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MILESTONES: March 21, birthdays for Adrian Peterson, Scott Eastwood, Ronaldinho

March 21, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle
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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include Olympic cross-country skier Marit Bjorgen, who was born in 1980; actor Matthew Broderick, who was born in 1962; theater director Peter Brook, who was born in 1925; actor Timothy Dalton, who was born in 1946; actor Scott Eastwood, who was born in 1986; dancer Kevin Federline, who was born in 1978; actress and TV personality Rosie O’Donnell, who was born in 1962; actor and director Gary Oldman, who was born in 1958; football player Adrian Peterson, who was born in 1985; and soccer player Ronaldinho, who was born in 1980.

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THE SELMA CIVIL RIGHTS MARCH TOOK PLACE ON THIS DAY IN 1965. More than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. began a four-day march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery to demand federal protection of voting rights. There were violent attempts by local police, using fire hoses and dogs, to suppress the march. A march two weeks before on March 7 was called “Bloody Sunday” because of the use of nightsticks, chains and electric cattle prods against the marchers by the police.

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JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1685. The German organist and composer was one of the most influential composers in musical history. Bach died in Germany in 1750.

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TODAY IS INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION.  Initiated by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966 to be observed annually on March 21, the anniversary of the killing of 69 African demonstrators at Sharpeville, South Africa, in 1960, as a day to remember “the victims of Sharpeville and those countless others in different parts of the world who have fallen victim to racial injustice” and to promote efforts to eradicate racial discrimination worldwide.

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MODEST MUSSORGSKY WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1839. The Russian romantic composer served as a military officer, and later a civil servant. He joined The Five, a group of other amateur Russian composers passionate about creating a genre of Russian music free from European musical conventions. His most famous works are “Boris Gudonov” and “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Mussorgsky died in 1881 in Russia.

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SOLOMON BURKE WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1940. The American musician and singer is widely considered to be one of the greatest soul singers of all time. Burke’s hits include 1962’s “Cry to Me” and 1964’s “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love.” He was a flamboyant showman, performing from a throne in keeping with his self-styled King of Rock and Soul persona. Burke’s personal life was outsized as well: he weighed more than 400 pounds at the time of his death and he fathered at least 21 children. He died at an airport in Amsterdam in 2010.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

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“Art is not an end in itself, but a means of addressing humanity.”
— composer Modest Mussorgsky,who was born on this day in 1839

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