The month of February has been home to many historical events over the years. Here’s a look at some that helped to shape the world in February 1926.

• The first theater production of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby premieres at the Ambassador Theater on Broadway on February 2. Veteran stage actor James Rennie stars as the titular character.

• The National League holds a banquet at the Hotel Astor in New York City on February 2 to celebrate the baseball league’s fiftieth anniversary.

• An explosion at a mine operated by the Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Company kills 20 miners in Horning, Pennsylvania, on February 3.

• Historian Carter G. Woodson initiates “Negro History Week” on February 7. The event serves as a precursor to Black History Month.

• The Plough and the Stars, Irish writer Seán O’Casey’s four-act play about the 1916 Easter Rising, opens at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin on February 8. The play upsets some audience members and ultimately leads to angry protests in the theatre and riots outside of it.

• A filing with the League of Nations officially recognizes the border between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on February 8.

• President Plutarco Elías Calles nationalizes all property of the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico on February 11. Just two days later, President Calles’s administration orders all Catholic schools in Mexico to close.

• The National Socialist German Workers’ Party approves a motion to recognize Adolf Hitler as the sole and absolute authority within the party on February 14.

• On February 23, United States President Calvin Coolidge expresses his opposition to former general Billy Mitchell’s assertion that the country needs a large air force. President Coolidge disagrees with the suggestion on the grounds it would make the country militaristic and contribute to an arms race.

• Black boxer Tiger Flowers defeats his white opponent, Harry Greb, to win the World Middleweight Title at Madison Square Garden in New York City on February 26.