West Point Military Academy campus

1802

U.S. Military Academy established

Born on This Day

Portrait of First Lady Pat Nixon at the White House, Vogue

Pat Nixon

1912 - 1993

First lady who joined her husband on historic trips to China and the Soviet Union and advocated for volunteerism.

Flavor Flav Of Public Enemy Portrait Shoot

Flavor Flav

1959 -

Hip-hop artist and reality TV star who co-founded the rap group Public Enemy. Made oversize clock necklaces a fashion statement.

"Claire's Camera (Keul-Le-Eo-Ui-Ka-Me-La)" Photocall - The 70th Annual Cannes Film Festival

Isabelle Huppert

1953 -

French actress with more César Award acting nominations than any other woman. Earned an Oscar nomination for 2016's "Elle."

Pat Nixon

Conde Nast via Getty Images

Flavor Flav

Getty Images

Isabelle Huppert

FilmMagic

1827

MAR

16

"Freedom’s Journal," the first Black-owned-and-run newspaper in the US, publishes its first issue in New York City. A mix of news, service and abolitionist advocacy, the paper reached 11 states, Canada, Haiti and the UK.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on March 16th

1751

James Madison, “Father of the Constitution,” is born

On March 16, 1751, James Madison, drafter of the Constitution, recorder of the Constitutional Convention, author of the Federalist Papers and fourth president of the United States, is born on a plantation in Virginia. Madison first distinguished himself as a student at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), where he successfully completed a […]

2:34m read read

1850

“The Scarlet Letter” is published

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story of adultery and betrayal in colonial America, The Scarlet Letter, is published. Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1804. Although the infamous Salem witch trials had taken place more than 100 years earlier, the events still hung over the town and made a lasting impression on the young Hawthorne. Witchcraft figured […]

1:40m read read

1881

18-year-old woman murders her lover

Francisco “Chico” Forster is shot to death by Lastania Abarta.

1:36m read read

1894

Gunslinger John Wesley Hardin is pardoned

Infamous gunslinger John Wesley Hardin is pardoned after spending 15 years in a Texas prison for murder. Hardin, who was reputed to have shot and killed a man just for snoring, was 41 years old at the time of his release. Hardin probably killed in excess of 40 people during a six-year stretch beginning in […]

1:34m read read

1903

Judge Roy Bean dies

On March 16, 1903, Roy Bean, the self-proclaimed “law west of the Pecos,” dies in Langtry, Texas. A saloonkeeper and adventurer, Bean’s claim to fame rested on the often humorous and sometimes-bizarre rulings he meted out as a justice of the peace in western Texas during the late 19th century. By then, Bean was in […]

2:12m read read

1926

First liquid-fueled rocket takes flight

On March 16, 1926, American Robert H. Goddard successfully launches the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket at Auburn, Massachusetts, the first man to give hope to dreams of space travel. The rocket traveled for 2.5 seconds at a speed of about 60 mph, reaching an altitude of 41 feet and landing 184 feet away. Fueled by […]

3:22m read read

1955

NHL star Maurice Richard suspended; riot ensues

On March 16, 1955, NHL president Clarence Campbell suspends Montreal Canadiens star Maurice “Rocket” Richard for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs after he attacks an opponent with his stick and slugs a referee in the head. Riots erupt the following day at the Red Wings-Canadiens game in Montreal, causing the game to […]

1:42m read read

1968

Vietnamese villagers killed by U.S. soldiers in My Lai Massacre

On March 16, 1968, a platoon of American soldiers brutally kills as many as 500 unarmed civilians at My Lai, one of a cluster of small villages located near the northern coast of South Vietnam. The crime, which was kept secret for nearly two years, later became known as the My Lai Massacre. In March […]

1970

Motown soul singer Tammi Terrell dies

On March 16, 1970, Motown star Tammi Terrell died of complications from the malignant brain tumor that caused her 1967 collapse. Over a span of just 12 months beginning in April 1967, the duo of Terrell and Marvin Gaye and enjoyed a string of four straight hits with some of the greatest love songs ever […]

1:00m read read

Portrait Of Tammi Terrell

1972

James Brown performs at Rikers

On March 16, 1972, the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, performs two shows for inmates on Rikers Island, the notorious New York City prison complex. Brown pulls out all the stops, taking the show as seriously as any other gig and delivering a message of hope to crowds consisting of young men being held in […]

1:48m read read

1985

American journalist Terry Anderson kidnapped

In Beirut, Lebanon, Islamic militants kidnap American journalist Terry Anderson and take him to the southern suburbs of the war-torn city, where other Western hostages are being held in scattered dungeons under ruined buildings. Before his abduction, Anderson covered the Lebanese Civil War for The Associated Press (AP) and also served as the AP’s Beirut […]

1:04m read read

1988

President Reagan orders troops into Honduras

As part of his continuing effort to put pressure on the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua, President Ronald Reagan orders over 3,000 U.S. troops to Honduras, claiming that Nicaraguan soldiers had crossed its borders. As with so many of the other actions taken against Nicaragua during the Reagan years, the result was only more confusion […]

2003

23-year-old peace activist Rachel Corrie is crushed to death by Israeli bulldozer

An Israeli-owned bulldozer kills 23-year-old American woman Rachel Corrie on March 16, 2003, as she protests a demolition campaign that destroyed over a thousand homes in the Gaza Strip. Following the death of their daughter, Corrie’s parents filed a civil lawsuit against the state of Israel, asserting she had been intentionally killed—or that the soldier driving […]

1:28m read read

American Peace Activist Killed By Israeli Bulldozer

2005

Actor Robert Blake acquitted of wife’s murder

On March 16, 2005, after a three-month-long criminal trial in Los Angeles Superior Court, a jury acquits Robert Blake, star of the 1970s television detective show “Baretta,” of the murder of his 44-year-old wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. Blake, who was born Mickey Gubitosi in 1933 in New Jersey, made his movie debut at the age […]

2:06m read read

2008

Bear Stearns collapses, sold to J.P. Morgan Chase

On March 16, 2008, Bear Stearns, the 85-year-old investment bank, narrowly avoids bankruptcy by its sale to J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. at the shockingly low price of $2 per share. Bear Stearns seemed to be riding high with a stock market capitalization of $20 billion in early 2007. But its increasing involvement in the […]

4:40m read read

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