today.nukz.net: Almanac June 3

Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer, and actress. Born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis, Missouri, she became a citizen of France in 1937. Fluent in both English and French, Baker became an international musical and political icon. She was given such nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and the "Créole Goddess". Baker was the first African American female to star in a major motion picture, to integrate an American concert hall, and to become a world-famous entertainer. She is also noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States (she was offered the unofficial leadership of the movement by Coretta Scott King in 1968 following Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, but turned it down), for assisting the French Resistance during World War II, and for being the first American-born woman to receive the French military honor, the Croix de guerre.

Events

350 – Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaims himself Roman Emperor, entering Rome at the head of a group of gladiators.
1140 – French scholar Peter Abelard is found guilty of heresy.
1326 – Treaty of Novgorod delineates borders between Russia and Norway in Finnmark.
1539 – Hernando de Soto claims Florida for Spain.
1608 – Samuel de Champlain completes his third voyage to New France at Tadoussac, Quebec.
1621 – The Dutch West India Company receives a charter for New Netherlands.
1658 – Pope Alexander VII appoints François de Laval vicar apostolic in New France.
1665 – James Stuart, Duke of York (later to become King James II of England) defeats the Dutch fleet off the coast of Lowestoft.
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.
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Philippi (also called the Philippi Races) – Union forces rout Confederate troops in Barbour County, Virginia, now West Virginia, in first land battle of the War.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Cold Harbor – Union forces attack Confederate troops in Hanover County, Virginia.
1866 – The Fenians are driven out of Fort Erie, Ontario, into the United States.
1885 – In the last military engagement fought on Canadian soil, Cree leader Big Bear escapes the North-West Mounted Police.
1888 – The poem "Casey at the Bat", by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, is published in the San Francisco Examiner.
1889 – The transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway is completed.
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.
1916 – The National Defense Act is signed into law, increasing the size of the United States National Guard by 450,000 men.
1932 – Lou Gehrig and teammate Tony Lazzeri hit four home runs in one game, and hit for the natural cycle, respectively. These two feats are both less common than a perfect game, which has occurred twenty one times in one hundred and twenty years.
1935 – One thousand unemployed Canadian workers board freight cars in Vancouver, British Columbia, beginning a protest trek to Ottawa, Ontario.
1937 – The Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson.
1940 – World War II: The Luftwaffe bombs Paris.
1940 – World War II: The Battle of Dunkirk ends with a German victory and with Allied forces in full retreat.
1941 – World War II: The Wehrmacht razes the Greek village of Kandanos to the ground, killing 180 of its inhabitants.
1942 – World War II: Japan begins the Aleutian Islands Campaign by bombing Unalaska Island.
1943 – In Los Angeles, California, white U.S. Navy sailors and Marines clash with Latino youths in the Zoot Suit Riots.
1950 – First successful ascent of an Eight-thousander; Annapurna is summited by Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal
1962 – An Air France Boeing 707 charter, Chateau de Sully crashes after an aborted takeoff from Paris-Orly Airport, killing 130.
1963 – The Buddhist crisis: Soldiers of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam attack protesting Buddhists in Hu?, South Vietnam, with liquid chemicals from tear gas grenades, causing 67 people to be hospitalised for blistering of the skin and respiratory ailments.
1963 – A Northwest Airlines DC-7 crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of British Columbia, killing 101.
1965 – Launch of Gemini 4, the first multi-day space mission by a NASA crew. Crew-member Ed White performs the first American spacewalk.
1968 – Valerie Solanas, author of SCUM Manifesto, attempts to assassinate Andy Warhol by shooting him three times.
1969 – Melbourne-Evans collision: Off the coast of South Vietnam, the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne cuts the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in half.
1973 – A Soviet supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 crashes near Goussainville, France, killing 14, the first crash of a supersonic passenger aircraft.
1979 – A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 3,000,000 barrels (480,000 m³) of oil to be spilled into the waters, the second-worst accidental oil spill ever recorded.
