Leadership Lessons from the 100th Anniversaries Coming in 2021

2021 will mark the 100th anniversary of major events in history that happened in 1921, both happy and sad. Some events will be noted, or even celebrated. Others will pass by unnoticed. Hopefully all will provide lessons from history that can help people today. Here are several examples of historical events that happened in 1921.

May 31, 1921 - The Tulsa Race Massacre took place in Oklahoma over two days from May 31-June 1, 1921. The unrest started when a teenage black man was accused of assaulting a teenage white woman. The accused man was arrested and rumors spread that he was going to be lynched, so a group of black men arrived at the jail to protect him. A mob of white men arrived and violence erupted, resulting in 10 white men 2 black men being killed. White rioters rampaged through the black neighborhoods in response. The death toll estimates range up to 300. A park in Tulsa was dedicated to the massacre in 2010 and the massacre became part of the Oklahoma state school curriculum in 2020. (Source: Wikipedia)

LEADERSHIP LESSON -> Racially-fueled violence is not new. Learning from it in the past can be a helpful way to address it in the future.

July 1, 1921 - Tuberculosis vaccinations started in humans in France. Tuberculosis had killed humans since antiquity. In 1882, Robert Koch of Germany identified the bacillus causing tuberculosis, earning him the Nobel Prize. Decades later, French researchers Albert Calmette and Camille Guerin built on Koch's findings by developing the bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) immunizations. The BCG immunizations gained widespread acceptance over the next few decades and is now given to about 100 million children per year globally. (Source: Wikipedia)

LEADERSHIP LESSON -> Scientific progress can take generations of incremental progress to translate from fundamental insights into practical solutions.

July 11, 1921 - Irish War of Independence ended with a truce taking effect between the British Army and the Irish Republican Army. The Irish independence movement started in earnest in the 1916 Easter Day uprising and turned into a full blown war in 1919. The war claimed an estimated 2,000 lives, about 750 of which were civilians. (Source: Wikipedia)

LEADERSHIP LESSON -> Wars can end through negotiation instead of annihilation.

July 14, 1921 - Sacco and Vanzetti found guilty of murder in Massachurstts in a case that received worldwide attention because of allegations of anti-immigrant biases. They would be executed six years later after protests around the United States and the world about the verdict. (Source: Wikipedia)

LEADERSHIP LESSON -> Charges of biases in law enforcment in the United States are not new and have evolved over the last century. Learning from the past can help understand how to address the challenges today.

July 27, 1921 - Researchers at the University of Toronto announced the discovery of the hormone insulin. Dr. Frederick Banting, the lead researcher in the group, recieved the Nobel Prize in 1923 for his work. At age 32 at the time, he remains the youngest Nobel laureate in physiology/medicine. Just three years before his discovery, Banting was a soldier in the British Army and was wounded at the Battle of Cambrai. (Source: Wikipedia)

LEADERSHIP LESSON -> How would the world be different if Banting had been killed instead of just wounded in World War I? How many other potential Nobel Prize winners were killed in that war?

August 11, 1921 - Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) was struck by paralysis at age 39. Roosevelt had been on a rapid trajectory in his political career, motivated by his desire to emulate his distant cousin, President Theodore Roosevelt. FDR was the Democratic Party nominee for Vice President the year before on a losing ticket with Governor James Cox of Ohio (see photo). FDR left the public spotlight for a time after he lost the use of his legs. He forced himself to recover enough to return to politics and was elected Governor of New York in 1928 and President of the United States in 1932. (Source: Wikipedia)

LEADERSHIP LESSONS -> FDR provides an inspiring example for leaders today of how one can overcome enormous setbacks to get back on their feet, literally.

September 1, 1921 - Conflict between mine workers and owners in West Virginia escalated, with the Washington Times of the day reporting that up to 50 miners had been killed and US army airforce warplanes had been sent to help contain the violence. The violence was preceded by years of strife between workers and owners in the coal mines of West Virginia and the surrounding areas. According to a marker installed at the site by the West Virginia state government, United Mine Worker labor union organizing efforts in southern West Virginia were halted until 1933 in the wake of the battle. (Source: Wikipedia)

LEADERSHIP LESSON -> The deployment of federal military aircraft to fly over the conflict was a largely symbolic measure to show federal determination to intervene with troops to stop the violence. While the propriety of using the US military planes in domestic uprisings can be debated, it does seem to have achieved its goal.

September 13, 1921 - the first White Castle hamburger restaurant opened in Wichita, Kansas, marking the beginning of fast-food restaurant chains. The restaurants were designed with stainless steel to project cleanliness and sanitation in the wake of the skepticism of the meat industry since Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle was released in 1906. (Source: Wikipedia)

LEADERSHIP LESSON -> Public scrutiny over industry bad practices can sometimes drive business innovation.

December 10, 1921 - Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize for physics based on work he had first published in 1905 at age 26. He published four groundbreaking academic papers that year, causing some to call it his "Annus Mirabilis" - or "marvelous year." (Source: Wikipedia)

LEADERSHIP LESSON -> Innovation can come in bursts. When you see innovation starting, nurture it to see if it can expand and create momentum to unleash a firestorm of innovation.

Like every year, many other historical events happened around the world in 1921 that are not on this list. Hopefully, each anniversary can give us a moment to reflect and remember the lessons learned from the past that we can apply today.

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About the Author: Victor Prince is a corporate trainer, executive coach, and an Amazon Top 20 best-selling leadership author who helps organizations build leadership, strategy, communications, and critical thinking skills. Follow Victor on LinkedIN to access his 100+ articles on leadership, strategy, learning & development, and more.