In 1863, Union forces began shelling Fort Sumter in South Carolina. In 1945, Indonesia declared its independence from the Netherlands. In 1959, Miles Davis's Kind of Blue album was released. In 1998, President Bill Clinton gave grand jury testimony acknowledging an "improper physical relationship" with a White House intern.

Davy Crockett (1786-1836), frontiersman/soldier; Marcus Garvey (1887-1940), Black Nationalist leader; Samuel Goldwyn (1879-1974), film producer; Mae West (1893-1980), actress; Maureen O'Hara (1920-2015), actress; Robert De Niro (1943- ), actor; Larry Ellison (1944- ), businessman; Jonathan Franzen (1959- ), novelist; Sean Penn (1960- ), actor/director; Jorge Posada (1971- ), baseball player; Dustin Pedroia (1983- ), baseball player; Gracie Gold (1995- ), figure skater

In 2008, swimmer Michael Phelps won his historic eighth gold medal of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Only about 171,300 metric tons of gold have been mined in all of human history.

"I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be." – Thomas Jefferson