-
Bessemer Process
The Bessemer Process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furniture. The key process is the removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation with air being blown through the molten iron. The oxidation also raises the temperature of the iron mass and keeps it molten. This process made the steel making process exponentially faster and allowed the construction of modern cities to begin. -
Robber Barons
A robber baron is a derogatory metaphor for social criticism originally applied to certain late 19th-century American businessmen who used unscrupulous methods to get rich. Most notably used to characterize the unethical business practices by Cornelius Vanderbilt. The term combines the pejorative senses of criminal ("robber") and aristocrat ("barons" having no legitimate role in a republic.) -
Western Dime Novels
Dime Novels were stories, about 100 pages each that detailed a cool detached hero, a frontiersman, a fragile heroine in danger of the despicable outlaw, savage Indians, violence and gunplay, and the final outcome where truth and light are victorious over all. Real people of the time such as Buffalo Bill or Kit Carson were often fictionalized, as were the exploits from outlaws such as Billy the Kid and Jesse James. The books were often sold for a time, hence the name. -
Period: to
The Gilded Age
-
The Homestead Act
The Homestead Act was signed to open up settlement in the western United States for Americans and even freed claims to make a claim for a potential 160 acres of federal land free of charge. By the time the Civil War ended, 15,000 claims were made which eventually grew into 420,000 square miles of territory. The Homestead Act set in motion a program of public land grants to small farmers which would ultimately tip the scales between the northern and southern influence. -
Period: to
Transforming The West
-
Period: to
Becoming An Industrial Power
-
Period: to
Imperialism
-
Indian Appropriation Act
The Indian Appropriation Act is the name of several acts passed by the United States Congress, but one of the most important being the 1871 Act. The act detailed that no longer was any group of Indians in the United States were to be recognized as an independent nation by the federal government. Congress also designated that all Indians should be treated as individuals and legally "wards" of the federal government. This act made it easier to secure lands previously owned by the Natives. -
Battle of Little Bighorn
The Battle of Little Bighorn was fought in Indian territory in Montana, pitting federal troops against Lakota Sioux Cheyenne warriors. It was only a matter of time for a battle be fought between the two after the discovery of gold on the Native American lands. The federal troops were unaware of the size of the Indian army under the command of Sitting Bull and became quickly overwhelmed in the battle. -
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt was an American businessman and extremely wealthy philanthropist who built his wealth in the railroad and shipping industry. Vanderbilt was born poor and had only an average education, but with his perseverance, intelligence, and luck he worked his way into a leadership position in the inland water trade industry and invested heavily into the growing railroad industry. As on the wealthiest figures in American history, he founded Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. -
Knights of Labor
The Knights of Labor was the largest and one of the most important American labor organizations of the 1880s. The Knights of Labor promoted the social and cultural uplift of the workingman, rejected socialism and anarchism, demanded the eight-hour workday, and promoted the producers ethic of republicanism. In some cases it acted as a labor union, negotiating with employers, but it was never well organized, and after a rapid expansion in the mid-1880s, it lost members and became a small operation -
Assassination of President Garfield
The assassination of James A. Garfield was less than 4 months into his term as President, ending in 79 days. He was shot by Chares Guiteau at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station. Guiteau was motivated for revenge against Garfield for an imagined political debt. Garfield was the second of four Presidents to be assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln and preceding William McKinley, John F. Kennedy, and Chester Arthut. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers from coming to the United States. The act was only supposed to in place for 10 years, however, it remained until 1943. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first law implemented to prevent a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the United States. -
Cocaine Toothache Drops
Cocaine Toothache Drops were invented by the Lloyd Manufacturing Company in order to provide dentists with a method of numbing the patient's mouth so they wouldn't feel pain during important procedures. The method worked involving drying the patient's gums then using a solution that involved a certain amount of cocaine. After a time, cocaine toothache drops were faded out as novocaine became a more preferred method of anethestic. -
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was a national federation of labor unions in the United States. The federation was founded by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. The American Federation of Labor was the largest union grounding in the United States for the first half of the 20th century. They turned to organizing on an industrial union basis to meet the challenge from the Congress of Industrial Organizations. -
Haymarket Riot
The Haymarket Riot was the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor protest on May 4th, 1886 at Haymarket Square. Beginning as a peaceful rally in support of workers going on strike for an eight-hour workday and in retaliation for the killing of several workers from the previous day by the police force. An unknown perpetrator threw a dynamite bomb at the police as they acted to disperse the public meeting. The blast resulted in the death of seven police officers and around 4 civilians. -
