June 6
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Featured Event
U.S. Army/National Archives, Washingon, D.C.; Photo Illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Led by U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, an Allied armada of ships, planes, and landing craft, along with some 156,000 troops began the invasion of northern France from England on this day in 1944. D-Day helped the Allies gain momentum, and World War II would end the following year. [Read today’s edition of Today in History > >]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
I would rather be the first painter of common things than second in higher art.
Diego Velázquez, baptized this day in 1599 and trained in a naturalistic style, had remarkable power of observation in portraying both the living model and still life and was the leading Spanish painter of the 17th century.
Famous Birthdays
More on June 6
© Joshua Sarner—Icon Sportswire/Getty Images
2015
American Pharoah won the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first Thoroughbred in more than 35 years to capture horse racing’s Triple Crown. [Take our quiz about famous horses.]
© Laurence Agron/Dreamstime.com
2004
For her performance in A Raisin in the Sun, Phylicia Rashad became the first African American to win a Tony Award for best actress.
© Home Box Office
1998
The American TV show Sex and the City, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, began airing on HBO, and it became one of the most popular and influential television series of the late 1990s and early 2000s. [Sort fact from fiction in our pop culture quiz.]
Leo Mason
1956
Swedish tennis player Björn Borg, who was considered one of the sport’s greatest competitors, was born. [How much do you know about tennis?]
Kristine A. Strom
1892
Chicago’s elevated Loop train line (commonly known as the “L”) began operating, and it became one of the longest and busiest mass transit systems in the United States. [How much do you know about Chicago?]