Milestones: February 21, 2024

February 21, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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PROTRACTED PLANS FOR A MONUMENT — THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT, WHICH WAS BUILT IN WASHINGTON, D.C. TO HONOR THE UNITED STATES’ revolutionary hero and first president, was dedicated on Feb. 21, 1885. The monument’s concept had its origins in 1783 when a French American engineer, the urban planner behind the design of the nation’s new capitol, made room for the Washington Monument — a 555-foot-high marble obelisk — in his plans, was first proposed in 1783. George Washington died in 1799, a year before the century change, but it wasn’t until 1832 — the centennial of his birth — that plans for a memorial structure were discussed in earnest. Architect Robert Mills’ hollow Egyptian obelisk design was accepted for the monument, and on July 4, 1848, the cornerstone was laid. The Know-Nothing’s takeover of the board, and then the Civil War, both of which caused a lack of funding, disrupted the construction. It wasn’t until the nation began rebuilding that Congress, the year of the American centennial, passed legislation in 1876 appropriating $200,000 so the project could be completed.

Formally dedicated in 1885, the monument had to be closed temporarily the next year in order to improve protection from vandals. The monument got some other improvements as well, reopening in 1888 with a public elevator.

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HAJJ PILGRIMAGE SOFTENED HIM — MALCOLM X, THE AFRICAN AMERICAN NATIONALIST AND RELIGIOUS LEADER, WAS ASSASSINATED on Feb. 21, 1965. As he addressed his Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights. Born as Malcolm Little, he had drawn inspiration from his father, a Baptist preacher who espoused the views of Marcus Garvey, a Black Nationalist who aimed to gather together the people of African descent. After being imprisoned on a burglary conviction at age 21, Malcolm was exposed to the teachings of Nation of Islam leader, Elijah Muhammad, whose adherents advocated both racial separatism and Black nationalism. But a Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca softened his perspective, particularly as he witnessed no racial discord among the orthodox Muslims. Changing his name, he returned to the U.S. as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and in June 1964 founded a new, more moderate Organization of Afro-American Unity, which advocated Black identity but also held that racism, not the white race, was the greatest enemy to African Americans.

The three assassins, originally identified as Mujahid Abdul Halim, Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam belonged to the Nation of Islam. However, there was doubt shed on the case against Aziz and Khalil Islam, and they were set to be exonerated after decades in prison. The third defendant, Mujahid Abdul Halim, known at the time of the assassination as Talmadge Hayer, had pleaded guilty. He is now in his 80s and lives in Brooklyn.

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ALLIES CAPTURE JERICHO — THE COMBINED ALLIED BRITISH AND AUSTRALIAN FORCES CAPTURED THE CITY OF JERICHO IN WHAT WAS THEN PALESTINE, on Feb. 21, 1918. This was the culmination of a three-day battle with Turkish troops. The Allies did not face great resistance from the Turkish soldiers, who decided to retreat. The capture proved advantageous strategically for the Allies, because they now controlled the key roadways from this holy site, one of the lowest-elevation points on earth, up to Jerusalem, which is almost 2,500 feet above sea level.

Jericho was the first city that the Israelite army, under the command of Joshua, captured upon entering the land of Canaan following their 40-year wander through the desert. Ironically, Israelis would, millennia later, in 1994 C.E., give Jericho and Gaza to the Palestinians as part of the 1994 Oslo Peace Agreement.

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NIXON IN CHINA — RICHARD NIXON BECAME THE FIRST US PRESIDENT TO VISIT A COUNTRY THAT THE U.S. DID NOT DIPLOMATICALLY RECOGNIZE, WHEN HE TRAVELED TO THE COMMUNIST-RULED PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA, on Feb. 21, 1972. President Nixon was slated to meet with Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Chou En-Lai, leaders of the PRC that had been established in 1949. During his visit, Nixon and the PRC leaders drafted and presented the Joint Communiqué of the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China, more widely known as the Shanghai Communiqué, which formally acknowledged — and that was a keyword — “all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China.” The communiqué also expressed wishes for peaceful relations and the hope of expanding the economic and cultural contacts between the two nations through bilateral trade.

The three-act opera, “Nixon in China,” premiered in 1987 at the Houston Grand Opera, with John Adams as composer and Alice Goodman as librettist. Nixon’s character was voiced as a baritone. “Nixon in China” made its own debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Manhattan in 2011.

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POEM WRITTEN AT ONE MONTAGUE — BRITISH AMERICAN POET W. H. AUDEN, BORN ON FEB. 21, 1907, LIVED IN BROOKLYN HEIGHTS FOR MANY YEARS. His large-scale works included “The Orators: An English Study” (1932; revised editions, 1934, 1966), in verse and prose, largely about hero-worship in personal and political life, and reflected his interest in the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Early in 1940, while living at One Montague Terrace, Auden wrote a long philosophical poem “New Year Letter,” which appeared with miscellaneous notes and other poems in “The Double Man” (1941). Estranged from the Anglican Church in which he had been raised, Auden returned return to the Anglican Communion and his writing became more abstract and religious in nature. The corner brownstone of 1 Montague Terrace bears a plaque commemorating Auden’s residence there from October 1939 to September 1940 and mentions his writing “The New Year Letter” while residing here.

The next year, Auden lived at 7 Middagh Street, sharing this house with Carson McCullers, Benjamin Britten and others. Their residence became known as February House, a famous center of artistic life.

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HAPPY 60TH BIRTHDAY — BRITISH ACTOR ADRIAN SCHILLER TURNS 60 on Feb. 21, 2024. Schiller made his TV debut playing Gold in the 1992 mini-series “Prime Suspect 2,” starring Helen Mirren and Colin Salmon, and his film debut playing Paul Stewart in the 1999 TV movie “RKO 281.” .Schiller has appeared in “Beauty and the Beast” (2017), the “Doctor Who” series and “The Last Kingdom.” Recently, he appeared as the character Drake Underwood, a shady but “above board” collector in the “Father Brown Mysteries,” season 11 episode, “The Father, the Son.” He has also appeared on “Victor Frankenstein,” a reimagining of the Frankenstein story and one focusing on the mad scientist’s assistant, Igor (played by Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe.

Adrian Schiller is also the face of the anti-drink-driving PIF Moment of Doubt on British TV, which since 2007 has been part of the DfT’s “Think! Road Safety” campaign.

See previous milestones, here.