By Marisol Nicholson
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Sha’Carri Richardson (/ʃəˈkɛri/ shə-KERR-ee; born March 25, 2000) is an American track and field sprinter who competes in the 100 meters and 200 meters races. Richardson rose to fame in 2019 as a freshman at Louisiana State University, running 10.75 seconds to break the 100 m collegiate record at the NCAA Division I Championships. This winning time made her one of the ten fastest women in history at 19 years old.
In April 2021, Richardson ran a new personal best of 10.72 seconds, becoming the sixth-fastest woman of all time (at the time) and the fourth-fastest American woman in history. She qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics after winning the women’s 100-meter dash with 10.86 in the United States Olympic Trials. On July 1, it was reported that Richardson had tested positive for cannabis use following her 100 m final at the U.S. Trials, invalidating her win and making her ineligible to compete in the 100 m at the Olympics. After successfully completing a counseling program, she accepted a one-month period of ineligibility that began on June 28, 2021. In July 2023, she became the US national champion in the women’s 100 metres at the 2023 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, running 10.82 seconds.
Richardson won gold in the 100 m at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, beating Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in a new championships record time of 10.65 seconds. On the penultimate day of the 2023 World Championships, she would also go on to win gold as part of Team USA in the women’s 4x100m relay final with a championship record of 41.03 seconds.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
March’s full Moon goes by the name Worm Moon, which was originally thought to refer to the earthworms that appear as the soil warms in spring. This invites robins and other birds to feed—a true sign of spring! An alternative explanation for this name comes from Captain Jonathan Carver, an 18th-century explorer, who wrote that this Moon name refers to a different sort of “worm”—beetle larvae—which begin to emerge from the thawing bark of trees and other winter hideouts at this time.
The precession of the equinoxes has moved the astronomical beginning of spring back four days to March 21, but its previous date of March 25 became identified with the Virgin Mary, who was told by the angel Gabriel on that day that she would become the mother of Christ. Lady Day, as this day was commonly called, was one of the great quarterly dividing points of the year (the others being Midsummer Day, Michaelmas, and Christmas). It was traditionally the day for paying rents, signing or vacating leases, and hiring farm laborers for the year. The flower cardamine, or lady’s-smock, with its milky white flowers, is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and appears about this time. For a discussion about this plant’s significance, go to this site.
Question of the Day
I’m not old enough to remember the Moon landings. I’d like to know what phase the Moon was in on July 20, 1969.
It was in the waxing phase, six days old. (The new Moon was on the 14th.) Check out our Moon Phase Calendar to see the Moon’s phase on other dates of interest—or today!
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Arturo Toscanini (conductor) –
- Bela Bartok (composer) –
- Ed Begley, Sr. (actor) –
- Howard Cosell (sportscaster) –
- Eileen Ford (business executive) –
- Daniel Yanofsky (Canadian chess grandmaster ) –
- Flannery O’Connor (novelist) –
- James Arthur Lovell, Jr. (astronaut) –
- Gloria Steinem (women’s rights activist) –
- Aretha Franklin (singer) –
- Elton John (musician) –
- Bonnie Bedelia Culkin (actress) –
- Marcia Cross (actress) –
- Sarah Jessica Parker (actress) –
- Jeffrey Healey (Canadian musician) –
- Sheryl Swoopes (basketball player; Olympic gold medalist) –
- Lee Pace (actor) –
- Danica Patrick (race car driver) –
- Aly Michalka (actress) –
- Sha’carri Richardson (track and field athlete) –
Died
- Edward Steichen (photographer) –
- Viscountess Dilhorne (trained pigeons to carry secret communications in Europe during WWII) –
- Buck Owens (singer) –
- Herb Peterson (invented McDonald’s Egg McMuffin) –
Events
- Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano arrived off Outer Banks of North Carolina–
- George Washington planted pecans at Mount Vernon–
- Congress authorized first U.S. medal for Gen. George Washington, for forcing British army to evacuate Boston–
- First U.S. public demonstration of pancake making, NYC–
- Jacob S. Coxey’s army of jobless men began march from Ohio to Washington, D.C., to demand relief measures from Congress–
- Socialist Party of the United States organized at Indianapolis, Indiana–
- Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in NYC killed 148 women trapped by locked fire escape doors–
- Washington D.C.’s Daily News was the first U.S. newspaper to have a perfumed ad–
- The Jimmy Durante and Garry Moore Show premiered on the radio. The duo replaced the popular Abbott and Costello–
- Sugar Ray Robinson won world’s middleweight boxing championship by defeating Carmen Basilio, in Chicago–
- About 25,000 civil rights demonstrators ended a five-day march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, with a rally demanding equal rights for blacks–
- U.S. Supreme Court declared the poll tax to be unconstitutional for all elections–
- Multinational agreement to coordinate efforts to control trade in narcotic drugs signed in Geneva–
- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an employer may voluntarily act to redress imbalances in the workforce through affirmative action programs for women. It was the first time that the court specifically addressed such programs for women–
- Residents of Innisfail, Australia, set a new Guinness record for longest banana split. It was 26,377 feet 11.4 inches long and included 40,000 bananas, more than 2,000 gallons of ice cream and 528 gallons of toppings.–
Weather
- Seven inches of rain fell at Columbus, Indiana–
- Mar. 25-26: Amarillo, Texas, had 20.6 inches of snow in 24 hours–
- Fourth day (March 22 to 25) of blizzard weather affecting the Oklahoma/Texas panhandles–
- This day brought Florida “the most economically destructive force ever to hit the Orlando area,” as thunderstorms dropped hailstones up to four inches in diameter. Literally millions of panes of glass were broken during the storm, with damages totaling $60 million.–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
