- National Physical Education and Sport Week, May 1 – 7, 2009

- May Day

- Martha Canary, a.k.a. Calamity Jane, was born. (1852)

- Kate Smith, singer, was born. (1907)

- Babe Ruth hit his first Yankee home run. (1920)

- The Empire State Building opened in New York City. (1931)

- Hoover Dam (also known as Boulder Dam) was completed. (1935)

- American spy plane shot down over Russia. (1960)

- Harper Lee received the Pulitzer Prize for To Kill a Mockingbird. (1961)

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- Polish Flag Day

- Leonardo da Vinci, artist, inventor, and scientist, died. (1519)

- Benjamin Spock was born in New Haven, Connecticut. (1903)

- Jack Benny, radio (and later television) personality, broadcast his first talk show on NBC. (1932)

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- Be Kind to Animals Week, May 3 - 9, 2009

- North American Occupational Safety and Health Week May 3 – 9, 2009

- National Music Week, May 3 - 10, 2009

- World Press Freedom Day

- Niccolo Machiavelli, writer (The Prince), was born. (1469)

- New Japanese constitution was enacted, stripping Emperor Hirohito of all power. (1947)

- First successful heart transplant in the United States was performed by Dr. Denton Cooley. (1968)

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- National Wildflower Week, May 4 - 10, 2009

- Melanoma Monday (2009)

- Horace Mann, educator, was born. (1796)

- Haymarket Square Riot (1886)

- Bird Day first observed. (1894)

- Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences was formed. (1927)

- Ernest Hemingway is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea. (1953)

- Demonstrators at Kent State University were shot by Ohio National Guard. (1970)

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- Teacher Appreciation Day, May 5, 2009

- Mary Kies became the first woman to be issued a U.S. patent (for her method of weaving straw and silk). (1809)

- Cinco de Mayo celebration originated in Mexico. (1862)

- Nellie Bly, U.S. reporter who beat Phileas Fogg's fictional record of circling the globe in 80 days, was born. (1864)

- Carnegie Hall opened in New York City with Tchaikovsky as guest conductor. (1891)

- Astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space. (1961)

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- National Mental Health Counseling Week, May 6 – 12, 2009

- National School Nurse Day, 2009

- France’s Eiffel Tower opened for the Universal Exhibition in Paris. (1889)

- Hindenburg zeppelin disaster. (1937)

- Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute-mile. Though it was thought to be physically impossible, 25-year-old Bannister broke the record. (1954)

- Martín de Porres canonized by Pope John XXIII. (1962)

- Chunnel opened and linked England to the European Continent under the English Channel. (1994)

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- Pontiac’s Rebellion began, pitting Native American warriors under Chief Pontiac against British troops. (1763)

- Ninth Symphony, by Beethoven, premiers in Vienna. (1824)

- Peter Illich Tchaikovsky, composer, was born. (1840)

- George Eastman patented the Kodak box camera. (1888)

- Lusitania was sunk by German submarine. 1198 lives were lost. (1915)

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- World Red Cross Red Crescent Day

- Joan of Arc led French troops to Orleans. (1429)

- Hernando de Soto, Spanish conquistador, became the first white man to see and cross the Mississippi River. (1541)

- A decimal system of measurement was requested by the French National Assembly, which asked that the system be “stable and simple.” (1790)

- Harry S. Truman, 33rd president of the United States, was born. (1884)

- Coca-Cola was first sold by Dr. John S. Pemberton at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta. (1886)

- V-E Day (Victory in Europe) commemorated the end of World War II. (1945)

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- Cornelia de Lange Syndrome Awareness Day 2009

- Thomas Blood attempts to steal the Crown Jewels of England. (1671)

- James Barrie, playwright and author (Peter Pan), was born in Scotland. (1860)

- Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show opened in London. (1887)

- Mother's Day proclamation was made by President Woodrow Wilson. (1914)

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- Food Allergy Awareness Week 2009

- National Women's Health Week 2009

- Reading is Fun Week, May 10 - 16, 2009

- Mother’s Day celebrated. (2009)

- Economic Panic of 1837 began the second worst depression in U.S. history.

