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From today's featured article

The Thankful Poor is an 1894 painting by the African-American painter Henry Ossawa Tanner. It is a genre painting of two African Americans praying at a table and shares themes with Tanner's other works like The Banjo Lesson (1893). The painting is considered a milestone in African-American art, notably for its countering of racial stereotypes by portraying African-American culture in a dignified manner. This depiction was influenced by Tanner's father and the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Despite its popularity with critics, The Thankful Poor was Tanner's last African-American genre work before he began to focus on biblical scenes. After remaining hidden for years, the painting was discovered in a storage closet of the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in 1970, before being purchased by Camille and Bill Cosby in 1981 for their private collection. In 2020, the painting was sold by the Cosbys to Art Bridges, a foundation created by Alice Walton for loaning artwork. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Poster for Run, Little Chillun

... that Sydney Morton's grandfather appeared in Run, Little Chillun (poster pictured), but the musical theatre bug skipped a generation?
... that Australotitan is the largest dinosaur discovered in Australia?
... that the Superior Auditor of the Federation of Mexico observed damage to an overpass between Tezonco and Olivos stations on the Mexico City Metro prior to its collapse in May 2021?
... that the Irish government had budgeted €61 million to clean up the former site of the Irish Steel plant, twenty years after selling it for £1?
... that Cal Anderson was the first openly gay member of the Washington State Legislature?
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... that the Bitcoin Law would make El Salvador the first country to recognize bitcoin as legal tender?
... that the dancing school at 165 West 57th Street in New York City was described as instructor Louis Harvy Chalif's "greatest highlight and dream"?

In the news

Ebrahim Raisi

Ebrahim Raisi (pictured) is elected president of Iran.
China's Shenzhou 12 launches with the first crew to dock at the Tiangong space station.
Kenneth Kaunda, the first president of Zambia, dies at the age of 97.
A new government is formed in Israel, with Naftali Bennett becoming prime minister, ending Benjamin Netanyahu's 12-year tenure.

On this day

June 21: June solstice (03:32 UTC, 2021); Fête de la Musique; International Day of Yoga; National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada

Ellen Fairclough

217 BC – Second Punic War: The Carthaginians under Hannibal carried out one of the largest military ambushes in history when they overwhelmingly defeated the Romans.
1826 – Greek War of Independence: A combined Egyptian and Ottoman army began an invasion of the Mani Peninsula, but were initially held off by the Maniots at the fortifications of Vergas.
1957 – Ellen Fairclough (pictured) became the first woman to be appointed to the cabinet of Canada.
1973 – The U.S. Supreme Court delivered its decision in the landmark case Miller v. California, establishing the Miller test for determining what is obscene material.

Niccolò Machiavelli (d. 1527)
Joko Widodo (b. 1961)
Soad Hosny (d. 2001)

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From today's featured list

Shaquille O'Neal

The 50 Greatest Players in NBA History were chosen in 1996 to honor the 50th anniversary of the founding of the National Basketball Association (NBA). These 50 players were selected through a vote by a panel of media members, former players and coaches, and current and former general managers. In addition, the top ten head coaches and top ten single-season teams in NBA history were selected by media members as part of the celebration. The list was announced by NBA commissioner David Stern on October 29, 1996, at the hotel Grand Hyatt New York, the former site of the Commodore Hotel, where the original NBA charter was signed on June 6, 1946. Forty-seven of the fifty players were later assembled in Cleveland, during the halftime ceremony of the 1997 All-Star Game. At the time of the announcement, 11 players were active; all have subsequently retired. Shaquille O'Neal (pictured) was the last to be active in the NBA, retiring at the end of the 2010–11 season. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Jane Russell (June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011) was an American actress, singer, and model who became one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s. This publicity still, depicting Russell reclining on a bed of hay and holding a pistol, was taken by George Hurrell for her film debut in Howard Hughes's film The Outlaw (1943), which launched her career. She went on to star in more than twenty films, including opposite Marilyn Monroe in the hugely successful Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).

Photograph credit: George Hurrell

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