While playing in the outfield for his high school baseball team, Dernell Stenson attracted the attention of a scout from the Boston Red Sox. He was selected in the 1996 MLB draft and quickly worked through the ranks of the minor leagues. After four seasons with the Red Sox Triple-A team, Dernall signed a minor …
On March 10, 1928, Christine Collins gave her 9-year old son Walter some money to go to the movies. When he didn’t return long after the show was over, she contacted the Los Angeles Police Department. Police followed hundreds of dead-end leads and conducted extensive searches that eventually spread nationwide. Five months after Walter’s disappearance, …
Despite being a key figure in the era of the “girl next door,” Patti Brill had a pretty unremarkable career. As compared to her contemporaries, like Debbie Reynolds and Jane Powell, the majority of Patti’s screen appearances were uncredited. She exhibited the same bubbly personality and demure demeanor as Reynolds and Powell, but, unfortunately, was …
Viola Fletcher was born in Comanche, Oklahoma, but moved to Tulsa with her family. The Fletchers lived in Greenwood, an affluent neighborhood of black families, known as “Black Wall Street.” On May 31, 1921, mobs of white residents — some supposedly working as deputized agent of local government — attacked and destroyed the homes and …
Born in Trinidad, Hazel Scott moved to the United States when she was four. Labeled a child prodigy, Hazel began music studies at the Julliard School of Music at 8 years old. She was able to pick out any tune she heard on the piano. At 13, she joined an all-girl jazz band, playing piano …
