1. In 1861, Virginia seceded from the Union on January 21, becoming the eighth state to join the Confederate States of America.

2. On January 21, 1919, the Virginia General Assembly ratified the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol.

3. In 1961, Governor J. Lindsay Almond Jr. ordered the admission of three African American students - Charlene Hunter, Elaine Jones, and Gloria Thompson - to the previously all-white University of Virginia School of Law on January 21.

4. On January 21, 1986, Virginia Governor Gerald L. Baliles signed a law establishing the Virginia Lottery, which began operating later that year and has since generated billions of dollars in revenue for the state.

5. In 2017, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Richmond and other cities across Virginia for the Women's March on Washington on January 21, a day after President Donald Trump's inauguration.