1215 – Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta.
1260 – Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.
1430 – Jews are expelled from Speyer Germany
1494 – Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Jamaica and claims it for Spain.
1640 – King Charles I of England dissolves the Short Parliament.
1762 – Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of St. Petersburg.
1809 – Citizenship is denied to Jews of Canton of Aargau Switzerland
1818 – Karl Marx, German philosopher (d. 1883) was born.
1821 – Emperor Napoleon I dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
1862 – Cinco de Mayo: troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico.
1865 – In North Bend, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati), the first train robbery in the United States takes place.
1866 – Memorial Day first celebrated in United States at Waterloo, New York.
1877 – American Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.
1881 – Anit-Jewish rioting in Kiev Ukraine
1886 – The Bay View Tragedy: A militia fires into a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, killing seven.
1891 – The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor.
1903 – James Beard, US, culinary expert/author (Delights & Prejudices) Born
1905 – The trial in the Stratton Brothers case begins in London, England; it marks the first time that fingerprint evidence is used to gain a conviction for murder.
1913 – Tyrone Power, Cleve, actor (Mark of Zorro, Alexander’s Ragtime Band) Born
1920 – US Pres Wilson makes Communist Labor Party illegal
1925 – Scopes Trial: serving of an arrest warrant on John T. Scopes for teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.
1925 – The government of South Africa declares Afrikaans an official language.
1926 – Sinclair Lewis refuses his Pulitzer Prize for “Arrowsmith”
1934 – The first Three Stooges short, Woman Haters, is released.
1939 – Ray Gosling, English journalist, author, and activist (d. 2013) was born.
1942 – Tammy Wynette [Virginia Pugh], Redbay Alabama, country singer (Stand by your Man), (d. 1998) Born
1943 – Michael Palin, England, comedian (Monty Python, Fish Called Wanda) Born
1944 – Gandhi freed from prison
1945 – World War II: Canadian and British troops liberate the Netherlands and Denmark from German occupation when Wehrmacht troops capitulate.
1945 – World War II: The Prague Uprising begins as an attempt by the Czech resistance to free the city from German occupation.
1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo with twenty-eight Japanese military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
1948 – Bill Ward, English drummer and songwriter (Black Sabbath and Mythology) was born.
1949 – The Treaty of London establishes the Council of Europe in Strasbourg as the first European institution working for European integration.
1955 – West Germany gains full sovereignty.
1959 – Ian McCullough, rock vocalist (Echo & Bunnymen-Heaven Up Here) Born
1961 – Alan Shepard becomes 1st American in space (aboard Freedom 7)
1964 – The Council of Europe declares May 5 as Europe Day.
1970 – Naomi Klein, Canadian author (“The Shock Doctrine” and “No Logo”) and activist – Born
1971 – Violet Jessop, Argentinean nurse (b. 1887) died. She was on the Olympic, Titanic, Britannic during all their disasters
1971 – Race riot in Brownsville section of Brooklyn (NYC)
1973 – Secretariat (horse) wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59 2/5, a still standing record.
1980 – Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege.
1981 – Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27.
1987 – Iran-Contra affair: start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States of America
1994 – American teenager Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism, a punishment that many in the United States deemed to be excessive for a teenager committing a non-violent crime. However, significant numbers of Americans were also in favor of it.
1997 – “Married With Children” final episode on Fox TV
2007 – All 114 aboard Kenya Airways Flight 507 die when the pilots lose control of the plane and it crashes in Douala, Cameroon.
2010 – Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek debt crisis.