While Supreme Court decisions like Brown v. Board of Education can change the course of American history, they can also engender serious political backlash. Is litigation the best way to secure rights for minority groups?

Hermene Hartman was an enthusiastic supporter of President Obama in 2008. Earlier this month we spoke with Ms. Hartman about how she thinks there has been "disappointment in Barack Obama as an African American" and that "there’s been no focus and deliberation with the black community." Her comments elicited a widespread backlash.

Today is the first-ever U.N. International Day of the Girl, a day dedicated to raise awareness of the cause for educating girls and young women around the world. It's a day of hope and celebration that comes on the heels of a brutal attack in Pakistan, where a teenage girl named Malala Yousafzi was shot for promoting girls' education in the Swat Valley.

With the debate over Elizabeth Warren's Native American heritage still looming, WGBH's Phillip Martin got to thinking about some deeper questions about ethnicity and racial identity and how they factor into our political leanings.

Most of us have seen those brochures, featuring four to seven kids of various skin tones on the cover. But what goes into making them? Are the kids real, or just models? And is the diversity depicted in them reflective of a college's reality or a college's dream reality?

Criticisms over the Paul Ryan budget's steep cuts to Medicare have made it a talking point for Democrats in tough Senate and House races across the country. Takeaway Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich took an in-depth look at the impact of the Paul Ryan budget on local races for a special airing Thursday night on PBS's NewsHour.

This week, extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner embarks on a 23-mile free fall, with the hope of breaking the sound barrier. What will he be facing? And what does falling feel like to the rest of us less-extreme athletes?