*On this date in 1950, Ralph Bunche received the Nobel Prize. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for his successful mediation of a series of armistice agreements between the (then) new nation of Israel and four Arab neighbors, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
It was the first, and to date it remains the only, time that all the parties to the Middle East conflict signed armistice agreements with Israel. In being awarded the Peace Prize, Bunche became the first African American and the first person of color in the world to be so honored.
learn moreOn this date in 1950, Earl Lloyd became the first African American to play in an NBA game.
The contest was between the Washington Capitols and the Rochester Royals with Rochester winning 78-70.
learn moreOn this date in 1950, the first African American signed a professional hockey contract.
Arthur Dorrington, a native of Nova Scotia, served with the U.S. Army and after service, signed with one of the New York Rangers farm clubs in 1950. He chose instead to play for the Atlantic City Seagulls of the Eastern League, leading them to a league championship in 1951.
After a career-ending injury, he built a second profession as an officer in the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Department.
learn more*Chance v. Lambeth was decided on this date in 1951. This suit was brought to the United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit by William C. Chance. He was a 64-year-old Black school teacher trying to recover damages from the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company. This was because he was wrongfully ejected because of his […]
learn more*On this date (International Women’s Day) in 1951, we celebrate Sojourners for Truth and Justice. Sojourners for Truth and Justice was a radical protest organization formed by African American women from 1951 to 1952. It was led by activists such as Louise Thompson Patterson, Shirley Graham Du Bois, and Charlotta Bass. That year, a group of 14 African […]
learn moreOn this date in 1951, Orestes (“Minnie”) Minoso became the first Black Chicago White Sox player.
A veteran of the Negro Leagues’ New York Cubans and Bill Veeck’s Cleveland Indians, Minoso had a sensational rookie year, batting .326 with 173 hits, while leading the league in triples and stolen bases. In a questionable and possibly racist decision, sportswriters gave the Rookie of the Year Award to the Yankees’ statistically inferior Gil McDougal.
learn moreOn this date in 1951, Private First Class William Henry Thompson became the first Black to earn the Medal of Honor in the Korean conflict.
While manning his machine gun during a surprise attack on his platoon, Thompson of Company M, Twenty-fourth Infantry Regiment, was killed in action. This occurred at a critical juncture in the 8th Army’s attempt to stop the North Korean Army’s southward movement.
Pfc. Thompson’s effort near Hainan, Korea, resulted in his becoming the first Black man to receive the Medal of Honor since 1898.
learn moreOn this date in 1951, the Amos ‘n’ Andy television show came on the air.
One of the most popular and long running radio programs of all time was brought to television and produced by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, the two actors who had created and starred in the radio version. Since they were white, a four-year search to find the right actors to play the parts took place. Only Ernestine Wade and Amanda Randolph were brought over from the radio cast.
learn more*The Cicero Race Riot occurred on this date in 1951. One of the 20th century’s worst race riots happened when a mob of 4,000 whites attacked an apartment building that housed a single Black family in a neighborhood in Cicero, Cook County, Illinois.
learn moreOn this date in 1951, a racial incident of, during the college football game between Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) and Drake University.
During the first quarter of the game, Drake’s Johnny Bright, a black running back and the nation’s leading rusher, was knocked out of the game with a broken jaw by Oklahoma A&Ms defensive tackle Wilbanks Smith, who was white. With Bright gone, A&M erased an early deficit and won the game over previously unbeaten Drake.
learn more*Libya gained its independence on this date in 1951. Under the 1947 peace treaty with the Allies, Italy relinquished all claims to Libya. The officially the State of Libya is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad to the south, […]
learn more*Lita Lavaughn McClinton was born on this date in 1952. She was a Black socialite. The daughter of Emory McClinton, a former U. S. Department of Transportation official, and his wife, JoAnn McClinton, a Georgia state representative. McClinton married white millionaire James Vincent Sullivan. Although McClinton was in love, her parents never liked Sullivan. They […]
learn more*Miller v. Board of Education was filed on this date in 1952. The plaintiffs were Black, deaf, school-age residents of the District of Columbia. The defendants were the Board of Education, its members, the Superintendent of Schools, the Board of Commissioners of the District and its members, the Federal Security Administrator, the Board of Directors […]
learn more*On this date in 1952, we remember the Mau Mau Uprising. Also known as the Mau Mau Rebellion, the Kenya Emergency, and the Mau Mau Revolt, was a war in the British Kenya Colony (1920–1963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as Mau Mau, and the British. The Mau Mau […]
learn more*On this date in 1953, the Baton Rouge Bus boycott occurred. This was the first Black bus boycott in America.
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