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On May 17, 1954, Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the U.S. read the supreme court decision on segregation of blacks and whites in public school. The ruling was unanimous and affected the mandatory segregation laws in 17 states. For twenty-eight minutes a packed court chamber listened intently to one of the most important decision to confront the Supreme Court in the 20th century. The court simply stated that that racial segregation in public schools violates the Constitution of the United States of America. The justices flatly rejected the South’s "equal but separate" facilities for white and black children. 
1955
Marian Anderson, Opera singer, was the first African American to sing at the Metropolitan Opera Hous. Leontyne Price, made her grand opera debut on television in ‘Tosca’.
In December, Mrs. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to white passengers. This after being ordered by a Montgomery, Alabama bus driver. She was arrested and fined $10.00 (a misdemeanor) for disobeying the instructions of a City lines bus driver.
Ray Charles, a blind piano playing singer, fused gospel and Rhythm & Blues to make the hit "I’ve Got a Woman". "He is singing from his soul" some would remark. Would this be the first Soul Singer?
1956
Bell Telephone labs report a change in the size and inner workings of a room size Computer. Replacing bulky vacuum tubes with tiny transistor’s, and germanium diodes shrinks the units size to three cubic feet. It is said to use one-twentieth of the power utilized by the old vacuum-tube computer.
A skinny young man with long sideburns and backed by a three piece band introduces himself, his music, and his never ending gyrations to a screaming teenage (mostly girls) audience. Everyone begins to form an opinion of what this does or will mean to the music industry. After all, this Rock n Roll is based upon Negro blues.
Nat King Cole, renown singer and actor became the first African American to host a network television series. The show could not attract sponsors and was cancelled in 1957.
At the Republican’s Convention in San Francisco, Washington State Governor Arthur B. Langlie delivered the Keynote speech which included the following quote;
On civil rights-"Through every agency in government, except Congress, we have witnessed the greatest gains for civil rights over a period of eighty years. We have not given mere lip service, we have acted."
Asa Philip Randolph - organizer of the first black union (Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters) became the first black vice president of the AFL - CIO. He retired in 1968 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
The Democratic convention was held in Chicago, Ill. Adlai E. Stevensons, accepting the Democratic nomination for president took a jab at Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Vice President running mate Richard M. Nixon. If he and vice presidential nominee Eestes Kefauver were elected, "and it is God’s will that I do not serve my full four years, the people will have a new President they can trust.
1957
In a move that will affect millions of Americans during the next decade…the Viet Cong began acts of rebellion against the South Vietnam regime.The Civil Rights Act authorized the Federal Government to take legal action to ensure the voting privileges of minorities. Their right to vote could no longer be denied. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was established, under a little known Baptist minister named Martin Luther King.
Richard Wright, the father of the modern American black novel, released a timely novel entitled White Man, Listen! The book is an essay on racial issues. Among other non-fiction book, he also authored Black Power (about an emerging African nation). His most noted novel is Native Son, a story of a black Chicago youth victimized by a white-dominated society. The author would die in self-imposed exile (Paris) in 1960.
Lena Horne starred in ‘Jamaica’ on New York’s Broadway. It ran for two years. Althea Gibson captured the women’s singles title at Wimbledon Tennis Championship in England.
In mid September, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus ordered State National Guardsman to surround and place Central High School "off limits to Negroes".
The U.S. Supreme Court called for "all deliberate speed" in implementation of its school-desegregation decision. Federal District Judge Ronald Davies was assigned the responsibility to sat in judgement at a hearing that would listen to Governor Faubus evidence to support his actions. The Governor sent his lawyers to the hearing. All motions (delaying tactics drawn up to get around the Supreme Court decision) were overruled by Judge Davies. The lawyers asked and were granted permission to be excused. With no evidence to support their sides’ claims, their strategy was dead on arrival.
