Brooklyn Today for February 6
Good morning. Today is the 37th day of the year. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of Feb. 6, 1860, reported on the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher’s mock slave auction at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights. The “auction,” in which Beecher pretended to “sell” a 9-year-old girl who was reported to be “one-sixteenth Negro,” was held to expose the horrors of slavery to the congregation. Beecher was known as a passionate foe of slavery, but after the Civil War he fell out of favor because of his alleged extramarital affairs.
Well-known people who were born today include handgun control activist Sarah Brady, TV journalist Tom Brokaw, singer Natalie Cole (“This Will Be Our Everlasting Love”), singer Fabian (“Turn Me Loose”), actress Zsa Zsa Gabor (“Ninotchka,” “Special Tonight”), actor Rip Torn (“Men in Black”), director Robert Townsend (“The Five Heartbeats”) and actress Mamie Van Doren (“High School Confidential”).