THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Today is Saturday, March 6, the 65th day of 2021. There are 300 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On March 6, 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Dred Scott v. Sandford, ruled 7-2 that Scott, a slave, was not an American citizen and therefore could not sue for his freedom in federal court.
On this date:
In 1475, Italian artist and poet Michelangelo was born in Caprese (kah-PRAY’-say) in the Republic of Florence.
In 1836, the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, fell as Mexican forces led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna stormed the fortress after a 13day siege; the battle claimed the lives of all the Texan defenders, nearly 200 strong, including William Travis, James Bowie and Davy Crockett.
In 1853, Verdi’s opera “La Traviata” premiered in Venice, Italy.
In 1944, U.S. heavy bombers staged the first full-scale American raid on Berlin during World War II.
In 1962, what became known as the Ash Wednesday Storm began pounding the mid-Atlantic coast; over a three-day period, the storm resulted in 40 deaths and caused more than $200 million in property damage.
In 1964, heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay officially changed his name to Muhammad Ali.
In 1970, a bomb being built inside a Greenwich Village townhouse by the radical Weathermen accidentally went off, destroying the house and killing three group members.
In 1973, Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck, 80, died in Danby, Vermont.
In 1981, Walter Cronkite signed off for the last time as principal anchorman of “The CBS Evening News.”
In 1987, the first “Lethal Weapon” movie, starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, was released by Warner Bros.
In 2002, Independent Counsel Robert Ray issued his final report in which he wrote that former President Bill Clinton could have been indicted and probably would have been convicted in the scandal involving former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
In 2015, during a town hall at South Carolina’s Benedict College, President Barack Obama said racial discrimination by police in Ferguson, Missouri, was “oppressive and abusive” as he called for criminal justice reform.