Today In History
Today is Friday, April 9, the 99th day of 2021. There are 266 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
› 1939: Marian Anderson performed a concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., after the Black singer was denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
ON THIS DATE
› 1682: French explorer Robert de La Salle claimed the Mississippi River Basin for France.
› 1865: Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
› 1967: The first test flight of Boeing’s new 737 took place as the jetliner took off from Boeing Field in Seattle on a 2 1/2hour trip to Paine Field in Everett, Washington.
› 1968: Funeral services, private and public, were held for Martin Luther King Jr. at the Ebenezer Baptist Church and Morehouse College in Atlanta, five days after the civil rights leader was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
› 1979: Officials declared an end to the crisis involving the Three Mile Island Unit 2 nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania, 12 days after a partial core meltdown.
› 2003: Jubilant Iraqis celebrated the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Satirical songwriter and mathematician Tom Lehrer is 93. Actor JeanPaul Belmondo is 88. Actor Michael Learned is 82. Country singer Margo Smith is 79. Actor Dennis Quaid is 67. Comedian Jimmy Tingle is 66. Country musician Dave Innis (Restless Heart) is 62. Talk show host Joe Scarborough is
58. Actor-sports reporter Lisa Guerrero is 57. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is
57. TV personality Sunny Anderson is 46. Rock singer Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance) is 44. Actor Keshia Knight Pulliam is 42. Rock musician Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes) is 41. Actor Charlie Hunnam is 41. Actor Ryan Northcott is 41. Actor Arlen Escarpeta is
40. Actor Jay Baruchel is
39. Actor Annie Funke is
36. Actor Jordan Masterson is 35. Actor Leighton Meester is 35. Actor-singer Jesse McCartney is 34. R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan is 34. Actor Kristen Stewart is 31. Actor Elle Fanning is 23. Rapper Lil Nas X is 22. Actor Isaac Hempstead Wright is 22. Classical crossover singer Jackie Evancho is 21.