April 1947
On April 10, 1947 Jackie Robinson signed a contract with the Brooklyn, Dodgers baseball team. He played his first game with them on April 15th
April 1963
In April 1963 Dr. Martin Luther Jr was arrested for leading protests in Birmingham, Alabama. On April 16th, while still in jail, he wrote his applauded “Letter From a Birmingham Jail.” On April 3, 1968, Dr. King gave his final speech “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” The next day, April 4th, he was assassinated.
April 1974
Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record when he hit his 715th home run.
April 1974
James Alan McPherson received the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for Elbow Room, a book of short stories that explore the borderline between black and white America.
