Today in History: February 12, composer and pianist Eubie Blake dies at 96
Veteran jazz pianist Eubie Blake performs during a suprise party for his 93rd birthday at New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Feb. 7, 1976. (AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine)
Today in History:
On Feb. 12, 1983, composer and pianist Eubie Blake, who wrote such songs as “I’m Just Wild About Harry” and “Memories of You,” died in Brooklyn, New York, at 96.
On this date:
In 1554, Lady Jane Grey, who had claimed the throne of England for nine days, and her husband, Guildford Dudley, were beheaded after being condemned for high treason.
In 1809, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was born in a log cabin in Hardin (now LaRue) County, Kentucky.
In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP, was founded.
In 1912, Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, abdicated, marking the end of the Qing Dynasty.
In 1914, groundbreaking took place for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. (A year later on this date, the cornerstone was laid.)
In 1973, Operation Homecoming began as the first release of American prisoners of war from the Vietnam conflict took place.
In 1999, the Senate voted to acquit President Bill Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice.
In 2000, Charles M. Schulz, creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip, died in Santa Rosa, California, at age 77.
In 2002, former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic went on trial in The Hague, accused of war crimes (he died in 2006 before the trial could conclude).
In 2006, figure skater Michelle Kwan effectively retired from competition as she withdrew from the Turin Olympics due to injury (she was replaced on the U.S. team by Emily Hughes).
In 2012, Adele emerged as the top winner at the Grammy Awards, winning six trophies, including record and song of the year for “Rolling in the Deep” and album of the year for “21″, in a ceremony shadowed by the death of Whitney Houston the day before.
In 2013, the manhunt for a rogue ex-Los Angeles cop Christopher Dorner, who was seeking revenge for his firing, came to an end with his apparent suicide in a mountain cabin following a gunbattle with law enforcement; authorities blamed him for killing four people, including two officers.
In 2017, at the Grammy Awards, Adele took home all five awards she was nominated for, including album of the year for “25” as well as record and song of the year for “Hello.”
In 2019, Mexico’s most notorious drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was convicted in New York of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation. (Guzman is serving a life sentence at the federal supermax prison facility in Florence, Colorado.)
In 2021, lawyers for Donald Trump defended him against impeachment at his Senate trial by accusing Democrats of waging a campaign of “hatred” against the former president and manipulating his words in the lead-up to the deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol.
In 2023, Patrick Mahomes was the MVP as the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles to win their third NFL championship in four years at Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Arizona.