Kindness, remembrance and invention — November 13th marks pivotal moments in modern history.
Next: Friday, November 13, 2026.
November 13 is World Kindness Day, introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, a coalition of kindness organizations from several countries. The day encourages people to notice and practice everyday acts of kindness. Schools, workplaces and community groups in many countries mark it with volunteering and small acts of goodwill.
On the evening of November 13, 2015, coordinated attacks by Islamic State militants struck the Stade de France, several cafés and restaurants, and the Bataclan concert hall in Paris and Saint-Denis. The attacks killed 130 people and injured more than 400, making them the deadliest attack in France since World War II. Each November 13, memorial ceremonies are held at the sites in Paris.
The Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh on November 13, 1850. He wrote Treasure Island (1883), Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) and Kidnapped (1886). He spent his last years in Samoa, where he died in 1894.
The Holland Tunnel opened under the Hudson River, linking Jersey City, New Jersey, with Lower Manhattan. It was the world's first mechanically ventilated vehicular tunnel, with fans able to replace the air inside every 90 seconds. It is named after its first chief engineer, Clifford Holland, who died in 1924 before the tunnel was finished. Construction began in 1920 and cost about $48 million.
The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the lower-court ruling in Browder v. Gayle, holding that segregation on Montgomery, Alabama's buses was unconstitutional. The decision came during the Montgomery bus boycott, which began after Rosa Parks' arrest in December 1955. The boycott ended in December 1956, once the Court's order reached Montgomery.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., on November 13, 1982. Its black granite wall, designed by architecture student Maya Lin, is inscribed with the names of service members who died or went missing in the Vietnam War. More than 58,000 names are now on the wall.
The Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Colombia erupted, melting part of its ice cap and sending lahars (volcanic mudflows) down the river valleys. The town of Armero was buried and about 23,000 people were killed, even though scientists had warned of the danger. It was the second-deadliest volcanic disaster of the 20th century and led to major improvements in volcano monitoring and hazard planning.