June 21 in History

In Montreal, New France, a slave known by the French name of Marie-Joseph Angél

1734 — In Montreal, New France, a slave known by the French name of Marie-Joseph Angélique is put to death, having been convicted of setting the fire that destroyed much of the city

June 21 spans 53 recorded events across recorded history, from 217 BC to 2025. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.

By · — Wikipedia

Historical Events 53 events 217 BC – 2025

More major events on June 21

The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.

  1. 2004 SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight. Source
  2. 1973 In its decision in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the Miller test for determining whether something is obscene and not protected speech under the U.S. constitution. Source
  3. 1993 Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-57 to retrieve the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) satellite. It is also the first shuttle mission to carry the Spacehab module. Source
  4. 1964 Three civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, are murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, United States, by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Source

Did you know

In 1734, In Montreal, New France, a slave known by the French name of Marie-Joseph Angélique is put to death, having been convicted of setting the fire that destroyed much of the city. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.

Did you know

Marie-Josèphe dite Angélique was an enslaved Black woman in New France who was accused, tried, and executed for allegedly setting fire to Montreal in 1734. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.

Did you know

While earlier historical interpretations accepted her guilt, more recent scholarship has re-examined her life and trial within the broader context of slavery, colonialism, and racial inequality in early Canada. This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.

Did you know

Rather than a simple criminal case, Angélique’s story has become a key example of how systems of poverty, privilege, and protest operated in New France. This shows how the event shaped policy and public communication in the same period.

Did you know

In 1734, In Montreal, New France, a slave known by the French name of Marie-Joseph Angélique is put to death, having been convicted of setting the fire that destroyed much of the city had consequences that extended beyond the first headline. The key context is the institutions involved, the policy shift, and how the public response evolved afterward.

