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.
1871
Journalist Henry M. Stanley began his trek to find the missionary and explorer David Livingstone.
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 Prison in San Francisco Bay, a harsh maximum security jail which once housed gangster Al Capone, closed.
1965
Martin Luther King, Jr., led the start of a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
2010
The House of Representatives passes a bill that will overhaul the American health-care system. The bill, called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will be sent to President Obama to sign into law.
Birthdays
Johann S. Bach
Pronunciation: [sAbäs´tyän bäkh]
1685–1750, German composer and organist, born in Eisenach; one of the greatest and most influential composers of the Western world.
Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier
mathematician and physicist (1768)
Benito Juarez
statesman (1806)
Modest Mussorgsky
composer (1839)
Florenz Ziegfeld
theatrical producer (1869)
Phyllis McGinley
poet (1905)
Matthew Broderick
actor (1962)