1980 – The 1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak. Seven tornadoes hit Grand Island, Nebraska takes five lives, 357 single-family homes, 33 mobile homes, 85 apartments, 49 businesses and $300 million in damages all told, according to National Weather Service and American Red Cross statistics on the deadly storm.
1982 – The Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov, is shot on a London street. He survives but is permanently paralysed.
1984 – Operation Blue Star, a military offensive, is launched by the Indian government at Harmandir Sahib, also known as the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for the Sikhs, in Amritsar. The operation continues until June 6 with casualties, most of them civilians, in excess of 5,000.
1989 – The government of China sends troops to force protesters out of Tiananmen Square after seven weeks of occupation.
1991 – Mount Unzen erupts in Kyushu, Japan, killing 43 people, all of them either researchers or journalists.
1992 – Aboriginal Land Rights are granted in Australia in Mabo v Queensland (No 2), a case brought by Eddie Mabo.
1998 – Eschede train disaster: an ICE high speed train derails in Lower Saxony, Germany, causing 101 deaths.
2006 – The union of Serbia and Montenegro comes to an end with Montenegro's formal declaration of independence.

Births

1537 – John Manuel, Prince of Portugal (d. 1554)
1540 – Charles II of Austria (d. 1590)
1635 – Philippe Quinault, French writer (d. 1688)
1636 – John Hale, pastor during the Salem witch hunt (d.1700)
1659 – David Gregory, Scottish astronomer (d. 1708)
1723 – Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian-born naturalist (d. 1788)
1726 – James Hutton, Scottish geologist (d. 1797)
1736 – Ignaz Fränzl, German violinist, composer (d. 1811)
1770 – Manuel Belgrano, Argentine politician (d. 1820)
1808 – Jefferson Davis, American politician and President of the Confederate States of America (d. 1889)
1818 – Louis Faidherbe, French general (d. 1889)
1819 – Anton Anderledy, Swiss Superior General of the Society of Jesus (d. 1892)
1832 – Alexandre Charles Lecocq, French composer (d. 1918)
1840 – Michael O'Laughlen, American conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1867)
1843 – Frederick VIII of Denmark (d. 1912)
1844 – Garret Hobart, 24th Vice President of the United States (d. 1899)
1844 – Detlev von Liliencron, German poet (d. 1909)
1853 – William Matthew Flinders Petrie, English Egyptologist (d. 1942)
1864 – Otto Erich Hartleben, German writer (d. 1905)
1864 – Ransom E. Olds, American pioneer (d. 1950)
1865 – George V of the United Kingdom (d. 1936)
1866 – George Howells Broadhurst, English director (d. 1952)
1873 – Otto Loewi, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate (d. 1961)
1877 – Raoul Dufy, French painter (d. 1953)
1878 – Barney Oldfield, American race car driver (d. 1946)
1879 – Alla Nazimova, Ukrainian-born actress, scriptwriter, and producer (d. 1945)
1879 – Raymond Pearl, American biologist (d. 1940)
1881 – Mikhail Larionov, Russian painter (d. 1964)
1888 – Tom Brown, American musician (d. 1958)
1897 – Memphis Minnie, American blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist (d. 1973)
1899 – Georg von Békésy, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate (d. 1972)
1900 – Leo Picard, German-born Israeli geologist (d. 1997)
1901 – Maurice Evans, English actor (d. 1989)
1901 – Zhang Xueliang, Chinese warlord (d. 2001)
1903 – Eddie Acuff, American actor (d. 1956)
1904 – Jan Peerce, American tenor (d. 1984)
1904 – Charles R. Drew, American surgeon,(d. 1950)
