May 20
| 1520 | Hernando Cortes defeats Spanish troops sent against him in Mexico. | |
| 1862 | President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act, providing 250 million acres of free land to settlers in the West. | |
| 1874 | Levi Strauss begins marketing blue jeans with copper rivets. | |
| 1902 | The U.S. military occupation of Cuba ends. | |
| 1927 | Charles Lindbergh takes off from New York for Paris. | |
| 1932 | Amelia Earhart lands near Londonderry, Ireland, to become the first woman fly solo across the Atlantic. | |
| 1939 | Pan American Airways starts the first regular passenger service across the Atlantic. | |
| 1961 | A white mob attacks civil rights activists in Montgomery, Alabama. | |
| Born on May 20 | ||
| 1663 | ||
| 1799 | Honore de Balzac, French novelist (The Human Comedy, Lost Illusions). Did Balzac Really Drink 50 Cups of Coffee a Day? — http://go.shr.lc/1ffB0k6 via @BlackBalloonPub | |
