On February 15, 1837, Congress ratifies treaties number 211 and 217, designed to remove Indigenous people from their ancestral homelands in the Midwest to make way for white settlement. One agreement had been negotiated with the Iowa, Sauk and Fox nations; the second, with the Oto, Omaha, Missouri and Santee Sioux and Yankton Sioux tribal people. The agreements represented just two of nearly 400 treaties—nearly always unequal—concluded between various Indigenous nations and the U.S. government between 1788 and 1883.

On February 15, 1903, toy store owner and inventor Morris Michtom places two stuffed bears in his shop window, advertising them as Teddy bears. Michtom had earlier petitioned President Theodore Roosevelt for permission to use his nickname, Teddy. The president agreed and, before long, other toy manufacturers began turning out copies of Michtom’s stuffed bears, which soon became a national childhood institution.

On February 15, 1942, after a week of fighting, Singapore, the “Gibraltar of the East”—and a strategic British stronghold in Asia—falls to Japanese forces.

On February 15, 1950, Walt Disney’s animated feature Cinderella opens in theaters across the United States.

On February 15, 1961, the entire 18-member U.S. figure skating team is killed in a plane crash in Berg-Kampenhout, Belgium. The team was on its way to the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

In 1968, 36-year-old Henry Lewis makes history when he is chosen, over more than 150 other candidates, as the first Black conductor of a major U.S. orchestra: the New Jersey Symphony. It marks just one highlight in a barrier-breaking career that prompted The New York Times to liken him to Jackie Robinson of classical music.

On February 15, 1998, after 20 years of trying, racing great Dale Earnhardt Sr. finally wins his first Daytona 500, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) season opener and an event dubbed the “Super Bowl of stock car racing.”