On this day in 1947, the Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride began through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.
On this day in 1959, NASA announced the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dubbed the "Mercury Seven".
And on this day in 2003, Baghdad fell to American forces; Iraqis turned on symbols of their former leader Saddam Hussein, pulling down a grand statue of him and tearing it to pieces.