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Coca-Cola sold in glass bottles for the first time
Though today there is almost nothing as ubiquitous as a bottle of Coca-Cola, this was not always the case. For the first several years of its existence, Coke was only available as a fountain drink, and its producer saw no reason for that to change. It was not until March 12, 1894 that Coke was first sold in bottles. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/coca-cola-sold-in-glass-bottles-for-first-time -
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Mississippi becomes the first state to incorporate requiring a literacy test as a qualification for voting
New constitution, a poll tax and arbitrary literacy tests for voting, sections designed to disenfranchise newly-franchised African Americans and some poor whites. The new constitution was a nail in the coffin for Mississippi Reconstruction and a win for voter suppression. It brought an end to the period of democratic progress that followed the Civil War, when African Americans were the majority of eligible voters in Mississippi. https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/mississippi-constitution/ -
Birth Of Basketball
On December 21, 1891, Naismith cleared the athletic equipment off the gymnasium’s wooden floor and picked up a soccer ball. He asked a janitor for two square boxes, but the best the custodian could do was a pair of peach baskets, which Naismith mounted to the lower rail of the gym’s balcony, about 10 feet off the ground. https://www.history.com/news/how-a-canadian-invented-basketball -
Duryea Motor Wagon wins first car race in U.S.
On this Thanksgiving Day in 1895, piloting a gas-powered “horseless carriage” of his and his brother’s own design, the mechanic, inventor and now racecar driver Frank Duryea wins the first motor-car race in the United States. The race, sponsored by the Chicago Times-Herald, was intended to drum up publicity for the nascent American car industry. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/duryea-motor-wagon-wins-first-car-race-in-u-s -
First modern Olympic Games
On April 6, 1896, the Olympic Games, a long-lost tradition of ancient Greece, are reborn in Athens 1,500 years after being banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I. At the opening of the Athens Games, King Georgios I of Greece and a crowd of 60,000 spectators welcomed athletes from 13 nations to the international competition. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-modern-olympic-games -
F. Scott Fitzgerald Birth
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is born in St. Paul, Minnesota, to Edward and Mary Fitzgerald. He is named after Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics to the “Star-Spangled Banner” and is a distant relative. Fitzgerald’s father later takes a job that moves the family to New York. https://www.britannica.com/summary/F-Scott-Fitzgerald-Timeline -
First Escalator Installed
On Wednesday, November 16th, 1898, Harrods department store in London opened up the first escalator or moving staircase as it was called in England. The first escalator-like machine in the world had actually been patented many decades before in the US, but this was the first real application in England and likely one of the first in the world. https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/riding-escalator-first-time/501786/ -
F. Scott Fitzgerald starts writing.
The Fitzgerald family moves back to St. Paul after Fitzgerald’s father loses his job. Fitzgerald attends St. Paul Academy, and it is there that he publishes his first piece of writing, at the age of 13. The piece is a detective story published in the school newspaper. https://www.britannica.com/summary/F-Scott-Fitzgerald-Timeline -
Potential is seen in F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald attends the Newman School, a Catholic preparatory school in Hackensack, New Jersey. He meets Father Sigourney Fay, who recognizes Fitzgerald’s literary talent and encourages him to pursue writing. -
F. Scott Fitzgerald joins the army
Fitzgerald enters Princeton University and writes for The Princeton Tiger, the school’s humor magazine. At Princeton he becomes a leading figure in literary life and writes scripts for the Triangle Club, a drama club at the university. He eventually flunks out, however. Although he returns to Princeton, he leaves again in November 2017 to join the army. -
World War I
World War I, also known as the Great War, began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. His murder catapulted into a war across Europe that lasted until 1918. During the conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Canada, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers).
