1956

1956 was the 85th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

• Frank P. Samford, Jr commissioned a bronze replica of the Statue of Liberty for the Liberty National Building.
• The Woodlawn High School debate team won the inaugural Barkley Forum tournament in Atlanta.
• Bull Connor began his second term as Commissioner of Public Safety.
• The Birmingham Symphony Orchestra debuted as a fully professional ensemble.
• April 15: An F4 tornado killed 25 and injured 200 along a 20 mile path through Pleasant Grove, McDonald Chapel and Trussville.
• May 3: The Birmingham Amateur Radio Club is incorporated with Layton Dorman, president.

Births

• July 11: Sela Ward, actress and model
• August 19: Buddy Aydelette, football player and politician
• October 10: Johnny O'Neal, jazz pianist
• December 14: Tony Nathan, football player and coach

Buildings

• Anna Dupuy Elementary School
• Vestavia Hills City Hall

Civil Rights Movement

• February 1: Autherine Lucy enrolled at the University of Alabama. She was expelled a week later for causing disruption.
• April 10: Kenneth Adams, E. L. Vinson & Willis Vinson assaulted singer Nat King Cole on stage during a performance at Municipal Auditorium. They were each sentenced to 180 days in jail.
• May 26: A Montgomery judge banned the NAACP from operating in Alabama.
• June 5: The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights was founded by Fred Shuttlesworth at Sardis Baptist Church.
• December 25: Fred Shuttlesworth's home is bombed. He emerges from the basement unscathed.
• December 26: Fred Shuttlesworth leads hundreds of Blacks onto Birmingham busses in defiance of local law. 22 are arrested and Shuttlesworth files a federal lawsuit against the police.

Sports

• February 15: The Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City A's cancelled an exhibition at Rickwood Field due to segregation ordinances.
• The Birmingham Black Barons played their first season in the new Negro American League.
• December 1: Auburn defeated the Alabama 34-7 in the 1956 Iron Bowl at Legion Field.
• Alabama's men's basketball team was SEC champion with a 14-0 league record (21-3 overall).
• October 20: Howard College's final homecoming game at its East Lake campus was won 25-6 by Carson-Newman under steady rain. Viola Beard reigned as queen.

Context

The 1956 Winter Games were held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The Summer Olympics were in Melbourne, Australia. Elvis Presley had his first hit single, "Heartbreak Hotel". Morocco declared independence from France. My Fair Lady opened on Broadway. Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco and Maralyn Monroe married Arthur Miller. "Under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" was made the national motto. Yankee Don Larsen pitched a perfect game 5 of the World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. President Eisenhower was re-elected, and Japan joined the United Nations.

Notable 1956 births included Mel Gibson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Tom Hanks, Martina Navratilova, Dwight Yoakam, Bo Derek, and Larry Bird. Deaths that year included H. L. Mencken, A. A. Milne, Connie Mack, Jackson Pollock, Bertolt Brecht, Bela Lugosi, Art Tatum, and Tommy Dorsey.