Today in History: Mary McLeod Bethune

Today in History: Mary McLeod Bethune

Today in History–May 18–the Library of Congress features educator and political leader Mary McLeod Bethune, who died on this date in 1955. After attending schools in South Carolina, North Carolina and Chicago, Illinois, Bethune taught for 10 years. In 1904 she opened the Daytona Educational and Industrial School for Negro Girls in Florida, which later merged with the all-male Cookman…

A rest stop for Greyhound bus passengers on the way from Louisville, Kentucky, to Nashville, Tennessee, with separate accommodations for colored passengers

Today in History: Plessy v. Ferguson

Today in History–May 18–the Library of Congress features the Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson, which ruled on this day in 1896 that separate-but-equal facilities on intrastate railroads were constitutional. The decision gave legal sanction to Jim Crow segregation laws and the decision was not reversed until May 17, 1954 when the Supreme Court unanimously agreed that segregation was unconstitutional in the…