as it was on this day in 1839 – In Humen, China, Lin Tse-hsü destroys 1.2 million kg of opium confiscated from British merchants, providing Britain with a casus belli to open hostilities, resulting in the First Opium War.

Today's Birthdays:

1808 – Jefferson Davis, American colonel and politician, President of the Confederate States of America (d. 1889)

1877 – Raoul Dufy, French painter and illustrator (d. 1953)

1897 – Memphis Minnie, American singer-songwriter (d. 1973)

1904 – Jan Peerce, American tenor and actor (d. 1984)

1906 – Josephine Baker, French actress, singer, and dancer; French Resistance operative (d. 1975)

1924 – Jimmy Rogers, American singer and guitarist (d. 1997)

1925 – Tony Curtis, American actor (d. 2010)

1926 – Allen Ginsberg, American poet (d. 1997)

1929 – Chuck Barris, American game show host and producer (d. 2017)

1930 – Marion Zimmer Bradley, American author and poet (d. 1999)

1931 – Raúl Castro, Cuban commander and politician, 18th President of Cuba

1936 – Larry McMurtry, American novelist and screenwriter

1942 – Curtis Mayfield, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1999)

1950 – Suzi Quatro, American-English singer-songwriter, bass player, producer, and actress

1961 -- Lawrence Lessig, American lawyer, academic, and author, founded the Creative Commons

1967 – TV host Anderson Cooper is 52.

…and on this day in history…

1492 Martin Behaim presents the world's first globe:

The German geographer called his terrestrial globe Erdapfel, or Earth Apple. It is kept in a darkened room at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, Germany.

1539 – Hernando de Soto claims Florida for Spain.

1889 – The first long-distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles (23 km) between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon.

1937 – The Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson.

1943 – In Los Angeles, California, white U.S. Navy sailors and Marines clash with Latino youths in the Zoot Suit Riots

In 1948, the 200-inch reflecting Hale Telescope at the Palomar Mountain Observatory in California was dedicated.

In 1965, astronaut Edward H. White became the first American to "walk" in space during the flight of Gemini 4.

In 1968, pop artist Andy Warhol was shot and critically wounded at his New York film studio, known as "The Factory," by Valerie Solanas, an actress and self-styled militant feminist who ended up serving three years in prison for assault.

1989 – The government of China sends troops to force protesters out of Tiananmen Square after seven weeks of occupation.

In 2008, Barack Obama claimed the Democratic presidential nomination, speaking in the same St. Paul, Minnesota, arena where Republicans would be holding their national convention in September 2008.

Ten years ago in 2009: New Hampshire became the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage.

2012 – The pageant for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II takes place on the River Thames.

2013 – The trial of United States Army private Chelsea Manning for leaking classified material to WikiLeaks begins in Fort Meade, Maryland.

Almanac - Monday 6/3/19

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