- First Transcontinental Railroad was completed. (1869)

- Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States. (1872)

- Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of Britain. (1940)

- Nelson Mandela becomes the first black president of South Africa. (1994)

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- Bike-to-Work Week, May 11 - 15, 2009

- National Etiquette Week, May 11 - 15, 2009

- National Stuttering Awareness Week May 11 - 17, 2009

- Lt. Charles Wilkes lands at Fort Nisqually in Puget Sound. (1841)

- Minnesota became the 32^nd U.S. state. (1858)

- Irving Berlin, American composer, born. (1888)

- Salvador Dali, surrealist artist, was born in Catalonia, Spain. (1904)

- Siam changes its name to Thailand. (1949)

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- Florence Nightingale, health activist and nurse, was born in Florence, Italy. (1820)

- Henry Cabot Lodge, statesman and noted historian, born. (1850)

- Goofy, a.k.a. Dippy Dawg, first appeared in “Mickey’s Revue” created by Walt Disney. (1932)

- Douglas MacArthur delivers his famous "Duty, Honor, Country" valedictory speech at West Point. (1962)

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- Sir Arthur Sullivan, English composer, best known for his collaboration with W.S .Gilbert in light operas, was born. (1842)

- Arlington National Cemetery, once Arlington House, buried its first soldier, a Confederate prisoner of war (1864)

- “Conservation as a National Duty” was President Theodore Roosevelt’s opening address at the outset of a three-day meeting billed as the Governors' Conference on the Conservation of Natural Resources. (1908)

- Tiananmen Square became the center of demonstrations and hunger strikes for thousands of Chinese students. (1989)

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- National Transportation Week, May 14 - 20, 2009

- Jamestown, Virginia, was founded by 104 English settlers. (1607)

- Lewis and Clark set out from St. Louis for the Pacific Coast. (1804)

- First female pages were appointed to U.S. Senate. (1971)

- Skylab, America ’s first space station, launched. (1973)

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- International Day of Families

- Johannes Kepler, scientist, discovered harmonics law, which explains principles of planetary motion. (1618)

- The Seven Years War, a conflict known in America as the French and Indian War, began. (1756)

- Lyman Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was born in Chittenango, New York. (1856)

- Committee of Vigilance was organized by residents of San Francisco to combat crime in the rapidly growing town. (1856)

- Nylon stockings went on sale for the first time in the United States in Wilmington, Delaware. (1940)

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- National Safe Boating Week, May 16 - 22, 2009

- Armed Forces Day 2009

- Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, educator who opened the first English-language kindergarten in the United States, was born in Massachusetts. (1804)

- The nickel was authorized to replace the silver half-dime. (1866)

- President Andrew Johnson escaped impeachment by one vote. (1868)

- Mount Everest scaled by first woman. (1975)

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- California Classified School Employee Week, May 17 – 23, 2009

- World Telecommunications Day 2009

- Kentucky Derby was first run. (1875)

- Brown vs. Board of Education ruling was released, stating that racial segregation in public educational facilities was unconstitutional. (1954)

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- International Museum Day

- Recreational Water Illness Prevention Week May 18 – 24, 2009

- Abraham Lincoln was nominated by the Republican National Convention for President. (1860)

- Plessy v. Ferguson ruling was handed down, in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the doctrine of “separate but equal.” (1896)

- Dracula, a novel by author Bram Stoker is published. (1897)

- Grauman’s Chinese Theatre opened in Hollywood, with 100,000 fans attending Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings. (1927)

- Weather as a weapon of war was banned, when more than 30 nations signed a United Nations pact, pledging they would never attack each other by starting man-made storms, earthquakes, or tidal waves. (1977)

- Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington State, killing 57 people and devastating hundreds of square miles of wilderness. (1980)