Dawes Severalty Act
The Dawes Act of Severalty allowed the acting President of the United States to survey American Indian tribal land and to divide it into separate allotments for individual Indians. Those Indians who accepted the allotments and agreed to live separately from the tribe were granted United States citizenship. The objective of the act was to abolish the tribal and communal rights of Native Americans in order to assimilate them into mainstream American society. -
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show was founded when Buffalo Bill Cody turned his real-life adventure into the first outdoor western show for the public. The show was 3-4 hours long and consisted of reenactments of history combined with displays of showmanship, sharp-shooting, hunts, racing, or other rodeo style events. Reenactments included battles such as the Battle of Little Bighorn or the charge on San Juan Hill. -
Sears & Roebuck
In 1888, Richard Sears advertised watches and jewelry under the name "The R.W. Sears Watch Co." Fueled by the Homestead Act of 1862, America's westward expansion of the railroad industry, Sears & Roebuck were able to expand their industry to basically anything the American people could want. Become the masters of slogans and catchy phrases, the Sears catalog captivated the American people and for once gave motivation to begin shopping for the first time. -
Morrill Land Grant College Act
The Morrill Land Grant Acts are the United States statutes that allowed for the creation of the land-grant colleges in the United States using the proceeds of the federal land sales. The Morrill Acts of 1862 was enacted during the American Civil War and the Morrill Act of 1890 (the Agricultural College Act of 1890) expanded this model. The purposes of the land-grant colleges was to teach military tactics and branches of learning related to agriculture and the mechanic arts. -
Indian Ghost Dances
The Ghost Dance was a new religious movement that incorporated into numerous American Indian belief systems. According to the teachings of a Northern Paiute spiritual leader, when practiced properly the dance would reunite the living with spirits of the dead, bring the spirits of the dead to fight on their behalf, make the white colonists leave, and bring peace, prosperity, and unity to Indian peoples throughout the region. -
Period: to
The Progressive Era
-
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
The Sherman Anti-Trust Act is a landmark federal statute in the history of United States antitrust law passed by Congress in 1890 under the presidency of Benjamin Harrison. It allowed certain business activities that federal government regulators deem to be competitive, and recommended the federal government to investigate and pursue trusts. In a general sense, a trust is a centuries-old leal arrangement where one party conveys property to a trustee to hold for a beneficiary, which was illegal. -
Sanford Dole
Sanford Ballard Dole was a lawyer and jurist in the Hawaiian Islands as a kingdom, protectorate, republic, and territory. A descendant of the American missionary community of Hawaii, Dole advocated the westernization of Hawaiian government and culture. After the overthrow of the monarchy, he served as the President of the Republic of Hawaii until his government secured Hawaii's annexation by the United States. -
Depression of 1893
The Depression of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It deeply affected every sector of the economy, and produced political upheaval that led to the realigning election of 1896 and the presidency of William McKinley. -
World's Columbian Exposition 1893
The World's Columbian Exposition also known as the World's Fair was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The exposition covered more than 600 acres, featuring nearly 200 new buildings of predominantly neoclassical architecture, canals and lagoons, and people and cultures from 46 countries. More than 27 million people attended the exposition during its six-month run. -
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American orator and politician from Nebraska. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the Democratic Party, standing 3 times as the party's nominee for President of the United States. He also served in the United States House of Representatives and as the United States Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson. Because of his faith in the wisdom of the common people, he was often called "The Great Commoner". -
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration of about 100,000 gold prospectors to the Klondike region of the Yukon located in northern Canada. When gold was discovered in the region, many prosectors flocked in hopes of striking it rich in gold. Some did manage to become wealthy, but most went in vain. The trip to the Yukon was a very treacherous journey, prospectors were required to bring a year's worth of food and supplies that most likely slowed down their movement. -
The Election of 1896
The United States Presidential Election of 1896 was the 26th presidential election held between a Republican William McKinley and a Democrat William Jennings Bryan. Since the onset of the Panic of 1893, the nation had been mired in a deep economic depression, marked by low prices, low profits, high unemployment, and violent strikes. McKinley was strongest in the cities and with the support of many companies won the majority of the vote and took the ballot. -
U.S.S. Maine Incident
U.S.S. Maine was an American naval ship that sank in Havana Harbor during the Cuban revolt against Spain, an event that became a major political issue in the United States. Maine is best known for her loss in Havana Harbor, sent to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban revolt, the ship suddenly exploded, which sank and killed 3/4ths of the crew. It was later discovered that a fire erupted near the ammunition stockroom and not by a Spanish act of sabotage. -
