In 1954, a year of breakthroughs, the first successful polio vaccine rolled out and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled school segregation unconstitutional. In England, Roger Bannister became the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. Two pop-culture titans, movie star Marilyn Monroe and baseball slugger Joe DiMaggio, tied the knot. And Bill Haley and His Comets released “Rock Around the Clock,” one of the earliest and most successful rock ‘n’ roll records.
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On April 26, 1954, the Salk polio vaccine field trials, involving 1.8 million children, begin at the Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia. Children in the United States, Canada and Finland participated in the trials, which used for the first time the now-standard double-blind method, whereby neither the patient nor attending doctor knew if the inoculation was the vaccine or a placebo.
The polio vaccine by Jonas Salk begins human testing, Captain John Smith lands in Jamestown, Lucy from I Love Lucy dies, and the Treasury unveils a new $50 bill in This Day in History video. The date is April 26th. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz known as Ricky Ricardo became famous in I Love Lucy.
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May 17, 1954: In a major civil rights victory, the U.S. Supreme Court hands down an unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, ruling that racial segregation in public educational facilities is unconstitutional. The historic decision, which brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, specifically dealt with Linda Brown, a young African American girl who had been denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin.
Portrait of the children involved in the landmark Civil Rights lawsuit 'Brown V. Board of Education,' which challenged the legality of American public school segregation, Topeka, Kansas, 1953. From front, Vicki Henderson, Donald Henderson, Linda Brown (the 'Brown' of the case's name), James Emanuel, Nancy Todd, and Katherine Carper. (Photo by Carl Iwasaki/Getty Images)
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The USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear submarine, is commissioned by the U.S. Navy.
Launching of the USS Nautilus (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
Corbis via Getty Images
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Nov
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On November 12, 1954, Ellis Island, the gateway to America, shuts it doors after processing more than 12 million immigrants since opening in 1892. Today, tens of millions of Americans can trace their roots through Ellis Island, located in New York Harbor off the New Jersey coast and named for merchant Samuel Ellis, who owned the land in the 1770s.
U.S. Immigration Service employee who has worked there for 30 years finally waves goodbye to Ellis Island after the Immigration Service is closed for good after 62 years, New York, United States, 12th November 1954. (Photo by CORBIS/Bettmann-UPI/Getty Images)
Getty Images
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