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Born on This Day

Voltaire

1694 - 1778

French philosopher and author who challenged authority, religion and societal norms in works like the 1759 satire "Candide."

Björk

1965 -

Icelandic singer, songwriter and actress famed for integrating electronic and organic sounds.

Michael Strahan

1971 -

Football star whose defensive play led the New York Giants to win Super Bowl XLII. Co-host of ABC's "Good Morning America."

VoltaireGetty Images

BjörkGetty Images

Michael StrahanWireImage

1959

NOV21

WABC radio fires influential deejay Alan Freed for refusing to swear that he never received “payola” for playing music on air. Freed, credited with popularizing rock ‘n’ roll and mainstreaming R&B, pled guilty to commercial bribery three years later.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on November 21st

George Washington orders General Lee to New Jersey

In what proved a fateful decision on November 21, 1776, Continental Commander in Chief General George Washington writes to General Charles Lee in Westchester County, New York, to report the loss of Fort Lee, New Jersey, and to order Lee to bring his forces to New Jersey. Lee wanted to stay in New York, so […]

Men fly over Paris in hot air balloon

French physician Jean-François Pilatre de Rozier and François Laurent, the marquis d’ Arlandes, make the first untethered hot-air balloon flight, flying 5.5 miles over Paris in about 25 minutes. Their cloth balloon was crafted by French paper-making brothers Jacques-Étienne and Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, inventors of the world’s first successful hot-air balloons. For time immemorial, humanity has […]

The First Seminole War begins in Florida

On November 21, 1817, U.S. troops from Fort Scott attack the small Seminole Indian village of Fowltown, located in southern Georgia, killing about 20 men and igniting the First Seminole War. The conflict, which lasted less than a year, would not succeed in squashing Native resistance, but it would contribute to the Spanish relinquishing its […]

President Lincoln allegedly writes to mother of Civil War casualties

Legend holds that on November 21, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln composes a letter to Lydia Bixby, a widow and mother of five men who had been killed in the Civil War. A copy of the letter was then published in the Boston Evening Transcript on November 25 and signed “Abraham Lincoln.” The original letter has […]

“Scientific American” announces Thomas Edison’s “wonderful invention”—the phonograph

On November 17, 1877, the publication Scientific American enthuses about Thomas Edison‘s new invention: the phonograph, a way to record and play back sound. Calling it a “wonderful invention,” the article describes the machine’s capability: “…whoever has spoken or whoever may speak into the mouthpiece of the phonograph, and whose words are recorded by it, […]

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News breaks of “Piltdown Man” fossil discovery

On November 21, 1912, the Manchester Guardian breaks the news: After three years of digging in the Piltdown gravel pit in Sussex, England, amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson had discovered two skulls that appear to belong to a primitive hominid and ancestor of man, along with a canine tooth, a tool carved from an elephant’s tusk, […]

Britannic, sister ship to the Titanic, sinks in Aegean Sea

The Britannic, sister ship to the Titanic, sinks in the Aegean Sea on November 21, 1916, killing 30 people. More than 1,000 others were rescued. In the wake of the Titanic disaster on April 14, 1912, the White Star Line made several modifications in the construction of its already-planned sister ship. First, the name was […]

Ella Fitzgerald wins Amateur Night at Harlem’s Apollo Theater

On the evening of November 21, 1934, a young and gangly would-be dancer named Ella Fitzgerald takes to the stage of Harlem’s Apollo Theater to participate in a harrowing tradition known as Amateur Night. Finding herself onstage as a result of pure chance after her name was drawn out of a hat, the aspiring dancer […]

“Rocky” opens in theaters

On November 21, 1976, Rocky, starring Sylvester Stallone as the underdog prizefighter Rocky Balboa, debuts in New York City. The movie, which opened in theaters across the United States on December 3, 1976, was a huge box-office hit and received 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay for the then-little known […]

As Iran-Contra scandal heats up, Oliver North shreds documents

National Security Council staff member Oliver North and his secretary, Fawn Hall, begin shredding documents that would have exposed their participation in a range of illegal activities regarding the sale of arms to Iran and the diversion of the proceeds to a rebel Nicaraguan group. On November 25, North was fired but Hall continued to […]

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