1. In 1918, the first cases of the deadly Spanish flu were reported in New York City, which ultimately claimed the lives of over 30,000 New Yorkers in the following months.

2. On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X, the prominent civil rights activist, was assassinated during a speaking engagement at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. His death sparked widespread outrage and mourning throughout the city and beyond.

3. In 1947, Edwin Land unveiled the first instant camera, the Polaroid Land Camera, at a press conference in New York City. The camera went on to revolutionize the photography industry and become an iconic tool for capturing memories.

4. On February 21, 1903, the New York Highlanders (later renamed the Yankees) were officially named and announced by team owner Frank J. Ferrell. The team played their first game in New York later that year and would go on to become one of the most successful franchises in all of sports.

5. In 1878, the world's first female telephone operator, Emma Nutt, began her job at the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company, which later became a part of AT&T. The telephone industry, and the role of women in it, would undergo significant changes in the decades to come.