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Hull House provided social and educational opportunities to working class folks, with an emphasis on women's education and serving immigrants.
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The Committee on Secondary School Studies (commonly called the Committee of Ten) convenes under the chairmanship of Charles Eliot, president of Harvard. Their report, issued the following year, is the first standardized curriculum for American public schools.
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Frederick Douglass, who was a former slave and went on to become a well respected writer and orator and worked as an abolitionist, social reformer and statesman, dies in Washington, D.C. at age 77.
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The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that the "separate but equal" principle of Jim Crow laws in the segregated American South is legal.
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W.E.B. DuBois publishes "The Souls of Black Folk", which has a profound impact on the view of educating African-Americans and their rightful place in modern society.
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The Wright brothers make the first controlled, sustained flight in heavier-than-air aircraft at Kitty Hawk, N.C.
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The Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act is passed.
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First moving assembly line begins production by the Ford Motor Company allowing price and time of producing new cars to drop drastically, meaning many more people can afford them.
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Panama Canal opens, making it faster and cheaper to ship goods internationally.
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John Dewey’s "Democracy and Education" is published, helps advance the notion of “progressive education."
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Jeanette Rankin is first woman elected to congress.
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Smith-Hughes Act passes, which provides federal funding for vocational training.
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Development of Army “Alpha and Beta” tests to screen incoming troops for intellectual aptitude, lays foundation for future use of standardized testing.
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U.S. enters World War I, declaring war on Germany and eventually Austria-Hungary three years after the conflict began in 1914.
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All states have laws requiring students to complete elementary school.
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Spanish flu epidemic spans the globe, killing 20 million total.
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The 19th Amendment is ratified-gives women the right to vote.
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Helen Parkhurst publishes a series of articles detailing the "Dalton Plan", which allows the curriculum to be more closely tailored to the interest and abilities of the individual student and places an emphasis on independence and social responsibility.
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Emergency Quota Act passes congress, which curbs legal immigration into the US for the first time.
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Scopes “Monkey” Trial begins, ends in conviction of John Scopes. He is fined $100 for teaching Darwinian evolution in Dayton, TN, which is illegal at the time.
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The Winnetka Plan, championed by district Superintendent Carelton Washburne, emerges. It places an added emphasis on social-efficiency ideas and uses "creative activities" to promote social and emotional development in students. Is the precursor to "programmed instruction", offshoots of which are still seen today in education.
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Advent of “talkies” (motion pictures with sound) occurs in New York City.
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Stock market crashes, foretelling the Great Depression.
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Social Security Act is passed.
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The Fair Labor Standards Act sets first minimum wage in America ($0.25/hour).
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Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, US joins World War II the next day.
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Allied forces land at Omaha Beach to begin ground offensive on the European continent, known as D-Day.
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G.I. Bill of Rights is passed into law, providing benefits to veterans, including educational resources for them to attend college.
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US drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
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Japan signs unconditional surrender aboard USS Missouri.
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Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier in professional sports by playing first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
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First widespread vaccination for polio in US begins in Pittsburg, PA.
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Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka-overturns Plessy vs. Ferguson’s “separate but equal” doctrine, paves way for full integration of public schools.
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US Supreme Court orders integration of all public schools.
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Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a public bus, becomes a centralized figure and rallying point for the ongoing civil rights movement.
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Bloom’s Taxonomy is published, breaks cognitive domain into distinct categories: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis and synthesis.
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USSR launches first man-made object to orbit the Earth, called Sputnik, which immediately creates embarrassment for and facilitates a grand response from the U.S. who was seen as lagging behind on the world stage.
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US attempt at launching a satellite in orbit around Earth fails when it explodes on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, FL.
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In response to being outpaced by the Russian space program, the National Defense Education Act is launched, which increases federal funding for science, math and foreign language education.
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Explorer I, first US satellite, is launched successfully.