Flutist Doriot Antony Dwyer (a descendant of Susan B. Anthony) is the first woman appointed to a principal chair in a major orchestra.
Lillian Hellman, a famous playwright, testifies before the House Un-American Activities Committee. She is blacklisted, which means she is prevented from finding paid employment, but she continues her social activism. In the early 1960s, she finds work again and begins her memoirs by publishing An Unfinished Woman; it later receives the National Book Award.
Leontyne Price makes her professional debut as an opera singer.
Southern writer Flannery O’Connor publishes her first novel, Wise Blood; she is best known as a master of short stories.
Athlete Gertrude Dunn is voted Rookie of the Year in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. She also excels in field hockey and lacrosse.
Educator Frances Horwich develops Ding Dong School, the first TV program to be aimed at a preschool audience and to provide a quality learning experience.
Barbara Holdridge (on left) cofounds Caedmon Records with her friend Marianne Mantell. They begin their career of recording spoken voices of famous poets and writers by signing their request letters with initials rather than their names, so their subjects would not know they were women. Today, audiobooks are a $2 billion industry.