March 28
Today in America's Present Past
1774 | Britain passed the Coercive Act against Massachusetts, placing it under direct British military rule.
1776 | Juan Bautista de Anza discovered the site for the Presidio of San Francisco.
1793 | Explorer Henry Schoolcraft was born.
1796 | Bethel African Methodist Church of Philadelphia became the first independent US-African denomination.
1797 | Nathaniel Briggs patented a washing machine.
1804 | Civil Rights: Ohio passed a law restricting the movement of Blacks.
1828 | Architect William Thornton died.
1834 | POTUS: Senate censured President Jackson for taking fed deposits from the Bank of US, later expunged.
1836 | Entrepreneur Frederick Pabst was born.
1864 | Civil Rights: Charleston, Illinois “riot” broke out between Republicans and “Copperhead Democrats.”
1884 | Civil Rights: Cincinnati race riots start.
1885 | The US Salvation Army was incorporated.
1899 | Entrepreneur August A. “Gussie” Busch Jr. was born.
1968 | Memphis sanitation strike and riot.
1909 | Author Nelson Algren was born in Detroit, Michigan.
1910 | SCOTUS: Justice David Josiah Brewer died.
1914 | Politician Edmund Muskie was born.
1929 | Poet Katharine Lee Bates died.
1930 | Composer Robert Ashley was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
1936 | Cleric Bill Gaither was born.
1953 | Athlete Jim Thorpe died.
1955 | Entertainer Reba McEntire was born.
1969 | POTUS: President Eisenhower died.
1970 | Actor Vince Vaughn was born.
1979 | A partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in the US resulted in the release of radioactive gas and iodine into the atmosphere but no deaths.
1986 | Entertainer Lady Gaga was born.
1990 | POTUS: President George H. W. Bush posthumously awarded Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal.
2004 | TV: The last “Friends” episode aired.