On September 11, 2001, members of the terrorist group al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airplanes in the United States. Two planes were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, causing both towers to collapse. A third struck the Pentagon, and the fourth, United Flight 93, crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to retake control. Nearly 3,000 people were killed, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in history. The attacks reshaped U.S. foreign and domestic policy, leading to the War on Terror and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Nine African American students, known as the 'Little Rock Nine,' enrolled at the previously all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, testing the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. Facing violent mobs and resistance from state officials, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent federal troops from the 101st Airborne Division to escort the students into the school. The event became a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement, symbolizing the struggle to enforce desegregation in the United States.