1955-1959

1955: Montgomery Bus Boycott begins two years before I was born when Rosa Parks breaks the law by refusing to give up her seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. My sister Carol is born to Carl William Brill and Anne Claire Lindsey Brill.

 

1956: The Suez Canal crisis leads to a military confrontation between Egypt and Israel. My brother Billy is born.

 

1957: The Soviet Union successfully launches Sputnik into space, causing panic in America … the Cold War is on for real. I am born, becoming my parents’ third child. The Civil Rights Movement and Montgomery Bus Boycott continue.

 

1958: America launches the nation’s first successful satellite in an attempt to catch up with the Soviets.

 

1959: Alaska and Hawaii become America’s 49th and 50th states; Cuba’s government is overthrown and Fidel Castro comes to power; the American/Soviet space race heats up; Civil Rights struggles in the South continue; and the last child, my little brother David is born.