TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Tuesday, Feb. 27, the 58th day of 2024. There are 308 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Feb. 27, 1973, members of the American Indian Movement occupied the hamlet of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, the site of the 1890 massacre of Sioux men, women and children. (The occupation lasted until the following May.)

On this date:

In 1807, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine. In 1922, the Supreme Court, in Leser v. Garnett, unanimously upheld the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guaranteed the right of women to vote. In 1933, Germany’s parliament building, the Reichstag, was gutted by fire; Chancellor Adolf Hitler, blaming the Communists, used the fire to justify suspending civil liberties. In 1951, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, was ratified. In 1997, divorce became legal in Ireland. In 1998, with the approval of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s House of Lords agreed to end 1,000 years of male preference by giving a monarch’s firstborn daughter the same claim to the throne as any first-born son. In 2020, President Donald Trump declared that a widespread U.S. outbreak of COVID-19 was not inevitable, even as top health authorities at his side warned that more infections were coming. Today’s birthdays: Actor Joanne Woodward is 95. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader is 91 Rock singer-musician Neal Schon (Journey) is 71. Actor Timothy Spall is 68. Country singer Johnny Van Zant (Van Zant) is 65. Basketball Hall of Famer James Worthy is 64. R&B singer Chilli (TLC) is 54. Actor Brandon Beemer is 45. Singer Josh Groban is 44. Actor Kate Mara is 42. TV personality JWoww (AKA Jenni Farley) is 39. Actor Lindsey Morgan is 35.