Almanac - Wednesday March 20, 2024

Sister Rosetta Tharpe, an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, was born today in 1915. She was a pioneer in her guitar techniques. In fact, she was among the first popular recording artists to use heavy distortion on her electric guitar, presaging the rise of electric blues.

In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published, later becoming the best-selling book of the 19th century.

Romana Acosta Bañuelos, the thirty-fourth Treasurer of the United States and the first Hispanic person in that role, was born today in 1925. She was also owner of a multimillion-dollar business, Ramona’s Mexican Food Products, Inc.

1985 – Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Amanda E. Clement (March 20, 1888 – July 20, 1971) was an American baseball umpire who was the first woman paid to referee a game, and may have also been the first woman to referee a high school basketball game

Also on this day in history….

1854 – The Republican Party of the United States is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin, US.

1888 – The premiere of the very first Romani language operetta is staged in Moscow, Russia.

1916 – Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity

1948 – With a Musicians Union ban lifted, the first telecasts of classical music in the United States, under Eugene Ormandy and Arturo Toscanini, are given on CBS and NBC.

1985 – Canadian paraplegic athlete and humanitarian Rick Hansen begins his circumnavigation of the globe in a wheelchair in the name of spinal cord injury medical research.

1987 – The Food and Drug Administration approves the anti-AIDS drug, AZT.

1999 – Legoland California, the first Legoland outside of Europe, opens in Carlsbad, California, US.

2015 – A Solar eclipse, equinox, and a supermoon all occur on the same day.

and today’s birthdays also include….

43 BC – Ovid, Roman poet (d. 17)

1469 – Cecily of York (d. 1507)

1612 – Anne Bradstreet, Puritan American poet (d. 1672)

1811 – Napoleon II, French emperor (d. 1832)

1828 – Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian poet, playwright, and director (d. 1906)

1888 – Amanda Clement, American baseball player, umpire, and educator (d. 1971)

1894 – Amalie Sara Colquhoun, Australian landscape and portrait painter (d. 1974)

1900 – Amelia Chopitea Villa, Bolivia's first female physician (d. 1942)

1904 – B. F. Skinner, American psychologist and author (d. 1990)

1906 – Ozzie Nelson, American actor and bandleader (d. 1975)

1908 – Michael Redgrave, English actor and director (d. 1985)

1909 – Elisabeth Geleerd, Dutch-American psychoanalyst (d. 1969)

1910 – Erwin Blask, German hammer thrower (d. 1999)

1915 – Sviatoslav Richter, Ukrainian pianist and composer (d. 1997)

1915 – Sister Rosetta Tharpe, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1973)

1917 – Vera Lynn, English singer, songwriter and actress (d. 2020)

1917 – Yigael Yadin, Israeli archaeologist, general, and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1984)

1918 – Marian McPartland, English-American pianist and composer (d. 2013)

1920 – Pamela Harriman, English-American diplomat, 58th United States Ambassador to France (d. 1997)

1920 – Rosemary Timperley, English author and screenwriter (d. 1988)

1922 – Carl Reiner, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2020)

1925 – John Ehrlichman, American lawyer, 12th White House Counsel (d. 1999)

1928 – Fred Rogers, American television host and producer (d. 2003)

1931 – Hal Linden, American actor, singer, and director

1934 – Willie Brown, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 41st Mayor of San Francisco

1934 – David Malouf, Australian author and playwright

1935 – Bettye Washington Greene, American chemist (d. 1995)

1936 – Lee "Scratch" Perry, Jamaican singer, songwriter, music producer, and inventor (d. 2021)

1937 – Lois Lowry, American author

1937 – Jerry Reed, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2008)

1939 – Brian Mulroney, Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2024)

1940 – Mary Ellen Mark, American photographer and journalist (d. 2015)

1944 – Camille Cosby, American author, producer, and philanthropist

1949 – Marcia Ball, American singer-songwriter and pianist

1954 – Liana Kanelli, Greek journalist and politician

1955 – Nina Kiriki Hoffman, American author

1955 – Mariya Takeuchi, Japanese singer-songwriter

1956 – Catherine Ashton, English politician, Vice-President of the European Commission

1956 – Anne Donahue, American lawyer and politician

1957 – Amy Aquino, American actress

1957 – Vanessa Bell Calloway, American actress

1957 – Spike Lee, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

1957 – Theresa Russell, American actress

1958 – Holly Hunter, American actress and producer

1959 – Mary Roach, American author

1961 – Ingrid Arndt-Brauer, German politician

1961 – Sara Wheeler, English author and journalist

1963 – Kathy Ireland, American model, actress, and furniture designer

1963 – Yelena Romanova, Russian runner (d. 2007)

1964 – Natacha Atlas, Belgian singer-songwriter

1965 – William Dalrymple, Scottish historian and author

1968 – Ultra Naté, American singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ, and promoter

1968 – Liza Snyder, American actress

1969 – Yvette Cooper, English economist and politician, former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

1970 – Josephine Medina, Filipino Paralympic table tennis player (d. 2021)

1970 – Michael Rapaport, American actor, podcaster, and director

1972 – Cristel Vahtra, Estonian skier

1973 – Natalya Khrushcheleva, Russian runner

1974 – Paula Garcés, Colombian-American actress

1979 – Freema Agyeman, English actress

1979 – Bianca Lawson, American actress

1980 – Michelle Snow, American basketball player

1983 – Carolina Padrón, Venezuelan journalist

1983 – Jenni Vartiainen, Finnish singer

1984 – IJustine, American YouTuber

1984 – Christy Carlson Romano, American actress and singer

1986 – Ruby Rose, Australian actress and model

Almanac - Wednesday March 20, 2024

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