Jan. 15 history: MLK Jr.

 Jan. 15 history 

In 1559, England’s Queen Elizabeth I was crowned in Westminster Abbey. 

In 1870, First appearance of the Democratic Party donkey

In 1892, the original rules of basketball, devised by James Naismith, were published for the first time in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the game originated.

In 1917, Civil rights pioneer C.C. Bryant was born in southwest Mississippi and cut hair on weekends in McComb, Miss. In 1954, he became president of the local NAACP, working closely with Medgar Evers and seeking the number of Black voters on the rolls. 

In 1929, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta. MLK's name change: How Martin Luther King Jr. was born Michael King Jr. - The Washington Post

In 1943, work was completed on the Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. Department of War (now Defense).

In 1967, the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League defeated the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League 35-10 in the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, known retroactively as Super Bowl I.

In 1972, "American Pie" hits #1 on the pop charts

In 1973, President Richard Nixon announced the suspension of all U.S. offensive action in North Vietnam, citing progress in peace negotiations.

In 1974, the sitcom “Happy Days” premiered on ABC-TV.

In 1978, two students at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman, were slain in their sorority house. (Ted Bundy was later convicted of the crime and was sentenced to death. But he was executed for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl, which occurred 3 weeks after the sorority slayings.)

In 1981, the police drama series “Hill Street Blues” premiered on NBC.

In 1993, a historic disarmament ceremony ended in Paris with the last of 125 countries signing a treaty banning chemical weapons.

In 2009, US Airways Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger puts his Airbus 320 down in the Hudson River after a flock of birds disabled both engines. All 155 people aboard survived.

In 2018, singer Dolores O’Riordan of the Irish rock band The Cranberries died at a London hotel at the age of 46; a coroner found that she had accidentally drowned in a bathtub after drinking.

In 2019, Musical comedy star Carol Channing - best known to Broadway audiences for her role in “Hello, Dolly!” - died in California at age 97.