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“Witch of Buchenwald” is sentenced to prison
“Ilse Koch, wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment in a court in West Germany. Ilse Koch was nicknamed the “Witch of Buchenwald” for her extraordinary sadism.”
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-witch-of-buchenwald-is-sentenced-to-prison -
First atomic detonation
“Forcefully marking the continued importance of the West in the development of nuclear weaponry, the government detonates the first of a series of nuclear bombs at its new Nevada test site.“
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-atomic-detonation-at-the-nevada-test-site -
PGA approves participation of Black players
“Professional Golfers Association president Horton Smith announces that a seven-man committee “almost unanimously” votes to allow Black golfers to compete in PGA co-sponsored events. With the announcement, Smith hopes that Black golfers participate in the next two events, the Phoenix Open and Tucson Open.“
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pga-black-golfers-sports-barriers -
USA tests the first hydrogen bombs
“The United States detonates the world’s first thermonuclear weapon, the hydrogen bomb, on Eniwetok atoll in the Pacific. The test gave the United States a short-lived advantage in the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union.”
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/united-states-tests-first-hydrogen-bomb -
President Truman announces the development of the hydrogen bomb
“In his final State of the Union address before Congress, President Harry S. Truman tells the world that that the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb.”
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/truman-announces-u-s-has-developed-hydrogen-bomb -
The chemical structure of DNA is discovered
“James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announce that they have determined the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule containing human genes. The molecular biologists were aided significantly by the work of another DNA researcher, Rosalind Franklin, although she is not included in the announcement, nor did she share the subsequent Nobel Prize award for it.”
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/watson-and-crick-discover-chemical-structure-of-dna -
Brown v. Board
“The U.S. Supreme Court had a hands down an unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, ruling that racial segregation in public educational facilities is unconstitutional. The historic decision, which brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, specifically dealt with Linda Brown. Who had been denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas.”
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/brown-v-board-of-ed-is-decided -
Marilyn Monroe skirt scene is filmed
“The famous picture of Marilyn Monroe, laughing as her skirt is blown up by the blast from a subway vent during the filming of The Seven Year Itch. The scene infuriated her husband, Joe DiMaggio, who felt it was exhibitionist, and the couple divorced shortly afterward.”
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/famous-marilyn-monroe-skirt-scene-filmed -
Claudette Colvin refuses to give up her seat on the bus
“Claudette Colvin was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery, Alabama bus. She was removed from the bus by two police officers, handcuffed and arrested, and booked in an adult jail. She was charged with violating segregation law, disorderly conduct assaulting a police officer. Two charges were dropped, but the latter stayed on her record until it was expunged in 2021.”
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/claudette-colvin-refuses-to-give-up-her-seat -
Emmett Till murder
“Fourteen year old Emmett Till was brutally murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman.
His assailants—the white woman’s husband and his brother—made Emmett carry a 75-pound cotton gin fan to the Tallahatchie River and made him to take off his clothes. The two men nearly beat him to death, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head then threw his body, tied to the cotton gin fan with barbed wire, into the river.”
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till -
Emmett Till murderers make magazine confession
Look magazine published the confessions of J.W. Milam Roy Bryant, who were acquitted in the 1955 kidnapping murder of Emmett Till. “The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi,” detailed how they beat Till with a gun, shot him and threw his body in the Tallahatchie River with a heavy cotton-gin fan attached with barbed wire to his neck. The two were paid $4,000 for their participation.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/emmett-till-murderers-make-magazine-confession -
MLK Jr. home bombing
“An unidentified suspected white supremacist terrorist bombed the Montgomery home of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. No one was harmed, but the explosion outraged the community and was a major test of King’s steadfast commitment to non-violence.”
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/martin-luther-king-jr-home-bombed-montgomery -
Arkansas troops block “Little Rock Nine” from entering segregated high school
“Arkansas governor Orval Faubus enlists the National Guard to prevent nine African American students from entering Central High School in Little Rock. The armed Arkansas militia troops surrounded the school while an angry crowd of some 400 whites jeered, booed, and threatened to lynch the frightened African American teenagers, who fled shortly after arriving.”
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/arkansas-troops-prevent-desegregation -
“West Side Story” opens on Broadway
“West Side Story, composed by Leonard Bernstein, opens at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway. For the musical, Bernstein provided a score that many celebrate as his greatest achievement as a composer. Bernstein’s place in musical history was firmly established. In addition to his work as a composer, the “Renaissance man of music” was a conductor, a concert pianist, and brought classical music to the masses.”
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bernsteins-west-side-story-opens -
Sugar Ray Robinson defeats Carmen Basilio for middleweight title
“Sugar Ray Robinson defeated Carmen Basilio to regain the middleweight championship. It was the fifth and final title of his career. Robinson is considered by many to be the greatest prizefighter in history.”
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sugar-ray-defeats-basilio-for-middleweight-title -
Creation of NASA
“The U.S. Congress passes legislation establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a civilian agency responsible for coordinating America’s activities in space.”
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nasa-created -
NASA introduces America’s first astronauts
“National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) introduces America’s first astronauts to the press: Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Walter Schirra Jr., Alan Shepard Jr. and Donald Slayton. The seven men, all military test pilots, were carefully selected from a group of 32 candidates to take part in Project Mercury, America’s first manned space program.”
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-astronauts-introduced -
Ella Fitzgerald becomes first Black woman to win a Grammy Award
"First Lady of Song" Ella Fitzgerald becomes the first Black woman to win a Grammy at the Recording Academy’s inaugural awards show on May 4, 1959.
During the event at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, Fitzgerald took home two of 28 awards for best jazz and female vocal performances.”
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ella-fitzgerald-first-black-woman-win-grammy -
Hugh Laurie’s Birthday
“Hugh Laurie is an actor, musician, writer. Between 2004 and 2012, Laurie starred as an acerbic physician specialising in diagnostic medicine, Dr. Gregory House, in the Fox medical drama House.” (His best work if you ask me.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Laurie#:~:text=Laurie%20was%20born%20on%2011,at%20the%201948%20London%20Games. -
Coors brewery heir is kidnapped
Adolph Coors disappears while driving to work from his Morrison, Colorado, home. The grandson of the Coors’ founder and chairman of the Golden, Colorado, brewery was kidnapped and held for ransom before being shot to death. Surrounding evidence launched one of the FBI’s largest manhunts: the search for Joe Corbett.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/coors-brewery-heir-is-kidnapped -
High‑ranking Nazi official Adolf Eichmann captured
“Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi SS officer who organized Adolf Hitler’s “final solution of the Jewish question," is captured in Argentina. On May 23, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion announces to the world that he will stand trial in Israel.”
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/eichmann-captured