Wikipedia Today's featured article March 2024

March 1

Lockheed L-049 Constellation, similar to the aircraft that crashed

Paradise Airlines Flight 901A was a passenger flight from San Jose Municipal Airport to Tahoe Valley Airport in the United States. On March 1, 1964, the Lockheed L-049 Constellation (example pictured) serving the flight crashed near Genoa Peak, on the eastern side of Lake Tahoe, killing all 85 aboard. The cause of the accident was the pilot's decision to attempt to land at Tahoe Valley Airport when the visibility was too low. After aborting the attempt, the crew lost awareness of the plane's location as it flew below the minimum safe altitude in mountainous terrain. The pilot likely tried to fly through a low mountain pass to divert to the airport in Reno, Nevada, and crashed into a mountain near the pass. At the time, it was the second-deadliest single-plane crash in United States history. It remains the worst accident involving the Lockheed L-049 Constellation. The Federal Aviation Administration revoked the airline's operating certificate, causing them to permanently shut down. (Full article...)

March 2

Edward VII (1841–1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 1901 until his death. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Edward was largely excluded from political influence during his mother's reign, coming to personify the leisured, fashionable elite. Despite a reputation as a playboy prince, his tours of North America in 1860 and of India in 1875 proved to be popular successes. Edward inherited the throne upon his mother's death in 1901. He broadened the range of people with whom royalty socialised, and fostered good relations between Britain and other European countries, especially France. Nevertheless, his relationship with German emperor Wilhelm II was poor. The Edwardian era, which covered Edward's reign and was named after him, coincided with the start of a new century and heralded major changes in technology and society. He was succeeded by his only surviving son, George V. (Full article...)

March 3

Painting by Antonio Jacobsen, 1903

SS Kroonland was an ocean liner for International Mercantile Marine (IMM) from her launch in 1902 until she was scrapped in 1927. When completed by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia, she was the largest-ever United States steamship. Kroonland sailed for IMM's Red Star Line for 12 years, mostly on the route between New York City and Antwerp, and later sailed for IMM's American Line and Panama Pacific Line. Kroonland was one of ten ships that came to the aid of the burning liner Volturno in the mid-Atlantic in October 1913. Despite stormy seas, Kroonland took aboard 89 survivors. In 1915, she became the largest passenger vessel to that point to pass through the Panama Canal. During and after World War I, the ship served as U.S. Army transport USAT Kroonland through April 1918, and as the Navy auxiliary USS Kroonland (ID-1541) from April 1918 to October 1919. After being returned to IMM, she continued on various passenger routes until 1926. She was sold and scrapped the following year. (Full article...)

March 4

James G. Blaine (1830–1893) was an American statesman and Republican politician who represented Maine in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1863 to 1876, serving as Speaker of the House from 1869 to 1875, and then in the Senate from 1876 to 1881. Born in Pennsylvania and a newspaper editor before entering politics, he twice served as the U.S. secretary of state, first in 1881 under President James A. Garfield and President Chester A. Arthur, and then from 1889 to 1892 under President Benjamin Harrison. Blaine unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1876 and 1880. He gained the nomination in 1884, but in the election, he was narrowly defeated by Democratic nominee Grover Cleveland. A charismatic speaker in an age that prized oratory, Blaine was a leading Republican of the late 19th century and a champion of the party's moderate reformist faction, later known as the "Half-Breeds". (This article is part of a featured topic: 1880 United States presidential election.)

March 5

Illustration of two of the robbers emptying safes on the train

The Great Gold Robbery took place on the night of 15 May 1855, when a shipment of gold to Paris was stolen from the guard's van of the rail service between London and Folkestone. There were four robbers: two employees of the rail company, a former employee and Edward Agar, a career criminal. They took wax impressions of the keys to the train safes and made copies. One of them ensured he was on guard duty when a shipment was taking place, and Agar hid in the guard's van. They emptied the safes of 224 pounds (102 kg) of gold, valued at £12,000 (approximately equivalent to £1,193,000 in 2021); the theft was only discovered in Paris. When Agar was arrested for another crime, his former girlfriend, in need of funds, revealed the details of the theft. Agar admitted his guilt and testified as a witness. The other three were arrested, tried and found guilty of the theft. In 1978 a highly fictionalised version of events was turned into a film, The First Great Train Robbery, featuring Sean Connery. (Full article...)

