MOMENTS IN TIME - March 24, 2011

The History Channel

• On March 28, 1774, upset by acts of destruction of British property by American colonists, the British Parliament enacts the Coercive Acts. The acts included closing the port of Boston and making British officials immune to criminal prosecution in Massachusetts.

• On March 30, 1820, Anna Sewell, author of “Black Beauty,” is born. “Black Beauty,” the first significant children’s story in the English language to focus on animal characters, established the precedent for countless other works. The story, narrated by the horse, showed Black Beauty’s progression through a series of increasingly cruel owners.

• On April 2, 1863, responding to acute food shortages, hundreds of starving women riot in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va., demanding that the government release emergency supplies. At one point, Confederate President Jefferson Davis threw his pocket change at the mob from the top of a wagon.

• On April 3, 1882, Jesse James, one of America’s most notorious outlaws, is shot to death by fellow gang member Robert Ford, who betrayed James for bounty money. James was shot in the back while his mother cooked breakfast.

• On March 31, 1931, Knute Rockne, the legendary Notre Dame football coach, is killed in a plane crash in Kansas. Studebaker decided to name its new line of low-priced vehicles Rockne after the revered coach, agreeing to pay his widow 25 cents for each car sold.

• On March 29, 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of espionage for their role in passing atomic secrets to the Soviets during and after World War II. Supporters claimed that during World War II, Russia had been an ally, not an enemy. The husband and wife were executed in 1953.

• On April 1, 1963, the ABC television network airs the premiere episode of “General Hospital,” the daytime drama that would become the network’s most enduring soap opera and the longest-running serial program produced in Hollywood.

(c) 2011 King Features Synd., Inc.