1955
Lynchings continue in the South with the brutal slaying of a 14-year-old Chicago youth, Emmett Till, in Money, Miss. Jet magazine publishes a picture of the mutilated corpse.
1955
Opera diva Leontyne Price is triumphant in the title role of the National Broadcasting Company's Tosca, making her the first black to sing opera on television.
1955
Singer and guitarist Chuck Berry travels from St. Louis to Chicago, recording "Maybellene," an immediate sensation among teenagers. The hit helps shape the evolution of rock and roll.
1956
Arthur Mitchell, future director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, becomes the only black dancer in the New York City Ballet. George Balanchine creates several roles especially for him.
1956
Tennis player Althea Gibson becomes the first African-American to win a major title--the Wimbledon doubles--as well as the French singles and doubles and Italian singles.
1957
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is established by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and others to coordinate and assist local organizations working for the full equality of African-Americans.
1957
Fullback Jim Brown begins his professional football career with the Cleveland Browns. He leads the National Football League in rushing for eight of his nine seasons.
1958
Boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, considered by many to be the greatest fighter in history, wins back the middleweight title for the last time by defeating Carmen Basilio in a savage fight.
1958
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is formed. Composed primarily of African-Americans, the dance company tours extensively both in the United States and abroad.
1958
Mahalia Jackson, known as the "Queen of Gospel Song," joins Duke Ellington in his gospel interlude Black, Brown, and Beige at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.
1959
Singer Ray Charles records "What'd I Say," which becomes his first million-seller, and exemplifies the emergence of soul music, combining rhythm and blues with gospel.
1959
Trumpeter Miles Davis records Kind of Blue, often considered his masterwork, with composer-arranger-pianist Bill Evans and tenor saxophonist John Coltrane.
1959
Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, becomes the first drama by a black woman to be produced on Broadway. The 1961 film version features Sidney Poitier and receives a special award at Cannes.
1959
Motown Records is founded in Detroit, Mich., by Berry Gordy, Jr. The "Motown sound" dominates black popular music through the 1960s and attracts a significant white audience as well.
1960
Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton found Stax Records of Memphis, Tenn., which comes to define the Southern soul music sound, including such artists as Sam and Dave, Booker T. and the MGs, and Otis Redding.
1961
Whitney Young is appointed executive director of the National Urban League. He builds a reputation for his behind-the-scenes work to bridge the gap between white political and business leaders and poor blacks.
1962
Basketball player Wilt Chamberlain becomes the first player to score more than 4,000 points in regular-season National Basketball Association games.
1963
The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., writes "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" to eight clergymen who attacked his role in Birmingham. Widely reprinted, it soon becomes a classic of protest literature.
1963
Sidney Poitier wins the Academy Award as best actor for his performance in Lilies of the Field. In 1967 he stars in two films concerning race relations, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night.
1964
The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., is awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in Oslo, Norway. 1964
Bob Gibson, phenomenal pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, begins an unprecedented streak of seven straight World Series wins by taking Game Five and, on two days' rest, Game Seven.
1965
The Watts area of Los Angeles explodes into violence following the arrest of a young male motorist charged with reckless driving. At the riot's end, 34 are dead, 1,032 injured, and 3,952 arrested.
1966
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense is founded in Oakland, Calif., by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, with the original purpose of protecting residents from acts of police brutality.
1966
Charting a new course for the Civil Rights Movement, Stokely Carmichael, chairman of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, chooses to use the phrase "black power" at a rally during the James Meredith March that summer in Mississippi.
1966
Bill Russell, one of the greatest defensive centres in the history of basketball, becomes the first black coach of a major professional sports team (the Boston Celtics) in the United States.
1966
The African-American holiday of Kwanzaa, patterned after various African harvest festivals, is created by Maulana Karenga, a black-studies professor at California State University at Long Beach.