Treaty of Paris (1898)
The Treaty of Paris 1898 was an agreement made in 1898 that involved Spain relinquishing nearly all of the remaining Spanish Empire, especially Cuba, and ceding Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States. The secession of the Philippines involved a payment of $20 million from the United States to Spain. The treaty was signed on December 10th, 1898, and ended the Spanish-American War. The Treaty of Paris came into effect in 1899, when ratifications were exchanged. -
Battle of Manila Bay
The Battle of Manila Bay took place during the Spanish-American War under the command of George Dewey. Dewey engaged and completely destroyed the Spanish Pacific Squadron under Patricio Montojo. The battle took place in Manila Bay in the Philippines and was the first major engagement of the Spanish-American War. The battle was one of the most decisive naval battles in history and marked the end of the Spanish colonial period in Philippine history. -
Emilio Aguinaldo
Emilio Aguinaldo was Filipino revolutionary, politician, and a military leader who is officially recognized as the first and the youngest President of the Philippines and the first president of a constitutional republic in Asia. He led Philippine forces first against Spain in the latter part of the Philippine Revolution, and then in the Spanish-American War, and finally against the United States during the Philippine-American War. -
Tenements
A tenement is a multi-occupancy building of any sort. However, in the United States, it has come to mean a run-down apartment building or a slum. A tenement is defined by The New York State as any house, building, or portion thereof, which is rented, leased, let, or hired out to be occupied or is occupied, as the home or residence of more than three families living independetly of one another and doing their activities upon the premise. -
Election of 1900
The presidential election of 1900 was the 29th quadrennial presidential election held as a re-match of the 1896 race between Republican President William McKinley who defeated his Democratic challenger, William Jennings Bryan. McKinley's victory made him the first president to win re-election since Ulysses S. Grant had accomplished the same feat in 1872. The return of economic prosperity and the recent victory in the Spanish-American War helped McKinley to score a decisive victory over Bryan. -
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one the five Nobel Prizes created by the Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel. Since its initial creation, it has been awarded annually to those who have "done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses". As per Alfred Nobel's will, the recipient is selected by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, a five-member committee appointed by the Parliament of Norway. -
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion was a violet anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising that took place in China between 1899 and 1901, toward the end of the Qing dynasty. It was initiated by the Militia United in Righteousness, known in English as the "Boxers", for many of their members had been practitioners of martial arts that included boxing. They were motivated by proto-nationalist sentiments, and by opposition to Western colonialism and Christian missionary activity along with it. -
William McKinley
William McKinley was the 25th President of the United States, serving until his assassination in September 1901. McKinley led the nation to victory in the Spanish-American War, raised protective tariffs to promote American industry, and maintained the nation on the gold standard in a rejection of inflationary proposals. Rapid economic growth marked McKinley's presidency with Theodore Roosevelt as his Vice President, who would become the President after McKinley's assassination. -
Philippine-American War
The Philippine-American War was an armed conflict between the First Philippine Republic and the United States that lasted from February 4th, 1899 to July 2, 1902. The Filipinos saw the conflict as a continuation of the Filipino struggle for independence that began in 1896 with the Philippine Revolution; the U.S. government regarded it as an insurrection. The conflict arose when the First Philippine Republic objected to the terms of the Treaty of Paris which took the Philippines from Spain to US. -
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American captain of industry and a business magnate, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and the sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. Although Ford did not invent the automobile or the assembly line, he developed and manufactured the first automobile that many middle-class Americans could afford. In doing so, Ford converted the automobile from an expensive curiosity into a practical possession for many Americans. -
George Dewey
George Dewey was Admiral of the Navy, the only person in United States history to have attained the rank. He is best known for his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War in which he commanded the attack that sunk the entire Spanish Pacific fleet while only suffering minor American casualties. Dewey explored a run for the 1900 Democratic presidential nomination, but withdrew from the race and endorsed President William McKinley. -
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea. The major theatres of operations were the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden in Southern Manchuria and the seas around Korea, Japan, and the Yellow Sea. The war concluded with the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt. The complete victory of the Japanese military would then surprise the world observers. -
Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. In 1851, she met Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who became her lifelong friend and co-worker in social reform activities. A year later they founded the New York Women's State Temperance Society after Susan was prevented from speaking at a temperance conference because she was a woman. Her work in social justice for women paved the path for many more in the future. -
Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair Jr. was an American writer who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in several genres. Sinclair's work was well known and popular in the first half of the 20th century, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943. in 1906, Sinclair acquired much more particular fame for his classic muckraking novel The Jungle, which exposed labor and sanitary conditions in the U.S. meatpacking industry, causing a public uproar that passed the Pure Food, Meat Inspection, and Drug Act. -
Meat Inspection Act
The Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 is an American law that makes it a crime to adulterate or misbrand meat and meat products being sold as food, and ensures that meat and meat products are slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. These requirements also apply to imported meat products, which must be inspected under equivalent foreign standards. Due to unsanitary conditions and the frequency of accidents, this act was passed to ensure that people were eating sanitary food. -
Teddy Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was an American statesman, author, explorer, soldier, and naturalist, who served as the 26th President of the United States. As a leader of the Republican Party during this time, he became a driving force for the Progressive Era in the early 20th century. His face is depicted on Mount Rushmore, alongside those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln. Roosevelt was born a sickly child, but overcame his health problems with a strenuous lifestyle. -
W.E.B. DuBois
W.E.B. Debois was an American sociologist, historian, and civil rights activist. DuBois grew up in a tolerant community where he was able to have access to opportunities that many other African Americans could only dream of, such as an education from the University of Berlin and Harvard, become the first African American to earn a doctorate. DuBois rose to national prominence as the leader of the Niagra Movement, a group of African-American activists who wanted equal rights for all blacks. -
Election of 1912
The Presidential Election of 1912 was held between Democratic Governor Woodrow Wilson who defeated Republican President William Howard Taft and former United States President Theodore Roosevelt who ran as the Progressive Party nominee. Roosevelt remains the only third-party candidate in the United States history to finish better than third in the popular or electoral vote. The election was contested by candidates who all had or would serve as the president. -
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson was an American statesman and academic who served as the 28th President of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the President of Princeton University and then ran and was elected as a progressive Democrat to the office of Governor of New Jersey. Wilson's victory in the 1912 presidential election made him the first southerner to be elected to the presidency since Zachary Taylor is 1848. -
Central Powers
The Central Powers consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria - hence also known as the Quadruple Alliance. One of the two main factions during World War I. The Central Powers faced and was defeated by the Allied Powers that had formed around the Triple Entente. The Powers' origin was the alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1879. The Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria did not join until after World War I had begun. -
Allied Powers
The Allies of World War I, otherwise known as the Entente Powers, were the countries that opposed the Central Powers, countries including the French Republic, the British Empire, and the Russian Empire. Italy ended its alliance with the Central Powers, arguing that Germany and Austria-Hungary started the war and that the alliance was only defensive in nature; Italy then entered the war on the side of the Entente in 1915, other countries soon followed on the side of the Allied Powers. -
Period: to
World War 1
-
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was an Archduke of Austria-Este, Austro-Hungarian, and Royal Prince Hungary and of Bohemia and, from 1896 until his death, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His assassination in Sarajevo precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia. This caused the Central Powers (including Germany and Austria-Hungary) and Serbia's allies to declare war on each other, starting World War I. -
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. There are locks at each end to lift ships up to Gatun Lake, an artificial lake created to reduce the amount of excavation work required for the canal, 26 m above sea level, and the lower the ships at the other end. -
Mustard Gas
Mustard gas is the prototypical substance of the sulfur-based family of cytotoxic and vesicant chemical warfare agents known as the sulfur mustards which have the ability to form large blisters on the exposed skin and in the lungs. They have a long history of use as a blister-agent in warfare and along organoarsenic compounds are the most well-studied such agents. Mustard agents are regulated under the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention. The gas can be neutralized through chloramine. -
Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and advisor to presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American community. Washington was from the last generation of black American leaders born into slavery and became the leading voice of the former slaves and their descendants. They were newly oppressed in the South by disenfranchisement and the Jim Crow discriminatory laws enacted in post-Reconstruction. -
