By Lady Houston
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), better known by the stage name Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress and singer. She has received various accolades, including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two NAACP Image Awards, in addition to a nomination for an Academy Award. In 2006, she became the first hip hop artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
At age 19, Latifah released her debut album All Hail the Queen (1989), featuring the hit single “Ladies First”. Her second album Nature of a Sista’ (1991), was produced by Tommy Boy Records. Her third album, Black Reign (1993), became the first album by a solo female rapper to receive a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and spawned the single “U.N.I.T.Y.“, which was influential in raising awareness of violence against women and the objectification of Black female sexuality. The track reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, and won a Grammy Award. Her fourth album Order in the Court (1998), was released with Motown Records. She has since released the albums The Dana Owens Album (2004), Trav’lin’ Light (2007), and Persona (2009).
Latifah starred as Khadijah James on the Fox sitcom Living Single from 1993 to 1998 and landed a leading role in the action film Set It Off (1996). She created the daytime talk show The Queen Latifah Show, which ran from 1999 to 2001, and again from 2013 to 2015, in syndication. Her portrayal of Matron “Mama” Morton in the musical film Chicago (2002) received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has also starred or co-starred in the films Bringing Down the House (2003), Taxi (2004), Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2005), Beauty Shop (2005), Last Holiday (2006), Hairspray (2007), Joyful Noise (2012), 22 Jump Street (2014), and Girls Trip (2017); and provided voice work in the Ice Age film series.
Latifah received critical acclaim for her portrayal of blues singer Bessie Smith in the HBO film Bessie (2015), which she co-produced, winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie. From 2016 to 2019, she starred as Carlotta Brown in the musical drama series Star. In 2020, she portrayed Hattie McDaniel in the miniseries Hollywood. Since 2021, she has held the lead role on CBS‘s revival of the action drama The Equalizer.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
“On this day, Great Lent begins in the Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church; it always falls on the 7th Monday before Orthodox Easter. Also called Clean Monday or Pure Monday, this religious observance is a day of fasting and spiritual purification and reflection, similar to Ash Wednesday of the Western Church.
The first week of Great Lent is also called Pure Week. Great Lent lasts for 40 days and ends on Lazarus Saturday, the day before Orthodox Palm Sunday. The next week is Holy Week, and ends on Easter, the day of Christ’s resurrection.”
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- John C. Calhoun (7th U.S. vice president) –
- Grover Cleveland (22nd and 24th U.S. president) –
- Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (composer) –
- Rudolf Diesel (inventor) –
- Tristram Coffin (writer) –
- Robert Donat (actor) –
- Herman Tarnower (physician) –
- Wesley Buchele (American agricultural engineer ) –
- Peter Graves (actor) –
- George Plimpton (author) –
- John Updike (author) –
- Charley Pride (singer) –
- Wilson Pickett (singer) –
- Kevin Dobson (actor) –
- Ingemar Stenmark (skier) –
- Mike Rowe (television host) –
- Vanessa Williams (actress) –
- Bonnie Blair (speedskater, Olympic gold medalist) –
- Queen Latifah (singer & actress) –
- Dane Cook (comedian) –
- Adam Levine (musician) –
- Lily Collins (actress) –
Died
- Louis Bromfield (author) –
- Eric Fromm (author) –
- Maude Farris-Luse (died at 115 years, 56 days) –
- Alonzo Decker, Jr. (turned tool manufacturer Black & Decker into corporate giant) –
- Natasha Richardson (actress) –
- Fess Parker (actor) –
Events
- British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act–
- Congress of the Confederate States of America adjourned for the last time–
- Telephone communication established between London and the Continent–
- Mahatma Gandhi sentenced to six years in jail after his first civil disobedience campaign against British rule in India–
- First electric razor marketed–
- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states must supply free legal aid to indigent clients charged with serious criminal offenses–
- Russian cosmonaut Aleksei A. Leonov became the first man to float freely in space, on a lifeline attached to Soviet spacecraft Voskhod–
- Fourteen NATO members (all except France) expressed their support for the North Atlantic Treaty and the principle of military integration–
- The tanker Torrey Canyon was wrecked near Cornwall, England, and discharged more than 31,000,000 gallons of crude oil–
- U.S. postal workers went on strike–
- Most Arab oil companies ended oil embargo against U.S.–
- Capital Cities Communications, Inc., announced the purchase of American Broadcasting Companies for $3.5 billion–
- Fleet Financial Corp. and Norstar Bancorp swapped stock in a $1.3 billion merger–
- Daylilies return to Earth on space shuttle Discovery–
- Largest art theft in the United States at the time ($500 million) occurred in Isabella Steward Gardner Museum in Boston–
- Sumatran tiger born, Sacramento Zoo, California–
Weather
- Great Tri-State Tornado: Missouri, Illinois, Indiana – most deadly in U.S. history – killed 695 people–
- Flooding worsened when more than 6.27 inches of rain (and 4.05 inches the next day) fell in Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire–
- Over 9 inches of rain caused severe flooding in the Catskill Mountains in New York–
- A haboob rose up to 1,000 feet high and 200 miles wide across western Texas and New Mexico–
- NOAA announced that February 2019 was the world’s 5th warmest February since 1880–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