1905 – Martin Gottfried Weiss, German commandant of Dachau concentration camp (d. 1946)
1906 – Josephine Baker, American dancer (d. 1975)
1906 – Nate Barragar, American football player (d. 1985)
1907 – Paul Rotha, English director (d. 1984)
1910 – Paulette Goddard, American actress (d. 1990)
1911 – Ellen Corby, American actress (d. 1999)
1913 – Pedro Mir, Dominican Poet Laureate (d. 2000)
1917 – Leo Gorcey, American actor (d. 1969)
1918 – Patrick Cargill, English actor (d. 1996)
1918 – Lili St. Cyr, American stripper (d. 1999)
1921 – Forbes Carlile, Australian athlete
1922 – Alain Resnais, French director
1923 – Igor Shafarevich, Russian mathematician
1924 – M. Karunanidhi, Indian Politician
1924 – Colleen Dewhurst, Canadian actress (d. 1991)
1924 – Ted Mallie, American radio and television announcer (d. 1999)
1924 – Torsten Wiesel, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate
1924 – Jimmy Rogers, American blues guitarist (d. 1997)
1925 – Tony Curtis, American actor (d. 2010)
1925 – Thomas Joseph Winning, Archbishop of Glasgow, Scotland (d. 2001)
1926 – Allen Ginsberg, American poet (d. 1997)
1927 – Boots Randolph, American saxophonist (d. 2007)
1929 – Werner Arber, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate
1929 – Chuck Barris, American game show host
1930 – Marion Zimmer Bradley, American author (d. 1999)
1930 – George Fernandes, Indian politician
1930 – Dakota Staton, American jazz singer (d. 2007)
1930 – Ben Wada, Japanese television producer
1931 – Françoise Arnoul, French actress
1931 – Raúl Castro, Cuban statesman
1931 – John Norman, American author
1931 – Lindy Remigino, American athlete
1933 – Isa ibn Salman Al Khalifah, emir of Bahrain (d. 1999)
1934 – Rolland D. McCune, American theologian
1935 – Irma P. Hall, American actress
1936 – Jim Gentile, baseball player
1936 – Larry McMurtry, American author
1937 – Solomon P. Ortiz, American politician
1937 – Edward Winter, American actor (d. 2001)
1938 – David L. Mills, American computer engineer
1939 – Steve Dalkowski, baseball player
1939 – Ian Hunter, English musician
1939 – Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, American novelist
1940 – Loretta Long, American actress
1940 – Connie Saylor, American racecar driver (d. 1993)
1942 – Curtis Mayfield, American musician (d. 1999)
1943 – Ilaiyaraaja, Indian film composer
1943 – Billy Cunningham, American basketball player
1944 – Edith McGuire, American runner
1944 – Eddy Ottoz, Italian athlete
1945 – John Derbyshire, British-American mathematician and political commentator
1945 – Hale Irwin, American professional golfer
1945 – Bill Paterson, British actor
1945 – Ramon "RJ" Jacinto, Filipino rock icon and DZRJ Chairman
1946 – Michael Clarke, American musician (d. 1993)
1946 – Eddie Holman, American singer
1946 – Tristan Rogers, Australian-American actor
1946 – Penelope Wilton, British actress
1947 – Mickey Finn, British guitarist and percussionist (T.Rex) (d. 2003)
1947 – Mike Burgmann, Australian racing driver (d. 1986)
1947 – John Dykstra, American special effects supervisor
1948 – Jan Reker, Dutch football manager
1949 – Floyd Lloyd, Jamaican reggae singer
1950 – Melissa Mathison, American screenwriter
1950 – Suzi Quatro, American musician and actress
1950 – Christos Verelis, Greek politician
1950 – Deniece Williams, American singer
1950 – Robert Z'Dar, American actor
1952 – Billy Powell, American keyboardist (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 2009)
1952 – David Richards, CBE, British motor racing entrepreneur
1953 – John Moulder Brown, English actor
