1920s

  • The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is adopted.Prohibition begins.

    The United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex.
  • KDKA in Pittsburgh

    The call letters “KDKA” were assigned from a roster maintained to provide identification for ships and marine shore stations, these being the only regular services then in operation under formal license by the Federal Government.
  • Congress enacts Emergency Quota Act.

    The objective of this act was to temporarily limit the numbers of immigrants to the United States by imposing quotas based on country of birth.
  • The boll weevil ruins more than 85 percent of the South’s cotton crop.

    A Boll Weevil is a beetle that feasts on cotton buds and flowers. Migrating from Mexico, in 1922 the Boll Weevil destroyed more than 85% of the South's cotton crops.This devastated many southern jobs and hurt the economy.
  • The stock market begins its spectacular rise.National Origins Act replaces Emergency Quota Act.

    Companies began to increase, which caused the economy to grow. With technology improving quickly, many people expected the economy to rise. People began to receive more income, therefore they spent more and stock prices began to rise. People invested billions of dollars in the stock market expecting to make millions on the rising stock prices.
  • Ku Klux Klan members stage a major march through Washington, D.C.Scopes trial takes place in Dayton, Tennessee.

    On August 8, 1925 more than 40,000 members of the Kun Klux Klan marched through the streets of Washington D.C. The march was organized to counter reports of faltering enrollment. It grabbed the nation's attention with an iron fist.
  • Langston Hughes publishes “The Weary Blues.”

    The Weary Blues" is a poem first published in the Urban League magazine, Opportunity. One of the poem's themes is the importance of music in everyday life. It has been credited as one of the first poems to combine music and poetry.
  • Sacco and Vanzetti are executed.Charles Lindbergh flies across the Atlantic.

    Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti shot and killed a paymaster for a shoe company, then escaped with $15,000. The two men were considered anarchist. The importance of this event was that their conviction was based on their politics and their ethnicity.
  • Herbert Hoover is elected U.S. president.

    Herbert Hoover took office the year the stock market crashed. Because he was leading the nation when this unfortunate event happened, he was given the blame.