History

2024

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Learn more about the history of basketball using census data and records in December 2024.

Photo courtesy of the Libary of Congress.

The content of the U.S. Census Bureau's History Web site changes every month. If you missed a month or have been directed to the home page by an older link, visit the archived home pages below.

Archived pages contain the content, links, and photos featured in past home pages.

January 2024: Alaska and Its People

Alaska became the United States' 49th state on January 3, 1959. Americans initially considered the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 to be a waste of money, but opinions changed once news of Alaska's natural resources and mineral wealth spread. Today, Alaska is home to a hardy population living in urban cities and remote settlements surrounded by 665,588 square miles of rugged mountains, roaring rivers, ancient glaciers, and flowering grasslands.

February 2024: 1909 Founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded 115 years ago this month on February 12, 1909. Learn more about the NAACP and its history using census data and records.

March 2024: Military Service Academies

The United States Military Academy at West Point overlooking the Hudson River in Orange County, NY, was founded on March 16, 1802, making it the oldest military service academy in the nation. The United States would ultimately establish four more military service academies: the United States Naval Academy (1845); Coast Guard Academy (1876); Merchant Marine Academy (1943); and Air Force Academy (1954). Use census data and records to learn more about our nation's military service academies.

April 2024: 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush

On April 22, 1889, approximately 50,000 men, women and children raced one another across the plains hoping to claim a parcel of land in a 1.9 million-acre tract of "Indian Territory" that had not been assigned to an American Indian tribe. When the rush ended, tents and cooking fires marked the settlement of Oklahoma City, Kingfisher, El Reno, Norman, Guthrie and Stillwater and many other Oklahoma towns. Use census data and records to learn more about the 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush.

May 2024: 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling that racial segregation in the nation's public schools was unconstitutional. The unanimous decision partially overruled the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision that had permitted segregated, "separate but equal" public facilities for nearly six decades. Learn more about the historic lawsuit and the people involved using census data and records.