March 21
1556 - The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, was burned at the stake as a heretic.
1804 - The French Civil Code, the Code Napoleon, was officially put forth.
1865 - Composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany.
1871 - Journalist Henry M. Stanley began his trek to find missionary and explorer David Livingstone.
1918 - Germany launched the Somme offensive during World War I, hoping to break through the Allied line before American reinforcements could arrive.
1935 - Persia officially changed its name to Iran.
1945 - During World War II, Allied bombers began four days of raids over Germany.
1952 - The Moondog Coronation Ball, considered the first rock and roll concert, took place at Cleveland Arena.
1960 - Police fired on demonstrators at Sharpeville, South Africa, after which the African National Congress was banned. Twenty-five years later, a march marking the anniversary of the event was also disrupted by police fire.
1963 - Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco Bay, a harsh maximum security facility which once housed gangster Al Capone, was closed.
1965 - Martin Luther King Jr. led the start of a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
1972 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Dunn v. Blumstein that states may not require at least a year's residency for voting eligibility.
1985 - Police in Langa, South Africa, opened fire on blacks marching to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sharpeville shootings, killing at least 21 demonstrators.
1990 - Namibia became an independent nation as the former colony marked the end of 75 years of South African rule.
1997 - President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin wrapped up their summit in Helsinki, Finland, still deadlocked over NATO expansion, but able to agree on slashing nuclear weapons arsenals.
2000 - A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled the government lacked authority to regulate tobacco as an addictive drug.
2006 - The social media website Twitter was launched, with the first tweet sent by co-founder Jack Dorsey.
2007 - Former Vice President Al Gore made an emotional return to Congress as he pleaded with House and Senate committees to fight global warming; skeptical Republicans questioned the science behind his climate-change documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.”
2010 - The House of Representatives passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and sent it to President Barack Obama to sign into law.
2012 - A previously divided U.N. Security Council sent a strong and united message to the Syrian government and its opposition, telling both sides to immediately implement proposals by international envoy Kofi Annan to end Syria’s yearlong bloodshed.
2016 - Laying bare a half-century of tensions, President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro prodded each other over human rights and the longstanding U.S. economic embargo during an unprecedented joint news conference in Havana.
2017 - U.S. and British officials announced they were barring laptops and tablets from the cabins of some international flights because of longstanding concerns about terrorists targeting jetliners.
2017 - On the second day of his Senate confirmation hearing, Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch declared he’d made no promises to President Donald Trump or anyone else about how he would vote on abortion or other issues.
2019 - President Donald Trump abruptly declared that the U.S. would recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights, a major shift in American policy.
2020 - During a White House briefing, President Donald Trump doubled down on his support for the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a possible treatment for the coronavirus, while Dr. Anthony Fauci said the evidence was “anecdotal.”
Birthdays
22 - Jace Norman (actor)
25 - TINI (singer)
28 - Jasmin Savoy Brown (actress)
30 - Karolina Pliskova (tennis player)
33 - Rochelle Humes (singer)
36 - Scott Eastwood (actor)
37 - Sonequa Martin-Green (actress)
37 - Adrian Peterson (football player)
43 - Melissa Gorga (reality star)
44 - Kevin Federline (reality star/rapper)
48 - Laura Allen (actress)
57 - Cynthia Geary (actress)
60 - Rosie O'Donnell (actress/TV host)
60 - Matthew Broderick (actor)
61 - Kassie Depaiva (actress)
64 - Gary Oldman (actor)
64 - Sabrina LeBeauf (actress)
71 - Russell Thompkins Jr. (singer)
76 - Timothy Dalton (actor)
78 - Marie-Christine Barrault (actress)
82 - Chip Taylor (musician)
83 - Kathleen Widdoes (actress)
========================================
Today in Sports History - March 21
1946 - The Los Angeles Rams signed Kenny Washington. Washington was the first black player to join a National Football League team since 1933.
1946 - The first Mexican League baseball game was played.
1953 - The Boston Celtics beat Syracuse Nationals (111-105) in four overtimes to eliminate them from the Eastern Division Semifinals. A total of seven players (both teams combined) fouled out of the game.
1959 - California defeats West Virginia 71-70 to win the NCAA Tournament.
1964 - UCLA defeats Duke 98-83 to win the NCAA Tournament.
1968 - The new American League baseball franchise in Kansas City announced their nickname as the "Royals".
1970 - UCLA defeats Jacksonville 80-69 to win the NCAA Tournament.
1973 - Frank Mohovlich (Montreal Canadiens) became the 5th NHL player to score 500 career goals.
1984 - NFL owners pass an "anti-celebration" rule for players.
1994 - Wayne Gretzky tied Gordie Howe's NHL record of 801 career goals.
2004 - The NHL suspended Calgary Flames coach-general manager Darryl Sutter and forward Krzysztof Oliwa. Sutter was suspended for two games for player selection and team conduct in the final 2.5 seconds of the game. Oliwa was suspended for his conduct after being given a penalty for physical abuse of officials. The Flames lost to the Nashville Predators 3-1.
2004 - Mark Messier (New York Rangers) was ejected after he spearing Martin Strbak (Pittsburgh Penguins). Messier was later suspended for two games by the NHL.
2012 - Meting out unprecedented punishment for a bounty system that targeted key opposing players, the NFL suspended New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton without pay for the coming season and indefinitely banned the team’s former defensive coordinator; Commissioner Roger Goodell fined the Saints $500,000 and took away two draft picks.
2019 - Japanese baseball star Ichiro Suzuki finishes his career with a record 4,367 base hits (NPB & MLB combined) as the Seattle Mariners defeat the Oakland Athletics 5-4 in a game played in Tokyo, Japan.
