Today in History, November 13th
On November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court struck down Montgomery's bus segregation in Browder v. Gayle. Plus the Holland Tunnel and Vietnam Memorial.
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November 13 is best known for the 1956 Supreme Court ruling in Browder v. Gayle, which struck down bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama, and set up the end of the bus boycott. The date also saw the Holland Tunnel open under the Hudson in 1927 and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedicated in Washington in 1982.
The big story: The Supreme Court Strikes Down Bus Segregation (1956)
Rosa Parks gets the statue, but four other Montgomery women got the court case. Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith sued over Alabama’s segregated buses, with attorney Fred Gray filing the case on February 1, 1956. That June, a three-judge federal panel ruled 2 to 1 that bus segregation was unconstitutional, leaning on Brown v. Board of Education. On November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that ruling. Martin Luther King Jr. heard the news in a courtroom, where he was on trial over the boycott’s carpool system. He welcomed the decision but told supporters to stay off the buses until it actually took effect. The court turned away appeals on December 17. The order reached Montgomery three days later, the boycott ended after 381 days, and Black riders took seats anywhere on integrated buses the next day.
More events on November 13
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1093 | King Malcolm III of Scotland and his eldest son were killed at the Battle of Alnwick in Northumberland while fighting an English force. |
| 1775 | American troops under General Richard Montgomery captured Montreal. The hold was brief; defeat at Quebec weeks later forced a retreat. |
| 1907 | French inventor Paul Cornu lifted off near Lisieux in the first piloted helicopter flight, rising about 1.5 meters for 20 seconds. |
| 1927 | The Holland Tunnel opened between Manhattan and Jersey City, then the world’s longest underwater tunnel for cars. |
| 1940 | Walt Disney’s Fantasia premiered at the Broadway Theatre in New York. |
| 1982 | The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, designed by Maya Lin and carved with more than 58,000 names, was dedicated in Washington, DC. |
| 1985 | The Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted in Colombia. Mudflows buried the town of Armero, where about 23,000 people died. |
| 2001 | Northern Alliance troops entered Kabul after the Taliban abandoned the Afghan capital overnight. |
| 2015 | Coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris, including at the Bataclan concert hall and the Stade de France, killed at least 130 people. |
Born on November 13
- 354: Augustine of Hippo, North African bishop and one of the most influential Christian thinkers.
- 1850: Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish author of Treasure Island.
- 1856: Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
- 1955: Whoopi Goldberg, comedian and actress, and an EGOT winner.
Keep reading
Sources
- Browder v. Gayle, 352 U.S. 903, Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University
- Battle of Alnwick, 1093, Co-Curate, Newcastle University
- Today in History: November 13, Library of Congress
- Paul Cornu’s “flying bicycle”, FAI
- Holland Tunnel, Britannica
- Fantasia (film), D23
- Vietnam Veterans Memorial, The Cultural Landscape Foundation
- Volcano Watch: Lessons Learned from the Armero, Colombia Tragedy, USGS
- Northern Alliance troops enter Kabul, Dawn
- Paris attacks of 2015, Britannica
- Saint Augustine, Britannica
- Robert Louis Stevenson, Britannica
- Louis Brandeis, Britannica
- Whoopi Goldberg, Britannica
