All Events

Historical Events on March 21

  • Thomas Cranmer

    1556

    In Oxford, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake.

  • Rezā Shāh

    1935

    Shah of Iran Reza Shah Pahlavi formally asks the international community to call Persia by its native name, Iran.

  • Mandalay

    1945

    World War II: British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma.

  • Kenny Washington (American football)

    1946

    The Los Angeles Rams sign Kenny Washington, making him the first African American player in the American football since 1933.

  • Sharpeville massacre

    1960

    Apartheid: Sharpeville massacre, South Africa: Police open fire on a group of unarmed black South African demonstrators, killing 69 and wounding 180.

  • Selma to Montgomery marches

    1965

    Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads 3,200 people on the start of the third and finally successful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

  • 1980 Summer Olympics boycott

    1980

    US President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

  • Pope John Paul II

    2000

    Pope John Paul II makes his first ever pontifical visit to Israel.

  • Twitter

    2006

    The social media site Twitter is founded.

All Births

Famous Birthdays on March 21

All Deaths

Famous Deaths on March 21

20. March

22. March