Historical Events on May 6
- 1835: The first issue of the New York Herald is published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr. on this day.
- 1840: The Black Penny postage stamp officially became valid to be used in Great Britain and Ireland.
- 1861: Arkansas officially secedes from the United States.
- 1863: The Army of the Potomac is defeated by Confederate forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville during the American Civil War.
- 1877: Chief Crazy Horse surrenders to U.S Army forces in Nebraska.
- 1882: The Chinese Exclusion Act is passed by the U.S. Congress.
- 1889: At the Universal Exposition in Paris, France, the Eiffel Tower is opened officially to the public.
- 1915: Babe Ruth hits his first major league home run on this day. He was playing for the Boston Red Sox.
- 1942: The last of the American forces on Corregidor in the Philippines surrender to Japanese forces during World War II.
- 1945: Mildred Gillars – also known as Axis Sally – delivers her last propaganda broadcast to allied troops during the Second World War.
- 1945: The Prague Offensive begins during WWII.
- 2001: Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque while he was on a trip in Syria.
- 2010: The 2010 Flash Crash occurs on this day. This is when the DOW Jones plunged almost a thousand points in just under 40-minutes.
Famous Birthdays on May 6
- Austrian psychoanalyst and neurologist, Sigmund Freud is born in 1856.
- American admiral and explorer, Robert Peary is born in 1856.
- French chemist and Nobel Prize laureate, Victor Grignard is born in 1871.
- Swedish novelist and Nobel Prize laureate, Harry Martinson is born in 1904.
- American director, actor and screenwriter, Orson Welles is born in 1915.
- American chemist, biophysicist and Nobel Prize laureate, Paul Lauterbur is born in 1929.
- American actress Gabourey Sidibem is born in 1983.
- Ukrainian-Russian NHL player Anton Babchuk is born in 1984.
- Slovakian tennis player Dominika Cibulková is born in 1986.