January 19
January 19
Patricia Highsmith is born
On this day, crime novelist Patricia Highsmith is born in Forth Worth, Texas. Highsmith, who wrote some 20 novels and seven short story collections, examined the darkest sides of human…
A Year In History: 1921
Also Within This Year in History:
1921
As Europe struggled to recover from WWI, two major figures of the next war ascended. In Germany, Adolph Hitler became leader of the Nazi Party, while Benito Mussolini was elected to Italy’s parliament, soon becoming prime minister and then, dictator. In America, the Tulsa Race Massacre took hundreds of Black lives, an atrocity largely covered up for decades. Meanwhile, Black culture began flourishing in the Harlem Renaissance, and Pittsburgh’s KDKA broadcast the first live sporting event on radio: a boxing match.
March 1
March 1
E.M. Forster takes a passage to India
Forty‑one‑year‑old British writer E.M. Forster embarks on his second trip to India after an absence of eight years. Forster would turn his observations of the country into his fifth and…
March 12
March 12
Italian auto titan Gianni Agnelli born
On this day in 1921, Giovanni “Gianni” Agnelli, the glamorous, powerful Italian business tycoon who turned Fiat, his family’s car company, into an international conglomerate, is born in Turin, Italy.…
April 11
April 11
First live sporting event broadcast on radio
On April 11, 1921, KDKA in Pittsburgh broadcasts the first live sporting event on the radio, a boxing match between Johnny Ray and Johnny Dundee. Pittsburgh Daily Post sports editor Florent…
May 5
May 5
Chanel No. 5 perfume launches
On May 5, 1921, a date of symbolic importance to its iconic creator, the perfume Chanel No. 5 officially debuts in Coco Chanel’s boutique on the Rue Cambon in Paris.…
May 23
May 23
“Shuffle Along,” the first major African American hit musical, premieres on Broadway
Deeply in debt and relegated to a shabby theater, the musical Shuffle Along debuts at the Sixty‑Third Street Music Hall on May 23, 1921. The odds are stacked against the…
May 31
May 31
Tulsa Race Massacre begins
Beginning on the night of May 31, 1921, thousands of white citizens in Tulsa, Oklahoma descended on the city’s predominantly Black Greenwood District, burning homes and businesses to the ground…
May 31
May 31
Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti go on trial for murder
A paymaster and a security guard are killed during a mid‑afternoon armed robbery of a shoe company in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Out of this rather unremarkable crime comes one of…
June 2
June 2
Flash floods ravage Colorado
Torrential rains slam Pueblo County in Colorado, causing a flash flood that leaves more than 100 people dead and millions of dollars in property damaged. The Arkansas River runs through…
June 27
June 27
Four‑time thief escapes Baumes law
Marcley pleads guilty to attempted larceny of a motorcycle in New York. Since this was his first offense, he received a suspended sentence, which, after the establishment of Baumes law…
July 5
July 5
Trial starts for Chicago White Sox players accused of throwing 1919 World Series
After Judge Hugo Friend denies a motion to quash the indictments against the major league baseball players accused of throwing the 1919 World Series, a trial begins with jury selection.…
July 29
July 29
Adolf Hitler becomes the leader of the Nazi Party
On July 29, 1921, Adolf Hitler becomes the leader of the National Socialist German Workers’ (Nazi) Party. Under Hitler, the Nazi Party grew into a mass movement and ruled Germany…
August 11
August 11
Alex Haley’s birthday
Alex Haley, author of Roots and The Autobiography of Malcolm X is born on this day in Ithaca, New York. Haley was raised in Henning, Tennessee, where his maternal grandparents…
September 7
September 7
Flash flood hits San Antonio
The San Antonio River floods on this day in 1921, killing 51 people and causing millions of dollars in damages. The flood was caused by some of the heaviest rainfall…
September 10
September 10
Silent film star Fatty Arbuckle arrested for murder
On September 10, 1921, Fatty Arbuckle, a silent‑film era performer at the height of his fame, is arrested in San Francisco for the rape and murder of aspiring actress Virginia…
October 24
October 24
Unknown Soldier is selected
On October 24, 1921, in the French town of Chalons‑sur‑Marne, an American sergeant selects the body of the first “Unknown Soldier” to be honored among the approximately 77,000 United States…
October 26
October 26
President Harding publicly condemns lynching
On October 26, 1921, President Warren G. Harding delivers a speech in Birmingham, Alabama in which he condemns lynchings—extrajudicial murders (usually hangings) committed primarily by white supremacists against Black Americans…
November 11
November 11
Dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Exactly three years after the end of World War I, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is dedicated at Arlington Cemetery in Virginia during an Armistice Day ceremony presided over…
November 25
November 25
Nathanael West flunks out of Tufts
On this day in 1921, Nathanael West officially flunks out of Tufts, where he had been admitted after faking his high school transcripts. West, the son of Jewish immigrants, was…
December 6
December 6
Irish Free State declared
The Irish Free State, comprising four‑fifths of Ireland, is declared, ending a five‑year Irish struggle for independence from Britain. Like other autonomous nations of the former British Empire, Ireland was…
