On May 18, 1896, the US Supreme Court decided the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, holding that statutes requiring blacks and whites to use separate (but putatively equal) facilities and accommodations were not a violation of the Constitution. This is still the law of the land. Plessy, and the separate but equal doctrine it dealt with has never been explicitly overruled. Brown v. Board of Education, for example, held that the separate but equal violates the Constitution in the specific context of public education and public schools..For example, it was widely advocated, even by "Constitutional Scholars" up to and including President Barak Obama that it would be perfectly legal to provide some "in all but name" separate but equal legal recognition of "domestic partnerships" for homosexuals. Nobody stood up to declaim that Plessy has been overturned, because it hasn't.

On this day in history:

332 – Emperor Constantine the Great announced free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople.Socialism!
1096 – Around 800 Jews were massacred in Worms, during the First Crusade, but it was Holy Work
1499 – Alonso de Ojeda set sail from Cádiz on his voyage to what is now Venezuela.
1593 – Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy led to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe. This is an example of how competition improves products and benefits us all
1652 – Rhode Island passed the first law in English-speaking North America making slavery illegal.
1756 – The Seven Years' War began when Great Britain declared war on France, totally altering the balance of power. This global conflict is known in the US as "The French and Indian Wars".
1896 – The United States Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that the "separate but equal" doctrine is constitutional. 
 
1917 – The Selective Service Act of 1917 was passed, giving the US President the power of conscription.
1926 – Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared in Venice, California. She was, however, later found
1933 – FDR signed an act creating the TVA. It took them until just the other day to start outsourcing their jobs.
1953 – Jackie Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier.
1974 – India successfully detonated its first nuclear weapon, becoming the sixth nation to do so.
1980 – Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
1990 – In France, a modified TGV train achieved a new rail world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph).

Born this day in:

1048 – Omar Khayyám, mathematician, astronomer, poet and big fan of joi de vivre
1822 – Mathew Brady, photographer and journalist
1850 – Oliver Heaviside, engineer, mathematician, and physicist
1855 – Francis Bellamy, minister and author, taker of pledges
1872 – Bertrand Russell, mathematician, historian, philosopher, and activist. Nobel Prize laureate
1883 – Walter Gropius, architect, designed the John F. Kennedy Federal Building
1891 – Rudolf Carnap, philosopher and academic
1892 – Ezio Pinza, actor and singer
1895 – Augusto César Sandino, rebel leader
1902 – Meredith Willson, playwright and composer
1904 – Shunryu Suzuki, monk and educator
1907 – Irene Hunt, author and educator
1911 – Big Joe Turner, blues/R&B singer
1912 – Perry Como, singer and television host
1919 – Margot Fonteyn, ballerina
1922 – Kai Winding, trombonist and composer (
1931 – Don Martin, cartoonist
1936 – Leon Ashley, singer and songwriter
1944 – Albert Hammond, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1948 – Joe Bonsall, country/gospel singer
1949 – Rick Wakeman, progressive rock keyboardist and songwriter (Yes)
1950 – Mark Mothersbaugh, singer-songwriter and painter
1951 – Richard Clapton, singer,songwriter, and guitarist
1951 – Paul Da Vinci, singer and songwriter
1952 – George Strait, singer, guitarist and producer
1954 – Wreckless Eric, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1958 – Toyah Willcox, singer, songwriter, producer, and actress
1961 – Russell Senior, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1966 – Michael Tait, singer, songwriter, and producer
1969 – Martika, singer, songwriter, producer, and actress
1970 – Billy Howerdel, guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1970 – Javier Cárdenas, singer, television and radio presenter
1975 – Jem, singer, songwriter, and producer
1975 – Jack Johnson, singer, songwriter, and guitarist

Died this day in:

1675 – Jacques Marquette, missionary and explorer
1721 – Maria Barbara Carillo, victim of the Spanish Inquisition, just another dirty heretic who got what she deserved
1781 – Túpac Amaru II, rebel leader
1799 – Pierre Beaumarchais, playwright and publisher
1909 – Isaac Albéniz, pianist and composer
1911 – Gustav Mahler, composer and conductor
1955 – Mary McLeod Bethune, educator and activist
1973 – Jeannette Rankin, social worker and politician
1980 – Ian Curtis, singer-songwriter
1981 – William Saroyan, novelist, playwright, and short story writer
1999 – Augustus Pablo, singer, keyboard player, and producer
2004 – Elvin Jones, drummer and bandleader
2012 – Peter Jones, drummer and songwriter
2017 – Chris Cornell, singer

Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
International Museum Day
World AIDS Vaccine Day

Music goes here, iirc, well, With apologies

“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature made them.”
-Bertrand Russell-

Image is injection

It's an open thread, so do your thing