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- Click It or Ticket Campaign, May 18 - 31, 2009

- Phelan-McDermid Syndrome Day 2009

- Anne Boleyn, second wife of England ’s King Henry VIII, was beheaded. (1536)

- Ho Chi Minh, one of many names used by this founder and first president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, was born. (1890)

- Malcolm X, African-American activist, was born. (1925)

- T.E. Lawrence, also known as Lawrence of Arabia, died. (1935)

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- National Employee Health and Fitness Day, 2009 (third Wednesday of May)

- National Geographic Bee May 19 & 20, 2009

- World Metrology Day 2009

- Explorer John Cabot sailed to North America. (1497)

- Christopher Columbus, considered one of the greatest Italian explorers, died in Spain. (1506)

- Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act Law, a program designed to grant public land to small farmers at low cost. (1862)

- Hubble Space Telescope sent its first image from space. (1990)

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- World Cultural Diversity Celebration May 11 – 22, 2009

- American Red Cross was founded. (1881)

- Charles Lindbergh, in the Spirit of St. Louis, completed the world’s first solo, non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. (1927)

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- International Day for Biological Diversity

- Martha Washington, wife to George Washington and the first of First Ladies, died. (1802)

- Richard Wagner, German composer, was born. (1813)

- Oregon Trail started “the great migration,” when thousands made the massive move west from Elm Grove, Missouri. (1843)

- Mystery writer and the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was born. (1859)

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- World Turtle Day

- Pirate Captain Kidd was hanged for his crimes of piracy and murder. (1701)

- Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish botanist and founder of modern taxonomy, was born. (1707)

- William Harvey Carney, Civil War hero, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was the first African American to receive the nation’s highest military honor. (1900)

- The New York Public Library was dedicated by President William Howard Taft. (1911)

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- John Wesley is converted, essentially launching the Methodist movement; the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day. (1738)

- Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer, died. (1543)

- Samuel F. B. Morse dispatched the first telegraphic message over an experimental line from Washington D.C. to Baltimore. (1844)

- The Brooklyn Bridge opened after 14 years of construction. (1883)

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- Memorial Day Celebrated 2009

- Africa Day

- The Constitutional Convention began in Philadelphia. (1787)

- Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist, poet, and philosopher, was born. (1803)

- Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, vaudeville dancer, was born. (1878)

- John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution. (1925)

- Jessie Owens, world-renowned athlete, set long jump record at 26' 8". (1935)

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- Montana became the 41^st state, five years after the territory was created. (1864)

- Czar Nicolas II was crowned ruler of Russia. (1896)

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- St. Petersburg, Russia, was founded by Peter the Great. (1703)

- "Wild Bill" Hickok, Kansas gunfighter, was born (1837)

- The Golden Gate Bridge opened. (1937)

- The Bismarck, a German battleship, was sunk by the Royal British Navy near France. (1941)

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- Ohio Women’s Rights Convention met in Akron, Ohio. (1851)

- Jim Thorpe, world-class athlete, was born. (1888)

- Sierra Club was founded. (1892)

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- Patrick Henry, great American orator, known for saying, “Give me liberty or give me death,” was born. (1736)

- Wisconsin became the 30^th U.S. state. (1848)

- John Fitzgerald Kennedy, U.S. president from 1961 until his assassination on November 22, 1963, was born. (1917)

- Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest. (1953)

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- Peter the Great of Russia was born. (1672)

- Andrew Jackson, future President of the United States, participated in a pistol duel and won.  (1806)

- The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ratified on this day by Mexico, gave the U.S. New Mexico and California, as well as parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Colorado, in return for $15 million. (1848)

- Jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman was born. (1909)

- Wilbur Wright, pioneering aviator, who together with his brother Orville made the first powered flight in 1903, died. (1912)

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- World No-Tobacco Day 2009

- Walt Whitman, poet and essayist, was born. (1819)

- "Flaked cereal" patent was applied for by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. (1884)

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