View Historical Events by Day: What Happened Today in History on March 21

The Sharpeville massacre in South Africa occurs as police open fire on a crowd of approximately 5,000 demonstrating against apartheid, resulting in at least 91 people killed and 238 people wounded. Many people were shot in the back as they fled from the police. More

The Alcatraz Federal Prison in San Francisco Bay closes. The first batch of 137 prisoners had arrived at Alcatraz on August 11, 1934 from the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. During its 29 year history, Alcatraz held some of the most dangerous civilian prisoners, including Al Capone and Robert Stroud, the “Birdman of Alcatraz”. More

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, becomes independent after 106 years of German and South African rule, Namibia is a country in Southern Africa bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the northeast,  Zimbabwe lies less than 660 feet (200 meters) away along the Zambezi River near Kazungula, Zambia. Namibia's has a reported 2025 population of over 3 Million, its capital and largest city is Windhoek.

The first public tweet is sent by Twitter co-founder  Jack Dorsey,  The message was: "just setting up my twttr". The tweet was sent at 9:50 PM. At the time, Twitter was still in its early stages and known as "Twttr".