May 19th

Events

• 1535 - French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail for his second voyage to North America with 3 ships, 110 men, and Chief Donnacona's 2 sons (who Cartier kidnapped during his first voyage).
• 1536 - Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England is beheaded for adultery.
• 1568 - Queen Elizabeth I of England arrests Mary Queen of Scots.
• 1643 - Battle of Rocroi: French victory over the Spanish at Rocroi, France.
• 1649 - An Act declaring England to be a Commonwealth is passed by the Long Parliament.
• 1749 - King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River.
• 1780 - Never-explained complete darkness falls on Eastern Canada and the New England states at 2 pm.
• 1802 - The Légion d'Honneur is founded by first consul Napoleon Bonaparte.
• 1848 - Mexican-American War: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo - Mexico ratifies the treaty thus ending the war and ceding Texas, California and most of Arizona and New Mexico to the United States for $15 million dollars.
• 1897 - Oscar Wilde is released from prison.
• 1919 - Mustafa Kemal Ataturk moved to Samsun from Istanbul by an old ship called Bandirma with his few friends to work separately from Ottoman Government in order to prepare the nation to the Independence War.
• 1921 - The Emergency Quota Act passes the United States Congress establishing national quotas on immigration.
• 1961 - Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first manmade object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (however the probe had lost contact with earth a month earlier and did not send back any data).
• 1971 - Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
• 1991 - Willy T. Ribbs became the first African-American driver to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.
• 1999 - Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is released movie threatres across the United States setting a new record for opening day sales at $28.5 million.
• 2001 - One child policy: Zhonghua Sun is put to death by People's Republic of China government officials because she refused to be sterilized.

Births

• 1762 - Johann Gottlieb Fichte, philosopher (+ 1814)
• 1795 - Johns Hopkins, philanthropist (+ 1873)
• 1827 - Paul Amand Challemel-Lacour, French statesman (+ 1896)
• 1844 - Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (+ 1818)
• 1870 - Albert Fish, serial killer (+ 1936)
• 1882 - Mohammed Mossadegh, Iranian prime minister (+ 1967)
• 1890 - Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese leader (+ 1969)
• 1891 - Oswald Boelcke, World War I fighter ace (+ 1916)
• 1897 - Frank Luke, World War I fighter ace (+ 1918)
• 1906 - Gerd Bucerius, publisher and publicist (+ 1995)
• 1908 - Percy Williams, Canadian athlete (+ 1982)
• 1909 - Bruce Bennett, actor
• 1914 - Go Seigen, Go player
• 1914 - Max Perutz, molecular biologist (+ 2002)
• 1921 - Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer (+ 1999)
• 1924 - Sandy Wilson, British composer
• 1925 - Malcolm X, civil rights activist (+ 1965)
• 1925 - Pol Pot, Khmer Rouge leader(+ 1998)
• 1926 - Peter Zadek, film and theatre director
• 1930 - Lorraine Hansberry, playwright (+ 1965)
• 1934 - James Lehrer, journalist, co-anchor
• 1939 - Dick Scobee, astronaut (+ 1986)
• 1941 - Nora Ephron, screenwriter
• 1942 - Gary Kildall, computer programmer (+ 1997)
• 1945 - Pete Townshend, guitarist, lyricist
• 1946 - André the Giant, wrestler) (+ 1993)
• 1948 - Grace Jones, singer, actress
• 1952 - Joey Ramone, singer (+ 2001)
• 1953 - Victoria Wood, British comic actress
• 1956 - James Gosling, the "father" of Java programming language

Deaths

• 804 - Alcuin, monk from York, England
• 1102 - Stephen, Count of Blois
• 1125 - Vladimir Monomakh
• 1296 - Pope Celestine V
• 1536 - Anne Boleyn
• 1645 - Miyamoto Musashi, Japanese swordsman
• 1715 - Charles Montagu, Chancellor of the Exchequer
• 1786 - John Stanley, English composer
• 1795 - Josiah Bartlett, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence
• 1821 - Camille Jordan, French politician
• 1825 - Comte, founder of French socialism
• 1864 - Nathaniel Hawthorne, author
• 1885 - Peter W. Barlow, engineer
• 1895 - Jose Marti, Cuban independence leader (Dos Rios)
• 1898 - William Ewart Gladstone, British prime minister
• 1904 - Auguste Molinier, French historian
• 1907 - Benjamin Baker, English engineer
• 1909 - Isaac Albéniz, composer
• 1946 - Booth Tarkington, American novelist
• 1954 - Charles Ives, composer
• 1958 - Ronald Colman, actor
• 1969 - Coleman Hawkins, jazz musician
• 1971 - Ogden Nash, poet
• 1983 - Jean Rey, President of the European Commission
• 1987 - James Tiptree, Jr, science fiction author
• 1994 - Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, First Lady of the United States
• 1998 - Uno Sosuke, Japanese prime minister
• 2000 - Yevgeny Khrunov, cosmonaut
• 2002 - Walter Lord, writer
• 2002 - John Gorton, prime minister of Australia
• 2003 - Erik Zimen, wolf researcher

Holidays and Observances

• Feast of Saint Dunstan

May 18 - May 20 - April 19 - June 19 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December