On this day in history —

• Sunday becomes the official day of rest in the Roman empire (321)
• Daniel Webster gives his “Seventh of March” speech (1850)
• Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone (1876)
• Germany reënters the Rhineland, violating the Treaty of Versailles (1936)
• The Allies capture the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen (1945)
• Selma police attack civil rights marchers in what becomes known as “Bloody Sunday” (1965)
• The supergroup USA for Africa releases “We Are the World” (1985)
• NASA launches the Kepler Space Telescope (2009)

It’s the birthday of —

• Bret Easton Ellis, literary Brat Packer (1964)
• Ivan Lendl, tennis player (1960)
• Ernie Isley, musical brother (1952)
• Sir Ranulph Fiennes, “world’s greatest living explorer” (1944)
• Stanley Schmidt, Analog editor (1944)
• Michael Eisner, Disney CEO (1942)
• Tammy Faye Bakker, makeup wearer (1942)
• Willard Scott, weatherman (1934)
• Lord Snowdon, photographer (1930)
• Dollard Ménard, Canadian hero (1913)
• Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi (1904)
• Maurice Ravel, composer (1875)
• Madame Sul-Te-Wan, actress (1873)
• Piet Mondrian, artist (1872)
• Luther Burbank, horticulturist (1849)
• Nicéphore Niépce, inventor and taker of the first photograph (1765)
• Rob Roy, Scottish folk hero (1671)

Deaths —

• Gordon Parks, photographer (2006)
• Paul Winfield, actor (2004)
• Charles Gray, Bond villain (2000)
• Pee Wee King, country musician (2000)
• Stanley Kubrick, director (1999)
• Cool Papa Bell, baseball player (1991)
• Divine, drag queen (1988)
• Alice B. Toklas, brownie baker (1967)
• Jacob Javits, politician (1986)
• Paramahansa Yogananda, yogi (1952)
• Saint Thomas Aquinas, theologian (1274)

Holidays —

• Teacher’s Day (Albania)
• Festival of Vejovis (ancient Rome)
• Feast of Perpetua and Felicitas (Catholicism)