November 21
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1920
Dublin’s Bloody Sunday killings
On this day in 1920, the Irish Republican Army launched a surprise attack across Dublin that targeted British intelligence agents and spies, resulting in 14 deaths. In retaliation, British forces stormed a Gaelic football match at Dublin’s Croke Park, firing on spectators. Fourteen people were killed, including several who were shot while trying to flee. At least 60 more were injured. This would be known as Bloody Sunday, the darkest day in the Irish War of Independence.
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Featured Event
Prints and Photographs Division/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital. id. cph 3g07155)
Signing of Mayflower Compact
On this day in 1620, 41 male passengers on the Mayflower, prior to landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts, signed the Mayflower Compact, by which they agreed to abide by the laws of the new government they would establish.
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
Photos.com/Thinkstock
Men will always be mad, and those who think they can cure them are the maddest of all.
One of the greatest French writers, famous for his critical capacity and satiric wit and still widely revered as a courageous crusader against tyranny, bigotry, and cruelty, Voltaire was born this day in 1694.
Famous Birthdays
More on November 21
United States Navy
2017
After some 37 years as leader of Zimbabwe—first as prime minister and later as president—Robert Mugabe resigned from office as the parliament began impeachment proceedings against him. [Test your knowledge of African leaders.]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
2002
A North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit meeting in Prague extended an official invitation to become new alliance members to Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about world organizations.]
National Archives, Washington, D.C. (544069)
2000
The United Farm Workers (UFW) called off the boycott of California table grapes begun in 1984 by union organizer Cesar Chavez to protest the use of dangerous pesticides. It was part of a series of UFW strikes that had started with the Delano grape strike in 1965–70.
Staff Sgt. Brian Schlumbohm/U.S. Air Force
1995
A peace agreement, known as the Dayton Accords, was reached by the presidents of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia, ending the Bosnian War. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about European history.]
Marvin Konerest/Comstock Inc.
1964
The Verrazzano- (originally Verrazano-) Narrows Bridge, spanning New York Harbor from Brooklyn to Staten Island, opened to traffic. [How much do you know about bridges?]
© 1931 Universal Pictures Company, Inc.; photograph from a private collection
1931
The horror classic Frankenstein, based on a stage adaptation of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s 1818 novel, was released in the United States, and it helped make the hulking monster, who was portrayed by Boris Karloff, one of the most recognizable characters in film history. [Take our quiz about monsters, ghouls, and ghosts.]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; neg. no. LC USZ 62 20175
1922
Rebecca Ann Felton of Georgia was sworn into office, becoming the first woman seated in the U.S. Senate; Felton, who was appointed to the seat, served only two days. [Discover other female firsts in U.S. politics.]
Pictorial Parade
1920
American baseball player Stan Musial, who was considered one of the game’s greatest hitters, was born. [Find out if Stan Musial made our list of the 10 greatest baseball players of all time.]
© Süeddeutsche Zeitung/Alamy
1898
Belgian artist René Magritte—one of the most prominent Surrealist painters, whose bizarre flights of fancy blended horror, peril, comedy, and mystery—was born. [Learn about tongue-twisting painting techniques.]
Photos.com/Jupiterimages
1878
Lord Lytton, the viceroy of India, launched the Second Anglo-Afghan War. [Test your knowledge of the history of warfare.]
© Photos.com/Jupiterimages
1806
The Continental System, a blockade designed to close the entire European continent to British trade, was proclaimed when Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree.
© Photos.com/Getty Images
1783
The first crewed hot-air balloon flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent, marquis d’Arlandes, traveling from the Château de la Muette across the Bois de Boulogne on the edge of Paris in a balloon made by Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier. [Take our quiz about early aviation.]