On this day, March 25
1634 English colonists sent by Lord Baltimore arrived in present-day Maryland.
1894 Jacob S. Coxey began leading an
“army” of unemployed from Massillon, Ohio, to Washington, D.C., to demand help from the federal government.
1911 146 people, mostly young female immigrants, were killed when fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. in New York.
1931 In the so-called “Scottsboro Boys” case, nine young Black men were taken off a train in Alabama, accused of raping two white women; after years of convictions, death sentences and imprisonment, the nine were eventually vindicated.
1947 A coal-dust explosion inside the Centralia Coal Co. Mine No. 5 in Washington County, Ill., claimed 111 lives; 31 men survived.
1954 RCA announced it had begun producing color television sets at its plant in Bloomington, Ind.
1960 Ray Charles recorded “Georgia on My Mind” as part of his “The Genius Hits the Road” album in New York.
1965 The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led 25,000 people to the Alabama state capitol in Montgomery after a five-day march from Selma to protest the denial of voting rights to Blacks. Later that day, civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo, a white Detroit homemaker, was shot and killed by Ku Klux Klansmen.
1990 87 people, most of them Honduran and Dominican immigrants, were killed when fire raced through an illegal social club in New York City. (An arsonist set the fire after being thrown out of the club following an argument with his girlfriend; Julio Gonzalez died in prison in 2016.)
2017 Stars and fans gathered for a public memorial to honor the late mother-daughter film stars Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher.
2022 Taylor Hawkins, drummer for the Foo Fighters, died at age 50 in a hotel in Bogotá, Colombia during the band’s South American tour.
2023 Powerful tornadoes tore through parts of the Deep South, killing 26 people in Mississippi and obliterating dozens of buildings.
Today’s birthdays: Film critic Gene Shalit, 98. Former astronaut James Lovell, 96. Feminist activist and author Gloria
Steinem, 90. Singer Anita Bryant, 84. Actor Paul Michael Glaser, 81. Singer Sir Elton John, 77. Actor Bonnie Bedelia, 76. Actor-comedian Mary Gross, 71. Actor James McDaniel, 66. Movie producer Amy Pascal, 66. Rock musician Steve Norman (Spandau Ballet), 64. Actor Brenda Strong, 64. Actor Fred Goss, 63. Actor-writer-director John Stockwell, 63. Actor Marcia Cross, 62. Author Kate DiCamillo, 60. Actor Lisa Gay Hamilton, 60. Actor Sarah Jessica Parker, 59. Baseball Hall of Famer Tom Glavine, 58. TV personality Ben Mankiewicz, 57. Olympic bronze medal figure skater Debi Thomas, 57. Actor Laz Alonso, 53. Singer Melanie Blatt (All Saints), 49. Actor Domenick Lombardozzi, 48. Actor Lee Pace, 45. Actor Sean Faris, 42. Comedian-actor Alex Moffat (TV: “Saturday Night Live”), 42. Former auto racer Danica Patrick, 42. Actor-singer Katharine McPhee, 40. Comedian-actor Chris Redd (TV: “Saturday Night Live”), 39. Singer Jason Castro, 37. Rapper Big Sean, 36. Rap DJ-producer Ryan Lewis, 36. Actor Matthew Beard, 35. Actor-singer Aly (AKA Alyson) Michalka, 35. Actor Kiowa Gordon, 34. Actor Seychelle Gabriel, 33.