Today in History · October 9, 2012

Malala Yousafzai is shot

A Taliban gunman attacks the schoolgirl campaigning for girls’ education; she survives and wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

On October 9, 2012, a Taliban gunman boarded Malala Yousafzai’s school bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley and shot her in the head. She was 15 and already known for speaking, and blogging, about life under Taliban rule.

She recovered in Birmingham, England, and two years later became the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate — her name now shorthand worldwide for every child’s right to go to school.