- 1454 – Amerigo Vespucci is born in Florence.
- 1497 – Nicolaus Copernicus makes his 1st recorded astronomical observation
- 1522 – Martin Luther begins preaching his “Invocavit Sermons” in the German city of Wittenberg.
- 1776 – Adam Smith publishes “The Wealth of Nations.”
- 1841 – Supreme Court rules on Amistad slave ship mutiny case, ruling that the African slaves who seized control had been illegally forced into slavery and were thus free under American law and should be granted free passage back to Africa. President Martin Van Buren appealed the decision. Twice.
- 1861 – Margaret Murray Washington is born. Throughout her career, Margaret Murray Washington was an advocate for women and the founder of several schools. Her focus and programs paralleled those of her husband, Booker T. Washington in many ways.
- 1862 – The battle between the North’s U.S.S. Monitor and the South’s C.S.S. Virginia marks a turning point in naval warfare. The battle between the two ironclad warships resulted in little damage to either ship and signaled the end of the wooden warship era.
- 1864 – Ulysses S. Grant is appointed commander of the Union Army
- 1895 – Dr. Rebecca Crumpler, the nation’s first Black female doctor, dies.
- 1891 – Great Blizzard of 1891 begins in England and lasts until March 13; Kills 200 people and 6,000 animals.
- 1910 – Sue Lee is born. She became a labor organizer in San Francisco and led a 15-week strike against National Dollar Stores garment factors for better wages and working conditions.
- 1918 – Russian Bolshevik Party becomes the Communist Party
- 1928 – Graciela Olivárez is born. She was the first woman and first Latina graduate from Notre Dame Law School, and one of first two women on the board of Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
- 1935 – Porky Pig makes his Warner Brothers debut
- 1945 – Tokyo is firebombed with 334 US B-29 Superfortresses and 120,000 fire bombs
- 1954 – President Eisenhower criticizes Senator Joe McCarthy’s approach to rooting out communists in a letter to a friend.
- 1959 – The Barbie doll makes its debut
- 1996 – Comedian George Burns dies at age 100
- 1997 – Rapper Notorious B.I.G. is shot to death at a stoplight in Los Angeles.
- 2012 – Jerry Lee Lewis marries for the seventh time. The 76-year-old married his caregiver Judith Brown, who was 62 at the time.