March 6

Anti-aircraft gun at Fremantle in 1943

In March 1944, military units were placed on alert in Western Australia after Allied forces detected the movement of a powerful group of Japanese warships in the Netherlands East Indies. The main Japanese fleet had been redeployed to Singapore the previous month, and it was feared that this force could attack Western Australia. Reinforcements, including six Royal Australian Air Force flying squadrons, were dispatched to safeguard Fremantle, Perth, and other cities. Other Allied air units were held at Darwin in the Northern Territory. An air raid warning was sounded in Fremantle and Perth on 10 March, but was a false alarm. Intensive patrols by the Allied militaries did not detect any Japanese warships off Western Australia, and most units stood down on 12 March. The deployment ended on 20 March after it was concluded that an attack was unlikely. The Japanese did not attempt an attack on Western Australia, and the ships that the Allies detected were escorts for a small raiding force. (Full article...)

March 7

Studios of KCPQ and KZJO in Seattle

KCPQ (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Tacoma, Washington, U.S., broadcasting the Fox network in the Seattle area. It is owned and operated by the network and shares its studios in Seattle with KZJO. Built in 1953, it signed on as KMO-TV and was soon acquired by Seattle broadcaster J. Elroy McCaw, who ran it as KTVW cheaply. His estate sold the station in 1972; it fell into court-appointed receivership in 1974 and was taken off the air. The Clover Park School District acquired the station, which it used to replace KPEC-TV, and operated it as public television station KCPQ between 1976 and 1980. Due to financial exigencies, the school district sold the station to commercial interest Kelly Broadcasting in 1980. KCPQ became a successful independent station, affiliated with Fox in 1986, and started producing local newscasts. Tribune Broadcasting acquired the station in 1999; Fox purchased it in 2020 from Nexstar Media Group after multiple attempts to own a station in the market. (Full article...)

March 8

Mary Jane Richardson Jones (1819–1909) was an American abolitionist, philanthropist, and suffragist. Born in Tennessee to free black parents, Jones moved with her family to Illinois during her teenage years. Along with her husband, John, she was a leading African-American figure in the early history of Chicago. The Jones household was a stop on the Underground Railroad and a center of abolitionist activity. The Joneses helped hundreds of fugitives fleeing slavery. After her husband's death in 1879, Jones continued to support African-American civil rights and advancement in Chicago, and became a suffragist. She was active in the women's club movement and mentored a new generation of younger black leaders, such as Fannie Barrier Williams, Ida B. Wells, and Daniel Hale Williams. She also made extensive philanthropic contributions. Jones died at age 89 and was buried under a tombstone which reads "Grandma Jonesie". A Chicago park was named in her honor in 2005. (Full article...)

March 9

Track level of Weesperplein

Weesperplein is an underground metro station in the city centre of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Served by lines 51, 53 and 54 of the Amsterdam Metro, the station was constructed using caissons with a length and width of 40 metres (130 ft). The station has two floors, the upper floor featuring a station hall with stores and the lower floor (pictured) containing the tracks. Construction started in August 1970, and the first test rides passed through the station in January 1977. Extensive tests were carried out in September that year before the station opened on 16 October. Another platform below the existing one was used as a fallout shelter until 1999. During a renovation of the emergency exits in 2011, some repairs had to be redone several times due to poor quality work. Weesperplein was renovated again from May 2017 to July 2018, when a new elevator and two more staircases between the hall and tracks were constructed. It was the fifth most used station of the Amsterdam Metro in 2018. (Full article...)

March 10

Charles Richardson (c. 10 March 1769 – 10 November 1850) was an English Royal Navy officer. He joined HMS Vestal in 1787, where he made an aborted journey to China before serving on the East Indies Station. He transferred to HMS Phoenix and fought in the Battle of Tellicherry. With HMS Circe he combated the Nore mutiny and fought in the Battle of Camperdown, capturing Jan Willem de Winter. He fought in the Battle of Callantsoog and the Vlieter incident, sailed to Egypt, and fought in the battles of Abukir, Mandora, and Alexandria. Commanding HMS Alligator, he was sent to the Leeward Islands Station during the Napoleonic Wars, where he captured three Dutch settlements. He transferred to HMS Topaze in 1821 and sailed to China, where his crew killed two locals in self-defence. The resulting diplomatic incident strained Richardson's health and he was invalided home, where he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath and promoted to vice-admiral. He died of influenza in Painsthorpe. (Full article...)

