Born March 13, 1892 (d. 1978) – Janet Flanner, journalist, wrote a weekly letter for the New Yorker from France under the name “Genet” (Frenchified “Janet”) for 50 years except for the Nazi occupation, was made a knight of the Legion of House (1948)

Born March 13, 1898 (d. 1988) – La Meri, one of the world’s greatest ethnological dancers from 1924 to the 1970s, danced with Anna Pavlova, learned native dances all over the world, lectured, wrote, founded the Ethnologic Dance Theater

March 13, 1944 – Susan Gerbi, biochemist, helped devise a method to map the start site of DNA replication, researched the role of hormones in certain cancers

Born March 14, 1833 (d. 1910) – Lucy Hobbs Taylor, first American woman to graduate from dental school (Ohio College of Dental Surgery in 1866)

Born March 14, 1887 (d. 1962) – Sylvia Beach, American-born bookseller and publisher who lived most of her life in Paris, where she was one of the leading expatriate figures between World War I and II, known for her Paris bookstore, Shakespeare and Company

Born March 14, 1902 (d. 1994) – Margaret Hickey, president of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women (1944-46), represented the BPW at the United Nations Conference in San Francisco (1945), chaired the Women’s Advisory Committee (1942) and served on and/or chaired many government groups which never had policy making opportunity

Born March 14, 1921 (d. 2013) – Ada Louise Huxtable, architecture critic and writer on architecture, was awarded the first ever Pulitzer Prize for Criticism (1970)

Born March 15, 1825 (d. 1900) – Harriet E. Wilson, one of the first female African-American novelist, her novel Our Nig, or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black was published anonymously in 1859 in Boston, and was not widely known until it was discovered in 1982 by the scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Born March 15, 1896 (d. 1989) – Marion Cuthbert, helped found the National Association of College Women to fight discrimination in higher education (1932), wrote pathbreaking dissertation, “Education and Marginality: A Study of the Negro Woman College Graduate” (1942), secretary of the National Board of YWCA and member of NAACP and numerous peace and human rights boards

Born March 14, 1997 – Simone Biles is born. She becomes the most decorated American gymnast, winning four gold medals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Born March 15, 1933 – Ruth Bader Ginsburg is born. She is the second female U.S. Supreme Court Justice and spent her legal career advocating for women’s rights before taking the bench.

Also on this day in history…

1845 – Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto receives its première performance in Leipzig with Ferdinand David as soloist.

1848 – The German revolutions of 1848–1849 begin in Vienna.

1862 – The Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves was passed by the United States Congress, effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.

1930 – The news of the discovery of Pluto is announced by Lowell Observatory.

1933 – Banks in the U.S. begin to re-open after the three-day national "bank holiday" mandated by the Franklin D. Roosevelt's Emergency Banking Act.

1884 – Hugh Walpole, New Zealand-English author and educator (d. 1941)

1908 – Walter Annenberg, American publisher, philanthropist, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 2002)

1913 – William J. Casey, American politician, 13th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1987)

1916 – Lindy Boggs, American educator and politician, 5th United States Ambassador to the Holy See (d. 2013)

1921 – Al Jaffee, American cartoonist

1925 – Roy Haynes, American drummer and composer

1939 – Neil Sedaka, American singer-songwriter and pianist

1942 – Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet and author (d. 2008)

1950 – Charles Krauthammer, American physician, journalist, and author (d. 2018)

1950 – William H. Macy, American actor, director, and screenwriter

1951 – Charo, Spanish-American singer, guitarist, and actress

1972 – Common, American rapper and actor

Almanac - Friday 3/13/20

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