-217 Ancient_Carthage
A Carthaginian force under Hannibal ambushes and defeats a Roman army commanded by Gaius Flaminius in the battle of lake Trasimene during the Second Punic War.
Phoenician city-state
Ancient Carthage was an ancient civilization based in North Africa.
Wikipedia source
533 Belisarius
A Byzantine expeditionary fleet under Belisarios sails from Constantinople to attack the Vandals in Africa, via Greece and Sicily.
6th-century Byzantine general
Flavius Belisarius was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under Emperor Justinian I.
Wikipedia source
870 Al-Muhtadi
Caliph al-Muhtadi is killed by rebellious troops and is succeeded by his cousin Al-Mu'tamid.
14th Abbasid Caliph (r. 869–870)
Abū Isḥāq Muḥammad ibn Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Muhtadī bi-ʾLlāh, better known by his regnal name al-Muhtadī bi-ʾLlāh, was the Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate from July 869 to June 870, during the "Anarchy at…
Wikipedia source
1307 Külüg_Khan
Külüg Khan is enthroned as Khagan of the Mongols and Wuzong of the Yuan.
Emperor of Yuan dynasty from 1307 to 1311
Külüg Khan, born Khayishan, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Wuzong of Yuan, was an emperor of the Yuan dynasty of China.
Wikipedia source
1529 Kingdom_of_France
French forces are driven out of northern Italy by Spain at the Battle of Landriano during the War of the League of Cognac.
Country in Western Europe (843–1792; 1815–1848)
The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period.
Wikipedia source
1582 Sengoku_period
Sengoku period: Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful of the Japanese daimyōs, is forced to commit suicide by his own general Akechi Mitsuhide.
Period of Japanese history from 1467 to 1615
The Sengoku period was the period in Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Wikipedia source
1621 Old_Town_Square_execution
Execution of 27 Czech noblemen on the Old Town Square in Prague as a consequence of the Battle of White Mountain.
1621 public execution of leaders of the Bohemian Revolt in Prague
Old Town Square execution was the execution of 27 Bohemian leaders of the Bohemian Revolt by the Austrian House of Habsburg that took place on 21 June 1621 at the Old Town Square in Prague.
Wikipedia source
1749 Halifax,_Nova_Scotia
Halifax, Nova Scotia, is founded.
Canadian provincial capital
Halifax, officially the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), is the capital and most populous municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada.
Wikipedia source
1768 James_Otis_Jr.
James Otis Jr.
offends the King and Parliament in a speech to the Massachusetts General Court.
James Otis Jr. was an American lawyer, politician, and activist who was an early supporter of patriotic causes in the Province of Massachusetts Bay at the beginning of the American Revolution.
Wikipedia source
1788 New_Hampshire
New Hampshire becomes the ninth state to ratify the Constitution of the United States.
U.S. state
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States.
Wikipedia source
1791 Louis_XVI
King Louis XVI and his immediate family begin the Flight to Varennes during the French Revolution.
King of France from 1774 to 1792
Louis XVI was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution.
Wikipedia source
1798 Irish_Rebellion_of_1798
Irish Rebellion of 1798: The British Army defeats Irish rebels at the Battle of Vinegar Hill.
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 was a popular insurrection against the British Crown in what was then the separate, but subordinate, Kingdom of Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen.
Wikipedia source
1813 Peninsular_War
Peninsular War: Wellington defeats Joseph Bonaparte at the Battle of Vitoria.
1807–1814 war against Napoleon in Iberia
The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by the Iberian nations Spain and Portugal, along with the United Kingdom, against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during…
Wikipedia source
1824 Greek_War_of_Independence
Greek War of Independence: Egyptian forces capture Psara in the Aegean Sea.
Greek rebellion against the Ottoman Empire (1821–1829)
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence fought by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire from 1821 to 1829.
Wikipedia source
1826 Maniots
Maniots defeat Egyptians under Ibrahim Pasha in the Battle of Vergas.
Traditional name for natives of the Mani Peninsula in southern Greece
The Maniots or Maniates is the traditional name for the native Greek inhabitants of the Mani Peninsula in the southern Peloponnese region of Greece.
Wikipedia source
1848 Wallachian_Revolution_of_1848
In the Wallachian Revolution, Ion Heliade Rădulescu and Christian Tell issue the Proclamation of Islaz and create a new republican government.
Liberal and Romanian nationalist uprising
The Wallachian Revolution of 1848 was a Romanian liberal and nationalist uprising in the Principality of Wallachia.
Wikipedia source
1864 American_Civil_War
American Civil War: The Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road begins.
1861–1865 conflict in the United States
The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States.
Wikipedia source
1898 Capture_of_Guam
The United States captures Guam from Spain.
The few warning shots fired by the U.S. naval vessels are misinterpreted as salutes by the Spanish garrison, which was unaware that the two nations were at war.
The capture of Guam from Spain by the United States took place in a bloodless engagement during the Spanish–American War. The U.S.
Wikipedia source
1900 Boxer_Rebellion
Boxer Rebellion: China formally declares war on the United States, Britain, Germany, France and Japan, as an edict issued from the Empress Dowager Cixi.
1899–1901 anti-foreign uprising in China