March 11

Bradley Cooper (born 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker whose films have grossed $13 billion worldwide. After a guest role in Sex and the City, he made his film debut in the comedy Wet Hot American Summer (2001) and played Will Tippin in the television show Alias (2001–2006). He had his breakthrough in The Hangover (2009), which was followed by two sequels. Cooper found more success with Silver Linings Playbook (2012), American Hustle (2013), and American Sniper (2014), the last of which he also produced. Cooper wrote, produced, directed, and starred in A Star Is Born (2018). For his part in its soundtrack and its chart-topping lead single "Shallow", he won a BAFTA Award and two Grammys. Cooper continued his filmmaking with Joker (2019), Nightmare Alley (2021) and Maestro (2023), and also starred in the last two. He has received twelve Academy Award nominations. (This article is part of a featured topic: Bradley Cooper.)

March 12

Carl Sagan with a mock-up of a Viking lander

The Sagan standard is the aphorism that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". It is named for Carl Sagan (pictured), who used the phrase in his 1979 book Broca's Brain. The standard has been described as fundamental to the scientific method and is regarded as encapsulating the basic principles of scientific skepticism. The Sagan standard is similar to Occam's razor in that both prefer simpler explanations to more complex ones. The Sagan standard is often invoked to challenge data and scientific findings, or to criticize pseudoscientific claims. Similar statements were previously made by figures such as Thomas Jefferson in 1808, Pierre-Simon Laplace in 1814, and Théodore Flournoy in 1899. The formulation "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof" was used a year prior to Sagan, by scientific skeptic Marcello Truzzi. It has also been argued that philosopher David Hume first fully characterized the principles of the Sagan standard in his 1748 essay "Of Miracles". (Full article...)

March 13

Fairfax Harrison (March 13, 1869 – February 2, 1938) was an American lawyer and businessman. He became a lawyer for the Southern Railway Company in 1896, and by 1906 he was the company's vice-president of finance. In 1913 he was elected president of Southern; under his leadership, the company expanded to an 8,000-mile (13,000 km) network across 13 states. Following the United States's entry into World War I, the federal government took control of the railroads, running them through the United States Railroad Administration, on which Harrison served. After the war, Harrison worked to improve the railroad's public relations, upgrade the locomotive stock by introducing more powerful engines, increase the company's amount of railroad track and extend the area serviced by the railway. Harrison struggled to keep the railroad afloat during the Great Depression, but by 1936 Southern was once again profitable. Harrison retired in 1937 and died three months later. (Full article...)

March 14

Newspaper advertisement for game tickets

On Sunday, July 10, 1932, an 18-inning baseball game was played at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. The Philadelphia Athletics defeated the Cleveland Indians, 18–17, in a game that saw a number of records set. Johnny Burnett of Cleveland set Major League Baseball (MLB) records that still stand with seven singles and nine total hits. Cleveland's 33 hits and the 58 total hits in the game are also MLB records; the 35 runs scored set a record for an extra-inning MLB game that stood until 1979. Eddie Rommel secured the win over Cleveland's Wes Ferrell. The Athletics had taken only two pitchers on the one-game road trip, required since Sunday baseball was illegal in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia's Lew Krausse gave up three runs in the first inning. Rommel then pitched an American League–record 17 innings in relief, allowing 14 runs, the most ever by a winning MLB pitcher, and 29 hits, a one-game MLB pitching record. This was Rommel's 171st MLB victory; he never won another major league game. (Full article...)

March 15

Construction of Grant's Canal, as depicted in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper

Grant's Canal was a military project to construct a canal through a bend in the Mississippi River opposite Vicksburg, Mississippi, during the American Civil War. Control of Vicksburg and the Mississippi was considered crucial by both the Union and the Confederacy. In June 1862, Union officer Thomas Williams was sent to De Soto Point with his men to dig a canal to bypass the strong Confederate defenses around Vicksburg. Disease and falling river levels prevented completion, and the project was abandoned until January 1863, when Ulysses S. Grant took an interest. The upstream entrance of the canal was moved, but heavy rains and flooding interfered with the project. Work was abandoned in March, and Grant eventually used other methods to capture Vicksburg. In 1876, the Mississippi changed course, cutting across De Soto Point near the route of the old canal and isolating Vicksburg from the river. The city's river access has since been restored. Only a small section of the canal survives. (Full article...)

March 16

Jamie Kalven (born 1948) is an American journalist, author, human rights activist, and community organizer based in Chicago, Illinois. He founded the Invisible Institute, a non-profit journalism organization based in Chicago's South Side. Kalven has been referred to as a "guerrilla journalist" by Chicago journalist Studs Terkel. His work in the city has included reporting on police misconduct and poor conditions of public housing. Kalven won a landmark court case – Kalven v. City of Chicago – which held that police misconduct records are public information under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. Thereafter, the Institute became a hub for information related to police misconduct in Chicago. In the aftermath of the 2014 murder of Laquan McDonald by a police officer, Kalven received accolades for obtaining a copy of an autopsy report showing that McDonald had been shot 16 times execution-style, contradicting official reports of a single gunshot wound. (Full article...)

