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Today in History, May 17th

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled school segregation unconstitutional in Brown v. Board. Plus the first Kentucky Derby and Watergate hearings.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published May 17, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

May 17 is best known for 1954, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated public schools were unconstitutional. The date also saw the first Kentucky Derby in 1875 and the start of the televised Senate Watergate hearings in 1973.

The big story: The Supreme Court decides Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Linda Brown was a Black schoolgirl in Topeka, Kansas, and the elementary school near her home would not admit her. The NAACP took up her family’s cause, and its lead lawyer, Thurgood Marshall, carried the fight all the way to the Supreme Court. Marshall would later sit on that same court. On May 17, 1954, the justices ruled unanimously in her favor, with Chief Justice Earl Warren writing the opinion. They threw out the “separate but equal” idea the court had blessed in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, at least where schools were concerned. Keeping children apart by race, the court said, stamped Black students with a sense of inferiority, so separate schools could never truly be equal. Ending segregation in practice took much longer. A follow-up ruling in 1955 told schools to integrate “with all deliberate speed.” Even so, the decision gave fresh energy to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

More events on May 17

Year	What happened
1756	England declared war on France, formally entering the Seven Years’ War, known in North America as the French and Indian War.
1875	The first Kentucky Derby was run at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Aristides won, ridden by jockey Oliver Lewis.
1885	Apache leader Geronimo fled Arizona’s San Carlos reservation with about 130 followers, his second breakout in two years.
1939	NBC aired the first televised sporting event in the U.S., a college baseball game between Princeton and Columbia.
1943	The B-17 bomber Memphis Belle flew its 25th and final mission, a raid on the German submarine base at Lorient, France.
1970	Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl set sail from Safi, Morocco, in the papyrus boat Ra II. He reached Barbados 57 days later.
1973	A Senate committee led by Sam Ervin of North Carolina opened televised hearings on the Watergate scandal.
1989	An estimated one million protesters marched through Beijing calling for democratic reform, weeks before the government crushed the movement.
2000	The final episode of the TV series Beverly Hills, 90210 aired.
2004	Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and dozens of couples wed that day.

Born on May 17

1749: Edward Jenner, English surgeon who developed vaccination against smallpox.
1866: Erik Satie, French composer of the Gymnopédies, born in Honfleur.
1936: Dennis Hopper, American actor and director of Easy Rider, born in Dodge City, Kansas.
1956: Sugar Ray Leonard, American boxer and Olympic gold medalist, born in Wilmington, North Carolina.