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a pair of revolutions in Russia in 1917 which dismantled the Tsarist autocracy and led to the rise of the Soviet Union. The Russian Empire collapsed with the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II and the old regime was replaced by a provisional government. Alongside it arose grassroots community assemblies which contended for authority. In the second revolution that October, the Provisional Government was toppled and all power was given to the soviets. -
Espionage Act
The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law passed in 1917, shortly after the United States' entry into World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. The intention of the act was to prohibit interference with military operations or recruitment, to prevent insubordination in the military, and to prevent the support of United States enemies during wartime. The constitutionality of the law, its relationship to free speech has been contested many times in Supreme court -
Spanish Flu
The Spanish Flu was unusually deadly influenza pandemic, affecting 500 million people around the world, including people on remote Pacific islands and in the Arctic, resulting in the deaths of 50 to 100 million (three to five percent of the world's population), making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history. Disease had already greatly limited life expectancy in the early 20th century. In the first year of the pandemic, life expentacy dropped by 12 years in the United States. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the most important of the peace treaties that brought an end to World War I. The Treaty ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Of the many provisions in the treaty, one of the most important controversial required Germany to "accept the responsibilities of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage" during the war. -
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, business magnate, and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and is often identified as one of the richest people in America at the time. He became a leading philanthropist in the United States and in the British Empire. Immigrating to the United States in 1848, Carnegie later invested in many markets and accumulated wealth as a bond salesman, later founding the U.S Steel Corp. -
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt commonly known as FDR was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A Democrat, he won a record four presidential elections and became a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century. Related to Theodore Roosevelt, he is often rated by scholars as one of the three greatest U.S. Presidents, along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. -
Period: to
1920's
-
18th Amendment
The 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution effectively established the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States by declaring the production, transport, and sale of alcohol (though not the consumption or private possession) illegal. The seperate Volstead Act enforced the 18th Amendment, in which it defined which "intoxicating liquors" were prohibited, and which were excluded from prohibition for medical and religious purposes. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. Until the 1910s, most states did not give women the right to vote. The amendment was the culmination of the women's suffrage movement in the United States, which fought at both state and national levels to achieve the vote. Originally introduced in 1878, Congress submitted it for ratification in 1919. -
Warren Harding
Warren Harding was the 29th President of the United States, he was at one time one of the most popular Presidents, but the expose of scandals that took place under his administration such as the Teapot Dome eroded his popular regard. In historical rankings of the United States Presidents, Harding is often rated among the worst. The scandals did not fully emerge until after Harding's death, of which he died of a heart attack on a speaking tour. He was succeeded by Calvin Coolidge, his VP. -
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin was a Soviet revolutionary and politicna of Georgian ethnicity. Governing the Soviet Union as its dictator from the the 1920s unti his death in 1953. He served as General Secretary of the Central Committe of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1952 and as Premier of the Soviet from 1941 to 1953. Ideologically a Marxist and a Leninist, Stalin helped to formalize these ideas as Marxism-Leninism while his own policies became known as Stalinism. -
The Theory of Evolution
In the mid-19th century, Charles Darwin formulated the scientific theory of evolution by natural selection, published in his book On the Origin Species. Evolution by natural selection is a process first demonstrated by the observations that often, most offspring are produced that can possibly survive. This is followed by various traits, from behavior, rates of survival, and hereditary traits. Thus, in generations, offspring is produced to be more adapted to survive and reproduce themselves. -
Ku Klux Klan
In 1915, the second clan was founded in Atlanta, George. Starting in 1921, it adopted a modern business system of using full-time paid recruiters and appealed to new members as a fraternal organization, of which many examples were flourishing at the time. The official rhetoric focused on the threat of the Catholic Church, using anti-Catholicism and nativism. The new appeal was directed at white Protestants, opposing Jews, blacks, Catholics, and newly arriving Souther Europeans such as Italians. -
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was an American statesman and academic who served as the 28th President of the United States from 1913 to 1921. As a member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the President of Princeton University and then ran and was elected as a progressive Democrat to the office of Governor of New Jersey. Wilson's victory in the presidential election made him the first Southerner elected to the presidency since Zachary Taylor in 1848. -
