AP Highlight in History: On March 21, 1965, more than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. began a march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala.
AP Photo/William Smith
On this date in:
1685
Composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany.
1790
Thomas Jefferson took office as America's first secretary of state.
1804
The French civil code, the Code Napoleon, was adopted.
1918
Germany launched the Somme offensive during World War I, hoping to break through the Allied line before American reinforcements could arrive.
1945
Allied bombers began four days of raids over Germany during World War II.
1946
The United Nations set up temporary headquarters at Hunter College in New York City.
1960
Police fired on black demonstrators in Sharpeville, South Africa, killing some 70 people.
AP Photo
1963
Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay was emptied of its last inmates.
1985
Police in Langa, South Africa, opened fire on blacks marching to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sharpeville shootings, killing at least 21 demonstrators.
1987
Irish rockers U2 released "The Joshua Tree" album.
2000
A divided Supreme Court ruled the government lacked authority to regulate tobacco as an addictive drug.
2005
Armed with a new law rushed through Congress and signed by President George W. Bush, the attorney for Terri Schiavo's parents pleaded with a judge to order the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube re-inserted. (The judge later refused.)
