On This Day in History - April 9th - Almanac

Today is Sunday, April 9, the 99th day of 2017 with 266 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Venus. Evening stars are Mercury, Mars and Jupiter.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include French poet Charles Baudelaire in 1821; actor/singer Paul Robeson in 1898; football Hall of Fame member Curly Lambeau in 1898; birth control pill inventor Gregory Pincus in 1903; actor Ward Bond in 1903; former U.S. Sen. James William Fulbright, D-Ark., in 1905; Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner in 1926 (age 91); singer/songwriter Tom Lehrer in 1928 (age 89); rock 'n' roll pioneer Carl Perkins in 1932; actor Jean-Paul Belmondo in 1933 (age 84); comedian Avery Schreiber in 1935; actor Michael Learned in 1939 (age 78); journalist Peter Gammons in 1945 (age 72); golf Hall of Fame member Seve Ballesteros in 1957; actor Dennis Quaid in 1954 (age 63); political commentator Joe Scarborough in 1963 (age 54); model Paulina Porizkova in 1965 (age 52); actor Cynthia Nixon in 1966 (age 51); actor Keshia Knight Pulliam in 1979 (age 38); actor Kristen Stewart in 1990 (age 27): actor Elle Fanning in 1998 (age 19).

On this date in history:

In 1413, Henry V was crowned king of England.

In 1816, the first all-black U.S. religious denomination, the AME church, was organized in Philadelphia.

In 1865, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia, bringing the Civil War to a close.

In 1866, the U.S. Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill of 1866, which granted African-Americans the rights and privileges of U.S. citizenship and formed the basis for the 14th Amendment.

In 1939, on Easter Sunday, African-American contralto Marian Anderson gave a free open-air concert before more than 75,000 people from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington after the Daughters of the American Revolution denied her use of Constitution Hall because of her race.

In 1940, Germany invaded Norway and Denmark.

In 1947, a tornado roared through at least 12 towns in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, killing 169 people. The twister traveled 221 miles across the three states.

In 1959, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration introduced America's first astronauts to the public. The seven men -- military test pilots M. Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper, John H.Glenn, Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Walter M. "Wally" Schirra, Alan B. Shepard and Donald K. "Deke" Slayton -- were selected from a group of 32 candidates to take part in Project Mercury.

In 1963, by an act of the U.S. Congress, British statesman Winston Churchill became an honorary U.S. citizen.

In 1965, the Astrodome opened in Houston for the first indoor Major League Baseball game.

In 1976, the United States and Soviet Union agreed on the size of nuclear tests for peaceful use.

In 1996, former U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D-Ill., pleaded guilty to mail fraud and was sentenced to 17 months in prison.

In 1999, the president of Niger, Ibrahim Bare Mainassara, was assassinated and a military junta led by the commander of the presidential guards took over.

In 2003, Iraqis, with help from Americans, toppled a 20-foot-tall statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad's Firdos Square.

In 2005, Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, married his longtime companion, Camilla Parker Bowles, at Windsor Castle. She took the title duchess of Cornwall.

In 2007, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that his country could produce nuclear fuel on an industrial scale.

In 2010, U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, 11 days shy of 90, announced he would retire after 35 years on the court where he was widely regarded as leader of the liberal bloc.

In 2012, South Korea's national police chief, Cho Hyun-oh, resigned amid criticism of how police handled an emergency call from a woman later killed by her kidnapper. Cho apologized for the "carelessness of the police and the horrendous results it led to."

In 2013, North Korea said the Korean Peninsula is "inching close to a thermonuclear war."

In 2014, a 16-year-old boy armed with two large knives stabbed and slashed 20 fellow students and a security guard at a school in Murrysville, Pa. No one was killed but at least four of the victims had serious wounds.

Marian Anderson, in forgiving the Daughters of the American Revolution for withdrawing an invitation to perform because she was African-American, said, "You lose a lot of time hating people."