NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include jazz musician Eddie Henderson, who was born in 1940; “Charlie’s Angels” star Jaclyn Smith, who was born in 1945; “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak, who was born in 1946; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was born in 1947; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bootsy Collins (Parliament-Funkadelic), who was born in 1951; artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel, who was born in 1951; “Grey’s Anatomy” star James Pickens Jr., who was born in 1954; actress and producer Rita Wilson, who was born in 1956; “The Practice” star Dylan McDermott, who was born in 1961; “The Princess Bride” star Cary Elwes, who was born in 1962; singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant, who was born in 1963; “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, who was born in 1973; and figure skater and Olympic medalist Sasha Cohen, who was born in 1984.
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OPEN WATER: The Erie Canal was opened on this day in 1825. The first major man-made waterway in the U.S. provided a route from Lake Erie to the Hudson River. Construction started July 4, 1817 and the canal cost $7,602,000. Cannons were fired and celebrations were held all along the route for the opening.
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A GIFT FROM GOD: Mahalia Jackson was born on this day in 1911. The most famous gospel singer of her time was born in New Orleans. In 1928 she moved to Chicago and sang with the Johnson Gospel Singers. Thomas A. Dorsey, the father of gospel music, was her adviser and accompanist from 1937 to 1946. By the 1950s, Jackson could be heard in concert halls around the world. She sang at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy and at the 1963 March on Washington. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. described her voice as “one heard once in a millennium.” She died in 1972.
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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.
Quotable:
“Faith and prayer are the vitamins of the soul; man cannot live in health without them.”
— gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who was born on this day in 1911
