21 FEBRUARY

1896 - The Supreme Council of the revolutionary organization, Kataastaasang, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan (KKK), holds elections for the various positions of secretary, warden, guard and patroller, writer or recorder, and assistant writers or recorders; the KKK was founded by Andres Bonifacio in 1892 with the aim of liberating the Philippines from the yoke of Spanish colonial rule, and within around six months after this meeting, the Revolution against colonial Spain will break out in Manila.

1849 - The combined forces of Afghans and their Sikh allies are crushed by the British forces during the Battle of Gujrat; the Afghans had hoped to gain the district of Peshawar in the event of victory but as the aftermath of the battle, British India will annex both Peshawar and Punjab.

1965 - African-American nationalist and Muslim religious leader Malcolm X is assassinated by members of his former but now rival group, the Nation of Islam; born Malcolm Little, he held a radical civil rights consciousness but later founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity that espoused black identity while holding the more moderate view that racism, instead of the white race, is the greatest enemy of Afro-Americans.

1972 - United States Pesident Richard Nixon and First Lady Thelma "Pat" Ryan-Nixon arrive in China in a ground-breaking state visit aimed at the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries; the visit will produce the Shanghai joint communiqué that will declare Taiwan to be part of China, although various US administrations will try to go about the agreement by selling arms to Taiwan.