On this day back in 1878, boxer and civil rights martyr Jack Johnson was born. In 1885, the great artist Pascin was born.

Brilliant actor William Daniels is 86 today. Bonnie Bartlett and he have been marriage almost 62 years. I’ll mention two people for my mother: author John Jakes is 81 and actor Richard Chamberlain is 79; I don’t have much use for either. Shirley Jones is also 79. The Tin Drum director Volker Schlondorff is 74. Barney Frank is 73. Christopher Walken is 70. Gabe Kaplan is 68. Al Gore and Rhea Perlman are both 65, so we won’t be seeing much of them anymore. AC/DC guitarist and snappy dresser Angus Young is 58. And Ewan McGregor is 42.

The man of the day is Cesar Chavez, who was born in 1927. He co-founded the United Farm Workers with Dolores Huerta. Like Martin Luther King Jr, Chavez has become more a symbol than a man. But also like MLK, he did much great work during lifetime. He was also a curious guy, not believing in money and being a strict vegan.

Happy birthday Mr. Chavez! You died much too young.

Update (31 March 2013 6:20 pm)

I don’t know how I missed it, but the great Joseph Haydn was born today in 1732. Cesar Chavez still would have won, of course. But there is this:

Update (31 March 2013 11:17 pm)

I noticed that I made a mistake ten days ago. I wrote that Johann Sebastian Bach’s birthday was on 21 March. That is the old calendar. His real birthday is today. Sorry about that!