Poet Baudelaire was banned in France

It is the birthday of French poet Charles-Pierre Baudelaire (1821), one of the first poets to write about urban grittiness of 19th century Paris at a time when most poets were steeped in nature and pastoral settings. His Flowers of Evil (1857) dealt with eroticism and decadence, and was banned in France until 1949. Given their mutual interest in depravity, madness and crime, it's no wonder that Baudelaire became fascinated with the dark works Edgar Allan Poe, and translated them. The translations are regarded as classics in French literature.

Happy birthday, lyricist Yip Harburg

It is the birthday of lyricist Yip Harburg (1896), who wrote the words to Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?, April in Paris, It's Only a Paper Moon, and all the songs in The Wizard of Oz. He became a songwriter at the urging of his boyhood friend Ira Gershwin after the market crash of 1929 ruined an electrical appliance company Harburg co-owned. Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? became an anthem for the down and out during the Depression.

Happy birthday, Merle Haggard

It is the birthday of country music song writer Merle Haggard (1937), an icon in country music for decades — and still performing in his mid 70s. His daddy died when he was eight years old, and his mama raised him and supported the family working as a bookkeeper. Merle was rebellious and in and out of institutions and jail as a youth and young man. He was sent to San Quentin Prison at age 20, where he was inspired by a concert by Johnny Cash to turn his life around. He wrote and recorded Mama Tried, one of his signature songs, in 1968.

Happy birthday, Booker T. Washington

It is the birthday of African-American educator Booker T. Washington (1856), who grew the Tuskegee Institute to be one of the most significant institutions of higher education for black students in the nation. Washington established relationships in both black and white communities throughout the country aimed toward improving and developing black education. He secured donations to help start thousands of small rural schools throughout the South. He grew in stature and became an adviser to presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Washington wrote 14 books, some with the help of ghost writers Robert E. Park and Max Bennett. Among them are The Story of My Life and Work (1900), Up From Slavery (1901), The Story of the Negro: The Rise of the Race from Slavery (two volumes) (1909), My Larger Education (1911), and The Man Farthest Down (1912).  He was honored with a U.S. postage stamp in the 1940s, on a Liberty Ship in 1942, and on a half dollar coin in the late 1940s and early 1950s.