This Day In History

On April 14, 1947, the court case of Mendez v. Westminster was decided in favor of Gonzalo Mendez, marking a clear legal victory against school segregation in California. Years before Brown v. Board of Education, this case showed that organized community action and careful legal strategy could challenge unequal treatment in public education.

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, in Shadwell, Colony of Virginia. He would go on to draft the Declaration of Independence, serve as the country’s third president, and shape the early United States through his ideas on liberty, education, and expansion.

On April 12, 1862, a group of Union sympathizers stole a Confederate train, setting off a high-speed pursuit that lasted nearly eight hours. The event, later known as the Great Locomotive Chase, unfolded along a single rail line but revealed just how critical transportation had become in the Civil War.

On April 11, 1919, the International Labour Organization was created, marking a coordinated effort to improve working conditions across countries after World War I. Born out of both wartime strain and postwar planning, it introduced a new idea—that fair labor standards could support lasting peace.

On January 7, 1785, the sky briefly became part of the postal system. In a daring balloon flight watched by astonished crowds, mail was carried through the air for the first time, marking a bold experiment in communication and transportation that captured the imagination of the world.

On August 17, 1923, the US Post Office issued its fifth Airmail stamp, #C5. Picturing the Air Service emblem, it was also the first US…

On June 8, 1959, the US Post Office Department launched its experimental missile mail in an attempt to find a faster method of mail delivery.

On May 26, 1928, the US issued its first-ever Airmail booklet – US #C10a.

On April 15, 1865, President Lincoln died less than 12 hours after being shot by John Wilkes Booth. He was the first US president to be assassinated, just as the Civil War was drawing to a close.

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc founded the first permanent school for the deaf in America on April 15, 1817. To date, over 4,000 students have graduated from the American School for the Deaf.

Artist Charles Willson Peale was born on April 15, 1741, in Chester, Province of Maryland. A prolific artist from the Revolutionary era, he painted more than 1,100 portraits, including several of George Washington.

Asa Philip Randolph was born on April 15, 1889, in Crescent City, Florida. Randolph was a respected and outspoken proponent of the rights of minority labor. He was greatly feared by his opponents, not because of his temperament, but because of his power to create change.