Today in History!

It sure feels like spring is here for real now with this nice weather we have been having! We hope everyone has had a good work week and those taxes are in so you can relax this weekend!!

Time to take a break from your emails, phone calls and work to fill yourself in on a little history of today!

• 1865 – 9 hours after being shot by John Wilkes Booth, President Abraham Lincoln dies in Washington, D.C. His funeral was held on April 19^th, and he would later be buried in his hometown of Springfield, Illinois, two weeks later.

• 1912 – At 2:20 am, a little over two hours after striking an iceberg, the RMS Titanic split in two and sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Based on the protocol of “women and children first” 1,517 people went down with the ship as a result of insufficient lifeboats. In 1913, new regulations were created including an ice patrol to monitor icebergs in North Atlantic shipping lanes, as well as requiring ships to maintain a 24-hour radio watch.

• 1947 – At Age 28, Jack “Jackie” Roosevelt Robinson becomes the first African-American player to play in Major League Baseball, for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and breaking the more than 50 year old color barrier. After serving in the Army, the Negro League, Robinson would become a historic figure in baseball history. He helped the Dodgers win six National League pennants, one World Series, was voted an All-Star six times, won the N.L. MVP award in 1949, and was the inaugural N.L. Rookie of the Year in 1947. On April 15, 1997, 50 years after Robinson’s historic achievement, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig retired the “42” worn by Robinson, the first-ever number retired by all teams in the league.

• 1967 – Between 100,000 and 125,000 people march in parades in New York City to listen to speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Floyd McKissick, Stokely Carmichael and Dr. Benjamin Spoke, protesting the Vietnam War.

Until next time...