On this day in 1961, the first Freedom Riders set off from Washington, DC through the South scheduled to arrive on May 17 in New Orleans. The plan was hatched by CORE, SNCC, and other Civil Rights organizations to test two U.S. Supreme Court decisions: Morgan v Virginia, rendered in 1946; and Boynton v Virginia in 1960. In total, over 400 individuals participated in about 60 rides through the South. At every stop, they were met with violence by organized White mobs.
Dr Daniel Hale Williams, a prominent black surgeon who is credited with performing the first heart operation in the US, helped establish the first African American medical training facility, the Provident Hospital and Training School on this day in 1891 in Chicago, Illinois.
On this day in 1897, J.W. Smith received Patent No. 581785 for the first lawn sprinkler.
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