- May 5 Anti-Jewish rioting in Kyiv, Ukraine
Stanley's 1st Congo Contract
May 8 Henry Morton Stanley signs the first of many contracts with the Congolian monarch
- May 10 Lighthouse on Ameland begins operation
Music Premiere
May 11 Bedřich Smetana's opera "Libuše" premieres iat the Natonal Theater, in Prague
Recorder of Deeds Frederick Douglass
May 17 Frederick Douglass appointed recorder of deeds for the District of Columbia
- May 17 Revised version of New Testament
American Red Cross
May 21 American Red Cross founded by Clara Barton
Authors
Dictators
Explorers
Outlaws
Queens
Spies