Today In History

Today is Thursday, March 2, the 61st day of 2017. There are 304 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1867: Howard University, a historically black school of higher learning in Washington, D.C., was founded as it received a congressional charter.

ON THIS DATE

› 1836: The Republic of Texas formally declared its independence from Mexico.

› 1877: Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner of the 1876 presidential election over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, even though Tilden had won the popular vote.

› 1917: Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship as President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones-Shafroth Act.

› 1939: Roman Catholic Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli was elected pope on his 63rd birthday; he took the name Pius XII.

› 1942: The original Stage Door Canteen, a wartime club for U.S. servicemen, officially opened its doors in New York’s theater district.

› 1955: Nine months before Rosa Parks’ famous act of defiance, Claudette Colvin, a black high school student in Montgomery, Alabama, was arrested after refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white passenger.

› 1965: The movie version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “The Sound of Music,” starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, had its world premiere in New York.

› 1977: The U.S. House of Representatives adopted a strict code of ethics.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Actor John Cullum is 87. Author Tom Wolfe is 87. Former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev is 86. Actress Cassie Yates is 66. Actress Laraine Newman is 65. Former Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., is 64. Former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is 62. Pop musician John Cowsill (The Cowsills) is 61. Tennis player Kevin Curren is 59. Country singer Larry Stewart (Restless Heart) is 58. Actor Daniel Craig is 49. Actor Richard Ruccolo is 45 . Rock musician Casey (Jimmie’s Chicken Shack) is 41. Rock singer Chris Martin (Coldplay) is 40. NFL quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is 35. Musician Mike “McDuck” Olson (Lake Street Dive) is 34. Actor Robert Iler is 32. Actress Nathalie Emmanuel is 28. Singer-rapper-actress Becky G is 20.