The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, Boxer Movement, Yihetuan Movement, or Boxer War, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards…
Wikipedia source
1915 Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States
The U.S.
Supreme Court hands down its decision in Guinn v. United States 238 US 347 1915, striking down Oklahoma grandfather clause legislation which had the effect of denying the right to vote to African-Americans.
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S.
Wikipedia source
1919 Royal_Canadian_Mounted_Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police fire a volley into a crowd of unemployed war veterans, killing two, during the Winnipeg general strike.
Federal police service of Canada
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is the national police service of Canada.
Wikipedia source
1919 Ludwig_von_Reuter
Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet at Scapa Flow, Orkney.
The nine sailors killed are the last casualties of World War I.
Hans Hermann Ludwig von Reuter was a German admiral who commanded the High Seas Fleet when it was interned at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands at the end of World War I.
Wikipedia source
1921
The Irish village of Knockcroghery is burned by British forces.
Village in County Roscommon, Ireland
Knockcroghery is a village and townland in County Roscommon, Ireland. It is located on the N61 road between Athlone and Roscommon town, near Lough Ree on the River Shannon.
Wikipedia source
1929 Dwight_Morrow
An agreement brokered by U.S.
Ambassador Dwight Whitney Morrow ends the Cristero War in Mexico.
Dwight Whitney Morrow was an American businessman, diplomat, and politician, best known as the U.S.
Wikipedia source
1930 Conscription
One-year conscription comes into force in France.
Compulsory enrollment into national or military service
Conscription, also known as the draft in American English and Philippine English, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law.
Wikipedia source
1940 World_War_II
World War II: Italy begins an unsuccessful invasion of France.
Global conflict (1939–1945)
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers.
Wikipedia source
1941 Vichy_France
Having defeated forces of Vichy France, Allied forces capture Damascus.
Collaborationist regime in France (1940–1944)
Vichy France, also known as the Pétainist regime and Pétainist France, officially the French State, was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of German…
Wikipedia source
1942 Axis_capture_of_Tobruk
World War II: Tobruk falls to Italian and German forces; 33,000 Allied troops are taken prisoner.
1942 battle during the Western Desert Campaign of World War II
The Axis capture of Tobruk, also known as the Fall of Tobruk and the Second Battle of Tobruk was part of the Western Desert campaign in Libya during the Second World War.
Wikipedia source
1942 Bombardment_of_Fort_Stevens
World War II: A Japanese submarine surfaces near the Columbia River in Oregon, firing 17 shells at Fort Stevens in one of only a handful of attacks by Japan against the United States mainland.
1942 engagement in the American Theatre of World War II
The Bombardment of Fort Stevens occurred in June 1942, in the American Theater and the Pacific Theater of World War II.
Wikipedia source
1945 Battle_of_Okinawa
World War II: The Battle of Okinawa ends when the organized resistance of Imperial Japanese Army forces collapses in the Mabuni area on the southern tip of the main island.
Major 1945 battle of the Pacific War
The Battle of Okinawa , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by the United States Army and United States Marine Corps forces against the Imperial Japanese…
Wikipedia source
1952 Polytechnic_University_of_the_Philippines
The Philippine School of Commerce, through a republic act, is converted to Philippine College of Commerce, later to be the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
Public university in Manila, Philippines
The Polytechnic University of the Philippines is a public research university in the Philippines with a main campus in Santa Mesa, Manila.
Wikipedia source
1957 Ellen_Fairclough
Ellen Fairclough is sworn in as Canada's first female Cabinet Minister.
Canadian politician (1905–2004)
Ellen Louks Fairclough was a Canadian politician. A Progressive Conservative member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1950 to 1963, she was the first woman ever to serve in the Canadian Cabinet.
Wikipedia source
1963 1963_conclave
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini is elected as Pope Paul VI.
A conclave was held from 19 to 21 June 1963 to elect a new pope to succeed John XXIII, who had died on 3 June 1963.
Wikipedia source
1964 Civil_rights_movement
Three civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, are murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, United States, by members of the Ku Klux Klan.
1954–1968 U.S. social movement
The civil rights movement was a social movement in the United States from 1954 to 1968 which aimed to abolish legalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement in the country, which most commonly…
Wikipedia source
1970 Penn_Central_Transportation_Company
Penn Central declares Section 77 bankruptcy in what was the largest U.S.
corporate bankruptcy to date.
The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976.
Wikipedia source
1973
The Primer Congreso del Hombre Andino is inaugurated in Arica, Chile.
Primer Congreso del Hombre Andino was an academic conference in northern Chile organized by the northern branch of the University of Chile in June 1973.
Wikipedia source
1973
In its decision in Miller v.
California, 413 U.S. 15, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the Miller test for determining whether something is obscene and not protected speech under the U.S. constitution.
Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court clarifying the legal definition of obscenity.
Wikipedia source
1978 Tim_Rice
The original production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, Evita, based on the life of Eva Perón, opens at the Prince Edward Theatre, London.
English lyricist and author (born 1944)
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice is an English songwriter. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ…
Wikipedia source
1982 John_Hinckley_Jr.
John Hinckley is found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted assassination of U.S.
President Ronald Reagan.
John Warnock Hinckley Jr. is an American man who attempted to assassinate U.S. president Ronald Reagan as he left the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., on March 30, 1981, two months after Reagan's first inauguration.
Wikipedia source
1985 Braathens_SAFE_Flight_139
Braathens SAFE Flight 139 is hijacked on approach to Oslo Airport, Fornebu.
Special forces arrest the hijacker and there are no fatalities.
Braathens SAFE Flight 139 was an aircraft hijacking that occurred in Norway on 21 June 1985.
Wikipedia source
1989 Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States
The U.S.
Supreme Court rules in Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, that American flag-burning is a form of political protest protected by the First Amendment.
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S.
Wikipedia source
1993 Space_Shuttle_Endeavour
Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-57 to retrieve the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) satellite.
It is also the first shuttle mission to carry the Spacehab module.
Space Shuttle Endeavour is a retired orbiter from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the fifth and final operational Shuttle built.
Wikipedia source
2000 Section_28
Section 28 (of the Local Government Act 1988), outlawing the 'promotion' of homosexuality in the United Kingdom, is repealed in Scotland with a 99 to 17 vote.
Former British anti-homosexuality law
Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 provided that local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales should "not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting…
Wikipedia source
2001 Alexandria,_Virginia
A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, indicts 13 Saudis and a Lebanese in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 American servicemen.
Independent city in Virginia, US
Alexandria is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River in Northern Virginia, bordering Washington, D.C. to the northeast.
Wikipedia source
2004 SpaceShipOne
SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.
American experimental spaceplane
SpaceShipOne is an experimental air-launched rocket-powered aircraft with sub-orbital spaceflight capability at speeds of up to 3,000 ft/s (2,000 mph) / 910 m/s (3,300 km/h) using a hybrid rocket motor.
Wikipedia source
2005 Edgar_Ray_Killen
Edgar Ray Killen, who had previously been unsuccessfully tried for the murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Mickey Schwerner, is convicted of manslaughter 41 years afterwards (the case had been reopened in 2004).
Ku Klux Klan organizer convicted of manslaughter (1925–2018)
Edgar Ray Killen was an American Ku Klux Klan organizer who planned and directed the murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, three civil rights activists participating in the Freedom Summer of…
Wikipedia source
2006 Pluto
Pluto's newly discovered moons are officially named Nix and Hydra.
Largest dwarf planet
Pluto is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun.
Wikipedia source
2006 Yeti_Airlines
A Yeti Airlines de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter crashes at Jumla Airport in Nepal, killing nine people.
Nepalese airline
Yeti Airlines Pvt. Ltd. is an airline based in Kathmandu, Nepal. The airline was established in May 1998 and received its air operator's certificate on 17 August 1998.
Wikipedia source
2009 Greenland
Greenland assumes self-rule.
Autonomous territory of Denmark
Greenland is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark and is the largest of the kingdom's three constituent parts by land area, the others being Denmark proper and the Faroe Islands.
Wikipedia source
2012
A boat carrying more than 200 migrants capsizes in the Indian Ocean between the Indonesian island of Java and Christmas Island, killing 17 people and leaving 70 others missing.
2012 capsizing of a refugee boat heading to the Australian territory of Christmas Island
The 2012 Indian Ocean migrant boat disaster occurred on 21 June 2012, when a boat carrying more than 200 refugees capsized in the Indian Ocean between the Indonesian island of Java and the Australian external territory…
Wikipedia source
2012 Indonesian_Air_Force
An Indonesian Air Force Fokker F27 Friendship crashes near Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport, killing 11.
Aerial service branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces
The Indonesian Air Force is the aerial branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. The Indonesian Air Force is headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia, and is headed by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force.
Wikipedia source
2025 Hot_air_balloon
A hot air balloon catches fire mid-flight and crashes in Praia Grande, Santa Catarina, Brazil, killing 8 of the 21 on board.
Lighter-than-air aircraft
A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air.
Wikipedia source

History runs on facts, and this project runs on coffee!

Your support is incredibly helpful and genuinely appreciated.

Support with a coffee ☕