March 17

The black-necked grebe (Podiceps nigricollis) is in the grebe family of water birds. During the breeding season, the head, neck, and breast are dark, with some yellow behind the eyes; the flanks are tawny rufous to maroon-chestnut; and the abdomen is white. The non-breeding bird has greyish flanks and no yellow feathers. This species is present in parts of Africa, Eurasia, and the Americas. It catches insects on the surface of the water, in flight, or occasionally on foliage, and dives to catch crustaceans, molluscs, tadpoles, and small frogs and fish. It makes a floating cup nest on an open lake, in which three or four eggs hatch after a 21-day incubation period. After about 10 days, the parents divide the brood between themselves, and after roughly 10 more days, the chicks become independent. The black-necked grebe travels as far as 6,000 kilometres (3,700 mi) during migration, in the course of which it pauses to moult. (Full article...)

March 18

Marble head, hypothesized to be of Attalus

Attalus I (269–197 BC) ruled the Ionian Greek Pergamene Kingdom from 241 BC until his death. He won an important victory, the Battle of the Caecus River, against the Galatians, a group of migratory Celtic tribes from Thrace, who had been plundering and exacting tribute through most of Asia Minor for decades. The victory was celebrated with a triumphal monument at Pergamon (The Dying Gaul) and Attalus taking the title of king (basileus). He participated as an ally of Rome in the First and Second Macedonian Wars against Philip V of Macedon. He conducted numerous naval operations in the Aegean, gaining the island of Aegina for Pergamon during the first war and Andros during the second. Attalus styled himself as a protector of the freedoms of the Greek cities of Asia Minor and portrayed himself as the champion of Greeks against barbarians. He funded art and monuments in Pergamon and in Greek cities he sought to cultivate as allies. He died at the age of 72 and was succeeded by his son Eumenes II. (Full article...)

March 19

George Griffith (1857–1906) was a British writer. He was active mainly in the science fiction genre, writing many future-war stories and helping to shape that emerging subgenre. He was briefly the leading science fiction author in Britain, making his breakthrough with his debut novel The Angel of the Revolution (1893), which was first serialized in Pearson's Weekly. He followed it up with the likewise successful sequel Olga Romanoff (1894). Griffith was highly active as a writer throughout the 1890s, penning many short works for C. Arthur Pearson, and went on travel assignments. These included an 1896 trip to Southern Africa that resulted in Griffith writing the novel Briton or Boer? (1897), anticipating the Boer War (1899–1902). Griffith's career declined in the late 1890s, and he was surpassed by H. G. Wells in the eyes of Pearson and the reading public. His last outright success was A Honeymoon in Space (1901). He continued to write prolifically up until his death at the age of 48. (Full article...)

March 20

The complex's tower on Lafayette Avenue

The American Bank Note Company Printing Plant is a repurposed complex of three interconnected buildings in the Hunts Point neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. The innovative Kirby, Petit & Green design was built in 1909–1911 by the American Bank Note Company on land which had previously been part of Edward G. Faile's country estate. A wide variety of financial instruments were printed there; at one point, over five million documents were produced per day, including half the securities traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Although the plant printed currency for many countries around the world, it was best known for producing Latin American banknotes, which led to it being the target of a FALN terrorist bombing in 1977. The facility was used by American Bank Note until about 1984, after which it was sold, redeveloped as commercial space, subdivided, and designated a New York City landmark. Major tenants include a charter school and the New York City Human Resources Administration. (Full article...)

March 21

William Y. Slack (August 1, 1816 – March 21, 1862) was an American lawyer, politician and soldier. A peacetime lawyer, Slack served in the Missouri General Assembly from 1842 to 1843 and saw combat in the Mexican–American War. After the outbreak of the American Civil War in April 1861, Slack, who held pro-slavery views, supported the Confederate cause. When the Missouri State Guard was formed the next month to oppose the Union Army, he was appointed as a brigadier general, commanding its 4th Division. After participating in the Battle of Carthage in July, he fought in the Battle of Wilson's Creek on August 10, where he suffered a bad hip wound. He transferred to the Confederate Army in late 1861 as a colonel. On March 7, 1862, during the Battle of Pea Ridge, he was wounded again. Infection set in, and he died on March 21. He was posthumously promoted to brigadier general in the Confederate Army on April 17; the Confederate Senate may not have known that he was dead. (Full article...)

