-
Henry Ford perfects mass production
On December 1, 1913, Henry Ford installs the first moving assembly line for the mass production of an entire automobile. His innovation reduced the time it took to build a car from more than 12 hours to one hour and 33 minutes. Ford mass-produced his famous Model T automobiles. Buying a new car was no longer a luxury of the wealthy but a standard practice of the middle class. -
Harlem Renaissance begins
a period of rich cross-disciplinary artistic and cultural activity among African Americans between the end of World War I (1917) and the onset of the Great Depression and lead up to World War II (the 1930s). -
The Palmer Raids
The Palmer Raids were a series of raids conducted in November 1919 and January 1920 by the United States Department of Justice under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson to capture and arrest suspected socialists, especially anarchists and communists, and deport them from the United States. The raids particularly targeted Italian immigrants and Eastern European Jewish immigrants, 6,000 people arrested across 36 cities. -
Prohibition begins
a nationwide ban on the sale and import of alcoholic beverages that lasted from 1920 to 1933. Protestants, Progressives, and women all spearheaded the drive to institute Prohibition. Prohibition led directly to the rise of organized crime. -
Women gain the right to vote
The 19th amendment legally guarantees American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle—victory took decades of agitation and protest. -
Sacco and Vanzetti are convicted
were charged with committing robbery and murder because of the racism against Italian immigrants at the time. They were innocent but were still executed on an electric chair. -
teapot dome scandal
Scandal that revealed a high level of corruption within the federal government. The scandal involved ornery oil tycoons, poker-playing politicians, illegal liquor sales, a murder-suicide, a womanizing president and a bagful of bribery cash delivered on the sly.It also marked the first time a U.S. cabinet official served jail time for a felony committed while in office. -
Scopes trial
John Scopes was convicted and fined $100 for teaching evolution in his Dayton, Tenn., classroom. -
Charles Lindberg Crosses the Atlantic
Charles A. Lindbergh completed the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight in history, flying his Spirit of St. Louis from Long Island, New York, to Paris, France. -
Kellogg-Briand pact signed
or Pact of Paris.Signatories included France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Belgium, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Italy and Japan.The pact renounced aggressive war, prohibiting the use of war as "an instrument of national policy" except in matters of self-defence. -
Black Tuesday stock market crash
the United States stock market crashed in an event known as Black Tuesday. This began a chain of events that led to the Great Depression, a 10-year economic slump that affected all industrialized countries in the world.