September 25
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1957
The Little Rock Nineâs first full day of class
At 9:22 AM on this day in 1957âescorted by federal troops as protesting students chanted âTwo, four, six, eight, we ainât gonna integrateâânine Black teenagers entered Little Rock Central High School to attend their first full day of classes. In the ensuing months, the Little Rock Nine endured routine insults, a walkout (in which white students burned a Black effigy), bomb threats (one of which proved real when dynamite was found in an unused locker), and physical harassment. Despite this unrelenting racism, the first Black student, Ernest Green, graduated from Central High School in 1958.
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Featured Event
The Granger Collection, New York
On this day (or two days later) in 1513, Spanish conquistador and explorer Vasco NĂșñez de Balboa, standing âsilent, upon a peak in DariĂ©n,â on the Isthmus of Panama, became the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean.
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
Robert Capa/Magnum
I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poetâs, the writerâs, duty is to write about these things.
Novelist and short-story writer William Faulkner, considered one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century, was born this day in Mississippi in 1897. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949.
Famous Birthdays
More on September 25
Courtesy, Arnold Palmer Enterprises
2016
Arnold Palmer, who used an unorthodox swing and an aggressive approach to become one of golfâs most successful and well-liked stars, died at age 87. [Sort fact from fiction in our golf quiz.]
Mark Garten/UN Photo
2011
Kenyan politician and environmental activist Wangari Maathaiâwho was the first Black African woman to win a Nobel Prize (the 2004 Nobel Prize for Peace)âdied at age 71. [Take our quiz about the Nobel Prize.]
EncyclopĂŠdia Britannica, Inc./Steven N. Kapusta
1974
What came to be known as Tommy John surgery was first performed. Carried out by surgeon Frank Jobe on Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tommy John, it repaired the ulnar collateral ligament in Johnâs elbow and enabled him to continue pitching until 1989.
Image: EncyclopĂŠdia Britannica, Inc.
1970
Hostilities came to an end during Black September, the brief but violent civil war between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Jordan. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about the Middle East.]
EncyclopĂŠdia Britannica, Inc.
1962
Sonny Liston became world heavyweight boxing champion with a first-round knockout of Floyd Patterson in Chicago. [How much do you know about boxing?]
© Rena Schild/Shutterstock.com
1929
Journalist Barbara Walters, who was especially known for her highly effective technique in television interviews of world-renowned figures, was born in Boston.
© Print Collector/Getty Images
1799
AndrĂ© MassĂ©na, a French nobleman and a general under Napoleon, defeated Russian forces in the Second Battle of ZĂŒrich. [Take our history of war quiz.]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
1777
Philadelphia, then the American capital, was occupied by British forces during the American Revolution. [Test your knowledge of the American Revolution.]
Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images
1711
Emperor Qianlong, whose six-decade reign (1735â96) during the Qing dynasty was one of the longest in Chinese history, was born. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about China.]
Image: EncyclopĂŠdia Britannica, Inc.
1690
Publick Occurrences, Both Forreign and Domestick was published for the first and only time. Appearing in Boston, it is considered the first newspaper published in the British-American colonies.
Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London
1066
Tostig, earl of Northumbria, and Harald III, king of Norway, were killed in an attempt to depose Tostigâs brother, King Harold II of England. [Take our kings and emperors quiz.]