THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

Sunday, March 31

1850: Massachusetts Supreme Court rejected the argument of Charles Sumner in the Boston school integration suit and established the “separate but equal” precedent.

1889: Gustave Eiffel, the engineer whose company designed and built the Eiffel Tower, dedicated the 984-foot iron structure with a flag-raising and fireworks. The elevators remained a work in progress by U.S.-based Otis Elevator Co.

1918: Daylight saving time took effect in the U.S. for the first time, aiming to conserve electricity during wartime by setting clocks forward one hour in the springtime.

1943: The musical formerly known as “Away We Go” was changed to “Oklahoma!” before its debut at St. James Theatre in New York, the first of a record 2,212 performances on Broadway over nearly five years.

1949: RCA Victor released the first 45 RPM single, a vinyl record format that remained popular over the next three decades.

1958: Rock ’n’ roll pioneer Chuck Berry released his hit single, “Johnny B. Goode,” which climbed to No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Sides chart and No. 8 on its chart that predated the Hot 100. The song remains highly ranked on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list.

1959: The Dalai Lama, fleeing Chinese repression of an uprising in Tibet, arrived at the Indian border, where he was granted political asylum.

1980: U.S. athlete Jesse Owens died. He won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but Nazi dictator Adolph Hitler refused to shake his hand because he was black.

1992: The USS Missouri, the last active Navy battleship, was decommissioned in Long Beach, California. It became a museum.

1995: American singer Selena was fatally shot in Corpus Christi, Texas, by the head of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, who was convicted in the murder and sentenced to life in prison with parole possible in March 2025.

2005: Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged Florida woman, died 13 days after her tube feeding was halted under orders from a U.S. court.

2019: Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist Nipsey Hussle, aka Ermias Joseph Asghedom, was fatally shot outside the Los Angeles clothing store he founded. His killer, Eric Holder Jr., received a sentence of 60 years to life in prison. 2020: At a White House briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Brix announced that between 100,000 and 240,000 COVID-19-related deaths were expected in the U.S., even if distancing and other public health measures were perfectly enacted.

Monday, April 1

1748: Commissioned by Charles III of Spain, Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre – a military engineer in the Spanish army – began prospecting the yet to be identified buried city of Pompeii. Its rediscovery changed the way archaeology was studied.

1789: Frederick Muhlenberg, hailing from Pennsylvania, was elected as the first speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives after the House reached its first quorum in New York City.

1867: Singapore, Penang and Malacca became British crown colonies. Collectively called the Straits Settlement (which also included the Dindings settlement) and originally established as part of territories controlled by the British East India Company in 1826, the three territories were to be under direct British control via the Colonial office in London.

1924: Adolf Hitler was found guilty of treason and sentenced to five years in prison for his role in a failed coup on Nov. 8, 1923 in Munich, Germany, known as the “Beer Hall Putsch.” Hitler escaped arrest but was apprehended 2 days later and found guilty after a 24day trial.

1939: The Spanish Civil War effectively ended after three years of turmoil, with close to a million lives lost and the official recognition of Gen. Francisco Franco’s Nationalist government.

1945: In what is considered the largest amphibious assault of the World War II Pacific theater, U.S. forces invaded Okinawa. The campaign lasted for 82 days and was one of the bloodiest in the Pacific War theater. An estimated 50,000 Allied lives were lost and 84,000 to 117,000 Japanese soldiers died.

1948: Ralph Alpher, George Gamow and Hans Bethe (whose name appeared on the byline) published “The Origins of Chemical Elements” in the scientific journal Physical Review. Their work laid the foundations of the Big Bang theory. 1976: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer Inc. Their first product was the Apple I personal computer, which went on sale in July 1976.

1991: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors may not use race as a basis for exclusion from serving as a juror in a criminal trial.

1999: Canada redrew its borders and created the northern territory of Nunavut. It is home to the Inuit people, which makes up 85 percent of the Nunavut population.

2001: The Netherlands legalized samesex marriages, becoming the first country in the modern world to do so.

2019: The Japanese government announced the name of its new imperial era: “Reiwa.” The era, named for pursuit of harmony and order, formally began on May 1 when Japan’s next emperor was crowned: Emperor Naruhito.

Tuesday, April 2

1513: Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León landed on the coastal area between St. Augustine and the mouth of the St. Johns River, claiming the Florida territory for Spain. He was the first known European to reach Florida, searching for the Fountain of Youth. 1595: For the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies, Cornelis de Houtman’s fleet of ships departed Amsterdam for Asia. Despite setbacks, including a scurvy outbreak, they reached Indonesia a year later and the voyage led to the establishment of the Dutch East India Company.

