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January 1946

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Achievement · literature
Ann Petry publishes The Street — first million-copy novel by a Black woman

Ann Petry published The Street in 1946, a naturalist novel following Lutie Johnson, a single Black mother in wartime Harlem fighting racism, sexism, and poverty. Selling over 1.5 million copies, it was the first novel by an African American woman to sell more than one million copies. The New York Times called it 'a skillfully written and forceful first novel'; it remains a landmark of intersectional American literature.

Events

  1. January 1946
    Marion Motley and Bill Willis integrate the AAFC with Cleveland Browns

    Running back Marion Motley and guard Bill Willis signed with the Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference in August 1946 — the same year Washington and Strode joined the NFL Rams. Coach Paul Brown proactively recruited both players. Motley rushed for 601 yards at 8.2 yards per carry in his first season; both went on to Pro Football Hall of Fame careers and four AAFC championships.

  2. 1946
    Ann Petry publishes The Street — first million-copy novel by a Black woman

    Ann Petry published The Street in 1946, a naturalist novel following Lutie Johnson, a single Black mother in wartime Harlem fighting racism, sexism, and poverty. Selling over 1.5 million copies, it was the first novel by an African American woman to sell more than one million copies. The New York Times called it 'a skillfully written and forceful first novel'; it remains a landmark of intersectional American literature.

  3. January 1946
    Louis Jordan releases 'Choo Choo Ch'Boogie' — No. 1 for 18 weeks

    Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five recorded 'Choo Choo Ch'Boogie' in January 1946, releasing it on Decca Records. The jump blues track reached No. 1 on the R&B charts and held that position for 18 weeks. Jordan's run of massive hits in the mid-1940s — combining humor, groove, and accessibility — made him the best-selling Black recording artist of the era and a direct precursor to rock and roll.

  4. 1946
    Frank Yerby publishes The Foxes of Harrow — first Black author commercial bestseller

    Frank Yerby published The Foxes of Harrow in 1946, a historical romance set on a Louisiana plantation, which sold over one million copies in its first year — the first book by an African American author to achieve such sales. He also became the first Black author to have a novel purchased for Hollywood adaptation, when 20th Century Fox optioned it; the 1947 film starred Rex Harrison and Maureen O'Hara.

  5. 1946
    Amos Milburn begins West Coast R&B career

    Amos Milburn began his recording career in 1946 after returning from Navy service, signing with Aladdin Records. His piano-driven jump blues and proto-R&B hits — particularly his later 'Chicken Shack Boogie' (1947) and a string of booze-themed recordings — made him one of the most commercially successful Black artists of the late 1940s and an important link between jump blues and rock and roll.

  6. 1946
    Amos Milburn begins West Coast R&B recording career

    Amos Milburn began his recording career in 1946 after returning from Navy service, signing with Aladdin Records. His piano-driven jump blues and 'Chicken Shack Boogie' (1947) — No. 1 for 4 weeks — made him one of the most commercially successful Black artists of the late 1940s and an important link between jump blues and rock and roll.

  7. 1946
    Romare Bearden returns from Army, develops figurative painting style

    Romare Bearden returned from Army service in 1945-1946 and developed his figurative oil painting style drawing on Cubist influences, exhibiting at the Samuel Kootz Gallery and other New York venues. His 1940s work laid the essential groundwork for the landmark collage practice he would develop in the 1960s, making him one of the defining American artists of the twentieth century.