1844 – Samuel Morse sends the message "What hath God wrought" (a biblical quotation, Numbers 23:23) from a committee room in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland, to inaugurate a commercial telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington D.C.

1873 – Patrick Francis Healy becomes the first black president of a predominantly white university in the United States.

1883 – The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.

1930 – Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight).

1935 – The first night game in Major League Baseball history is played in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the Cincinnati Reds beating the Philadelphia Phillies 2–1 at Crosley Field.

1940 – Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight.

1958 – United Press International is formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.

1961 – American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus.

1962 – Project Mercury: American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.

1988 – Section 28 of the United Kingdom's Local Government Act 1988, a controversial amendment stating that a local authority cannot intentionally promote homosexuality, is enacted.

2019 – Under pressure over her handling of Brexit, British Prime Minister Theresa May announces her resignation as Leader of the Conservative Party, effective as of June 7.

and if today is your birthday, Happy Birthday To You! You share this special day with...

1686 – Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, Polish-German physicist and engineer, developed the Fahrenheit scale (d. 1736)

1743 – Jean-Paul Marat, Swiss-French physician, journalist, and politician (d. 1793)

1819 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (d. 1901

1918 – Coleman Young, American politician, 66th Mayor of Detroit (d. 1997)

1933 – Jane Byrne, American lawyer and politician, 50th Mayor of Chicago (d. 2014)

1936 – Harold Budd, American composer and poet

1937 – Archie Shepp, American saxophonist and composer

1938 – Prince Buster, Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2016)

1938 – Tommy Chong, Canadian-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

1940 – Joseph Brodsky, Russian-American poet and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)

1941 – Bob Dylan, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, artist, writer, and producer; Nobel Prize laureate

1943 – Gary Burghoff, American actor

1944 – Patti LaBelle, American singer-songwriter and actress

1945 – Terry Callier, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2012)

1945 – Priscilla Presley, American actress and businesswoman

1955 – Rosanne Cash, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1963 – Michael Chabon, American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter

1965 – John C. Reilly, American actor