This Day in History: March 21, 2024
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1556
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, was burned at the stake as a heretic.
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1804
The French civil code, the Code Napoleon, was officially put forth.
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1871
Journalist Henry M. Stanley began his trek to find the missionary and explorer David Livingstone.
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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.
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1963
Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco Bay, a harsh maximum security jail which once housed gangster Al Capone, closed.
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1965
Martin Luther King, Jr., led the start of a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
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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.
