Today in History: March 17

1923: For the first time, an African becomes the mascot of a major U.S. sports team when no native American is available for the opening of the Cleveland Indians baseball team’s Adair Field training camp in Lakeland, Florida. The team considers one “savage boy” the same as another, and gives a bow and arrow to the son of a Nigerian Kitchen worker, telling him to “play Indian”

1959: The Dalai Lama flees Tibet for India
Followers and advisers of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, feared for his life after a revolt had erupted in Lhasa against the Chinese.

1941: The National Gallery of Art opens in Washington. D.C.
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt opened the gallery, which today houses one of the world’s finest art collections.

1941: Fighting on the Horn of Africa during World War II, Nigerian soldiers with the 23rd Nigerian Brigade (11th African Division) of the British Army advance a remarkable 1600km in one month, and today capture Harar, Italian Somalia. The victory ends Italy’s occupation of the country.

1969: Golda Meir was elected as Israel’s first female prime minister. On March 17, 1969, 70-year-old Golda Meir made history when she was elected as Israel’s first female prime minister. She was the country’s fourth prime minister and is still the only woman to have held this post.

1973: Associated Press photographer Slava “Sal” Veder captures a heartwarming scene on the tarmac of California’s Travis Air Force Base as a recently freed American prisoner of war runs toward his family. The jubilation of the moment is encapsulated in the central image of his teenage daughter, whose wide smile and outstretched arms express her unbridled exuberance over her father’s return from Vietnam. The photo depicting Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm and his family called “Burst of Joy,” went on to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1974.

1992: Apartheid comes to an end in South Africa. White South Africans vote overwhelmingly in a referendum to end minority rule, by a margin of 68.7 percent to 31.2 percent. This ends the turbulent period called apartheid, a racial segregation policy that separated the minority white population by designating areas and activities prohibited to Black people.

2015: The UK’s first Bio-Bus, nicknamed ‘the poo bus’ was officially launched in Bristol as Service Number 2. Powered entirely on gas generated by human and food waste it went into regular service on 25th March.

2016: Suspected Muslim Fulani herdsmen disguised as soldiers butchered and then burned nearly a dozen Christians, mostly women and children, in the Riyom region of Plateau State
State radio said security forces failed to act quickly enough to prevent the slaughter.

2023: The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin. The warrant was issued for the crime of forcefully deporting children from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine into Russia. A warrant for the same crime was also issued against Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights.

Births on This Day, March 17

William Gibson age 76years
William Gibson, American Canadian writer of science fiction was the leader of the genre’s cyberpunk movement. Gibson grew up in southwestern Virginia. After dropping out of high school in 1967, he traveled to Canada and eventually settled there, earning a B.A. (1977) from the University of British Columbia. Many of Gibson’s early stories, including Johnny Mnemonic (1981; film 1995) and Burning Chrome (1982), were published in Omni magazine. With the publication of his first novel, Neuromancer (1984), Gibson emerged as a leading exponent of cyberpunk, a new school of science-fiction writing.

Matthew Ashimolowo, 72 years
Matthew Ashimolowo is a Nigerian clergyman and the senior pastor of Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC) in London. His Winning Ways programme is aired daily on Premier Radio (London) and Spirit FM (Amsterdam) and on television in Nigeria.
Ashimolowo is considered a preacher of the prosperity gospel. In January 2022, he appointed his first son as resident Pastor of KICC, London, and hinted at retirement.

Billy Corgan, 57years
William Patrick Corgan Jr is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the co-founder, lead singer, primary songwriter, guitarist, and only constant member of alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins.

Robert Kardashian, 37 years
Robert Arthur Kardashian is an American television personality. He is known for appearing on Keeping Up with the Kardashians, a reality television series that centers on his family, as well as its spin-offs. Kardashian graduated from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business in 2009.

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