Video: 'PBS The Civil War: Episode 8 - War Is All Hell 1865' (Mar. 13, 1865, at 26:30)
(Monday, March 13, 1865; during the American Civil War) — Confederate President Jefferson Davis signed a measure today allowing black slaves to enlist in the Confederate States Army with the promise they would be set free.
(Saturday, March 12, 1955, 8:15 p.m. EST) — Legendary jazz musician Charlie “Bird” Parker died tonight in New York City of heart failure. Known as the inventor of bebop, Parker was 34.
(Monday, March 11, 1985, publicly announced at 6:15 p.m. MSK; during the Cold War) — Mikhail Gorbachev, 54, was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union by the Politburo today, only three hours after the death of Konstantin Chernenko.
Gorbachev’s policies of glasnost (“openness”) and perestroika (“restructuring”) as well as summit conferences with United States President Ronald Reagan and his reorientation of Soviet strategic aims would contribute to the end of the Cold War.
Video: '"Producers' Showcase" Peter Pan (7 March 1955)' (4 videos)
(Monday, March 7, 1955, 7:30-9:00 p.m. EST) — NBC-TV presented the full-length Broadway production of Peter Panlive tonight in color (only a black-and-white kinescope recording survived) as part of Producers’ Showcase, with nearly all of the show’s original cast.
The show attracted a then-record audience of 65-million viewers, the highest ever up to that time for a single television program.
(Saturday, March 1, 1975, 10:00-11:30 p.m. EST) — The blind singer-composer Stevie Wonder and composer Marvin Hamlisch each received four awards tonight at 17th Annual Grammy Awards at Uris Theatre in New York City.
Record of the Year went to a British-born singer Olivia Newton-John, for “I Honestly Love You.”
(Wednesday, March 1, 1995, 8:00-11:00 p.m. EST) — A newcomer, Sheryl Crow, and a pop trouper, Tony Bennett, won the top awards at the 37th Annual Grammy Awards, which were presented tonight at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and telecast on CBS.
Tony Bennett’s MTV Unplugged, an album of standards featuring duets with such singers as K. D. Lang, was named album of the year. “This is the greatest moment in my whole musical career and the greatest moment in my life,” Bennett said. “It’s such a victorious feeling to sing good American music and have this happen.”
MTV Unplugged, produced by David Kahne, also won Bennett’s third consecutive award in the traditional pop album category. He won his very first Grammy Award for a 1962 recording, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” (click here to watch several videos from tonight’s ceremonies).