March 11
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Featured Event
© 1961 Columbia Pictures Corporation
A Raisin in the Sun debuts on Broadway
On this day in 1959, the play A Raisin in the Sun debuted on Broadway. The three-act drama was written by Lorraine Hansberry, who was 29 years old when she became the first Black woman to have a play produced on Broadway. The play, which borrows its title from the Langston Hughes poem “Harlem,” was instantly successful; showgoers reveled in its emotional insights and social messaging. Sadly, Hansberry passed away just six years after the debut of her magnum opus. [Read today’s edition of Today in History > >].
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
Brown Brothers
Dorothy Gish, born this day in 1898, was a major figure in silent films, and she and her sister Lillian Gish were known for their roles in director D.W. Griffith’s classics, including Hearts of the World (1918).
Famous Birthdays
More on March 11
© Alberto Mihai/Dreamstime.com
2020
The World Health Organization declared that the COVID-19 outbreak was a pandemic. [How did the COVID-19 pandemic start?]
Petty Officer 1st Class Matthew Bradley/U.S. Navy photo
2011
An earthquake struck off the northeastern coast of Honshu, Japan, causing widespread damage in the country and triggering a devastating tsunami that instigated a major nuclear accident. [Explore Britannica’s list of the largest earthquakes in history]
Jean-Marc Ferré/UN Photo
2006
Michelle Bachelet was sworn into office. She was the first popularly elected South American female president and the first female president of Chile. [Take our quiz of women’s famous firsts.]
Paul White—AP/REX/Shutterstock.com
2004
Just three day’s before Spain’s general elections, a series of 10 bombs were detonated by Islamist militants in Madrid; the bombs exploded on four trains at three different rail stations, killing 191 people and injuring some 1,800 others. [Test your knowledge of European history.]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1990
Following a vote in the parliament, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare its independence from the U.S.S.R. [Take our quiz about countries of the world.]
Boris Yurchenko/AP Images
1985
Mikhail Gorbachev succeeded Konstantin Chernenko as leader of the Soviet Union. [Sort fact from fiction in our Russia quiz.]
The Harry S. Truman Library/NARA
1942
During World War II, Allied forces in the Southwest Pacific Theater came under the command of U.S. General Douglas MacArthur following his tour on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines. [Test your knowledge of war personalities.]
© MedioImages/Getty Images
1941
U.S. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act, which gave the president authority to aid any nation whose defense was believed vital to U.S. interests. [How much do you know about American history and politics?]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (neg. no. LC-DIG-fsa-8b29516)
1936
Migrant Mother, Dorothea Lange’s iconic photograph, was published for the first time. It appeared in the San Francisco News, alongside an editorial calling attention to the desperate conditions of migrant pea pickers. It is widely regarded as one of the most iconic photographs of the Dust Bowl period of the Great Depression. [How much do you know about the Great Depression?]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
1930
William Howard Taft was the first U.S. president to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. [How much do you know about U.S. presidents?]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-DIG-ppmsc-01262)
1926
Ralph David Abernathy, who was Martin Luther King, Jr.’s chief aide and closest associate during the 1950s and ’60s, was born in Linden, Alabama. [Read about 10 milestones in U.S. civil rights history.]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (cph 3a39569)
1918
One of the most devastating pandemics in human history reached the United States as the country reported its first cases of the Spanish flu. [Test your knowledge of viruses and diseases.]
Central Press/Pictorial Parade
1916
Harold Wilson, who led the Labour Party to victory in four general elections and was prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and from 1974 to 1976, was born. [Take our quiz about notable prime ministers.]
© Bettmann/Getty Images
1888
A winter storm began on the Atlantic coast of the United States, ultimately blanketing New York City with 22 inches (550 mm) of snow and other areas with up to 50 inches (1,250 mm); the Great Blizzard of 1888, as it became known, killed more than 400 people and caused widespread property damage. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about natural disasters.]
© Everett Collection/Shutterstock.com
1811
In Arnold, Nottingham, textile workers staged the first major Luddite riot in England, breaking the machinery that was causing their displacement; the protest launched a movement that spread throughout the country. [Test your knowledge of plots and revolutions.]
Courtesy of L. Locatelli-Milesi-Tombini, Bergamo, Italy
1544
Torquato Tasso, one of the greatest Italian poets of the late Renaissance, was born in Sorrento in the Kingdom of Naples. [Take our literature of Italy quiz.]