1958
The U.S. launches its first satellite-The Explorer I. Mainframes (series 7000) pioneered IBM’s entry into the first transistorized computers. The machines were five times faster than their vacuum-tube predecessors, and a lot more dependable. Used mainly in the scientific community in the early sixties, the Computers were priced at $3 million dollars. Needless to say, some companies leased rather than bought. IBM reportedly sold or leased over 400 of these units.
Toyota, one of two of Japans major auto maker’s shipped 800 Toyopet sedans to America. The compact got 30 miles to a gallon of gas and sold for $2,222.00. Nissan, Toyoto’s competitor shipped 800 Datsun’s. that got 40 miles to a gallon and sold at a modest price of $1762.00. Both auto makers are predicting shipments of 500 per month in 1959.
Althea Gibson successful defended her title at Wimbledon Tennis championships in England.
1959
Hawaii becomes the 50th State in the Union following Alaska, which became the 49th earlier. Fidel Castro communist regime begins in Cuba. NASA selects the first seven United States Astronaut..
Lorraine Hansberry, a African American playwright, wrote A Raisin in the Sun. It was also the first Broadway play produced, directed and performed by African Americans. Ray Charles continues to "sing from his soul" and releases his hit single "What’d I Say".
Benjamin O. Davis becomes the first armed forces general as he is promoted to Brigadier General.
Hitsville USA- with a $800.00 loan from his family, twenty-nine year old, Barry Gordy laid the foundation that would put his Motown Record Company and Detroit Michigan in the forefront of Rhythm and Blues. A two story house with garage (converted to a recording studio) and a large picture window in front became the studio that produced hits for Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Diana Ross and the Supremes, and The Temptations, to name a few. The record company would later develop into one of the largest African American business in America.
Meanwhile, "down home" (the south -to a most northern blacks) Stax Records was also founded. Its recording artists singing style were characterized as The Memphis Sound, an obvious reference to the labels geographical location in Tennessee. It housed such stars as Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, and Booker T. and the M.G.’s
1960
Student National Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was founded. Its members, an interracial group, are a model of diversity and are headed by Stokely Carmichael and H. Rap Brown.
Opera Dive, Grace Bumbry performed with the Paris Opera Company. She played the role of Amneris in Verdi’s Aida. Percussionist Maxwell (Max) Roach collaborated with noted songwriter Oscar Brown Jr and jazz artist Abbey Lincoln in 1960. The result was an album dedicated to the civil rights movement entitled We Insist, The Freedom Now Suite.
It began in Greensboro, N.C. with four college freshmen from Negro Agricultural and Technical College seated at a lunch counter at F. W. Woolworth’s. A white waitress ignored their request for service. Finally leaving at closing time without being served, they returned the next morning with 25 of their schoolmates to continue the Sit-in demonstration. Within weeks, similar demonstrations sprang up at segregated lunch counters throughout the south. Students and others were challenging the Jim Crow lunch counter custom that allowed Negroes to be served while standing but they could not sit down and eat.
Track star Wilma Rudolph wins three gold medals at the Olympic games. The games were held in Rome Italy.
Meanwhile in Africa, the motherland, the Nobel Piece Prize is awarded to South African civil rights leader Albert Luthuli. The nations of Niger, Senegal, Mauritania, Togo, Madagaascar, Somalia, and Mali gain their independence. Later, Cameroon, Upper Volta, and Ivory Coast were added to the list.
John F. Kennedy defeats Richard M. Nixon and will become the 35th President of the United States. His Vice President is Lyndon Baines Johnson.
PDP-1 was the brainchild of Digital Electronics Corporation (DEC). Most say its successor is the Minicomputer. The PDP-1 sold for $120,000, obviously lower than IBM’s Mainframes. It was also smaller (weighed 250 pounds), fast, and had a CRT graphics display (early monitor). It took one person to operate the unit.
However the most popular computer of the day was IBM’s 1401. It afforded small companies to have data processing capabilities. It was a scaled down version of other IBM units and could be leased for a little as $2500.00 per month. IBM reportedly leased more than 15000 of these units.
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