BRIAN THOMAS
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974)
Charles Lindbergh was a aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and
activist. At age 25 in 1927, he went from obscurity as a U.S. Air Mail pilot
to instantaneous world fame by winning the Orteig Prize for making a
nonstop flight from New York to Paris.
Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)
On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King, Jr. is born in Atlanta, Georgia,
the son of a Baptist minister. King received a doctorate degree in theology
and in 1955 helped organized the first protest of the African-American civil
rights movement: the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott. Influenced by Mohandas Gandhi, he advocated civil disobedience and nonviolent
resistance to segregation in the South. The peaceful protests he led
throughout the American South were often met with violence, but King
and his followers persisted, and the movement gained momentum.
A powerful orator, King appealed to Christian and American ideals and
won growing support from the federal government and Northern whites.
In 1963, Bayard Rustin and A. Philip Randolph led the massive March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom; the event’s grand finale was King’s
famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Two hundred and fifty thousand people
gathered outside the Lincoln Memorial to hear the stirring speech.
TIM MAGUIRE
Actor/producer Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is 45 yeas old today. As
of 2019, his films have earned $7.2 billion worldwide, and he has
placed eight times in annual rankings of the world’s highest-paid
actors. His accolades include an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards.
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio at the 88th Academy Awards (2016):
Best Actor, win, for The Revenant.
DAVID MELENDY
African American taxi driver Rodney King was severely beaten by
Los Angeles police officers on this day in 1991 during an arrest
that followed a pursuit through the streets of Los Angeles. The
scene was captured on amateur video, one of the first police
brutality videos of its kind. It forever changed the conversation
about police and race in America.
Over six nights in April, 53 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured; property damage topped $1 billion.
National Guardsmen patrol Los Angeles during the rioting after the acquittal of officers involved in the beating of Rodney King.
The first issue of Time magazine was published on this day in 1923
by Briton Hadden and Henry Luce. It was the first weekly news
magazine in the United States. The distinctive red border for which
the magazine has come to be known was lacking. On the cover
was the now-obscure Joseph G. Cannon, former House Speaker.
.
CAMILLE BOHANNON
During the American Civil War on this day in 1863, the first day’s
fighting at Gettysburg began. It was the bloodiest battle.
On this day in 1946, the United States exploded a 20-kiloton atomic
bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
During the Spanish-American War on this day in 1898, Theodore Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders" waged a victorious assault on
San Juan Hill in Cuba.
Theodore Roosevelt (center) with his “Rough Riders”.
Diana, Princess of Wales (Diana Frances Spencer)
(July1, 1961 – August 31, 1997)
Diana married Charles, the Prince of Wales and the heir to
the throne of 16 Commonwealth realms. She became an
international icon for her beauty and her work with charities.
Her death, which was reportedly caused by her driver’s
drunkenness, sparked widespread media attention and
conspiracy theories.
The sovereignty over Hong Kong was transferred from Great Britain
to China on this day in 1997. Britain had controlled Hong Kong as a colony for 156 years.
Actor Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004)
Brando’s Academy Award-winning performances include Terry
Malloy in On the Waterfront (1954) and Don Vito Corleone in
The Godfather (1972). Brando was an activist for many causes,
notably the civil rights movement and various Native American
groups.
Marlon Brando was ranked by the American Film Institute as the
fourth-greatest movie star among male movie stars whose screen
debuts occurred in or before 1950. He was one of six professional
actors, along with Charlie Chaplin, Ronald Reagan, Lucille Ball,
Frank Sinatra, and Marilyn Monroe, named in 1999 by Time
magazine as one of its 100 Most Important People of the Century.
Brando died of respiratory failure on July 1, 2004, at age 80.
Marlon Brando in a still photo from The Godfather.
