Today in History

Today is Monday, March 25, the 85th day of 2024. There are 281 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On March 25, 1931, in the so-called “Scottsboro Boys” case, nine young Black men were taken off a train in Alabama, accused of raping two white women; after years of convictions, death sentences and imprisonment, the nine were eventually vindicated.

On this date:

In 1634, English colonists sent by Lord Baltimore arrived in present-day Maryland.

In 1894, Jacob S. Coxey began leading an “army” of unemployed from Massillon (MA’-sih-luhn), Ohio, to Washington D.C., to demand help from the federal government.

In 1911, 146 people, mostly young female immigrants, were killed when fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. in New York.

In 1915, the U.S. Navy lost its first commissioned submarine as the USS F-4 sank off Hawaii, claiming the lives of all 21 crew members.

In 1947, a coal-dust explosion inside the Centralia Coal Co. Mine No. 5 in Washington County, Illinois, claimed 111 lives; 31 men survived.

In 1954, RCA announced it had begun producing color television sets at its plant in Bloomington, Indiana.

In 1960, Ray Charles recorded “Georgia on My Mind” as part of his “The Genius Hits the Road” album in New York.

In 1965, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led 25,000 people to the Alabama state capitol in Montgomery after a five-day march from Selma to protest the denial of voting rights to Blacks. Later that day, civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo, a white Detroit homemaker, was shot and killed by Ku Klux Klansmen.

In 1987, the Supreme Court, in Johnson v. Transportation Agency, ruled 6-3 that an employer could promote a woman over an arguably more-qualified man to help get women into higher-ranking jobs.

In 1990, 87 people, most of them Honduran and Dominican immigrants, were killed when fire raced through an illegal social club in New York City. (An arsonist set the fire after being thrown out of the club following an argument with his girlfriend; Julio Gonzalez died in prison in 2016.)

In 1996, an 81-day standoff by the anti-government Freemen began at a ranch near Jordan, Montana.

In 2017, stars and fans gathered for a public memorial to honor the late mother-daughter film stars Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher.

In 2018, Linda Brown, who as a young girl in Kansas became embroiled in a landmark 1954 Supreme Court case that challenged segregation in public schools, died at the age of 75.

In 2022, Taylor Hawkins, drummer for the Foo Fighters, died at age 50 in a hotel in Bogotá, Colombia during the band’s South American tour.

In 2023, powerful tornadoes tore through parts of the Deep South, killing 26 people in Mississippi and obliterating dozens of buildings.

Today’s Birthdays: Film critic Gene Shalit is 98. Former astronaut James Lovell is 96. Feminist activist and author Gloria Steinem is 90. Singer Anita Bryant is 84. Actor Paul Michael Glaser is 81. Singer Sir Elton John is 77. Actor Bonnie Bedelia is 76. Actor-comedian Mary Gross is 71. Actor James McDaniel is 66. Movie producer Amy Pascal is 66. Rock musician Steve Norman (Spandau Ballet) is 64. Actor Brenda Strong is 64. Actor Fred Goss is 63. Actor-writer-director John Stockwell is 63. Actor Marcia Cross is 62. Author Kate DiCamillo is 60. Actor Lisa Gay Hamilton is 60. Actor Sarah Jessica Parker is 59. Baseball Hall of Famer Tom Glavine is 58. TV personality Ben Mankiewicz is 57. Olympic bronze medal figure skater Debi Thomas is 57. Actor Laz Alonso is 53. Singer Melanie Blatt (All Saints) is 49. Actor Domenick Lombardozzi is 48. Actor Lee Pace is 45. Actor Sean Faris is 42. Comedian-actor Alex Moffat (TV: “Saturday Night Live”) is 42. Former auto racer Danica Patrick is 42. Actor-singer Katharine McPhee is 40. Comedian-actor Chris Redd (TV: “Saturday Night Live”) is 39. Singer Jason Castro is 37. Rapper Big Sean is 36. Rap DJ-producer Ryan Lewis is 36. Actor Matthew Beard is 35. Actor-singer Aly (AKA Alyson) Michalka (mish-AL’-kah) is 35. Actor Kiowa Gordon is 34. Actor Seychelle Gabriel is 33.