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Jim Crow Laws
A collection of state and local statutes that legalized racial segregation. Named after a Black minstrel show character, the laws—which existed for about 100 years, from the post-Civil War era until 1968—were meant to marginalize African Americans by denying them the right to vote, hold jobs, get an education or other opportunities. Those who attempted to defy Jim Crow laws often faced arrest, fines, jail sentences, violence and death. -
Booker T. Washington
An American educator, author, orator, and adviser to multiple presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African American community and of the contemporary black elite. -
Trench Warfare
A type of combat in which the opposing sides attack, counterattack, and defend from relatively permanent systems of trenches dug into the ground. -
Rise of KKK (early 20th century)
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) extended into almost every southern state by 1870 and became a vehicle for white southern resistance to the Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for Black Americans. -
W.E.B. Dubois
An American sociologist, socialist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, writer and editor. -
Tuskegee Institute
The first institution of higher learning for African Americans; Washington came under pressure from critics who viewed him as an accommodationist because they felt he de-emphasized racism, racial violence against blacks, and discrimination. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
The first significant law restricting immigration into the United States. -
Interstate Commerce Act
Enforced
Enforced the Constitution's “Commerce Clause”granting Congress the power “to Regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States” to regulating railroad rates. -
Jane Addams-Hull House
Settlement houses were created to provide community services to ease urban problems such as poverty. -
Muckrackers
Reform-minded journalists in the Progressive Era in the United States who exposed established institutions and leaders as corrupt. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
The first Federal act that outlawed monopolistic business practices. -
Plessy V. Ferguson
A landmark 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. -
Mckinley Assasinated
The third U.S. president to be assassinated after he was fatally shot at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. -
Coal Miner Strike (1902)
A strike by the United Mine Workers of America in the anthracite coalfields of eastern Pennsylvania. Miners striked for higher wages, shorter workdays, and the recognition of their union. The strike threatened to shut down the winter fuel supply to major American cities. -
Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal
A devoted program to comply with President Roosevelt's three major goals: conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection. Also called the "Three C's" -
Ida Tarbell-“The History of Standard Oil”
An exposé of the Standard Oil Company, run at that time by oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, the richest figure in America's history. -
Niagara Movement
A civil-rights group founded in 1905 near Niagara Falls. Scholar and activist W. E. B. Du Bois gathered with supporters on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls to form an organization dedicated to social and political change for African Americans. -
The Jungle Published
Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle to expose the appalling working conditions in the meat-packing industry. His description of diseased, rotten, and contaminated meat shocked the public and led to new federal food safety laws. -
Federal Meat Inspection Act
A piece of U.S. legislation, signed by President Theodore Roosevelt on June 30, 1906, that prohibited the sale of adulterated or misbranded livestock and derived products as food and ensured sanitary slaughtering and processing of livestock. -
Roosevelt-Antiquities Act
Our nation's oldest law protecting historic, prehistoric, and scientific features on public lands. -
Muller v. Oregon
One of the most important U.S. Supreme Court cases of the Progressive Era, upheld an Oregon law limiting the workday for female wage earners to ten hours. -
Taft Wins
As U.S. president from 1909 to 1913 and chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1921 to 1930, William Howard Taft became the only man in history to hold the highest post in both the executive and judicial branches of the U.S. government. -
NAACP formed
The NAACP or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was established in 1909 and is America’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. It was formed in New York City by white and black activists, partially in response to the ongoing violence against African Americans around the country. -
Urban League
American service agency founded for the purpose of eliminating racial segregation and discrimination and helping African Americans and other minorities to participate in all phases of American life. -
Triangle Shirtwaist fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history. -
Wilson Elected
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28,1856- February 3,1924) served as the 28th President of the United States from 1913-1921 -
Underwood-Simmons Tariff
The Revenue Act of 1913, also known as the Underwood Tariff or the Underwood-Simmons Act (ch. 16, 38 Stat. 114), re-established a federal income tax in the United States and substantially lowered tariff rates. -
16th Amendment
Allowed Congress to levy a tax on income from any source without cutting it among the states and without regard to the census -
Department of Labor Established
The United States Department of Labor is a cabinet-level department of the U.S. federal government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, reemployment services, and some economic statistics; many U.S. states also have such departments. -
17th Amendment
Portion of Article I, Section 3.The Senate of the United States composed of two Senators from each State, elected by people for six year and each shall have one vote. -
Jane Addams-Hull House
To furnish an elastic currency, to afford means of rediscounting commercial paper, to establish a more effective supervision of banking in the United States, and for other purposes. -
Clayton Antitrust Act
A piece of legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in 1914. The act defines unethical business practices, such as price-fixing and monopolies, and upholds various rights of labor. -
Federal Trade Commission Act
The Act signed by Woodrow Wilson to outlaw unfair methods of competition and unfair acts or practices that affect commerce -
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
This controversial epic film about the Civil War and Reconstruction depicted the Ku Klux Klan as valiant saviors of a post-war South ravaged by Northern carpetbaggers and immoral freed blacks. -
Lusitania sunk
The sinking of the Cunard ocean liner RMS Lusitania occurred during the First World War, as Germany waged submarine warfare against the United Kingdom which had implemented a naval blockade of Germany. -
Zimmerman Telegram
A notorious letter penned by German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann. British code breakers intercepted an encrypted message from Zimmermann intended for Heinrich von Eckardt, the German ambassador to Mexico.The British cryptographic office known as “Room 40” decoded the Zimmermann Telegram and handed it over to the United States in late-February 1917. -
Wilson Asks for War
Wilson cited Germany's violation of its pledge to suspend unrestricted submarine warfare in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, as well as its attempts to entice Mexico into an alliance against the United States, as his reasons for declaring war. -
Espionage Act
Enforced largely by A. Mitchell Palmer, the United States attorney general under President Woodrow Wilson, the Espionage Act essentially made it a crime for any person to convey information intended to interfere with the U.S. armed forces prosecution of the war effort or to promote the success of the country’s enemies. -
Hammer v. Dagenhart
A United States Supreme Court decision in which the Court struck down a federal law regulating child labor. The decision was overruled by United States v. Darby Lumber Co. -
Wilson-Fourteen Points
The Fourteen Points was a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. The principles were outlined, a speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress by President Woodrow Wilson. -
Sedition Act
Anyone had the freedom to attempts any illegal crimes, inappropriate writings, fines, etc in the United States. -
Armistice Day
The Allied powers signed a ceasefire agreement with Germany at Rethondes, France, at 11:00 a.m. on November 11, 1918, bringing the war now known as World War I to a close. Between the world wars, November 11 was commemorated as Armistice Day in the United States, Great Britain, and France. -
18th Amendment
Forbids the construction any sales or the transport of arouse alcohol -
Versailles Peace Conference
The Paris Peace Conference convened at Versailles just outside Paris. The conference was called to establish the terms of the peace after World War I. -
Treaty of Versailles to Senate
The president of the United States, for the first time since 1789, personally delivered a treaty to the Senate. This was no ordinary treaty; it was the Treaty of Versailles, ending World War I and establishing the League of Nations. -
Wilson Stroke
President Woodrow Wilson, who had just cut short a tour of the country to promote the formation of the League of Nations, suffers from a stroke. -
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an international diplomatic group developed after World War I as a way to solve disputes between countries before they erupted into open warfare. -
19th Amendment
Every person gets to vote no matter what the gender of the person (Women's Rights) -
Food and Drug Act
A federal law that established high standard for food,drugs,medicine devices, and cosmetics conducted and sold in the U.S.