Obama signs federal hate crimes law (2009), and Forbidden City completed and Beijing named Ming capital (1420). Born on this day: Julia Roberts, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Joaquin Phoenix. Died: John Locke, Matthew Perry and Jahāngīr.
31 events, 51 births and 59 deaths on this date.
Obama put his name to a law named after Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr., two men whose murders in 1998 were motivated by hate. It widened federal hate crime law, letting prosecutors pursue cases based on sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza · Public domainThe Ming court made Beijing its official capital once the Forbidden City was finished. The palace complex went on to house emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for nearly five centuries.
Columbus reached Cuba on his first Atlantic crossing and became convinced he had arrived in Asia, near Japan. The mistake shaped how Europeans understood the lands they had just found.
Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio · Public domain
After passing through the strait at the tip of South America, Magellan's ships entered open water that he named the Pacific. It was the first recorded European crossing of that vast sea, which took months of hunger and hardship.
Unknown artist Unknown artist · Public domain
Gates arrived in Seattle on this day, and would later co-found Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen. He became a leading figure of the personal computing boom, and in 1999 became the first centibillionaire.
Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, the Pathétique, was performed in public for the first time. Its composer died only nine days later, which gave the work a mournful place in his story.
Nikolai Kuznetsov · Public domain
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Julia Roberts is an American actress who became a Hollywood leading lady in romantic comedies such as Pretty Woman. She later won an Academy Award for Erin Brockovich and has continued to work in drama, thrillers and television.
Colleen Sturtevant · CC BY-SA 4.0
Iranian politician who served as president from 2005 to 2013, known for a hard-line religious and nationalist stance and for controversy at home and abroad. Before entering national politics he had been an engineer, a university teacher and Tehran's mayor.
Majid Haghdoust · CC BY 4.0
American actor known for dark, unconventional roles in independent films and blockbusters alike. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing the title character in Joker in 2019.
Harald Krichel · CC BY-SA 3.0
John Locke was an English philosopher and physician whose writings argued that rulers hold power only by the people's agreement, and that people may resist those who lose it. His Two Treatises of Government may have shaped the American Declaration of Independence.
Godfrey Kneller · Public domain
Matthew Perry was an American-Canadian actor best known for playing Chandler Bing in the NBC sitcom Friends. Later in life he became a public advocate for addiction recovery, sharing his struggles openly.
Valerie Jarrett / @vj44 via X (Twitter) · Public domain
Jahāngīr was the fourth Mughal emperor, ruling India from 1605 until his death. He is remembered for patronising painting and architecture, and for a reign shaped by his wife Nur Jahan's political influence.
1605 artist · Public domain
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