On this Day in History: Easter Edition (2021-2025)
By Shantleen Kaur Dhanoa
Unlike Christmas, Easter lacks a specific date as it relies on a lunar calendar. This changes the date Easter is celebrated every year, leading to some very interesting coincidences with other anniversaries.
This article is part one in a series discussing historical events falling on Easter dates during the last 25 years (using the Gregorian calendar).
Easter Sunday 2025: 20 April
Coinciding Event: In the United States, National Public Radio is launched
Premiere of the USA’s National Public Radio (1971)
Replacing the National Educational Radio Network, which ran from 1961 to 1970, National Public Radio's first broadcast was the United States Senate hearings on the then ongoing Vietnam War. Original radio programming would be introduced less than a month later.
Easter Sunday 2024: 31 March
Coinciding Event: The 15th Annual Transgender Day of Visibility (2024)
The International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) is an annual celebration of transgender people that's observed every March 31st. The first TDOV was held in 2009. Easter on March 31st was observed later in 2013 and 2024. However, this most recent observance caused controversy as former US President Joe Biden brought more attention to TDOV, announcing his observance and support for the day despite also being a Catholic, who celebrates Easter! This also led to backlash from Christian conservatives, Republicans and Donald Trump, who accused Biden of blasphemy. The press had a field day, publishing many articles about the controversy.
Easter Sunday 2023: 9 April
Coinciding Event: 34th anniversary of the 1989 Tbilisi Massacre, or April 9 Tragedy (1989)
Now known in the Eurasian country of Georgia as the April 9 Tragedy, on the 9th of April 1989, a peaceful anti-Soviet and pro-independence protest in Tbilisi was violently disbanded by the Soviet Army, resulting in the deaths of 21 protestors. Georgia left the Soviet Union and gained independence on the 9th of April 1991, exactly two years after the massacre.
Easter Sunday 2022: 17 April
Coinciding Event: 85th anniversaries of Korean author Yi Sang’s death and the release of Porky’s Duck Hunt (1937)
Yi Sang (1910-1937)
Born in Seoul at the start of Japan's 35-year-long annexation of Korea, Kim Haegyong wrote under the pen name "Yi Sang." During his short life, Kim studied architecture, later working as a writer in both Korean and Japanese languages. He also worked as a public servant, but left this job in 1933 due to tuberculosis. In the coming years, he would be recognised as a pioneer of modern Korean literature. From approximately late 1936 to early 1937, Kim visited Tokyo, Japan. He was arrested by police and investigated in February 1937, before being released a month later due to his worsening tuberculosis. Kim tragically succumbed to the disease in Tokyo’s Imperial University Hospital on the 17th of April 1937. He was 26 and recently married to another Korean writer.
85th Anniversary of the Release of Porky’s Duck Hunt (1937)
A short cartoon directed by the American animator Frederick Avery, the film follows Porky Pig and his pet hunting dog as they accidentally cause trouble for themselves during a duck hunt.
At the start and end of the cartoon, Porky accidentally shoots another resident (a human) in the butt whilst loading his gun, prompting the neighbour to smack Porky. The film's main antagonist (and breakout character), however, is an unnamed all-black duck who was unsuccessfully shot by several hunters early on. That same bird then spends the rest of the cartoon tormenting and evading Porky and his dog, before disappearing.
The final scene shows Porky watching several ducks doing an air show. The end titles then feature one of the antagonising ducks dancing on the end titles.
Within less than a year, the previously unnamed black duck returned in another cartoon (also directed by Frederick Avery) but was slightly redesigned and named Daffy for his hyperactive behaviour. Daffy quickly developed into a mischievous, and spoiled troublemaker who almost always got Porky, another character and/or himself into trouble. The 17th of April 1937 is now considered his birthday. Despite his age, Daffy remains child-like in appearance and personality.
Easter Sunday 2021: 4 April
Coinciding Events: 53rd anniversaries of the launching of Apollo 6 and the assassination of American activist Martin Luther King Jr. (1968)
53rd Anniversary of Apollo 6 (1968)
Apollo 6 was the sixth space flight in NASA’s Apollo Program (1961-1972). It was also the third and final unmanned space flight in the program, which oversaw the testing of Saturn V (the rocket). The spacecraft was launched at 7am local time (EST) on the 4th of April 1968. It remained in space for nine hours before returning to Earth at 9:57pm UTC.
Apollo 6, however, received little news coverage, as it was largely overshadowed by the recent murder of a prominent African American activist…
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (1968)
Martin Luther King Jr. (born on the 15th of January 1929) was a prominent Baptist preacher and anti-segregation activist in the United States during the 1950's and 1960's. He’s best remembered today for his iconic "I have a dream” speech, and for his Gandhi-inspired method of non-violent protesting.
Whilst staying at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, King was shot by escaped prisoner, James Earl Ray. The fugitive was a supporter of Alabama governor George Wallace, who is remembered for his racist, segregationist views. Ray later tried pleading not guilty and escaped from prison a second time before being arrested again. King died at St. Joseph's Hospital in Memphis an hour after he was shot.
Martin Luther King Jr. was 39 when he passed away. He was survived by his wife Coretta Scott King and their four children. Coretta Scott King passed away on 30 January 2006. Their daughter Yolanda King died on the 15th of May, and their son Dexter died on the 22nd of January 2024.