This Day…

1957 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American pioneer and author of the Little House series passes away.  (b. 1867)

Born 1921 – Lana Turner, American actress (d. 1995)

Born 1922 – Audrey Meadows, American actress (d. 1996)

1919 – Mary Pickford with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith launch United Artists.

1821: Elizabeth Blackwell was born (first woman in the U.S. to earn a medical degree)

1888 – Winifred Goldring, American paleontologist and educator, first woman appointed at a State Paleontologist, first woman elected president of the Paleontological Society was born. (d. 1971)

1986: First women killed in the US space program (Judith Resnick, Christa McAuliffe) as Challenger explodes, killing all seven aboard

1922 – Nellie Bly, pseudonym of American journalist and investigative reporter Elizabeth Jane Cochrane died. (b. 1864)

1949:  Axis Sally stood trial in the United States — an American charged with broadcasting Nazi propaganda.

1897 – Rosa Ponselle, American operatic soprano, known for her large opulent voice, considered by critics to be one of the greatest sopranos of the last 100 years (d. 1981) was born.

1856 – Harriot Stanton Blatch, American author, suffragist and women’s rights activist, daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton (d. 1940)