On this day in ...
... 2001, France enacted a law recognizing enslavement as a crime against humanity. The statute is known as Loi Taubira, in recognition of the efforts of its chief proponent, Christiane Taubira (right). Born in 1952 in Cayenne, French Guiana, Taubira has been a Deputy of France's National Assembly since 1993 and a Member of the European Parliament since 1994. In 2002, she ran unsuccessfully for the French Presidency.
... 1951, in Lower
Manhattan, a 3-week art exhibition called the Ninth Street Show opened. It established a New York School of avant garde and other post-World War II artists. Among the many who exhibited were several women. About Elaine de Kooning we've already posted; 
other women artists at the show included Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell (right) (photo credit), Grace Hartigan, Lee Krasner, whose painting "Right Bird Left" is above left, Anne Ryan, and Sonia Sekula.
