Today’s Highlights

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a Black man, was killed when a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and pleading that he couldn’t breathe; Floyd’s death would lead to worldwide protests, some of which turned violent, and a reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S.

On this date

1964: The U.S. Supreme Court, in Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, ordered the Virginia county to reopen its public schools, which officials had closed in an attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka desegregation ruling.

In 1977, “Star Wars” was released by 20th Century Fox; it would become the highest-grossing film in history at the time.

1979: 273 people died when an American Airlines DC-10 crashed just after takeoff from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.

2008: NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander arrived on the Red Planet to begin searching for evidence of water; the spacecraft confirmed the presence of water ice at its landing site.

2012: The private company SpaceX made history as its Dragon capsule became the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station.

Today’s birthdays

Actor Ian McKellen is 86. Filmmaker and puppeteer Frank Oz is 81. Actor-comedian Mike Myers is 62. Actor Octavia Spencer is 55.