1860–1869
1870–1879
1880–1889
1890–1899
1900–1909
1910–1919
1920–1929
1930–1939
1940–1949
1950–1959

Historical Timeline

American History | African American History
Baseball History | Negro Leagues Baseball History

1930–1939
1930
Andrew "Rube" Foster dies of a heart attack after devoting his life to the Negro Leagues.
1930
J.L. Wilkinson’s Kansas City Monarchs use their portable light system to regularly play night baseball games.
1931
The Star-Spangled Banner becomes the National Anthem.
1931
Josh Gibson hits over 70 home runs and leads the Homestead Grays to an astonishing 138-6 record.
1932
The Communist Party announces James W. Ford, an African American, as its candidate for Vice President.
1932
Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected to his first of four terms as President.
1932
Gus Greenlee creates the Pittsburgh Crawfords, which are housed in their own ballpark, with their own permanent lights. The Crawfords were one of the finest collections of ballplayers ever, including Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, "Cool Papa" Bell, Judy Johnson, Oscar Charleston and "Double Duty" Radcliffe.
1932
The New York Rens win a World Championship, defeating the Boston Celtics.
1933
Major League Baseball hosts its first All Star Game.
1933
1st East-West All Star Game takes place in Chicago, with Mule Suttles hitting the first home run and Bill Foster pitching for the win. The following year, Satchel Paige beats Foster in a 1-0 shutout.
1934
The Dust Bowl devastates the plains of Middle America.
1934
Elijah Muhammad secedes founder W.F. Muhammad as Supreme Minister of the Nation of Islam.
1934
Josh Gibson hits his notorious home run out of Yankee Stadium.
1934
Satchel Paige defeats the House of David in the Denver Post’s "Little World Series," despite the hired gun of Christy Mathewson. The House of David would continue to play and travel with black teams sporadically until 1955.
1934
Ella Fitzgerald makes her first singing performance at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
1935
The Federal Works Progress Administration is in full force, creating jobs for thousands. The Lower East Side of New York City becomes home to America’s first public housing projects.
1935
The first night game takes place in Major League Baseball.
1936
Joe DiMaggio joins the New York Yankees.
1936
Germany hosts the Olympics in Berlin, where black athletes John Woodruff, Ralph Metcalfe, Archie Williams and Jesse Owens refute Hitler’s statements of black inferiority by taking Gold Medals.
1936
Baseball names first 5 Hall of Famers: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Honus Wagner.
1937
The Boy Scouts of America are pressured to allow African American scouts at the National Jamboree.
1937
An Anti-Lynching Bill passes the House, but it fails the Senate in a filibuster.
1937
Walt Disney creates his first cartoon movie with color and sound, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
1937
Satchel Paige and 8 other Negro Leaguers win the season championship in the Dominican Republic as Los Dragones.
1937
Josh Gibson joins Buck Leonard on the Homestead Grays, winning the 1st of 9 straight Negro National League Pennants.
1937
"Empress of the Blues" Bessie Smith dies in a car accident.
1938
The International Baseball Federation is founded and the 1st World Cup of Baseball is played in London.
1938
Henry Armstrong holds title belts in the featherweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions.
1938
Joe Louis avenges his 1936 loss to Max Schmeling by knocking him out in the 1st round. The 1936 loss will remain the only defeat in the "Brown Bomber’s" illustrious career.
1938
Photographer Gordon Parks buys his first camera. He would go on to become a prominent journalist, author, activist, and film director.
1939
World War II begins when Germany invades Poland.
1939
Langston Hughes’s Way Down South makes its debut as an interracial movie, starring Clarence Muse.
1939
National Baseball Hall of Fame opens in Cooperstown, NY.
1939
Charlie Parker and his saxophone move from Kansas City to pursue his life as a musician in New York.
1939
Maria Anderson is denied entrance to Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution and performs instead for an integrated crowd of 75,000 in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
1939
The Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig, takes himself out of the lineup, after playing 2,130 consecutive games. His number 4 is the first in history to be retired.