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On this day in 1847, Dred Scott, a former enslaved man sued in court for his freedom on the grounds that he and his family had lived as free people in Illinois and in the Wisconsin Territory where slavery was illegal. The case made its way to the United States Supreme Court, where Chief Justice Roger Taney and a majority ruled that as Black people, Scott and his family had no rights and were not citizens of the United States.

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Lena Mary Calhoun Horne, dancer, actress, singer, activist, was born on this day in 1917 in New York City. She spent 70 years in the public eye, including fighting for civil rights.