March 1959

Miles Davis and his sextet — including John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb — recorded Kind of Blue in two sessions. The album became the best-selling jazz record of all time, introducing modal jazz to the mainstream and profoundly influencing music beyond jazz.

Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway with a Black director (Lloyd Richards) and predominantly Black cast, becoming the first play by a Black woman to be produced on Broadway. Hansberry, at 29, became the youngest American and first Black playwright to win the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play.

Lorraine Hansberry becomes the first Black woman with a play on Broadway.