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.

February 1: Autherine Lucy enrolls 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.
June 1: A Montgomery judge bans the NAACP from operating in Alabama.
June 5: The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights founded by Fred Shuttlesworth at Sardis Baptist Church.
December 25: Fred Shuttlesworth's home and church bombed.
December 26: [{Fred Shuttlesworth]] boards a Birmingham bus, 6 days after the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that Montgomery buses must integrate. He and other Civil Rights Leaders attend a City Commission meeting the same day.

February 15: Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City A's forced to cancel 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 is 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 reigns as queen.