1800: Ludwig van Beethoven’s 1st Symphony in C, dedicated to Baron Gottfried Van Swieten, debuted in Vienna at the Burgtheater.

1865: Confederate forces, including its President Jefferson Davis, fled Richmond, Virginia, as Union forces advanced, heralding an end to the Civil War. Davis was eventually captured and imprisoned for two years at Ft. Monroe, Virginia.

1917: President Woodrow Wilson asked a special joint session of Congress for a declaration of war on Germany, setting the stage for the U.S. to enter World War I.

1968: Stanley Kubrick’s influential “2001 A Space Odyssey” premiered at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C. Regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, it was written by Kubrick and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, based on Clarke’s “The Sentinel.” 1982: Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, starting what is now known as the Falklands War. A 10-week undeclared war, it was fought between Argentina and Great Britain over the British-controlled Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

1986: New York City’s The Gay Rights

Bill went into effect. Also known as

Local Law 2 of 1986, the bill’s aim was to provide protections for New York City’s LGBTQ+ population against discrimination in employment, public accommodations and housing.

1992: American mob boss John Gotti convicted of murder, racketeering, tax evasion and other criminal charges. A ruthless and imposing figure, he seized power after ordering the murder of then-boss Paul Castellano. He was eventually sentenced to life in prison. 2005: Pope John Paul II died in Vatican City. Born Karol Jozef Wojtyla in Wadowice Poland, he was the first nonItalian pope in over 455 years. Two million people mourned his passing. 2020: Confirmed number of COVID-19 cases passed 1 million worldwide. According to John Hopkins University, there was also a reported 51,485 deaths globally.

Wednesday, April 3

1860: The Pony Express began operations by delivering mail via horse and rider relay teams between St Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. It operated for 18 months from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861.

1865: Richmond, Virginia fell to Union forces. Once the capital of the Confederate States of America, the Confederate government fled the day prior, leaving the city open for occupation.

1888: The first of horrific Whitechapel murders happened in London, which gave birth to the notorious legend of Jack the Ripper. Eleven women were killed. Their cases remained unsolved to this day.

1948: The Jeju Uprising began. In Jeju Province, South Korea, violence erupted between islanders and the police, the U.S. military, and the newly formed South Korean government. Between 14,000 and 30,000 people were killed. 1948: The Economic Assistance Act signed by President Harry Truman. It created a program to help nations in Europe recover from World War II with an initial $5 billion in aid.

1968: Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his last speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” at Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee. King called for unity against peaceful protests and boycotts. He also ominously mentioned threats against his life. 1969: President Richard Nixon’s administration announced it will start to “Vietnamize” the Vietnam War effort, by which the U.S. transferred the responsibility of fighting the war to South Vietnamese forces.

1973: The first mobile phone call was made. Standing in Midtown Manhattan, Martin Cooper of Motorola placed a call from a mobile handheld to Joel Engel of Bell Labs in New Jersey.

1989: The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the jurisdictional rights of tribal courts under the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. In Mississippi Choctaw Band v. Holyfield, it ruled that tribal courts superseded state court with regards to adoption of Native American children. 1996: “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski was captured in Montana. Kaczynski had killed 3 people and injured more than 20 with explosives sent through the mail over a 17-year period. He was sentenced to eight consecutive life sentences. He died by suicide in 2023. 2016: The Panama Papers were published, including over 11 million confidential documents from offshore firm Mossack Fonseca detailing the financial information of more than 214,488 offshore entities. It was the world’s largest ever data leak that revealed a massive litany of financial crimes.

Thursday, April 4

1850: Los Angeles incorporated as a U.S. city. California would join the Union five months later.

1887: Susan Salter was elected as mayor in Argonia, Kansas, becoming the first woman to hold that position. While her name was initially put on the ballot as a stunt by a group of men hoping to discourage women from political discourse, she won the election by a two thirds majority.

1928: Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri. A woman of many talents – poet, memoirist, civil rights activist and actress – Angelou was best known for exploring the themes of race, oppression and economic disparities. 1933: The USS Akron, an helium filled dirigible of the U.S. Navy, crashed off the coast of New Jersey during a thunderstorm, killing 73 crewmen and passengers. It was the deadliest airship disaster in U.S. history.

1945: Ohrdruf concentration camp in Germany was liberated by the 4th Armored Division and the 89th Infantry Division. It was the first of such camp to be liberated by the U.S. Army.

1949: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established via treaty signed in Washington, D.C. It was created as a counter measure to encroaching Soviet forces in Central and Eastern Europe. The founding member nations are Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. 1968: Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. A watershed moment for the Civil Rights Movement, his assassination led to riots across the nation and further calls for social justice and equality.

1973: The World Trade Center buildings officially opened in New York City. The Twin Towers, the world’s tallest building at the time, stood over 1,300 feet until they were destroyed in the 9/11 terror attacks.

