1950 |
Ralph Bunche is the first African American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He had been a United Nations mediator in Palestine. |
1950 |
The Korean War begins when North Korea invades South Korea. U.S. troops are sent as a part of the United Nations. |
1951 |
After the New York Giants finish the season with a 37-7 game spree, Bobby Thomson hits the "Shot Heard ‘Round the World" to take the National League pennant from the Dodgers. |
1951 |
New York Giant outfield of Hank Thompson, Willie Mays and Monte Irvin, make up the first All-Black outfield in the majors. |
1951 |
Hank Aaron becomes an Indianapolis Clown. The Clowns win the Negro League World Series the next year. |
1952 |
Ralph Ellison publishes his novel Invisible Man. James Baldwin releases Go Tell It On The Mountain a year later. |
1952 |
Malcolm Little converts to Islam and changes his name to Malcolm X after meeting the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. |
1952 |
Dick Clark hosts the debut of American Bandstand. |
1953 |
Toni Stone becomes the first woman in black baseball, playing second base for the Indianapolis Clowns. |
1954 |
Thurgood Marshall wins Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, ending the reign of segregation, and officially ruling that "separate but equal" provides facilities that are "inherently unequal." |
1954 |
As a new Milwaukee Brave, Hank Aaron hits his first Major League home run, on his way to his record 755. |
1954 |
Willie Mays hits .345 and wins the National League batting championship as well as Most Valuable Player. |
1954 |
Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, begins to box. |
1954 |
Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Anti-Communist hearings are nationally televised. |
1955 |
Sugar Ray Robinson wins his first boxing championship. |
1955 |
McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken begin their franchising efforts. |
1955 |
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus. This sparks the Montgomery Bus Boycott the next year. Martin Luther King and 100 others are jailed for their participation in the boycott. |
1956 |
The home of Birmingham Civil Rights leader Fred L. Shuttlesworth is bombed. |
1956 |
Don Larsen pitches the only perfect game in World Series history. |
1957 |
The U.S.S.R. sends Sputnik into global orbit, sparking the space race. NASA is established a year later. |
1957 |
The New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers leave New York for sunny California. |
1957 |
Hank Aaron wins his only National League MVP award, batting .322, a league-high 44 home runs and a career high 132 RBI. |
1957 |
In Little Rock, Arkansas, federal troops are sent to enforce integration of Central High School. |
1957 |
Althea Gibson becomes the first African American tennis champion at Wimbledon, winning the singles and doubles competitions. |
1957 |
Jim Brown wins honors as the National Football League’s All-League fullback. |
1958 |
Martin Luther King is stabbed in New York, but recovers from serious wounds. |
1958 |
10,000 black students accompany Jackie Robinson, Harry Belafonte and A. Phillip Randolph in the Youth March for Integrated Schools. |
1958 |
Alvin Ailey establishes his dance company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. |
1958 |
Roy Campanella, Dodgers catcher and former Baltimore Elite Giant, is paralyzed in a car accident. He is honored in the Los Angeles Coliseum and his number is retired in front of 93,000 fans. |
1959 |
Wilt Chamberlain leads the National Basketball Association in scoring. |
1959 |
Pumpsie Green makes the Boston Red Sox the last major league team to allow blacks a place on their squad. |
1959 |
The Big Bopper, Buddy Holly and Richie Valens die in their storied plane crash. |
1959 |
Ernie Banks wins his second National League MVP award, the 7th straight for former Negro Leaguers and the 9th since Jackie Robinson became the first black player to win the honor in 1949. |
1959 |
Berry Gordy founds Motown Records on an $800 loan and a little group called "The Miracles." |
1959 |
Wilma Rudolf is known as the "World’s Fastest Woman" and she will prove the title the next year in Rome. |