Today in History March 21st

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by. Melinda

 

1952 First Rock and Roll Concert

DJ Alan Freed’s Moondog Coronation Ball, in Cleveland, Ohio, notably features racially mixed performers and fans. Considered history’s first big rock concert, some 20,000 screaming teens try to crowd into a venue that can hold just half that number. Police will halt the show after just one song is performed.

1980 Olympics Boycott

Protesting the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan, US President Jimmy Carter declares that the US won’t be participating in the upcoming Moscow Summer Olympics. In the end, 65 nations won’t participate in the games, but some will do so for economic, rather than political reasons. The USSR will respond in kind, snubbing the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games.

1963

Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco Bay, a harsh maximum security jail which once housed gangster Al Capone, closed.

1965

Martin Luther King, Jr., led the start of a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

1906

Ohio passes a law that prohibits hazing by fraternities.

1908

Frenchman Henri Farman carries a passenger in a bi-plane for the first time.

1928

President Calvin Coolidge presents the Congressional Medal of Honor to Charles Lindbergh, a captain in the US Army Air Corps Reserve, for making the first solo trans-Atlantic flight. On June 11, 1927, Lindbergh had received the first Distinguished Flying Cross ever awarded.

1939

Singer Kate Smith records “God Bless America” for Victor Records.

Birthdays

1946 Timothy Dalton, Welsh actor (James Bond), born in Colwyn Bay, Wales

1949 Eddie Money, [Mahoney], singer/guitarist (Take Me Home Tonight), born in Brooklyn, New York

1962 Matthew Broderick, American actor (WarGames, Biloxi Blues), born in NYC, New York

1962 Rosie O’Donnell, comedienne, actress and TV host (League of Their Own, Flintstones, Rosie, born in Commack, New York