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Period: to
Events from 1890-1950
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Birth of F. Scott Fitzgerald
On September 24, 1896, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota.
https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/browse/irvin_dept_special_collections/collections/matthew_arlyn_bruccoli_collection_of_f_scott_fitzgerald/life_of_fitzgerald/index.php -
Mary Anderson
Mary Anderson created the windshield wiper in 1903 to make streetcars more safe to drive in the rain.
https://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/1900a.shtml -
Wright Brothers
The Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright, created, built, and flew the first practical airplane. The "Flyer" traveled 120 feet in 12 seconds on December 17, 1903. The flight took place in North Carolina's Kitty Hawk.
https://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/1900a.shtml -
Windshield Wiper Patented
Anderson created a device in 1905 that gave automobile operators inside-car control over exterior, swinging arm wipers. A decade later, windshield wipers became a required feature on all automobiles.
https://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/1900a.shtml -
Literacy Apprenticeship
Fitzgerald, a member of the 1917 Princeton Class, put his literary apprenticeship ahead of his academic career.
https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/browse/irvin_dept_special_collections/collections/matthew_arlyn_bruccoli_collection_of_f_scott_fitzgerald/life_of_fitzgerald/index.php -
Ban of Alcohol
The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which Congress approved in December 1917, permanently outlawed the sale, distribution, importation, and exportation of alcoholic drinks.
https://www.historicpatterson.org/Exhibits/ExhProhibition.php -
Meeting Zelda Sayre
In 1918, the American army stationed him nearby Montgomery, Alabama, where he met and fell in love with Zelda Sayre, an 18-year-old Southern belle.
http://www.pbs.org/kteh/amstorytellers/bios.html -
Engagement Broken Off
After receiving his discharge in 1919, he headed to New York City to pursue his fortune in order to be married. Zelda Sayre called off their engagement because she didn't want to depend on Fitzgerald's little income while he made it big in the advertising industry.
https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/browse/irvin_dept_special_collections/collections/matthew_arlyn_bruccoli_collection_of_f_scott_fitzgerald/life_of_fitzgerald/index.php -
Wartime Prohibition Act
Congress still passed the Wartime Prohibition Act on November 18, 1918, while the 18th Amendment was still being ratified. Beer and alcoholic beverages with an alcohol concentration more than 2.75% were prohibited from being sold under this law. The law became operative on June 30, 1919. On January 17, 1920, the 18th Amendment would become operative after being adopted in January 1919.
https://www.historicpatterson.org/Exhibits/ExhProhibition.php -
This Side of Paradise
The 24-year-old Fitzgerald became renowned almost immediately after the March 26, 1920, release of This Side of Paradise, and a week later he wed Zelda Sayre in New York.
https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/browse/irvin_dept_special_collections/collections/matthew_arlyn_bruccoli_collection_of_f_scott_fitzgerald/life_of_fitzgerald/index.php -
Frances Scott Fitzgerald
Their only child, Frances Scott (Scottie) Fitzgerald, was born in St. Paul in October 1921 after they returned from their first vacation to Europe in 1921 after Zelda Fitzgerald got pregnant.
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Richard G. Drew
In 1923, Drew created his first tape: a masking tape for painters that would let them paint a clean line separating two colors.
https://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/1900a.shtml -
The Great Gatsby Published
In Rome during the winter of 1924–1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald reworked The Great Gatsby; the Fitzgerald's were on their way to Paris when the book was released in April.
https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/browse/irvin_dept_special_collections/collections/matthew_arlyn_bruccoli_collection_of_f_scott_fitzgerald/life_of_fitzgerald/index.php -
Charlie Chaplin
His second independent film, "The Gold Rush," which was released in 1925, was one of his most commercially successful productions.
https://www.thoughtco.com/charlie-chaplin-4769059 -
Crime Groups
The liquor sector came under the influence of organized criminal organizations more frequently, which sparked gang killings and turf disputes, the worst of which was the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929 in Chicago.
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ah-prohibitionspeakeasy/ -
MLK
Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, to Alberta Williams, a Spelman College graduate, and Michael King Sr., the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church.
https://www.thoughtco.com/martin-luther-king-jr-1779880 -
Scotch Tape
In 1930, Drew created Scotch (TM) Brand Cellulose Tape, an improved tape. This tape was a clear, all-purpose adhesive that quickly gained popularity all over the world.
https://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/1900a.shtml -
Scotch Tape with Dispenser
John A. Borden, a different 3M employee, created the first tape dispenser with an integrated cutting edge in 1932.
https://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/1900a.shtml -
21st Amendment
The end of Prohibition was brought about by the ratification of the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1933, much to the relief of those who had missed drinking alcohol as well as of businesses that profited from the sale of liquor and of all governmental levels that benefited from the taxes on alcoholic products.
https://www.historicpatterson.org/Exhibits/ExhProhibition.php -
Noble Experiment
Roosevelt supported the repeal after being elected, and the "Noble Experiment" came to an end on December 5, 1933, when the 21st Amendment to the Constitution formally abolished the 18th Amendment.
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ah-prohibitionspeakeasy/ -
"The Crack-Up"
Because of the title of an article Fitzgerald published in 1936, the years 1936 to 1937 are referred to as "the crack-up". He resided at motels in the area close to Asheville, North Carolina, where Zelda Fitzgerald checked into Highland Hospital in 1936, sick, intoxicated, in debt, and unable to produce short tales for publication. -
"The Great Dictator"
Chaplin's film "The Great Dictator" is his most obviously political work. He thought it was vital to mock Hitler. The movie was controversial when it was released because some viewers didn't agree. The film included the first spoken lines in a Chaplin production. Since "The Great Dictator" received positive reviews from critics, it has been nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor.
https://www.thoughtco.com/charlie-chaplin-4769059 -
Death of F. Scott Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald started writing The Love of the Last Tycoon, a Hollywood novel, in 1939 and was more than halfway through a working draft when he passed away from a heart attack on December 21, 1940, at Graham's apartment.
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The Love of the Last Tycoon
He started writing The Love of the Last Tycoon, a Hollywood novel, in 1939 and was more than halfway through a working draft when he passed away from a heart attack on December 21, 1940, at Graham's apartment.
https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/browse/irvin_dept_special_collections/collections/matthew_arlyn_bruccoli_collection_of_f_scott_fitzgerald/life_of_fitzgerald/index.php -
Rosa Parks
Parks was elected secretary of the NAACP and become even more deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement in 1943. In regards to this encounter, Parks remarked, "I was the only woman there, and they needed a secretary, and I was too timid to say no."
https://www.thoughtco.com/martin-luther-king-jr-1779880