TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – MARCH 21
1349 Between 100 and 3,000 Jews are killed in Black Death riots in Efurt, Germany
1556 Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is burned at the stake at Oxford after retracting the last of seven recantations that same day.
1788 Fire destroyed 856 buildings in New Orleans LA
1804 The French civil code, the Code Napoleon, was officially put forth.
1806 Lewis and Clark begin their trip home after an 8,000 mile trek of the Mississippi basin and the Pacific Coast.
1843 Preacher William Miller of Massachusetts predicts the world will end today
1851 Emperor Tu Duc orders that Christian priests are to put to death.
1891 A Hatfield marries a McCoy, ends long feud in West Virginia; it started with an accusation of pig-stealing & lasted 20 years
1906 Ohio passes a law that prohibits hazing by fraternities.
1910 The U.S. Senate grants ex-President Teddy Roosevelt an annual pension of $10,000.
1939 Singer Kate Smith records “God Bless America” for Victor Records.
1947 President Truman signs Executive Order 9835 requiring all federal employees to have allegiance to the United States
1951 Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall reports that the U.S. military has doubled to 2.9 million since the start of the Korean War.
1960 Police fired on demonstrators in Sharpeville, South Africa, after which the African National Congress was banned. 25 years later, a march marking the anniversary was also disrupted by police fire.
1963 Alcatraz Island, the federal penitentiary in San Francisco Bay, California, closes.
1966 Supreme Court reverses Massachusetts ruling that “Fanny Hill” is obscene
1971 Two U.S. platoons in Vietnam refuse their orders to advance.
1972 US Supreme Court rules states can’t require 1-year residency to vote
1980 President Jimmy Carter announces to the U.S. Olympic Team that they will not participate in the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow as a boycott against Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.
1985 South African Police kill at least 21 black people commemorating a similar mass shooting 25 years before
The Sharpeville massacre in 1985 had left 69 unarmed people dead. It was a turning-point in the history of South Africa.
1995 New Jersey officially dedicates the Howard Stern Rest Area along Route 295
2006 Jack Dorsey sends the world’s first Twitter message, or tweet
2014 Russia formally annexes Crimea amid international condemenation
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