March 22

Clockwise from top left:

1. New Zealand fur seal
2. Southern elephant seal
3. Steller sea lion
4. Walrus
5. Grey seal

Pinnipeds, including true seals, walruses and sea lions and fur seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of semiaquatic, mostly marine mammals of the order Carnivora. There are 34 living species. They have streamlined bodies and four limbs that have evolved into flippers. Males typically mate with more than one female, and the females raise the pups, often born in the spring and summer months. Pinnipeds generally prefer colder waters and spend most of their time in the water, but come ashore to mate, give birth, molt or escape from predators such as sharks and orcas. Humans have hunted seals since at least the Stone Age, and commercial sealing had a devastating effect on some species from the introduction of firearms through the 1960s. Populations have also been reduced or displaced by accidental trapping and marine pollution. All pinniped species are now afforded some protections under international law. (Full article...)

March 23

Cover of the April 1906 issue

Argosy was an American magazine, founded by Frank Munsey in 1882 as a children's weekly. In 1896 it became the first pulp magazine, printing only fiction and using cheap pulp paper. Circulation rose and remained strong for decades, but fell to no more than 50,000 by 1942. Many famous writers appeared in Argosy, including O. Henry, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Erle Stanley Gardner, and Robert E. Howard. It was sold in 1942 to Popular Publications and converted from pulp to slick format, and then to a men's magazine, carrying fiction and feature articles. Circulation soared to well over one million. From 1948 to 1958 it published a series by Gardner which examined the cases of dozens of convicts who maintained their innocence. It succeeded in overturning many of their convictions. In 1972 Popular sold the magazine to David Geller. He sold it to the Filipacchi Group in 1978, which closed it down at the end of the year. The title has been revived several times, most recently in 2016. (Full article...)

March 24

Eye is a collection by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen for his fashion house, inspired by the culture of the Middle East, particularly Islamic clothing, as well as the oppression of women in Islamic culture and their resistance. The collection crosses traditional garments with elements drawn from Western fashion. Jeweller Shaun Leane provided the collection's best-known design: a yashmak made from chainmail. The runway show for Eye was staged at Pier 94 in New York City on 16 September 1999, while Hurricane Floyd was threatening the city; more than 1,000 guests attended. The show was presented on a runway flooded with several inches of water, dyed black to resemble oil. A bed of nails rose up from the water for the finale, which featured acrobats dressed in robes descending from the ceiling, suspended from wires. When McQueen walked out for his final bow, he dropped his trousers to display boxer shorts styled to look like the American flag. Critical response to Eye was mixed. (Full article...)

March 25

Newspaper article about the match

The first match between the association football teams of Scotland and Wales took place on 25 March 1876 at Hamilton Crescent, Partick, Scotland. The fixture was organised by Llewelyn Kenrick, who had founded the Football Association of Wales only a few weeks earlier. The Welsh team was selected after trial matches were held at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham, Wales. Scotland, the more experienced team, dominated the match and had several chances to score in the first half. They had a goal disallowed after scoring directly from a corner kick, before taking the lead after 40 minutes through John Ferguson. In the early stages of the second half, Wales attempted to play more openly to find a goal, but the Scottish side took advantage of their opponent's inexperience and scored two further goals. Scotland added a fourth through Henry McNeil and claimed a victory in front of a crowd of around 17,000 people, a record for an international fixture at the time. (Full article...)

March 26

Statue in St Peter Mancroft, Norwich

Felix of Burgundy (died 647 or 648) was a saint and the first bishop of the kingdom of the East Angles. He is widely credited as the man who introduced Christianity to the kingdom. Felix came from the Frankish kingdom of Burgundy, and may have been a priest at one of the monasteries in Francia founded by the Irish missionary Columbanus—Felix may have been Bishop of Châlons, before being forced to seek refuge elsewhere. Felix travelled from Burgundy to Canterbury before being sent by Archbishop Honorius of Canterbury to the kingdom of Sigeberht of East Anglia in about 630. Upon Felix's arrival in East Anglia, Sigeberht gave him a see at Dommoc, possibly in Suffolk, either at Walton, near Felixstowe, or at Dunwich. According to Bede, Felix helped Sigeberht to establish a school in his kingdom. Felix died on 8 March 647 or 648, having been bishop for 17 years. His relics were translated from Dommoc to Soham Abbey and then to the abbey at Ramsey. Several English churches are dedicated to him. (Full article...)