1954 – Dan Hill, Canadian singer and songwriter
1954 – Wally Weir, Quebec ice hockey player
1956 – Brad Nessler, American sports broadcaster
1956 – George Burley, Scottish football player and manager
1956 – Danny Wilde, American musician (The Rembrandts)
1957 – Horst-Ulrich Hänel, German field hockey player
1958 – Margot Käßmann, Lutheran theologian, German bishop
1958 – Suzie Plakson, American actress
1959 – John Carlson, American talk radio host
1961 – Lawrence Lessig, American lawyer and author
1961 – Ed Wynne, English musician (Ozric Tentacles)
1961 – Peter Vidmar, American gymnast
1962 – Susannah Constantine, British fashion guru
1963 – Rudy Demotte, Belgian politician
1963 – Toshiaki Karasawa, Japanese actor
1964 – Kerry King, American musician (Slayer)
1964 – James Purefoy, British actor
1965 – Mike Gordon, American musician (Phish)
1965 – Jeff Blumenkrantz, American composer and actor
1965 – Hans Kroes, Dutch swimmer
1966 – Wasim Akram, Pakistani cricketer
1967 – Anderson Cooper, American reporter, journalist and anchorman
1967 – Jason Jones, Canadian actor
1966 – Jamie O'Neal, American singer
1968 – Samantha Sprackling, Nigerian singer
1969 – Takako Minekawa, Japanese musician
1969 – Hiroyuki Takami, Japanese musician
1970 – Esther Hart, Dutch singer
1970 – Julie Masse, French Canadian singer
1970 – Ammon McNeely, American rock climber
1970 – Peter Tägtgren, Swedish musician (Hypocrisy) and producer
1971 – Carl Everett, American baseball player
1971 – John Hodgman, American author and humorist
1974 – Kelly Jones, Welsh singer (Stereophonics)
1974 – Arianne Zucker, American actress
1975 – Jose Molina, Puerto Rican baseball player
1975 – Jeff Soto, American painter
1976 – Nikos Hatzis, Greek basketball player
1976 – Enda Markey, Irish/Australian entertainer
1976 – Jamie McMurray, American racecar driver
1977 – Cristiano Marques Gomez, Brazilian footballer
1977 – Az-Zahir Hakim, American football player
1977 – Travis Hafner, American baseball player
1978 – Lyfe Jennings, R&B singer and songwriter
1980 – Amauri Carvalho de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
1980 – Lazaros Papadopoulos, Greek basketball player
1980 – Tjerk Smeets, Dutch baseball player
1981 – Sosene Anesi, New Zealand rugby player
1981 – Salvatore Giardina, Italian footballer
1981 – Timur Tekkal, German rugby player
1982 – Yelena Isinbayeva, Russian pole vaulter
1982 – Dihan Slabbert, South African singer and composer
1983 – Janine Habeck, German model
1983 – Pasquale Foggia, Italian footballer
1984 – Emily Scott, Australian model
1985 – Enkhbatyn Badar-Uugan, Mongolian boxer
1985 – Papiss Cissé, Senegalese footballer
1986 – Al Horford, Dominican basketball player
1986 – Alexandros Karageorgiou, Greek archer
1986 – Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis player
1986 – Adrián Vallés, Spanish racing driver
1986 – Tomas Verner, Czech ice skater
1987 – Lalaine, American actress
1987 – Masami Nagasawa, Japanese actress
1987 – Michelle Keegan, British actress
1989 – Katie Hoff, American swimmer
1989 – Anthony Taugourdeau, French footballer
1992 – Mario Götze, German footballer
2006 – Countess Leonore of Orange-Nassau, Jonkvrouwe van Amsberg, Member of the Dutch royal family

Deaths

800 – Staurakios, chief minister of the Byzantine Empire
1395 – Ivan Shishman of Bulgaria
1397 – William Montacute, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, English military leader (b. 1328)
1411 – Duke Leopold IV of Austria (b. 1371)
1548 – Juan de Zumárraga, Spanish Catholic bishop of Mexico (b. 1468)
1594 – John Aylmer, English political theorist (b. 1521)
