25,000 civil rights marchers arrive at the state capitol in Montgomery, Alabama. Martin Luther King Jr. leads the marchers in protesting the denial of voting rights to blacks in the South. “However difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long because truth crushed to earth will rise again. How long? Not long.” Months later, the Voting Rights Act becomes law.

1911. In New York, a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory kills 146 immigrant workers. The tragedy leads to safer working conditions across the United States.

1997. Former President George H. W. Bush then age 72 parachutes from a plane over the Arizona desert. Bush skydives again twice over the next few years.

1942. Singer Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul is born in Memphis, Tennessee.

And 1947. In Britain, singer songwriter Elton John is born in Pinner, outside London.

Today in History, March 25th. Mike Gracia, the Associated Press.