-
Germany surrenders
The definitive text was signed in Karlshorst, Berlin on the night of 8 May 1945 by representatives of the three armed services of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) and the Allied Expeditionary Force together with the Supreme High Command of the Red Army, with further French and US representatives signing as witnesses; an earlier version of the text having been signed in a ceremony in Reims in the early hours of 7 May 1945. In the West, 8 May is known as Victory in Europe Day. -
President Truman signs the Atomic Energy Act
President Truman signs the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 transferring Manhattan Project assets and responsibilities to the civilian Atomic Energy Commission. -
First African american to play baseball~Jackie Robinson
was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) second baseman who became the first African American to play in the major leagues in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947. The Dodgers, by playing Robinson, heralded the end of racial segregation that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. -
The Civil Rights Congress Formed
The Civil Rights Congress was formed from the merger of the International Labor Defense, the National Negro Congress, and the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties. -
School Time
Eleven African Americans go to an all white's public school in Delaware. -
Death of Stalin
His successor, Khrushchev, would present revisionist ideas that would inspire Hungarian reformists and weaken the Communist bloc. -
Time Bomb Explodes
A time bomb explodes in the cargo hold of United airline flight 629, a Douglas DC-6B airliner flying above about Longmont, Colorado killing all 39 passendgers and 5 crew members on board. The bomb was plants by John Gilbert Graham, He pakced the timed dynamite explosive in his mother's suitcase. -
African Americans Boycott Bus System
In Montgomery, Alabama, while on a bus, Rosa Parks refuses to give her seat up to a white person which triggered a successful year-long boycott. -
Motown Records
A black man named Berry Gordy founded Motown Records. -
Freedom Rides
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) organizes Freedom Rides throughout the South to de-segregate interstate public bus travel.