977) - May 25
The Venerable Bede (monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter known as an author and scholar) dies in Jarrow Northumbria at age 67 (735) - 5/25
Toni Gardiner marries King Hussein in Amman, Jordan (1961) - May 25
Udall, KS experiences the deadliest tornado to ever hit the state of Kansas, the town is demolished with 77 people in Udall losing their lives (1955) - May 25
USA conducts its first and last artillery nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site (1953) - May 25
Ascension of Jesus Day is celebrated on the 6th Thursday after Easter (2017) - May 25
Nestor Kirchner is elected President of Argentina (with only 22% of the votes) after polls forecast a massive victory for him and Carlos Menem steps down (2003) - May 25
Ascension of Christ (Orthodox Christian) is celebrated on the 6th Thursday after Easter (2017) - May 25
May 26, 2017
Alse Young (Windsor, CT) becomes the first person in the records to be executed for witchcraft in the 13 American colonies (1647) - May 26
Andrew Johnson (17th President of the USA) is found not guilty by one vote in his impeachment trial (1868) - May 26
Augustine of Canterbury (Benedictine monk who became the 1st Archbishop of Canterbury) dies in Canterbury (604) - May 26
Celebration of Life Day - 5/26
Democratic Republic of Georgia (created after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Revolution of 1917) is founded (1918) - 5/26
Dred Scott (slave who sued for his freedom) is formally freed by the Blow family, his original owners in Missouri (1857) - 5/26
Edmund I of England is murdered by Leofa, an exiled thief, while celebrating St Augustine's Mass Day in South Gloucestershire (945) - May 26
Flag of Europe is adopted by the European Community (1986) - May 26
George Willig (aka "the Spiderman") a mountain-climber from Queens, NY who climbed the South Tower of the World Trade Center (1977) - May 26
Guyanna Independence from United Kingdom (1966) - May 26
Java earthquake occurs killing over 5,700 people and leaving 200,000 homeless (2006) - May 26
Kasper Hauser (mysterious foundling in 19th century Germany, claiming to have grown up in the total isolation of a darkened cell) first appears in Nuremberg (1828) - May 26
Lauda Air Flight 004 (Boeing 767 international passenger flight) crashes due to a thrust reverser deployment of #1 engine killing all 223 aboard (1991) - May 26
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (English aristocrat and writer) is born in London (1689) - May 26
Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned King of Italy with the Iron Crown of Lombardy at the Milan Cathedral (1805) - 5/26
Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2 (1970) - May 26
Vauxhall Bridge (steel and granite deck arch bridge in central London, crossing the River Thames) opens to the public (1906) - May 26
Mary of Teck (consort to George V of Great Britain) is born at Kensington Palace, London (1867) - May 26
May 27, 2017
Amelia Bloomer (American suffragette) is born (1818) - May 27
Century of Progress (Chicago World's Fair) opens (1933) - May 27
Christopher Reeve (American actor best known for his Superman) falls over the neck of his horse during a competition jump and is paralyzed from the neck down (1995) - May 27
Chrysler Building (New York City) opens as the first man-made structure to stand taller than 1,000 ft (1931) - May 27
Tsar Alexander III of Russia has his coronation with his consort Maria Fyodorovna held at the Uspensky Sobor Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin (1883) - 5/27
Dahlerau train disaster (Dahlerau Germany) occurs in which a freight train and a passenger train collide killing 46 people (41 of which were senior year students - 1971) - May 27
Batman first appears in Detective Comics issue #27 (1939) - May 27
Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, CA) opens to pedestrian traffic with 200,000 people crossing it by foot and roller skates (1937) - May 27
Euston Railway Station in London opens its spectacular Great Hall designed by Philip Charles Hardwick (1849) - May 27
John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset (his only living child becomes the mother of Henry VII of England) dies as a suspected suicide (1444) - May 27
Marguerite de Valois (consort to King Henry IV of France) dies in her private residence in Paris (1615) - May 27
Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury, accused of treason by Henry VIII is taken to be beheaded at the Tower of London at age 67, but refuses to willingly submit (1541) - 5/27
Marquise de Montespan (mistress to Louis XIV of France) dies at age 65 while taking the waters at Bourbon-l'Archambault in order to try and heal an illness (1707) - May 27
Michael Fortier (accomplice in the Oklahoma City bombing) is sentenced to 12 years in prison and is fined $200K for failing to warn authorities about the attack (1998) - May 27
St. Petersburg, Russia, is founded by Tsar Peter I (Peter the Great) of Russia (1703) - May 27
St. Louis-East St. Louis tornado occurs as one of the most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history with estimates above 400 dead and 1,000 injured (1896) - May 27
Paula Jones vs. Bill Clinton the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against Clinton allowing her lawsuit against a sitting president of the USA to proceed (1997) - May 27
William II, Prince of Orange, is born at The Hague in the Dutch Republic (1626) - 5/27
John Calvin (an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation) dies (1564) - May 27
The Last T-model Ford car rolls off the production line (1927) - May 27
Java earthquake occurs in the Indian Ocean on the southern side of the island resulting in approx. 6,000 deaths and 36,000 injuries (2006) - May 27
Ramadan (Muslim religious observance for the month in which the Qur'an was revealed to Angel Gabriel) begins (2017) - May 27
May 28, 2017
Anne Bronte (British novelist and poet) dies at age 29 in Scarborough England from complications of influenza (1849) - 5/28
Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain after Stanley Baldwin retired upon Edward VIII's abdication (1937) - 5/28
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic declares its independence from the Russian Empire (1918) - May 28
Bolton Massacre occurs during the English Civil War during which 1,600 of Bolton's defenders and citizens were slaughtered by Royalist forces (1644) - May 28
Dionne quintuplets (only female identical set of five ever recorded) are born 2 months premature just outside Callander, Canada (1934) - May 28
Edward VIII (Duke of Windsor) dies from throat cancer at age 77 in his Paris home (1972) - May 28
Flag Day (Republic of Philippines) - May 28
King George I of Great Britain is born in Osnabruck, then part of the Holy Roman Empire (1660) - May 28
Ian Fleming (English author and journalist best remembered for for his James Bond books) is born in Mayfair London (1908) - May 28
Leopold Mozart (father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) dies in Salzburg, Austria at age 67 (1787) - May 28
Neftegorsk, Russia (an oil-producing urban-type settlement is devastated by an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale killing 2,000 of the 3,500 living there (1995) - 5/28
Phil Hartman (Canadian-born American actor, comedian, screenwriter and graphic artist) is fatally shot twice in the head and once in his side by his wife Brynn (1998) - May 28
Battle of the Eclipse takes place at the Halys River in Turkey when the battle ended abruptly due to a total solar eclipse perceived as an omen (585 BC) - May 28
Thomas Cranmer (Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII) proclaims the King's marriage to Anne Boleyn is valid (1533) - May 28
Wreck of the USS Monitor is discovered on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean southeast of Cape Hatteras, NC by a robot probe (1973) - May 28
Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" is put back on display after a 21 year restoration (1999) - 5/28
Mother's Day (Sweden) celebrated on the last Sunday in May (2017) - 5/28
Indy 500 - one of the three most prestigious motorsports events in the world held over Memorial Day weekend (2017) - May 28
Ascension Day (Catholic Church in England and Wales) - celebrated on the Sunday before Pentecost Sunday (2017) - May 28
Most photos and descriptions are courtesy of Wikipedia
