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Ezra Pound forms imagist group.
T. E. Hulme, Ezra Pound and F. S. Flint first documented the theory of Imagism in London early in the second decade of the twentieth century. Their ideals for the new movement appeared in Flint's "Imagisme," printed in the periodical Poetry in March of 1913, which became the manifesto of the fledgling group. Together Flint and Pound devised the three primary precepts of Imagism, calling for conciseness, musical rhythm, and "the direct treatment of the 'thing' whether subjective or objective." -
United States enters World War I.
On April 6, 1917, the U.S. joined its allies--Britain, France, and Russia--to fight in World War I. Under the command of Major General John J. Pershing, more than 2 million U.S. soldiers fought on battlefields in France. Many Americans were not in favor of the U.S. entering the war and wanted to remain neutral. However, the U.S. eventually did enter the war -
Sinclair Lewis publishes Main Street.
On this day in 1920 Sinclair Lewis's Main Street was published. This was the first of a string of hit novels over the next decade, most of which poked and scolded at the puritan terrors of small town life-conformity, boosterism, "a range of grotesque vulgarity," says one critic, "which but for him would have left no record." -
Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes U.S president; New Deal program to counter Great Drepression begins.
Roosevelt remained vague on the campaign trail, promising only that under his presidency government would act decisively to end the Depression. Once in office, FDR said yes to almost every plan put forward by advisors and the Congress said yes to almost every program proposed by the president. In the frantically-paced first few months of his administration, Congress passed scores of new legislation at the president's request. Historians tend to categorize these efforts as either measures for -
Zora Neale Hurtson publishes Their Eyes Were Watching God
When first published in 1937, this novel about a proud, independent black woman was generally dismissed by male reviewers. Out of print for almost thirty years, but since its reissue in paperback edition by the University of Illionois Press in 1978, Their Eyes Were Watching God has become the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of African-American literature.
