Arts & Entertainment

2021 In Photos: Insurrection, Inauguration And Wearisome COVID-19

Photographers across America captured defining moments in 2021: high-profile racial justice trials, wildfires, Jeff Bezos' rocket and more.

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Firefighters battle the Sugar Fire, part of the Beckwourth Complex Fire, in Doyle, California, on July 9.
Firefighters battle the Sugar Fire, part of the Beckwourth Complex Fire, in Doyle, California, on July 9. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

ACROSS AMERICA — On the heels of the pandemic reality we came to know in 2020, the year coming to end in a few weeks featured many of the same ups and downs. Again in 2021, COVID-19 wrought loss and desperation, but also hope with the rollout of vaccines.

Cities began reopening. Outdoors, life seemed back to normal as mask mandates were lifted and social distancing restrictions were eased. We gathered in large groups again. After a particularly intense presidential election and inauguration, including a riot at the Capitol, President Joe Biden settled in as president.

Below, scroll through photos of some of the most important events from 2021.

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Jan. 6: Insurrections loyal to President Donald Trump confront U.S. Capitol Police officers outside the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Jan. 20: U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden watch a fireworks show on the National Mall from the Truman Balcony at the White House in Washington, D.C. Biden became the 46th president of the United States earlier that day during the ceremony at the U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Feb. 28: Bonnie Rybstein, 98, a Holocaust survivor, prepares to get her vaccine at a COVID-19 pop-up vaccination site in Lawrence, New York. The UJA Federation of New York, in partnership with The Marion & Aaron Gural JCC and Northwell Health, opened the site for 150 seniors, including 60 Holocaust survivors. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
March 10: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and U.S. Senate Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) walk to start a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. In a final vote, the House passed U.S. President Joe Biden's revised $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, named the American Rescue Plan, in the administration's first major legislative achievement. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
April 15: "Justice 4 Daunte" is projected onto a residence as people take part in a protest near the Brooklyn Center Police Department over the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
April 20: Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin is seen on a live-feed via mobile phone after he is convicted on all charges involving the death of George Floyd. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

May 27: Stephanie Jayne, right, hugs a friend at a vigil at City Hall in San Jose, California, in honor of the multiple people killed when a gunman opened fire at a rail yard the day before. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)
June 28: Workers search the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo, in Surfside, Florida. Many people were still unaccounted for after the building collapsed. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
July 20: Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket launches carrying passengers Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and space tourism company Blue Origin, his brother Mark Bezos, Oliver Daemen and Wally Funk, from its spaceport near Van Horn, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Aug. 16: A home burns on Jeters Road as the Dixie fire jumps Highway 395 south of Janesville, California. Critical fire weather throughout the region threatened to spread multiple wildfires burning in Northern California. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Sept. 18: Crews work to remove one of the country's largest remaining monuments to the Confederacy, a towering statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue, in Richmond, Virginia. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, Pool)
Oct. 4 An aerial photo shows floating barriers known as booms set up to try to stop further incursion into the Wetlands Talbert Marsh after an oil spill in Huntington Beach, California. A major oil spill off the coast of Southern California fouled popular beaches and killed wildlife while crews scrambled Sunday, to contain the crude before it spread further into protected wetlands. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

Oct. 24: Attendees hold candles during a vigil for the late cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, in Burbank, California. A prop firearm discharged by actor Alec Baldwin, while producing and starring in a Western movie in Santa Fe, New Mexico, killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza . (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Nov. 7: Runners cross the Queensboro Bridge during the New York City Marathon in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
December 2nd: A passer-by enters a pharmacy with a vaccination advisory attached to a door, right, in Worcester, Massachusetts As the U.S. recorded its first confirmed case of the omicron variant, doctors across the country are experiencing a more imminent crisis with a delta variant that is sending record numbers of people to the hospital in New England and the Midwest. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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