Timeline May 1961

Events in May 1961 7

• 1901 – 1961 Gary Cooper (1901-1961) Died 13 May 1961, aged 60 American film actor known for roles in High Noon and Sergeant York, and a two-time Academy Award winner for Best Actor. He died of cancer shortly after receiving an honorary Oscar for his career.
• 1961 – present Luis Herrera Lucho The first great Colombian climber to win a Grand Tour (1987 Vuelta).
• 1961 Freedom Rides begin Civil rights activists test desegregation of interstate buses Groups of Black and white activists rode interstate buses into the segregated American South to challenge non-enforcement of Supreme Court rulings banning segregated bus terminals. Riders faced mob violence, including a firebombed bus near Anniston, Alabama, drawing national attention to the civil rights movement.
• 1961 Alan Shepard becomes first American in space Freedom 7 suborbital flight Alan Shepard piloted the Mercury capsule Freedom 7 on a fifteen-minute suborbital flight, becoming the first American to travel into space. The flight came weeks after Yuri Gagarin's orbital mission and intensified the space race.
• 1961 Amnesty International founded Launched to campaign for prisoners of conscience British lawyer Peter Benenson founded Amnesty International after publishing an appeal, "The Forgotten Prisoners," calling for the release of people imprisoned for their beliefs. The organization grew into one of the world's leading human rights campaign groups.
• 1961 – 1962 Jimi Hendrix serves in the US Army 101st Airborne Trains as a paratrooper before his discharge.
• 1961 South Africa becomes a republic Leaves the Commonwealth South Africa left the British Commonwealth and became a republic following a whites-only referendum held under Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd. The move deepened the country's international isolation over apartheid policy.