1615 – Sanada Yukimura, Japanese samurai (b. 1567)
1640 – Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, English politician (b. 1584)
1657 – William Harvey, English physician (b. 1578)
1649 – Manuel de Faria e Sousa, Portuguese historian and poet (b. 1590)
1659 – Morgan Llwyd, Welsh Puritan preacher and writer (b. 1619)
1780 – Thomas Hutchinson, American colonial governor of Massachusetts (b. 1711)
1826 – Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin, Russian writer (b. 1766)
1858 – Julius Reubke, German composer (b. 1834)
1861 – Stephen A. Douglas, American politician (b. 1813)
1865 – Okada Izo, Japanese samurai (b. 1838)
1875 – Georges Bizet, French composer (b. 1838)
1877 – Ludwig Ritter von Köchel, Austrian musicologist (b. 1800)
1882 – Christian Wilberg, German painter (b. 1839)
1894 – Karl Eduard Zachariae von Lingenthal, German expert on Byzantine Law (b. 1812)
1899 – Johann Strauss II, Austrian composer (b. 1825)
1924 – Franz Kafka, Czech novelist (b. 1883)
1928 – Li Yüan-hung, Chinese general and political figure (b. 1864)
1933 – William Muldoon, American wrestler (b. 1852)
1946 – Mikhail Kalinin, Soviet politician (b. 1875)
1955 – Barbara Graham, American murderer (b. 1923)
1963 – Nâzim Hikmet, Turkish poet (b. 1902)
1963 – Pope John XXIII (b. 1881)
1964 – Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Finnish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
1970 – Hjalmar Schacht, Nazi official (b. 1877)
1971 – Heinz Hopf, German mathematician (b. 1894)
1973 – Dory Funk, professional wrestler (b. 1919)
1975 – Ozzie Nelson, American band leader, producer, director, and actor (b. 1906)
1975 – Eisaku Sato, Prime Minister of Japan, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1901)
1977 – Archibald Vivian Hill, English physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1886)
1977 – Roberto Rossellini, Italian film director (b. 1906)
1983 – Nanna, Rafi Khawar, Pakistani actor
1986 – Anna Neagle, British actress (b. 1904)
1987 – Will Sampson, American actor and artist (b. 1933)
1989 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian Shi'ite leader (b. 1902)
1989 – John McCauley, hockey official (b. 1945)
1990 – Stiv Bators, American musician (The Dead Boys) (b. 1949)
1990 – Robert Noyce, American inventor (b. 1927)
1991 – Katia Krafft, French volcanologist (b. 1942)
1991 – Maurice Krafft, French volcanologist (b. 1946)
1991 – Takeshi Nagata, Japanese geophysicist (b. 1913)
1992 – Robert Morley, English actor (b. 1908)
1994 – Puig Aubert, French rugby league footballer (b. 1925)
1997 – Dennis James, American television personality (b. 1917)
1998 – Poul Bundgaard, Danish actor and singer (b. 1922)
2001 – Anthony Quinn, Mexican-born actor (b. 1915)
2003 – Felix de Weldon, Austrian sculptor (b. 1907)
2004 – Frances Shand Kydd, mother of Diana, Princess of Wales (b. 1936)
2004 – Quorthon, Swedish musician (Bathory) (b. 1966)
2005 – Harold Cardinal, Cree political leader, writer, and lawyer (b. 1945)
2006 – Johnny Grande, original accordion/piano/keyboard player for Bill Haley's Comets (b. 1932)
2009 – Sam Butera, American jazz musician (b. 1927)
2009 – David Carradine, American actor (b. 1936)
2009 – Koko Taylor, American blues musician (b. 1928)
2010 – John Hedgecoe, English photographer (b. 1932)
2010 – Rue McClanahan, American actress (b. 1934)
2011 – Jack Kevorkian, American pathologist, right-to-die activist (b. 1928)
2011 – James Arness, American actor (d. 1923)
2011 – Andrew Gold, American singer, musician and songwriter (b. 1951)
2011 – Jan van Roessel,Dutch footballer (b. 1925)