March 27

Marble bust of Scipio, 2nd century BC

The battle of New Carthage, part of the Second Punic War, took place in early 209 BC when a Roman army under Publius Scipio (bust pictured) assaulted New Carthage, held by a Carthaginian garrison under Mago. Late in 210 BC Scipio took command of Roman forces in Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal) and decided to strike at the regional centre of Carthaginian power: its capital, New Carthage. He marched on the city and immediately attacked it. After defeating a Carthaginian force outside the walls, he pressed attacks on the east gate and the walls. Both were repulsed, but later that day Scipio renewed them. Hard-pressed, Mago moved men from the north wall, overlooking a broad, shallow lagoon. Anticipating this, a force of 500 men waded the lagoon to scale the north wall unopposed. They fought their way to the east gate, opened it from inside and let in their comrades. The city fell and became a logistics centre for the Roman war effort. By 206 BC the Carthaginians had been expelled from Iberia. (Full article...)

March 28

Royal Maundy ceremony in 1867

Royal Maundy is a religious service in the Church of England held on Maundy Thursday. At the service, the British monarch or a royal official distributes small silver coins known as "Maundy money". The name "Maundy" and the ceremony derive from the instruction of Jesus at the Last Supper that his followers should love one another. English monarchs washed the feet of beggars in imitation of Jesus, and gave to the poor; the latter custom survives through the Maundy gifts. Recipients were once chosen for their poverty, but are now chosen for service to their churches or communities. At the 2024 service at Worcester Cathedral, the distribution was made by Queen Camilla in place of her husband, Charles III, following his diagnosis of cancer. The coins' obverse design features the reigning monarch, while the reverse design features a crowned numeral enclosed by a wreath. In most years there are fewer than 2,000 complete sets of Maundy money; they are highly sought after by collectors. (Full article...)

March 29

Lou Henry Hoover (March 29, 1874 – January 7, 1944) was the first lady of the United States from 1929 to 1933 as the wife of President Herbert Hoover. She was active in community groups, including the Girl Scouts of the USA, which she led from 1922 to 1925 and from 1935 to 1937. She was the first woman to earn a geology degree from Stanford. In the first twenty years of their marriage, the Hoovers lived in several countries; during World War I, they led efforts to assist war refugees. Beginning in 1917, they lived in Washington, D.C., as Herbert became a high government official. In the White House, Lou Hoover dedicated her time as first lady to her volunteer work, though she did not publicize it. Her invitation of Jessie De Priest to the White House for tea was controversial in the South. After Herbert's defeat for re-election in 1932, Lou Hoover continued her work, helping provide refugee support with her husband during World War II, and died suddenly of a heart attack in 1944. (Full article...)

March 30

John Littlejohn (1756–1836) was an American tradesman and Methodist preacher. Migrating from Great Britain to the Thirteen Colonies when he was around 12, he traveled between various apprenticeships in Maryland and Virginia. After encountering Methodist revivalists, Littlejohn experienced a religious awakening and began preaching as an itinerant circuit rider during the Revolutionary War. Harassed by colonial authorities despite his revolutionary sympathies, Littlejohn managed to evade legal persecution and settle as a local preacher and tradesman in Leesburg, Virginia, where he variously served as a county magistrate, tax collector, and sheriff. In 1814, he was called upon in his duty as sheriff to protect the Declaration of Independence and various other important documents evacuated during the British raid on Washington. He moved to Kentucky several years later, where he entered work as a land agent after being sold falsely advertised land. He died at his home in Logan County in 1836. (Full article...)

March 31

Sculpture commemorating the Jarrow March

The Jarrow March (5–31 October 1936) was a protest against the unemployment and poverty suffered in the Tyneside town of Jarrow, in the north-east of England, during the 1930s. Around 200 men marched from Jarrow to London to petition the government to restore industry in the town after the closure in 1934 of Palmer's shipyard. Palmer's had launched more than 1,000 ships since 1852. In the 1920s, mismanagement and changed world trade conditions caused a decline which led to the yard's closure. When plans for its replacement by a steelworks were thwarted, the lack of any large-scale employment in the town led the borough council to organise the march. The House of Commons received the petition but took no action, and the march produced few immediate results. The Jarrovians went home believing that they had failed. In subsequent years the Jarrow March became recognised as a defining event of the 1930s and helped to prepare the way for wide social reform after the Second World War. (Full article...)