March 311492 - King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain issued the Alhambra edict expelling Jews who were unwilling to convert to Christianity. 1776 - Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John that women were "determined to foment a rebellion" if the new Declaration of Independence failed to guarantee their rights. 1779 - Russia and Turkey signed a treaty concerning military action in Crimea. 1831 - Quebec and Montreal were incorporated as cities. 1854 - The U.S. government signed the Treaty of Kanagawa with Japan. The act opened the ports of Shimoda and Hakotade to American trade. 1862 - Skirmishing between Rebels and Union forces took place at Island 10 on the Mississippi River. 1870 - In Perth Amboy, NJ, Thomas Munday Peterson became the first black to vote in the U.S. 1880 - Wabash, IN, became the first town to be completely illuminated with electric light. 1885 - Binney & Smith Company was founded in New York City. The company later became Crayola, LLC. 1889 - In Paris, the Eiffel Tower officially opened. 1900 - The W.E. Roach Company was the first automobile company to put an advertisement in a national magazine. The magazine was the "Saturday Evening Post". 1900 - In France, the National Assembly passed a law reducing the workday for women and children to 11 hours. 1901 - In Russia, the Czar lashed out at Socialist-Revolutionaries with the arrests of 72 people and the seizing of two printing presses. 1902 - In Tennessee, 22 coal miners were killed by an explosion. 1904 - In India, hundreds of Tibetans were slaughtered by the British. 1905 - Kaiser Wilhelm arrived in Tangier proclaiming to support for an independent state of Morocco. 1906 - The Conference on Moroccan Reforms in Algerciras ended after two months with France and Germany in agreement. 1906 - The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States was founded to set rules in amateur sports. The organization became the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 1910. 1908 - 250,000 coal miners in Indianapolis, IN, went on strike to await a wage adjustment. 1909 - Serbia accepted Austrian control over Bosnia-Herzegovina. 1917 - The U.S. purchased and took possession of the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million. 1918 - For the first time in the U.S., Daylight Saving Time went into effect. 1921 - Great Britain declared a state of emergency because of the thousands of coal miners on strike. 1923 - In New York City, the first U.S. dance marathon was held. Alma Cummings set a new world record of 27 hours. 1932 - The Ford Motor Co. debuted its V-8 engine. 1933 - The U.S. Congress authorized the Civilian Conservation Corps to relieve rampant unemployment. 1933 - The "Soperton News" in Georgia became the first newspaper to publish using a pine pulp paper. 1939 - Britain and France agreed to support Poland if Germany threatened invasion. 1940 - La Guardia airport in New York officially opened to the public. 1941 - Germany began a counter offensive in North Africa. 1945 - "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams opened on Broadway. 1946 - Monarchists won the elections in Greece. 1947 - John L. Lewis called a strike in sympathy for the miners killed in an explosion in Centralia, IL, on March 25, 1947. 1948 - The Soviets in Germany began controlling the Western trains headed toward Berlin. 1949 - Winston Churchill declared that the A-bomb was the only thing that kept the U.S.S.R. from taking over Europe. 1949 - Newfoundland entered the Canadian confederation as its 10th province. 1958 - The U.S. Navy formed the atomic submarine division. 1959 - The Dalai Lama (Lhama Dhondrub, Tenzin Gyatso) began exile by crossing the border into India where he was granted political asylum. Gyatso was the 14th Daila Lama. 1960 - The South African government declared a state of emergency after demonstrations led to the death of more than 50 Africans. 1966 - An estimated 200,000 anti-war demonstrators march in New York City. (New York) 1966 - The Soviet Union launched Luna 10, which became the first spacecraft to enter a lunar orbit. 1967 - U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Consular Treaty, the first bi-lateral pact with the Soviet Union since the Bolshevik Revolution. 1970 - The U.S. forces in Vietnam down a MIG-21, it was the first since September 1968. 1976 - The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that Karen Anne Quinlan could be disconnected from a respirator. Quinlan remained comatose until 1985 when she died. 1980 - U.S. President Carter deregulated the banking industry. 1981 - In Bangkok, Thailand, four of five Indonesian terrorists were killed after hijacking an airplane on March 28. 1985 - ABC-TV aired the 200th episode of "The Love Boat." 1986 - 167 people died when a Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashed in Los Angeles. 1987 - HBO (Home Box Office) earned its first Oscar for "Down and Out in America". 1989 - Canada and France signed a fishing rights pact. 1991 - Albania offered a multi-party election for the first time in 50 years. Incumbent President Ramiz Alia won. 1991 - Iraqi forces recaptured the northern city of Kirkuk from Kurdish guerillas. 1993 - Brandon Lee was killed accidentally while filming a movie. 1994 - "Nature" magazine announced that a complete skull of Australppithecus afarensis had been found in Ethiopia. The finding is of humankind's earliest ancestor. 1998 - U.N. Security Council imposed arms embargo on Yugoslavia. 1998 - Buddy Hackett received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 1998 - For the first time in U.S. history the federal government's detailed financial statement was released. This occurred under the Clinton administration. 1999 - Three U.S. soldiers were captured by Yugoslav soldiers three miles from the Yugoslav border in Macedonia. 1999 - Fabio was hit in the face by a bird during a promotional ride of a new roller coaster at the Busch Gardens theme park in Williamsburg, VA. Fabio received a one-inch cut across his nose. 2000 - In Uganda, officials set the number of deaths linked to a doomsday religious cult, the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments, at more than 900. In Kanungu, a March 17 fire at the cult's church killed more than 530 and authorities subsequently found mass graves at various sites linked to the cult. 2004 - Air America Radio launched five stations around the U.S. 2004 - Google Inc. announced that it would be introducing a free e-mail service called Gmail. 2016 - Apple released the iPhone SE. |