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A slave since birth, Harriet Tubman escapes slavery for the first time from a plantation in Poplar Neck, Caroline County, Maryland, USA. She will be recaptured but will escape again making use of a secret network known as The Underground Railroad or The Freedom Train, which helped slaves escape to the Northern states. Harriet Tubman would make over 19 trips back South to help others escape and her 1987 biography was titled Freedom Train. The hope and succour
provided by the Underground Railway will inspire the musical Freedom Train, and numerous songs, including The Ballad Of The Underground Railroad, by Charles L. Blockson, best-known in a version peformed by the actor Danny Glover. The metaphor of the Freedom Train will also be widely adapted and adopted during in the civil rights stuggle of the 1960s, in such songs as People Get Ready [1965] by Curtis Mayfield And The
Impressions and Freedom Train [1969] by James Carr. There is also a compilation LP, Steal Away : Songs of
the Underground Railroad by Kim and Reggie Harris.
Llewellyn Williams is born at 62 New Oxford Street, Swansea, Wales. He will find success as music hall and variety songwriter Fred Godfrey, composer of such enduring standards as Bless 'Em All and Who Were You With Last Night?.
Boston-born popular singer Andrew Mack is appearing in "His Greatest Success" Tom Moore, at The Herald Square Theatre, New York City, USA. The newspaper ad for the show urges "Hear Mack's sweet songs".
The "musical absurdity" Twirly-Whirly is presented at Weber And Fields' Music Hall, New York City, USA, during a run of 247 performances.
The Four Madcaps, Lamar And Gabriel, Colby And Way, World And Dreyfuss, Lee Delbosq, Lew Wells and Ola Hayden are appearing at The Orpheum, San Francisco, California, USA.A production of the "musical extravaganza" The Wizard Of Oz by L. Frank Baum with music by Paul Tietjens and A.B. Sloane, plays at The Majestic Theatre, New York City, USA, during a run of 293 performances.
Billy Watson is starring in "That jolly musical farce" Krausemeyer's Alley at Gayety Burlesque, Washington DC, USA. The show also features The Billy Watson Beauty Chorus.The first 33 and a third r.p.m. long playing record players are launched by RCA Victor at the Savoy Plaza Hotel, New York City, USA. The system is not a commercial success and is abandoned until 1948.
The Foursome and The Spike Jones Quartet record Nobody's Sweetheart and Sweet Potato Swing for Decca Records in the USA.
The musical Hold On To Your Hats, starring Al Jolson, is prresented at The Shubert Theatre, Broadway, New York City, USA, during a run of 158 performances.Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys record Will You Be Loving Another Man?, in Chicago, Illinois, USA, for Columbia Records.
Noted Chicago blues pianist, vocalist and recording artist Jimmy 'Papa' Yancey, dies in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Ruth Brown and Billy Eckstine are undertaking an eight-day tour of the West Coast of the USA.
The Steven Sondheim musical Gypsy, starring Ethel Merman, is performed on Broadway, New York City, USA, during a run of 702 performances.
Anders Herrlin, bassist of 
Conway Twitty plays the last of three nights at The Winter Garden, Elizabeth City, Ohio, USA.The musical Milk And Honey, with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, is playing at The Martin Beck Theater on Broadway, New York City, USA, during a run of 543 performances.
Paul McDermott is born in Sydney, Australia, 
Kassner Associated Publishers send a cheque for £27 5s 3d for royalties to Dave Davies, guitarist with The Kinks.
A new youth-orientated magazine, Hitweek, publishes its first edition in Holland, Europe.UK tv show Ready, Steady, Go! features Dusty Springfield, The Hollies, The Small Faces and Gary Lewis And The Playboys.
Nico (backed by Jackson Browne on guitar) plays at Stanley's in the basement of The Dom, New York City, USA, supported by Tim Buckley.
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Fiddler On The Roof, starring Luther Adler and Dolores Wilson, is running during a lengthy engagement at McVickers Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Family play at 
Ahrue Luster, guitarist of heavy metal band Machinehead, is born in Chicago, Illinois, USA.The Jimi Hendrix Experience release their third album, Electric Ladyland, in the USA. The album's original UK cover, featuring several naked women, is changed to something less controversial for release in the USA.
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Mott The Hoople play their first British gig, at The Albemarle Youth Club, Romford, UK.
It's A Beautiful Day, Van Morrison, Elvin Bishop and Grootna play the first of two nights at Winterland, San Francisco, California, USA.
Little Feat play at The Bottom Line, Greenwich Village, New York City, USA, supported by Deadly Nightshade.
The O'Jays, The Whispers, Angela Bofill, Lakeside, Roberta Flack And Donnie Hathaway play in the Budweiser Superfest at Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA.
Big River, based on the Mark Twain novel The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, is playing at the Eugene O'Neill Theater on Broadway, New York City, USA, during a run of 1005 performances. Featuring music written by country-pop singer-songwriter Roger Miller, the play wins seven Tony awards, including Best Score.
The Boothill Foot Tappers play at The International, Manchester, England, UK, Europe.
The Dandy Warhols and Robbers On High Street play at the WQEX Larkfest in Albany, New York State, USA.
The three-day-long Second Vancouver Steel Guitar Festival comes to an end at Rime, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, featuring Steve Dawson, Michael Dunn, Lorene and Art Ruymar, Blind God, Michael Flunkert, Kamoe, The Outriggers, Tim Tweedale, Alexander Varty, Scott Smith and Aaron Joyce.
On the European leg of his Symphonica - The Orchestral Tour, George Michael plays at Wroclaw Stadium, Wroclaw, Poland.
It is announced that a group of Iranian youths who posted a video of themselves dancing to the Pharrell Williams hit Happy have been sentenced to up to a year in jail and 91 lashes.
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