1791
Mar 23, Etta Palm, a Dutch champion of woman's rights, set up a group of women's clubs called the Confederation of the Friends of Truth.

1908
Mar 23, Joan Crawford, American actress, was born. She is best known for her role in Mildred Pierce.

1932
Mar 23, The executive committee of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) ruled to exclude blacks from appearing at Constitution Hall.

1997
Mar 23, The American Cancer Society recommended that women begin annual mammograms at age 40.

1998
Mar 23, In California a LA Fire Dept. helicopter crashed while transporting an injured 12-year-old girl to a hospital. The girl and 3 others were killed.

2002
Mar 23, Girls in Afghanistan celebrated their return to school for the first time in years.

2006
Mar 23, Karen Eklund (31) of Antioch was shot 11-20 times and killed by police in SF following a 40-mile pursuit that ended in Mission Terrace. She had been sought on a federal warrant in an identity-theft case. In 2007 her daughter (14) filed suit against the CHP saying the killing was unjustified. On April 6, 2011, a federal appeals court overturned a jury’s verdict of wrongdoing and $60,000 in damages against CHP Officer Steven Margraf.

2006
Mar 23, Sarah Caldwell (82), conductor and opera company director died in Portland, Maine.

2007
Mar 23, Rachel Smith of Tennessee bested 50 other aspiring beauty queens to win the title of Miss USA.

2007
Mar 23, A Brazilian housewife was convicted and sentenced to 19 years in prison for killing her husband, chopping his body into small pieces and frying it. Rosanita Nery dos Santos (52) drugged her husband in his sleep, then stabbed him to death two years ago in Salvador, about 900 miles northeast of Sao Paulo.

2009
Mar 23, In the Netherlands Joseph Mpambara (40), a Hutu man, was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for the slaying of two Tutsi mothers and at least four of their children during Rwanda's 1994 genocide. The Hague District Court acquitted Mpambara of involvement in the massacre of hundreds of other Tutsis who had sought shelter in a church. He was also acquitted of raping four women and killing one of them in a separate incident.

2011
Mar 23, Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor (79), famed her striking beauty and a film career that spanned five decades, died in Los Angeles.

2011
Mar 23, Amnesty International condemned the "shocking" treatment of 18 women protesters in Egypt after serious allegations that the army subjected them to torture and forced "virginity tests."

2012
Mar 23, In California Sandra Jessee (61) was sentenced to life in prison for the August 13, 1998, murder of her 3rd husband. She had him murdered to avoid paying for his cancer treatment and to collect insurance money.

2012
Mar 23, Turkish forces killed 15 female Kurdish rebel fighters in Bitlis Province.