ON THIS DATE:
1861, the Confederate convention in Montgomery, Alabama, adopted a constitution.
1879, The U.S. Amateur Lacrosse Association was formed in Princeton, New Jersey.
1930, Babe Ruth signed a two-year, $80,000 contract with the New York Yankees.
1942, the first deportation train leaves Paris for the Auschwitz concentration camp.
1959, The first Broadway play by a Black woman, Lorraine Hansberry's Raisin In The Sun, opened.
1970, Deja Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young is released.
1972, Harvest by Neil Young hits Number One on the album chart, where it stays for two weeks.
1978, "Peg" by Steely Dan peaks at Number 11 on the pop chart.
1985, Mikhail Gorbachev was chosen to succeed Konstantin Chernenko, who'd died the day before, as the Soviet Union's leader -- the Communist Party General Secretary.
1985, DJs around the U.S. began questioning listeners to see which ones could name the 46 pop music stars who appeared on the hit "We Are The World." The song, airing first on this day as a single, contained a "Who's Who" of contemporary pop music.
1986, The NFL adopted the instant replay rule.
1989, "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses peaks at Number Five on the pop chart, where it stays for two weeks.
1990, Thirteen-year-old Jennifer Capriati became the youngest player to reach a women's tennis tournament final.
1991, Long before her "wardrobe malfunction," Janet Jackson signed a $40 million, three album deal with Virgin Records.
1991, Monica Seles ended Steffi Graf's streak of 186 weeks ranked as Number One.
1993, Janet Reno was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to be the nation's first female attorney general.
1997, former Beatle Paul McCartney was knighted in Britain by Queen Elizabeth II.
1997, The ashes of Star Trek's late creator Gene Roddenberry were, appropriately, launched into space.
2002, On this the six-month anniversary of the September 11th attack, two columns of light were lit up near Ground Zero, beside the site where the World Trade Center once stood. The "Tribute Of Light" shone each night until April 13.
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS:
- Thora Birch (actress, American Beauty) (28)
- Sam Donaldson (broadcast journalist) (76)
- Bobby McFerrin (singer, "Don't Worry Be Happy") (60)
- Rupert Murdoch (media mogul) (79)
- Antonin Scalia (Supreme Court Justice) (74)
- Johnny Knoxville (MTV's Jackass) (39)
- Lisa Loeb (singer, "Stay") (42)
- Joel Madden (singer, Good Charlotte) (31)
- Benji Madden (guitarist, Good Charlotte) (31)
- Mark Metcalf (actor, Animal House's Neidermeyer, Buffy The Vampire Slayer's The Master; played the father in the video for Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It") (64)
- Joey Buttafuoco (auto mechanic, lover of Amy Fisher) (54)
- Terrence Howard (actor, The Best Man, Hustle & Flow, The Player's Club) (41)
- Cheryl Lynn (R&B singer, "Got To Be Real") (53)
- Peter Berg (director/actor/producer, Friday Night Lights, Hancock, The Kingdom, Corky Romano) (46)
