St. Paul Recorder

Negroes Of The Year -- 1956

1956 was a year in which the Negro made giant strides in his march toward full equality. It was a year replete with demonstrations of skill, fortitude, and courage by many individuals. Of these we can mention only a few because of space limitations.

Autherine Lucy Foster - who braved with unexampled courage the howling violence of the White Citizens Council mobs during her brief stay as the first Negro student at the University of Alabama.

John Hope Franklin historian and writer, whose "From Slavery to Freedom," is regarded by many as the most authoritative book on Negro history, was appointed chairman of the History Department at Brooklyn College.

Clarence Cameron White — whose opera "Ouanga" was given in concert form at the Metropolitan Opera House by the National Negro Opera Co., has for long been a leading concert star, teacher and composer. Mr. White was the featured speaker at the Teachers Union's 1955 Negro History Week Celebration.

Mattiwilda Dobbs who became the third Negro artist to sing at the Metropolitan Opera House, where she won critical acclaim for her singing of Gilda in "Rigoletto."

Sydney Poitier - who won smashing success for his acting in television and moving pictures.

Jackie Robinson-who won the Spingarn Medal of the NAACP "for the highest achievement of the American Negro." made 1956 a "come back" year and helped the Dodgers win the National League pennant.

Marian Anderson and Billie Holiday- whose autobiographies, "My Lord, What A Morning." and "Lady, Sing the Blues." vividly portray the struggles of the Negro women artists.

Langston Hughes outstanding poet and author, whose autobiographical "I Wonder As I Wander," was published in 1956, as was his "A Pictorial History of the Negro in America," which he co-authored with Milton Meltzer.

Bessie Buchanan- former actress and first Negro woman to be elected to the New York State Assembly, who received the Bill Robinson Plague for 1956 at the 20th Annual meeting of the Negro Actors Guild of America.

Floyd Patterson at twenty-one. became the youngest man ever to win the world heavyweight title. He was named "Fighter of the Year" by the Boxing Writers Association.

Charles Dumas Olympic high jump champion, became the first athlete ever to clear seven feet when he reached seven feet, one and one-half inches at the Olympic tryouts.

The 40,000 Negro people of Montgomery, Alabama — who maintained their bus boycott for over a year in the face of continuous intimidation, violence and jail sentences, finally to win the right to unsegregated seating in the buses of the city

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