15+Firsts

15 Firsts


 * 1) 1946- Kenny Washington becomes the first African-American professional football player. I chose this because sports were always dominated by white males, so to have an African-American player to make it to the pros was a huge step.
 * 2) 1947- Jackie Robinson becomes the first African-American professional baseball player. I chose this because sports in general were white dominatd, but baseball was especially white domintated, so this was a huge barrier to break through.
 * 3) 1948- Alice Coachman is the first African-American female to win a gold medal in the Olympics. I chose this because it was a wonderful accomplishment to be an African-American female, who many people look down upon, anwas such and win a gold medal at the highest stage in sports.
 * 4) 1952- Desi Arnaz becomes the first Hispanic American to star in a Network TV show, //I Love Lucy.// I chose this because in the past, television was mainly targeted toward white people, and now a Hispanic was starring in the show. I also picked this because //I Love Lucy// was such a popular television show.
 * 5) 1964- Margaret Chase Smith becomes the first woman nominated as president by a major political party. I chose this because it shows when women began to become more equal to men than they were before. If they were not more equal, they would not have had the opportunity to run for president.
 * 6) 1970- Diane Crump becomes the first female jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby. I chose this because horse racing was always considered a male dominated sport, and I believe that it continues to be male dominated today. This showed that even though a sport is male dominated, a female cannot excel in the sport.
 * 7) 1973- Roberto Clemente becomes the first Hispanic American baseball hall of fame inductee. I chose Clemente because he is one of the most well- known baseball players in the history of baseball.
 * 8) 1983- Vanessa Williams becomes the first black Miss America. I chose this because the Miss America Pageant was previously a white dominated contest, and this showed that just because someone is not in the dominant side of something does not mean that they cannot be successful.
 * 9) 1983- Sally K. Ride becomes the first woman sent to space. I chose this because Ride opened up many career opportunites for women by succeeding in a male dominated job.
 * 10) 1990- Dr. Antonia Novello becomes the first woman U.S. Surgeon General. I chose this because this was also a job that opened up different job opportunities for women, which expanded to the government positions.
 * 11) 2002- Halle Berre becomes the first African-American woman to win an Academy Award. I chose this because she opened a door for African-American women to be successful in film and television.
 * 12) 2006- Effa Manley becomes the first woman elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. I chose this because baseball is a male-dominated sport and a woman who can make it into the baseball hall of fame deserves to be recognized.
 * 13) 2008- Hilary Clinton becomes the first woman in US history to win a presidential primary contest. I chose this because it shows how much women have come in their struggle for equality. In the past, a woman could have never won a primary contest running for the president of the US because it was so much of a male dominated society.
 * 14) 2008- Sarah Palin is the first woman to run for vice president on the Republican ticket. I chose her because it was a major step for a woman to run as VP for the Republicans because conservatives tend to do things the way they always were, which would mean that women would not be able to hold a position as important as the VP of the US.
 * 15) 2009- Barack Obama becomes the first African-American president of the United States. This was important to choose because this showed how far America has come with the struggle for equality relating to race because in the past, America would have never elected an African-American as the president.

I enjoyed making this list because it showed how far America has come with the struggle for equality. In 1946, it was important that a black athlete was allowed to compete in professional sports, and now in 2009, a black man has the ability to become president of the United States.