19 May History
- 715 - St. Gregory II begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
- 1535 - French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail for North America.
- 1536 - Anne Boleyn is beheaded on Tower Green.
- 1568 - Defeated by the Protestants, Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England where Queen Elizabeth imprisons her.
- 1588 - The Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon, Spain.
- 1608 - The Protestant states form the Evangelical Union of Lutherans and Calvinists.
- 1635 - Cardinal Richelieu of France intervenes in the great conflict in Europe by declaring war on the Hapsburgs in Spain.
- 1643 - The French army defeats a Spanish army at Rocroi, France.
- 1780 - Near total darkness descends on New England at noon. No explanation is found.
- 1856 - Senator Charles Sumner speaks out against slavery.
- 1858 - A pro-slavery band led by Charles Hameton executes unarmed Free State men near Marais des Cygnes on the Kansas-Missouri border.
- 1863 - Union General Ulysses S. Grant's first attack on Vicksburg is repulsed.
- 1864 - The Union and Confederate armies launch their last attacks against each other at Spotsylvania, Virginia.
- 1921 - Congress sharply curbs immigration, setting a national quota system.
- 1935 - The National Football League adopts an annual college draft to begin in 1936.
- 1964 - U.S. diplomats find at least 40 microphones planted in the American embassy in Moscow.
- 1967 - U.S. planes bomb Hanoi for the first time.
19 May Birthdays
- 1762 - Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher.
- 1879 - Lady Nancy Astor (Nancy Witcher Langhorne), the first woman to sit in the British House of Commons.
- 1890 - Ho Chi Minh (Nguyen That Thanh), Vietnamese nationalist and political leader.
- 1895 - Johns Hopkins, merchant and philanthropist.
- 1925 - Malcolm X (Malcolm Little), African-American activist.
- 1934 - James Lehrer, broadcast journalist.
- 1941 - Jane Brody, food and health writer.
- 1941 - Nora Ephron, screenwriter and director.