March 2nd in History: Significant Events and Milestones

March 2nd in History: Significant Events and Milestones

Today marks March 2, 2026, the 61st day of the year with 304 days remaining. Back in 1955, before Rosa Parks' famous act, Claudette Colvin, a Black high school student in Montgomery, Alabama, was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. In 1807, President Thomas Jefferson signed the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, affecting the importation of enslaved individuals. Texas joined the Confederacy in 1861 after seceding from the Union. The 1876 presidential election saw Rutherford B. Hayes declared the winner over Samuel J. Tilden, despite Tilden winning the popular vote. The Battle of the Bismarck Sea commenced in 1943 during World War II, with U.S. and Australian forces inflicting heavy damage on a Japanese convoy. Wilt Chamberlain set an NBA record by scoring 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors against the New York Knicks in 1962. In 1985, a screening test for AIDS was approved by the U.S. government to detect virus antibodies in blood donations. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church's free speech rights in 2011, despite protests near a Marine son's funeral. Tennessee faced a devastating tornado outbreak in 2020, resulting in 24 fatalities and significant destruction.