Abortion rights activists march in Detroit following the Supreme Court's decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health case.
Emily Elconin/Getty Images
Taken from NPR.
Anti-abortion activist E.C. Smith of Canton, Miss., right, stands at the corner of the Jackson Women's Health Organization clinic in Mississippi, calling out to potential patients. Meanwhile clinic escorts were making sure that incoming patients knew that the clinic is still open, on June 24.
Rogelio V. Solis/AP
Taken from NPR.
Abortion rights demonstrators gather at the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City on Friday.
Rick Bowmer/AP
Taken from NPR.
Anti-abortion campaigners outside the Supreme Court in D.C. on Friday.
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
Taken from NPR.
Protesters outside of the Supreme Court.
Tyrone Turner for NPR
A man walks by the graves of flood victims in Derna on Friday, September 15. Yousef Murad/AP
Taken from CNN.
This aerial view shows the destruction in Derna on September 16. Ayman Al-sahili/Reuters
Taken from CNN.
People line up to receive food aid in Derna on September 15. Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters
Taken from CNN.
Stand with Trans and GM Plus, walks the parade route during the Motor City Pride Parade. June 11, 2023, Detroit, MI.
Clarence Tabb Jr., Detroit News
Allie Stearns, 17, of Flint, walks the parade route with Rocket Companies group during the Motor City Pride Parade. June 11, 2023, Detroit, MI.
Clarence Tabb Jr., Detroit News
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, high-five with the people along the parade route during the Motor City Pride Parade. June 11, 2023, Detroit, MI.
Clarence Tabb Jr., Detroit News
A group of kids waves to participants on the parade route during the Motor City Pride Parade. June 11, 2023, Detroit, MI.
Clarence Tabb Jr., Detroit News
Mon., Nov. 6: Photographs of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas militants are projected on the walls of Jerusalem's Old City.
Leo Correa/AP
Taken from NPR
Sun., Oct. 15: Palestinians take shelter in a UN school as Israeli attacks on Gaza continue on the 9th day, in Deir al Balah, Gaza.
Ashraf Amra /Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Sat., Nov. 11: This aerial picture shows people gathered around a destroyed building following Israeli bombing on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images
Taken from NPR
Maj. Nazariy Tofan, an artillery commander with the 36th Brigade, splashing water on his forces to cool them down.
David Guttenfelder for The New York Times
Svitlana Zinchik, 56, walking on Sept. 18 through the corridor of a basement where she and roughly 20 other civilians continue to live, in the frontline town of Seversk in the Donbas region.
Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
The community center in the village of Posad-Pokrovske in Ukraine’s Kherson region that was destroyed by fighting during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Emile Ducke for The New York Times
A World War II museum lay in ruins in the destroyed village of Dovhenke.
Nicole Tung for The New York Times
The funeral of Oleksandr Pastukh, commander of a rifle battalion of the 67th Brigade of the Ukrainian military, at Independence Square.
Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times
People view artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg's temporary art installation, more than 630,000 flags in remembrance of Americans who have died of COVID-19.
BrynnAnderson/AP
Taken from the U.S. New & World Report.
A customer pushes her shopping cart next to empty shelves at a Sainsbury's store in Harpenden, England, in March 2020. The photo was taken two days after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Britons to stop all nonessential travel.
Peter Cziborra/Reuters
Taken from CNN.
Mugs sit on the tables of an empty restaurant, serving only takeout due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images
Taken from the U.S. News & World Report.
Paolo Miranda took this heartbreaking image of a nurse in Cremona, Italy, as the country’s health care system was being severely tested in March 2020. Miranda also works as a nurse in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
Paolo Miranda/AFP/Getty Images
Taken from CNN.
Opera singer Stephane Senechal sings for his neighbors from his apartment window in Paris in March 2020. It was the 10th day of a strict lockdown in France.
Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images
Taken from CNN.
Where are we Now?
The world's changed a lot since 1954, and even now many, many events continue to shape our lives. Below is a selection of recent and ongoing events from our time: The Covid-19 global pandemic, the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, the Libyan Crisis and Arab Spring Protests preceding it, the Russo-Ukrainian War, changes to LGBTQIA+ rights in the United States, and the U.S. Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that left states to decide their own stances on abortion.
The selection of events below is only a small sample of the important events that shape our world today, but each is important in its own right. Continue below to learn more about our world today, and to consider some of the events that continue to mold our own histories.
In one form or another, we've all felt the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The first known cases originated in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and from there spread across the world. It caused and continues to cause devastating loss of life, already millions of people have died from the virus. It created the largest economic recession since the Great Depression and resulted in panic buying, closures and stoppages of businesses, institutions, and events. For many there were periods of lockdown where no one left their homes for weeks at a time. Many people still don't leave the house without a mask. Daily activities went online, from ordering groceries to talking to a family member or friend. It showed us the disparities and inequalities that still exist today, exacerbating already existing problems in the world. For all of us, it changed the world and the way we live in it forever.
Explore the tabs above for resources related to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Published COVID-19 researchers Joseph A. Roche (Wayne State University assistant professor of physical therapy) and Renuka “Ray” Roche (Eastern Michigan University assistant professor of occupational therapy) debate and discuss health care in the aftermath of COVID-19. This event – a joint effort between WSU and EMU – originally took place July 30, 2020. It was moderated by Wayne State Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Alumni and Donor Relations Officer Jacqueline Martin.
A short documentary about live during the pandemic by NPR.
The ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war has continued since February 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea following the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine that ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. The former president had taken a pro-Russian stance when he chose not to sign the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and wanted closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union consisting of Post-Soviet states. Earlier, the Orange Revolution had annulled Viktor Yanukovych's initial victory for the presidency in 2004 due to election fraud, instead electing Yushchenko. Yanukovych later won the 2010 election and succeeded Yushchenko that year. After Russia's annexation of Crimea, pro-Russian separatists siezed land in Donbas, proclaiming the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic, beginning the Donbas War with Russian support. Finally, in February 2022 Russia recongnized the DPR and LPR as independent states and announced a "special military operation" in order to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine, in President Vladimir Putin's words. The war continues to this day.
Explore the tabs above for resources related to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War.
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict has a long history going back to at least the 1917 Balfour Declaration in which the United Kingdom expressed its support of the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Israel, and most recently escalated further with the beginning of the Israel-Hamas War. Israel was declared as a state in 1948, leading to the Arab-Israeli War that saw Egypt occupying the Gaza Strip and Jordan the West Bank, areas that have been contested and occupied by various groups since. In 1964 the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was created and granted a seat in the Arab League. Since then, several wars have occurred between Israel and the PLO and its allies, and attempts at reaching a peaceful resolution to the conflict have failed. Both Israelis and Palestinians believe they have a right to the contested land. For Israelis, this is partly based on the need for a safe haven and homeland for Jews following the Holocaust and the Jewish Diaspora, while Palestinians have a long history of established communities in the area and have been denied a homeland there. It's important to recognize that each group has a right to exist and a legitimate history tying them to that land if a solution is to be found.
Explore the tabs above for resources related to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
An overview of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The video is about eight years old and a little outdated, but is a good overview nonetheless.
The fight for LGBTQIA+ rights in the United States is not a new issue, but it is one that has seen many recent developments in the 21st century. Homosexuality was only decriminalized for the first time in Illinois in 1961, and although many states followed the landmark case Lawrence v. Texas that decriminalized homosexuality throughout the U.S. was decided as recently as 2003 and same-sex marriage was only legalized in 2015. The content of this section goes back as far as the Stonewall Uprising in 1969 in which the police raided the Stonewall Inn, leading to demonstrations and protests for three days that directly led to the gay civil rights movement and the first pride parade in 1970, known as Christopher Street Liberation Day. Today, LGBTQ rights have faced new challenges, often in the form of laws or policy decisions targeted at transgender individuals and youth. They include what bathrooms people may use, participation in sports, the banning of teaching about LGBTQ topics in public schools through certain grade levels, book challenges and bannings in libraries, to attempts to bar transgender people from serving in the military. These and other challenges have been issues in just the past few years, proving that the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights in the United States is still an ongoing one.
Explore the tabs above for resources related to LGBTQIA+ rights in the U.S.
A video talking about some of the misconceptions around the Stonewall Rebellion. People who lived through that day talk about their experiences.
From Crashcourse, a short video about the Stonewall Rebellion and Marsha P. Johnson, an important person in the Gay Rights Movement.
The Libyan Crisis has its roots in the Arab Spring Protests of 2011, in which protests around the Arab world began in Tunisia and spread to Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, Syria, and other countries as protesters called for radical change and democratic governments, citing corruption and economic stagnation caused by authoritarian regimes. Many of these protests resulted in violent responses from authorities and in Libya this would lead to a civil war in 2011. Muammar Gaddafi, the former leader of Libya, was ousted and later killed by rebel forces who were supported by NATO air strikes. Rather than leading to a new, democratic government, the new government struggled to maintain power as many armed groups still held sway in Libya. In 2014 a second civil war began when the House of Representatives based in Tobruk was elected by a very low-turnout election and challenged by General National Congress based in Tripoli. A cease-fire was brokered with UN assistance in 2015, and led to a unity government, the Government of National Accord, to take power in Tripoli, with UN support. Nonetheless, the House of Representatives with support from the Libyan National Army continued to oppose the government in Tripoli and the war continued. In 2021, another cease-fire was reached and the Government of National Unity was created and internationally recognized. However, the promised 10 December election was delayed multiple times, leading to the formation of the Government of National Stability which is backed by the Libyan National Army and the House of Representatives. In August of 2023, fighting began again and the crisis in Libya has continued. In September 2023, devastating flooding occurred in Libya, causing widespread destruction and the loss of thousands of lives.
Explore the tabs above for resources related to the ongoing Libyan Crisis.
The landmark case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization of June 24, 2022 decided that the consitution of the United States does not uphold a right to an abortion. The decision overturned both Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casy. Roe v. Wade argued that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution conferred a fundamental "right to privacy" and therefore a right to an abortion. Planned Parenthood v. Casey had upheld the right to an abortion while also restoring the undue burden standard, meaning states could not enact laws that purposefully restricted access to an abortion of an unviable fetus. Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization came about when Jackson Women's Health Organization sued Thomas E. Dobbs, state health officer in the Mississippi department of health, for a Mississippi state law that banned most abortion operations after fifteen weeks of pregnancy. The Supreme Court's decision passed by a ruling of 6-3. In the aftermath of this decision, the question of abortion access has been left up to state legistlatures to decide, with seventeen states now greatly restricting abortion access.
Explore the tabs above for resources related to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision.
A overview of the cases preceding Roe v. Wade and how the court came to its decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.
An introduction to the philosophy behind personhood and its relation to many current issues including abortion, from Crash Course.