Moments in Time: Sir Paul McCartney
The History Channel
On March 9, 1841, at the end of a historic case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, with just one dissenting vote, that the enslaved Africans who seized control of the Amistad slave ship had been illegally forced into bondage and thus were free under American law.
On March 10, 1982, all solar system planets aligned on the same side of the sun in an event called a syzygy. Fortunately, and contrary to the natural catastrophes predicted in the 1974 bestselling book "The Jupiter Effect" by John Gribbin and Stephen H. Plagemann (including an earthquake in the San Andreas fault), Earth went on with business as usual.
On March 11, 1997, former Beatle Paul McCartney added "Sir" to his name when he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his "services to music" at London's Buckingham Palace. Three of his children accompanied him, but wife Linda was unable to attend as she was dealing with breast cancer, which would end her life a little more than a year later.
On March 12, 1988, a sudden hailstorm caused a stampede of fans at a soccer match in Kathmandu, Nepal's National Stadium, killing at least 70 people and injuring hundreds more.
On March 13, 1942, the Quartermaster Corps of the United States Army began training dogs for the newly established War Dog Program, or "K-9 Corps." More than a million dogs served on both sides during World War I, the most famous being Rin Tin Tin, who made his film debut in 1922.
On March 14, 1979, Judy Chicago's art installation "The Dinner Party" debuted at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, earning praise for its feminist focus as well as controversy over its use of genital imagery. It remains on permanent display at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City.
On March 15, 2021, Deb Haaland became the first Indigenous person in American history to serve as a cabinet secretary when she was sworn in as Secretary of the Interior.
(c) 2026 King Features Synd., Inc.