Today in history:
On January 31, 1988, Doug Williams, the first black quarterback to play in the Super Bowl, led the Washington Redskins (now Washington Commanders) to a 42-10 victory over the Denver Broncos and was named Super Bowl MVP.
Also on this date:
In 1863, during the Civil War, the First South Carolina Volunteers, an all-Black Union regiment made up of many who had escaped from slavery, were mustered into federal service in Beaufort, South Carolina.
In 1945, Pvt. Eddie Slovik, 24, became the first American soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion when he was shot by an American firing squad in France.In 1958, the United States entered the space age with the first successful launch of a satellite, Explorer 1, from Cape Canaveral.
In 1971, astronauts Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa flew aboard Apollo 14 on a mission to the moon.
In 2000, an Alaska Airlines MD-83 jet crashed into the Pacific Ocean near Port Hueneme (wy-NEE’-mee), California, killing all 88 people on board.
In 2001, a Scottish court in the Netherlands convicted a Libyan and acquitted a second for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. (Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi was given a life sentence, but was released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government after eight years. He died in 2012.)
In 2020, the United States declared a public health emergency due to the novel coronavirus, and President Donald Trump signed an order temporarily banning entry of foreign nationals, other than the immediate family of U.S. citizens, who had traveled in China within the previous fourteen days.
In 2023, Boeing Co. delivered. its last 747 wide-body jet to a customer, capping more than half a century of production of the iconic jumbo jet.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Composer Philip Glass is 89.
- Blues singer-musician Charlie Musselwhite is 82.
- Actor Glynn Turman is 79.
- Baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan is 79.
- Actor Jonathan Banks is 79.
- Rock singer John Lydon is 70.
- Actor Anthony LaPaglia is 67.
- Actor Minnie Driver is 56.
- Actor Portia de Rossi is 53.
- Actor-comedian Bobby Moynihan is 49.
- Actor Kerry Washington is 49.
- Singer Justin Timberlake is 45.
- Country singer Tyler Hubbard (Florida Georgia Line) is 39.
- Musician Marcus Mumford (Mumford and Sons) is 39.
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