This Day in History

Brown v. Board of Education Decided

In 1951, a class action suit was filed against the Board of Education of the City of Topeka, Kansas, by 13 African-American parents on behalf of their children. The plaintiffs contended that segregating school facilities along racial lines violated the students' 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law. The case was heard by the US Supreme Court, which unanimously agreed that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." How did this decision impact American society?

Pope Benedict XV Canonizes Joan of Arc as Saint

Joan of Arc was a French military leader and heroine. Inspired and directed by religious visions, she organized the French resistance that forced the English to end their siege of Orléans in 1429 and secured the coronation of the dauphin, later Charles VII of France. Captured and sold to the English by the Burgundians, she was later tried for heresy and sorcery and was burned at the stake in Rouen. How old was she when she died?

Van Gogh's Portrait of Doctor Gachet Sold for $82.5 Million

In June 1890, shortly before the artist's death, Vincent Van Gogh created two versions of a painting depicting his doctor, Paul Gachet. The paintings, called Portrait of Dr. Gachet, portray the doctor seated beside a foxglove plant, an extract of which is used to treat heart conditions. In 1990, 100 years after it was first painted, Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito purchased one version of the work for the record sum of $82.5 million. Why did he later threaten to have the painting burned?

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