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Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was a movement of African-Americans from being persecuted in the south to the north, seeking equality and ability to express themselves. This started a change in various forms of art, such as music and artistic style. It is contributed with the birth of jazz. -
Period: to
1920s-1980s
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Scopes Trial
John Scopes, a high school teatcher in Dayton, Tennessee went against the Butler Act, which made it unlawful to teach the theory of evolution in state-funded schools in Tennessee. The trial became a battle of science vs. religion with William Jennings Bryant as the lawyer representing the prosecution, and and Clarence Darrow representing the defence. In the end, Scopes was found guilty and fined $100, but the verdict was overturned on a technicality. The trial led to the teaching of evolution. -
Stock Market Crash of 1929
The aftermath of WWI and the roaring 20s led to more people buying luxury things, such as cars, with money that they would get from loans. People during this time invested heavily in stocks, and when the stocks dropped, everyone tried to sell theirs leading to an even greater fall in the stock market. This eventualy caused the United States to enter into the Great Depression. It, however taught americans to invest more wisely and to be more careful with money. -
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl was a severe drought during the 1930s. The drought would cause soil in the mid-west to dry up into dust and blow around. Dust covered roughly 100,000,000 acres across the midwest. This caused the United States to set up government programs, such as the Drought Relief Service (DRS). -
Pearl Harbor
On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese attacked United States Navy ships stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. They attacked because the United states had stopped trading steel and oil to them because they were attacking China (one of America's allies). The United States responded to this attack by going to war with Japan, marking the United States entry into WWII. -
Atomic Bomb
The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6th, 1945. Then, three days later, the United States dropped another atomic bpmb on Nagasaki, Japan. Many believe that the United States went overboard by dropping two atomic bombs on Japan in such a small time frame, but it resulted with the surrender of Japan to the United States on August 15, 1945. This resulted in the end of WWII on September 2, 1945. -
Berlin Crisis
After WWII, Germany was given to the Soviet Union, except for part of berlin. There was the Soviet occupied East Berlin, and the democratic West Berlin. West Berlin was surrounded by soviet occupied Germany with land only trade routes leading into it. The Soviet Union, in an effort to take control over West Berlin, destroyed all trade routes leading into West Berlin. In a response to try to keep West Berlin democratic, the United States flew in supplies to West Berlin until it was resolved. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was an event that took place during the Kennedy Administation. The United States discovered that the Soviet Union was putting nuclear missiles in Cuba, within fireing range of the United States. The United States set up a blockade around Cuba until nagotiations were made to have the missiles taken out of Cuba. -
Gulf of Tonkin
The Gulf of Tonkin incident was an incident where The United States claimed to be attacked by North Vietnamese ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. This lead to Congress passing the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving President Johnson the authority to take any actions he thought were necisary. This led to the United States entering into the Vietnam War. -
Mai Lai Massacre
The Mai Lai Massacre was the rape and murder of around 500 unarmed civilians in south vietnam on March 16 ,1968 by American soldiers in Son My Village. It became public knowlage and showed Americans at home how the war turnned men into monsters. -
Kent State Shootings
Students at Kent State in Kent, Ohio were protesting the United States bombing of Cambodia. The protest started off peacefull then it started to escalate. Protesters even burned down the rotc building at the school. The Ohio National Guard was called in because of the protest. For an unkown reason, the National Guard open fired killing 4 students. This Caused Americans to blame the government. -
Pentagon Papers
The Pentagon Papers were a series of leaked documents that detailed actual United States involvement with the Vietnam War. In these documents, it detailed how the Gulf of Tonkin Incident was fake and was used to get the United States involved with the war. It lead to United States citizens loosing trust in the government and decreased support for the war. -
Watergate
The Watergate scandal was an attempt by President Nixon to figure out Democratic campaign plans for the upcoming election. It took place at the Watergate Hotel where the Democratic National Convention was being held. They were discovered and Nixon was on his way to being impeached before he resigned from the presidency. This lead to Americans leaning more toward Democratic instead of Republican. -
Oil Crisis
During the Yom Kippur War, a war between Israel and other Arab countries, the Unites States sided with Isreal. The United States provided Israel with weapons, angering the other Arab countries. In responce, OPEC put an embargo on oil from the Middle East to the United States. The United States were now without their main source of oil so supplies were short until the embargo was removed in march of 1974. -
Camp David Accords
The Camp David Accords were documents Egypt, Israel, and the United States with the hopes of restoring peace between Egypt and Israel. It is often considered the only possitive thing President Carter accomplished. -
Iran Hostage Crisis
On November 4th, 1979 Iranian Revolutionaries took control of the United States Embassy in Iran. With the Capture of the Unided States Embassy, the revolutionaries took 52 Americans hostage. 444 days passed until the hostages were finally rescued.