1556 - The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, was burned at the stake as a heretic.
1804 - The French Civil Code, the Code Napoleon, was officially put forth.
1865 - Composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany.
1871 - Journalist Henry M. Stanley began his trek to find missionary and explorer David Livingstone.
1918 - Germany launched the Somme offensive during World War I, hoping to break through the Allied line before American reinforcements could arrive.
1935 - Persia officially changed its name to Iran.
1945 - During World War II, Allied bombers began four days of raids over Germany.
1952 - The Moondog Coronation Ball, considered the first rock and roll concert, took place at Cleveland Arena.
1960 - Police fired on demonstrators at Sharpeville, South Africa, after which the African National Congress was banned. Twenty-five years later, a march marking the anniversary of the event was also disrupted by police fire.
1963 - Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco Bay, a harsh maximum security facility which once housed gangster Al Capone, was closed.
1965 - Martin Luther King Jr. led the start of a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
1972 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Dunn v. Blumstein that states may not require at least a year's residency for voting eligibility.
1985 - Police in Langa, South Africa, opened fire on blacks marching to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sharpeville shootings, killing at least 21 demonstrators.
1990 - Namibia became an independent nation as the former colony marked the end of 75 years of South African rule.
1997 - President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin wrapped up their summit in Helsinki, Finland, still deadlocked over NATO expansion, but able to agree on slashing nuclear weapons arsenals.
2000 - A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled the government lacked authority to regulate tobacco as an addictive drug.
2006 - The social media website Twitter was launched, with the first tweet sent by co-founder Jack Dorsey.
2007 - Former Vice President Al Gore made an emotional return to Congress as he pleaded with House and Senate committees to fight global warming; skeptical Republicans questioned the science behind his climate-change documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.”
2010 - The House of Representatives passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and sent it to President Barack Obama to sign into law.
2012 - A previously divided U.N. Security Council sent a strong and united message to the Syrian government and its opposition, telling both sides to immediately implement proposals by international envoy Kofi Annan to end Syria’s yearlong bloodshed.
2016 - Laying bare a half-century of tensions, President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro prodded each other over human rights and the longstanding U.S. economic embargo during an unprecedented joint news conference in Havana.
2017 - U.S. and British officials announced they were barring laptops and tablets from the cabins of some international flights because of longstanding concerns about terrorists targeting jetliners.
2017 - On the second day of his Senate confirmation hearing, Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch declared he’d made no promises to President Donald Trump or anyone else about how he would vote on abortion or other issues.
2019 - President Donald Trump abruptly declared that the U.S. would recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights, a major shift in American policy.
2020 - During a White House briefing, President Donald Trump doubled down on his support for the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a possible treatment for the coronavirus, while Dr. Anthony Fauci said the evidence was “anecdotal.”
Birthdays
22 - Jace Norman (actor)
25 - TINI (singer)
28 - Jasmin Savoy Brown (actress)
30 - Karolina Pliskova (tennis player)
33 - Rochelle Humes (singer)
36 - Scott Eastwood (actor)
37 - Sonequa Martin-Green (actress)
37 - Adrian Peterson (football player)
43 - Melissa Gorga (reality star)
44 - Kevin Federline (reality star/rapper)
48 - Laura Allen (actress)
57 - Cynthia Geary (actress)
60 - Rosie O'Donnell (actress/TV host)
60 - Matthew Broderick (actor)
61 - Kassie Depaiva (actress)
64 - Gary Oldman (actor)
64 - Sabrina LeBeauf (actress)
71 - Russell Thompkins Jr. (singer)
76 - Timothy Dalton (actor)
78 - Marie-Christine Barrault (actress)
82 - Chip Taylor (musician)
83 - Kathleen Widdoes (actress)
========================================
Today in Sports History - March 21
1946 - The Los Angeles Rams signed Kenny Washington. Washington was the first black player to join a National Football League team since 1933.
1946 - The first Mexican League baseball game was played.
1953 - The Boston Celtics beat Syracuse Nationals (111-105) in four overtimes to eliminate them from the Eastern Division Semifinals. A total of seven players (both teams combined) fouled out of the game.
1959 - California defeats West Virginia 71-70 to win the NCAA Tournament.
1964 - UCLA defeats Duke 98-83 to win the NCAA Tournament.
1968 - The new American League baseball franchise in Kansas City announced their nickname as the "Royals".
1970 - UCLA defeats Jacksonville 80-69 to win the NCAA Tournament.
1973 - Frank Mohovlich (Montreal Canadiens) became the 5th NHL player to score 500 career goals.
1984 - NFL owners pass an "anti-celebration" rule for players.
1994 - Wayne Gretzky tied Gordie Howe's NHL record of 801 career goals.
2004 - The NHL suspended Calgary Flames coach-general manager Darryl Sutter and forward Krzysztof Oliwa. Sutter was suspended for two games for player selection and team conduct in the final 2.5 seconds of the game. Oliwa was suspended for his conduct after being given a penalty for physical abuse of officials. The Flames lost to the Nashville Predators 3-1.
2004 - Mark Messier (New York Rangers) was ejected after he spearing Martin Strbak (Pittsburgh Penguins). Messier was later suspended for two games by the NHL.
2012 - Meting out unprecedented punishment for a bounty system that targeted key opposing players, the NFL suspended New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton without pay for the coming season and indefinitely banned the team’s former defensive coordinator; Commissioner Roger Goodell fined the Saints $500,000 and took away two draft picks.
2019 - Japanese baseball star Ichiro Suzuki finishes his career with a record 4,367 base hits (NPB & MLB combined) as the Seattle Mariners defeat the Oakland Athletics 5-4 in a game played in Tokyo, Japan.
