January 1961
Events
- 1961Motown Records Expands at Hitsville USA, Detroit
Berry Gordy's Motown Record Corporation — founded with an $800 family loan in 1959 — had by 1961 built Hitsville USA in Detroit into a hit-making factory that challenged the major labels. Motown became the most successful Black-owned business in America and the country's best-selling independent label.
- 1961Dorothy Vaughan Leads NASA's Transition to Electronic Computing
Vaughan, NASA Langley's first Black supervisor, taught herself and her team FORTRAN programming when electronic computers replaced human computers, ensuring the West Area Computing team remained essential through the space age transition.
- 1961Dorothy Vaughan Leads NASA's Programming Transition to Electronic Computers
Vaughan, who had been the first Black supervisor at NACA/NASA Langley, taught herself and her team FORTRAN programming when electronic computers replaced human computers. Her leadership ensured the West Area Computing team remained essential through the transition to the space age.
- January 1961The Marvelettes Record 'Please Mr. Postman'
Motown's first #1 pop single, performed by the all-female group from Inkster, Michigan, 'Please Mr. Postman' launched the girl-group era at Motown and demonstrated the label's crossover commercial formula.
- 1961Whitney Young transforms the National Urban League
Whitney Young became executive director of the National Urban League in 1961 and dramatically expanded its mission and resources, forging unprecedented relationships with corporate America to drive Black economic advancement. His 'domestic Marshall Plan' proposal for compensatory programs prefigured affirmative action, and his leadership made the Urban League one of the most effective civil rights organizations of the 1960s.