Since we last met:

1215 - Rebel Barons renounce their allegiance to King John. This was part of a chain of events leading to the Magna Carta signing.
1809 - Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.
1809 - The Swiss canton of Aargau denies citizenship to Jews.
1821 - Emperor Napoleon I dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
1877 - Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.
1886 - The Bay View Tragedy occurs, as militia fire upon a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin killing seven.
1904 - Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
1920 - Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are arrested, accused of robbery and murder.
1925 - Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is served an arrest warrant for teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.
1945 - World War II: German troops in the Netherlands and Denmark capitulate to Canadian and British forces, liberating these countries from Nazi occupation.
1987 - Iran-Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings.
1992 - The 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified.

Birth of:
1813 - Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (d. 1855)
1818 - Karl Marx, German political philosopher (d. 1883)
1865 - Nellie Bly, American journalist and writer (d. 1922)
1926 - Ann B. Davis, American actress
1943 - Michael Palin, British writer, actor, and comedian (Monty Python)
1959 - Brian Williams, American news anchor
1973 - Tina Yothers, American actress (Family Ties)
1981 - Danielle Fishel, American actress (The Wonder Years)

Death of:
1981 - Bobby Sands, Irish activist (b. 1954)

Celebration of:
Mexico and the United States: Cinco de Mayo (1862).
The Netherlands: Liberation Day (1945).

Other Todays in History:

1536 - King Henry VIII orders translated Bibles be placed in every church.
1877 - Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.
1882 - Thomas Henry Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish are stabbed and killed during the Phoenix Park Murders in Dublin.
1882 - The United States Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act.
1889 - The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.
1935 - New Deal: Executive Order 7034 creates the Works Progress Administration.
1937 - Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.
1940 - John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.
1941 - At California's March Field, Bob Hope performs his first USO show.
1954 - Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.
1981 - A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Ying Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.
1983 - The Hitler diaries are revealed as a hoax when experts examine the books and conclude that they are fake.

Birth of:
1856 - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist (d. 1939)
1856 - Robert Peary, American explorer (d. 1920)
1868 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (d. 1918)
1915 - Orson Welles, American director (d. 1985)
1931 - Willie Mays, American baseball player
1937 - Rubin Carter, American boxer
1944 - Masanori Murakami, first Japanese baseball player in major leagues
1945 - Bob Seger, American singer/songwriter
1953 - Tony Blair, former British prime minister
1960 - Roma Downey, Northern Irish actress
1961 - George Clooney, American actor
death of:
1862 - Henry David Thoreau, American author and philosopher (b. 1817)
1902 - Bret Harte, American author (b. 1836)
1919 - L. Frank Baum, American writer (b. 1856)
1952 - Maria Montessori, Italian educator (b. 1870)
1992 - Marlene Dietrich, German actress (b. 1901)

(Information courtesy of Wikipedia, where I get most of the inspiration for my series.)

What else happened today in history?