May 23, 1900 (Wednesday)
- Nearly thirty-seven years after performing an act of heroism in the American Civil War, Sergeant William Harvey Carney of the 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry was awarded the Medal of Honor by vote of Congress. Although there had been previous African-American recipients of the Medal, Carney's action on July 18, 1863, preceded that of all other black award winners. The first award of the Medal of Honor to an African-American had been to Robert Blake in 1864.
- The Associated Press was formally incorporated as a New York corporation. Although several regional corporations had shared news between publishers as early as 1848, an unfavorable ruling by the Illinois Supreme Court on February 19 led AP clients to form a national organization.
- Born: Hans Frank, Nazi military governor of Poland 1939–1945, in Karlsruhe, Germany; executed 1946 after conviction for war crimes.
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