Almanac - Friday March 1, 2024

On March 2nd in 1955, 15-year-old Black teenager Claudette Colvin was arrested for refusing to give her seat to a white woman on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

and on March 3rd In 1913, the Women’s Suffrage Parade in Washington, DC, gathered over 8,000 women to demand a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to vote.

Also on this day in history….

1781 – The Articles of Confederation goes into effect in the United States.

1815 – Napoleon returns to France from his banishment on Elba.

1867 – Nebraska is admitted as the 37th U.S. state.

1872 – Yellowstone National Park is established as the world's first national park.

1893 – Electrical engineer Nikola Tesla gives the first public demonstration of radio in St. Louis, Missouri.

1896 – Henri Becquerel discovers radioactive decay.

1917 – The Zimmermann Telegram is reprinted in newspapers across the United States after the U.S. government releases its unencrypted text.

1921 – Following mass protests in Petrograd demanding greater freedom in the RSFSR, the Kronstadt rebellion begins, with sailors and citizens taking up arms against the Bolsheviks.

1932 – Aviator Charles Lindbergh's 20-month-old son Charles Jr is kidnapped from his home in East Amwell, New Jersey. His body would not be found until May 12.

1947 – The International Monetary Fund begins financial operations.

1950 – Cold War: Klaus Fuchs is convicted of spying for the Soviet Union by disclosing top secret atomic bomb data.

1953 – Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin suffers a stroke and collapses; he dies four days later.

1954 – Armed Puerto Rican nationalists attack the United States Capitol building, injuring five Representatives.

1956 – The International Air Transport Association finalizes a draft of the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet for the International Civil Aviation Organization.

1974 – Watergate scandal: Seven are indicted for their role in the Watergate break-in and charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice.

1981 – Provisional Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands begins his hunger strike in HM Prison Maze.

1991 – Uprisings against Saddam Hussein begin in Iraq, leading to the deaths of more than 25,000 people, mostly civilians.

1992 – Bosnia and Herzegovina declares its independence from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

1998 – Titanic became the first film to gross over $1 billion worldwide.

2003 – Management of the United States Customs Service and the United States Secret Service move to the United States Department of Homeland Security.

2005 – In Roper v. Simmons, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the execution of juveniles found guilty of any crime is unconstitutional.

2006 – English-language Wikipedia reaches its one millionth article, Jordanhill railway station.

Today’s birthdays include…

1432 – Isabella of Coimbra (d. 1455)

1683 – Caroline of Ansbach, British queen and regent (d. 1737)

1810 – Frédéric Chopin, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1849)

1839 – Laura Netzel (née Pistolekors), Finnish-Swedish pianist, composer, concert organizer, and humanitarian, born in Rantasalmi, Finland (d. 1927)

1882 – Ida Moore, American character actress (Mr. Music; Ma and Pa Kettle; Desk Set), born in Altoona, Kansas (d. 1964)

1886 – Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian-Swiss painter, poet, and playwright (d. 1980)

1890 – Theresa Bernstein, Polish-American painter and author (d. 2002)

1893 – Mercedes de Acosta, American author, poet, and playwright (d. 1968)

1904 – Glenn Miller, American trombonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1944)

1905 – Doris Hare, Welsh-English actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2000)

1906 – Phạm Văn Đồng, Vietnamese lieutenant and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Vietnam (d. 2000)

1910 – David Niven, English soldier and actor (d. 1983)

1914 – Ralph Ellison, American novelist and literary critic (d. 1994)

1917 – Dinah Shore, American singer and actress (d. 1994)

1918 – Gladys Spellman, American educator and politician (d. 1988)

1921 – Richard Wilbur, American poet, translator, and essayist (d. 2017)

1922 – Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli general and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Israel, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)

1926 – Robert Clary, French-American actor and author (d. 2022)

1926 – Pete Rozelle, American businessman and 3rd National Football League Commissioner (d. 1996)

1927 – Harry Belafonte, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2023)

1927 – Robert Bork, American lawyer and scholar, United States Attorney General (d. 2012)

1927 – Lusine Amara, American concert and operas soprano (Metropolitan Opera, 1950-91), born in Hartford, Connecticut

1935 – Robert Conrad, American actor, radio host and stuntman (d. 2020)

1939 – Leo Brouwer, Cuban guitarist, composer, and conductor

1941 – Robert Hass, American poet

1944 – Roger Daltrey, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor

1947 – Alan Thicke, Canadian-American actor and composer (d. 2016)

1952 – Nevada Barr, American actress and author

1952 – Jerri Nielsen, American physician and explorer (d. 2009) She self-treated her breast cancer while stationed at Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica until she could be evacuated safely.

1954 – Catherine Bach, American actress

1954 – Ron Howard, American actor, director, and producer

1954 – Janis Gill, American country singer (Sweethearts of Rodeo - "Midnight Girl"), born in Torrance, California

1954 – Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, American violist and operatic mezzo-soprano, born in San Francisco, California (d. 2006)

1956 – Dalia Grybauskaitė, Lithuanian politician, 8th President of Lithuania

1969 – Javier Bardem, Spanish actor and producer

1970 – Yolanda Griffith, American basketball player and coach

1983 – Lupita Nyong'o, Kenyan-Mexican actress

1987 – Kesha, American singer-songwriter and actress

1987 – Sammie Bush, American R&B singer ("I Like It"), born in Boynton Beach, Florida

1989 – Sonya Kitchell, American contemporary folk singer-songwriter ("Can't Get You Out Of My Mind"), born in Northampton, Massachusetts

1989 – Tenille Dashwood, Australian professional wrestler

1994 – Justin Bieber, Canadian singer-songwriter

2003 – Millicent Simmonds, American actress