On this Day…
February 21
In 1965, "The angriest Negro in America" was shot dead. Former Black Muslim Malcolm X was about to speak to a packed audience at the Audubon Ballroom on upper Broadway in New York City. There was a sudden disturbance and a "firing squad" of three men - two armed with revolvers and one with a shotgun- rushed the stage. The black leader was peppered with shower of bullets, and by the time he reached the Vanderbilt Clinic he was past recall. Shortly before he'd said, "Each day I live as if I'm already dead."
In 1907, the Anglo-American poet Wystan Hugh Auden was born. He left England for New York in 1939, became an American citizen, and lived for a time on Seventh Avenue. He was a most prolific writer, and his one-time collaborator Christopher Isherwood said that if asked to write a poem about a brand of toothpaste containing ten anagrams of politicians' names, Auden could do it in 24 hours - "and it would be good." That other famous poet, Anon, described him as having "a face like a wedding cake left out in the rain."
- from Today's the Day! By Jeremy Beadle
In Christian history -
In 1864, St. Francis Xavier's Church in Baltimore, Maryland, the first Catholic parish church established for African-Americans, was dedicated.
- from This Day in Christian History By William D. Blake
In the Philippines -
In 1853, Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, one of the greatest Filipino painters along with fellow painter Juan Luna in the 19th century, was born in Binondo, Manila. Hidalgo played a significant role in Philippine history for having been an acquaintance and inspiration for members of the Philippine reform movement which included Dr. Jose Rizal, Marcelo del Pilar, Mariano Ponce and Graciano López Jaena. He studied Fine Arts and was subsequently sent to Spain in 1879 as a "pensionado" and enrolled in the School of Fine Arts in Madrid. In his lifetime, Hidalgo produced over a thousand works which include oil paintings, water color, pastels and charcoal drawings, with subjects ranging from the mythological and historical to landscapes, seascapes, portraits and figures of the genre. His major and controversial mural is the Assassination of Governor Fernando Manuel de Bustamante, which shows friars murdering the governor. - (www.kahimyang.info)
In Cebu -
In 1871, a bishop's decree confirmed the establishment of Consolacion, Cebu, as a parish.
In 1899, at around 11 a.m., the American gunboat "Petrel" docked in Cebu and signaled the start of the American occupation in Cebu. On this day, the leaders of the Republic in Cebu met to deliberate on what course of action to take. The leaders decided to surrender the city to the Americans. - from Cebuano Studies Center, University of San Carlos