What are the important events that happened on May 21? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

May 21: Facts & Myths About This Day

May 21 is the 142^nd day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 224 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is May 8, 2024 – a Tuesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 28,604,160 minutes has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘hectatetracontadigon’ day.

Taurus is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Emerald is the modern birthstone for this month. Sapphire is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 253 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,169 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

May 21 Historical Events

• 1758 –
  Mary Campbell is abducted from her home in Pennsylvania by Lenape during the French and Indian War.
• 1856 –
  Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.
• 1927 –
  Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1946 –
  Physicist Louis Slotin is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
• 1979 –
  White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk.
• 1981 –
  The Italian government releases the membership list of Propaganda Due, an illegal pseudo-Masonic lodge that was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries.
• 1990 –
  Democratic Republic of Yemen and North Yemen agree to merge into the Republic of Yemen.
• 1991 –
  Mengistu Haile Mariam, president of the People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, flees Ethiopia, effectively bringing the Ethiopian Civil War to an end.
• 2001 –
  French Taubira law officially recognizes the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.
• 2003 –
  An earthquake hits northern Algeria killing more than 2,000 people.

Who were born on May 21?

• 1864 –
  Princess Stephanie of Belgium (d. 1945)
• 1907 –
  John C. Allen, American roller coaster designer (d. 1979)
• 1912 –
  Akiva Vroman, Dutch-born Israeli geologist (d. 1989)
• 1933 –
  Yevgeni Minaev, Soviet weightlifter (d. 1993)
• 1941 –
  Ronald Isley, American singer (The Isley Brothers)
• 1948 –
  Leo Sayer, English singer and songwriter
• 1954 –
  Marc Ribot, American guitarist and composer
• 1957 –
  Bruce Buffer, American Mixed Martial Arts announcer
• 1972 –
  Adriano Cintra, Brazilian musician (CSS)
• 1984 –
  Sara Goller, German beach volleyball player

Who died on May 21?

• 987 –
  King Louis V of France (b. 967)
• 1237 –
  Olaf the Black, King of Mann and the Isles
• 1481 –
  King Christian I of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (b. 1426)
• 1512 –
  Pandolfo Petrucci, ruler of Siena (b. 1452)
• 1742 –
  Lars Roberg, Swedish physician (b. 1664)
• 1771 –
  Christopher Smart, English poet (b. 1722)
• 1935 –
  Jane Addams, American social worker, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1860)
• 1956 –
  Harry Bensley, English rake and adventurer (b. 1877)
• 1981 –
  Patsy O'Hara, Irish hunger striker (b. 1957)
• 1984 –
  Ann Little, American actress (b. 1891)