On this day in...

On this day in...
1667 – The blind and impoverished John Milton sells the copyright of Paradise Lost for £10.
1773 – The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.
1810 – Beethoven composes his famous piano piece, Für Elise.
1861 – President of the United States Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.
1945 – World War II: Benito Mussolini is arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting escape disguised as a German soldier.
1950 – Apartheid: In South Africa, the Group Areas Act is passed formally segregating races.
1974 – 10,000 march in Washington, D.C., calling for the impeachment of US President Richard Nixon.
1981 – Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse.
1994 – South African general election, 1994: The first democratic general election in South Africa, in which black citizens could vote.
2005 – The superjumbo jet aircraft Airbus A380 makes its first flight from Toulouse, France.
2006 – Construction begins on the Freedom Tower for the new World Trade Center in New York City.

Births
1822 – Ulysses S. Grant, Civil War general and 18th President of the United States (d. 1885)
1927 – Coretta Scott King, American civil rights activist and wife of Martin Luther King, Jr. (d. 2006)
1932 – Casey Kasem, American disc jockey
1941 – Lee Roy Jordan, American football player
1951 – Ace Frehley, American musician (Kiss)
1952 – George Gervin, American basketball player
1954 – Herman Edwards, Pro Football Analyst and Former NFL Player and Head Coach
1959 – Sheena Easton, Scottish singer
1967 – Jason Whitlock, American sportswriter

Big day for black folks in the BYB bday calendar today with a Union general, the wife of Dr. King, a couple gridiron greats, "The Iceman" Gervin a sportswriter and a stumpy white DJ who brought us the music of many black singers. Not sure how Ace Frehley and Sheena Easton fit into that but its their birthday too. But with San Antonio playing hot right now I'll go with George Gervin as the feature birthday.