1. On March 7, 1928, famed Tennessee author and radio personality Alex Haley was born in Ithaca, New York. Haley is best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning book Roots: The Saga of an American Family, which chronicles his African ancestors' journey from slavery to freedom in America.

2. In 1862, during the American Civil War, the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern began in Arkansas. The battle was fought by Union and Confederate forces, including soldiers from Tennessee. The Confederates were victorious, but suffered heavy losses.

3. On March 7, 1998, the Tennessee Vols men's basketball team clinched the Southeastern Conference (SEC) regular-season championship with a victory over arch-rival Kentucky. The win marked their 25th of the season and advanced them to the NCAA tournament.

4. In 1943, Oak Ridge, Tennessee became the site of the Manhattan Project's X-10 Graphite Reactor, the world's first nuclear reactor. The project was a secret military effort to develop the atomic bomb during World War II. The reactor was used to produce plutonium for the bomb.

5. March 7, 1877, marked the inauguration of Tennessee's first Democratic governor since the end of the Civil War, William B. Bate. Bate was a former Confederate general who had been imprisoned by Union forces during the war. He served two terms as governor and later as a U.S. senator.