TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Friday, April 9, the 99th day of 2021.
Today’s highlight in history
On April 9, 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
In 1682, French explorer Robert de La Salle claimed the Mississippi River Basin for France.
In 1865, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
In 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway.
In 1942, some 75,000 Philippine and American defenders on Bataan surrendered to Japanese troops, who forced the prisoners into what became known as the Bataan Death March; thousands died or were killed en route.
In 1959, NASA presented its first seven astronauts: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Donald Slayton. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright, 91, died.
In 1963, Winston Churchill was proclaimed an honorary U.S. citizen by President John F. Kennedy. (Churchill, unable to attend, watched the proceedings live on television in his London home.)
In 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 1⁄2-hour trip to Paine Field in Everett, Wash.
In 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 he was killed in Memphis, Tenn. In 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.
In 2003, jubilant Iraqis celebrated the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime, beheading a toppled statue of their longtime ruler in downtown Baghdad and embracing American troops as liberators.
In 2005, Britain’s Prince Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles, who took the title Duchess of Cornwall.
In 2010, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement. (His vacancy was filled by Elena Kagan.)
Today’s birthdays
Satirical songwriter and mathematician Tom Lehrer is 93. Actor Jean-Paul Belmondo is
88. Actor Michael Learned is
82. Singer Margo Smith is 79. Actor Dennis Quaid is 67. Comedian Jimmy Tingle is 66. Talk show host Joe Scarborough is 58. Model-actor Paulina Porizkova is 56. Actor Cynthia Nixon is 55. Actor Keshia Knight Pulliam is 42. Actor Charlie Hunnam is 41. Actor Leighton Meester is 35. Actor-singer Jesse McCartney is 34. Actor Kristen Stewart is
31. Actor Elle Fanning is 23. Rapper Lil Nas X is 22. Actor Isaac Hempstead Wright is 22.