TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS PALM SUNDAY, MARCH 25, the 84th day of 2018. There are 281 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date 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 1634, English colonists sent by Lord Baltimore arrived in present-day Maryland.
In 1776, Gen. George Washington, commander of the Continental Army, was awarded the first Congressional Gold Medal by the Continental Congress.
In 1865, during the Civil War, Confederate forces attacked Fort Stedman in Virginia but were forced to withdraw because of counterattacking Union troops.
In 1911, 146 people, mostly young female immigrants, were killed when fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. in New York.
In 1918, French composer Claude Debussy died in Paris at age 55.
In 1924, the Second Hellenic Republic was proclaimed in Greece.
In 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.
In 1947, a coal-dust explosion inside the Centralia Coal Co. Mine No. 5 in Washington County, Ill., claimed 111 lives; 31 men survived.
In 1957, a signing ceremony was held for the Treaty of Rome, which established the European Economic Community.
In 1975, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was shot to death by a nephew with a history of mental illness. The nephew was beheaded in June 1975.
In 1988, in New York City’s so-called “Preppie Killer” case, Robert Chambers Jr. pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the death of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin. Chambers received 5 to 15 years in prison; he was released in 2003 after serving the full sentence.
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.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Movie reviewer Gene Shalit is 92. Former astronaut James Lovell is 90. Feminist activist and author Gloria Steinem is 84. Singer Anita Bryant is 78. Singer Aretha Franklin is 76. Actor Paul Michael Glaser is 75. Singer Sir Elton John is 71. Actress Bonnie Bedelia is 70. Actresscomedian Mary Gross is 65. Actor James McDaniel and movie producer Amy Pascal are 60. Rock musician Steve Norman (Spandau Ballet) and actress Brenda Strong are 58. Actor Fred Goss and actor-writer-director John Stockwell are 57. Actress Marcia Cross is 56. Author Kate Dicamillo and actress Lisa Gay Hamilton are 54. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker is 53. Baseball Hall - of Famer Tom Glavine is 52. TV personality Ben Mankiewicz and Olympic bronze medal figure skater Debi Thomas are 51. Actor Laz Alonso is 47. Singer Melanie Blatt (All Saints) is 43. Actor Domenick Lombardozzi is 42. Actor Lee Pace is 39. Actor Sean Faris and auto racer Danica Patrick are 36. Actress-singer Katharine McPhee is 34. Comedianactor Chris Redd (TV: “Saturday Night Live”) is 33. Singer Jason Castro is 31. Actor Matthew Beard and actress-singer Aly (AKA Alyson) Michalka are 29. Actor Kiowa Gordon is 28. Actress Seychelle Gabriel is 27.