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/world-war-i-history -
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was one of the most explosive political events of the twentieth century. The violent revolution marked the end of the Romanov dynasty and centuries of Russian Imperial rule. During the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks, led by leftist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, seized power and destroyed the tradition of czarist rule. The Bolsheviks would later become the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
https://www.history.com/topics/european-history/russian-revolution -
The Fourteen Points
The Fourteen Points speech of President Woodrow Wilson was an address delivered before a joint meeting of Congress on January 8, 1918, during which Wilson outlined his vision for a stable, long-lasting peace in Europe, the Americas and the rest of the world following World War I https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/wilson-delivers-fourteen-points-speech -
F. Scott Fitzgerald moves to New York City.
Fitzgerald moves to New York City and lands a job at an advertising agency, making $90 a month. He works there for several months. After Zelda breaks off their engagement, he returns to St. Paul and works on a novel that he had been writing during his time in the army. https://www.britannica.com/summary/F-Scott-Fitzgerald-Timeline -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919 at the Palace of Versailles in Paris at the end of World War I, codified peace terms between Germany and the victorious Allies. The Treaty of Versailles held Germany responsible for starting the war and imposed harsh penalties on the Germans, including loss of territory, massive reparations payments and demilitarization. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/treaty-of-versailles-1 -
F. Scott Fitzgerald first published book.
His first book, This Side of Paradise, is published. The novel brings him fame and money. He marries Zelda in April. They become a celebrated couple. Writer Ring Lardner describes them as the prince and princess of their generation. https://www.britannica.com/summary/F-Scott-Fitzgerald-Timeline -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted American women the right to vote, a right known as women’s suffrage, and was ratified on August 18, 1920, ending almost a century of protest.
https://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/19th-amendment-1 -
F. Scott Fitzgerald Travels.
The Fitzgeralds, along with their daughter, Francis (called “Scottie”), who had been born in 1921, leave for France. After spending some time in Paris, the family moves to the Riviera. https://www.britannica.com/summary/F-Scott-Fitzgerald-Timeline -
The Great Gatsby
Widely considered his greatest work, The Great Gatsby is set in the Jazz Age, a term popularized by Fitzgerald. It captures the prosperity of a postwar America, filled with jazz music and illegal alcohol. A story about the promise and failure of the American Dream, it centers around the character of Jay Gatsby, a young man who rises from rags to riches, and his love for a wealthy young woman. https://www.britannica.com/summary/F-Scott-Fitzgeralds-Important-Works -
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in US history. It began in 1929 and did not abate until the end of the 1930s. The stock market crash of October 1929 signaled the beginning of the Great Depression. By 1933, unemployment was at 25 percent and more than 5,000 banks had gone out of business.
https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/great-depression-history -
The Holocaust
The Holocaust was the state-sponsored persecution and mass murder of millions of European Jews, Romani people, the intellectually disabled, political dissidents and homosexuals by the German Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945. The word “holocaust,” from the Greek words “holos” (whole) and “kaustos” (burned), was historically used to describe a sacrificial offering burned on an altar.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/the-holocaust -
The Crack-Up
Fitzgerald wrote The Crack-Up as an essay chronicling his spiritual and physical deterioration during the mid-1930s. The essay was first published in 1936 in Esquire magazine. After his death, the essay was published in book form, along with miscellaneous other works of his, as The Crack-Up: With Other Uncollected Pieces, Note-Books, and Unpublished Letters (1945) edited by his longtime friend, literary critic Edmund Wilson. https://www.britannica.com/summary/F-Scott-Fitzgeralds-Important-Works -
World War II
The instability created in Europe by the First World War (1914-18) set the stage for another international conflict—World War II—which broke out two decades later and would prove even more devastating. Rising to power in an economically and politically unstable Germany, Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party, rearmed the nation and signed strategic treaties with Italy and Japan to further his ambitions of world domination. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-history -
F. Scott Fitzgerald's death.
Fitzgerald dies of a heart attack in Hollywood on December 21, 1940. The Last Tycoon is published in the year after his death. https://www.britannica.com/summary/F-Scott-Fitzgerald-Timeline -
Lizzie Borden
Lizzie Borden, in full Lizzie Andrew Borden, (born July 19, 1860, Fall River, Massachusetts, U.S. died June 1, 1927, Fall River), American woman suspected of murdering her stepmother and father in 1892; her trial became a national sensation in the United States. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lizzie-Borden-American-murder-suspect