1975: Microsoft was founded by childhood friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The company was originally created to produce software for Altair 8800, an early personal computer.

2013: Roger Ebert, one of the film industry’s most prolific and respected movie critics, died after a battle with cancer at the age of 70. His last review was for the film “The Host,” which was published March 27, 2013.

2022: Elon Musk became the largest shareholder of Twitter after buying 9.2% of the company’s stock, a total purchase of 73.5 million shares worth $2.9 billion.

Friday, April 5

1614: Pocahontas, daughter of the chief Powhatan, married English tobacco farmer John Rolfe. The marriage created peace between Jamestown and the Powhatan tribe that lasted for several years.

1722: Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen made the first European discovery of Easter Island, also known as Rapa

Nui. The island is located 2,300 miles west of Chile in the South Pacific Ocean and is renowned for its ominous statues.

1792: George Washington exercised his first presidential veto of a bill proposing how to divide seats in the House of Representatives. The seats would have favored the Northern states.

1818: South American rebels and Spanish royalists fought the Battle of Maipú for Chilean independence. It was a decisive win over Spain but left 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead. 1839: Robert Smalls, a Civil War hero, businessman and five-term Congressman, was born in Beaufort, South Carolina. He was born into slavery, escaped bondage during the Civil War, returned to Beaufort and became a politician, representing South Carolina in the U.S. House of Representative.

1846: Booker T. Washington, an American educator and reformer, was born in Franklin County, Virginia. He was one of the most influential leaders of Black Americans during the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. 1862: The Battle of Yorktown began as General George McClellan directed his union army to establish siege lines in Yorktown, Virginia.

1879: The War of the Pacific began when Chile declared war on Bolivia and Peru over control of the mineral rich area of the Atacama Desert. It last for five years with Chile being the victor. 1933: The Civilian Conservation Corps established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt via executive order. A work relief program, it employed millions of young men on environmental projects during the Great Depression. It was the most popular of Roosevelt’s “New Deal” initiatives, providing not only work but shelter, clothing and food for the workers.

1984: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar set the NBA’s all-time score record previously held by Wilt Chamberlain. Abdul-Jabbar’s scored the 31,420th point of his career against the Utah Jazz. The record was broken by LeBron James almost 39 years later.

1994: Grunge rock icon Kurt Cobain died by suicide. He was 27. Cobain and his band, Nirvana, helped reshape rock. 2008: Academy award winning actor Charlton Heston, who was known for his iconic roles in “Ben-Hur” and “Planet of the Apes,” died at age 84 due to complications from pneumonia.

Saturday, April 6

1520: Italian High Renaissance painter and architect Raphael died at the age of 37. Known for paintings like “The Three Graces” and “The School of Athens,” Raphael was part of the trinity of High Renaissance masters that included Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. 1652: Jan van Riebeeck established Cape Colony, the first European settlement in South Africa, for the Dutch East India Company.

1712: The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 began. It was a violent uprising by 23 African-born slaves who took up arms against their captors, resulting in the deaths of at least eight slave holders and injury of six others.

1830: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was established by Joseph Smith in Fayette, New York. Originally named The Church of Christ, Smith founded it to implement the principles of his Book of Mormon.

1862: One of the bloodiest engagements of the U.S. Civil War began at the Battle of Shiloh as the armies of Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston collided at Shiloh, Tennessee. Both sides suffered heavy casualties with more than 24,000 lives lost.

1868: Japanese emperor Meiji issued the Charter Oath, also known as Gokajo no Goseimon (Oath in Five Articles). It was an open declaration served to modernize Japan.

1896: After 1,500 years, the Olympic Games were reborn due to the efforts of Pierre de Coubertin, who founded the International Olympic Committee. A crowd of 60,000 spectators welcomed 280 participants from 13 nations competing in 43 events.

1906: “Humorous Phases of Funny Faces” by J. Stuart Blackton was released. It was the world’s first animated film. The film moved at 20 frames per second and depicted numerous hand drawn figures animated on a chalkboard.

1917: Congress officially declared war on Germany and the U.S. entered World War I.

1941: Germany launched invasions on Greece (Operation Marita) and Yugoslavia (Operation 25). 17,000 civilians died as a result of the attack on Yugoslavia.

1947: The First Tony Awards were in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Formally known as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, it was hosted by Brock Pemberton and broadcast on radio.

1994: Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira were assassinated, sparking the Rwandan Genocide. The aircraft carrying the presidents was shot down by surface-to-air missiles, abruptly ending peace negotiations. 2014: American actor and entertainer Mickey Rooney died of natural causes at age 93. With a career spanning 88 years, Rooney made hundreds of TV appearances and was nominated for two Academy Awards.