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American writer, whose works illustrate the Jazz Age. While he achieved limited success in his lifetime, he is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the 1920s. He finished four novels: The Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, and Tender Is The Night. A fifth, unfinished novel, The Last Tycoon, was published after his death in 1940. -
Marcus Garvey
Marcus Garvey was a proponent of Black nationalism in Jamaica and especially the United States. He was a leader of a mass movement called Pan-Africanism and he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. He also founded the Black Star Line, a shipping and passenger return of the Africa diaspora to the ancestral lands. Although most American Black leaders condemned his methods and his support for racial segregation, Garvey attracted a large following -
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term "birth control", opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established organizations that evolved into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Sanger used her writings and speeches primarily to promote her way of thinking. She was prosecuted for her book "Family Limitation" under the Comstock Act in 1914. -
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, explorer, and environmental activist. At age 25, he went from obscurity as a U.S. Air Mail pilot to instantaneous world fame by winning the Orteig Prize-making a nonstop flight from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York, to Paris, France. He covered the 33.5 hours, 3,600-mile flight alone in a single-engine purpose-built monoplane, become the first to solo a transatlantic flight non-stop from America to Europe. -
Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington was an African-American composer, pianist, and bandleader of a jazz orchestra, which he led from 1923 until his death in a music career spanning over fifty years. Due to his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, and thanks to his eloquence and charisma, Ellington is generally considered to have elevated the perception of jazz to an art form on a par with other more traditional genres. His reputation continued, as he was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1999. -
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover was an American engineer, businessman, and politician who served as the 31st President of the United States from 1929 to 1933 during the Great Depression. A Republican, as Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s he introduced Progressive era themes of efficiency in the business community and provided government support for standardization, efficiency and international trade. His ambitious programs were overwhelmed by the Great Depression, which seemed to get worse year by year. -
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Darrow was an American lawyer, a leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, and a prominent advocate for Georgist economic reform. He defended high-profile clients in many famous trials of the early 20th century, including teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb for murdering 14-year-old Robert Franks. Darrow's wit and eloquence made him one of the most prominent attorneys and civil libertarians in the entire nation. -
Period: to
The Great Depression
-
Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)
The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was the new name given by the Roosevelt Administration to the Emergency Relief Administration (ERA) which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created in 1933. FERA was established as a result of the Federal Emergency Relief Act and was replaced in 1935 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Prior to this act, the federal government gave loans to the states to operate their own relief programs. -
20th Amendment
The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution moved the beginning and ending of the terms of the president and vice president from March 4th to January 20th, and of members of Congress from March 4th to January 3rd. It also has provisions that determine what is to be done when there is no president-elect. The dilemma was seen most notably after the elections of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Under the Consitution, they had to wait 4 months before they could with conflicts. -
21st Amendment
The 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution repealed the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition on alcohol on January 16th, 1919. The 21st Amendment was ratified in 1933. It is unique among the 27 amendments of the constitution for being the only one to repeal a prior amendment and to have been ratified by state ratifying conventions. -
Federal Housing Authority
The Federal Housing Authority is a United States government agency created in part by the National Housing Act of 1934. The Federal Housing Authority sets standards for construction and underwriting and insures loans made by banks and other private lenders for home building. The goals of this organization are to improve housing standards and conditions, provide an adequate home financing system through insurance of mortgage loans, and to stabilize the mortgage market. -
Jane Addams
Jane Addams was known as the "mother" of social work, also a pioneer American settlement activist/reformer, social worker, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in women's suffrage and world peace. She co-founded an early settlement house in the United States that would later become known as one of the most famous settlement houses in America. In an era with Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, Jane Addams was a more prominent social activist. -
Social Security Act
The Social Security Act of 1935 created Social Security in the United States and is relevant for the U.S. labor laws. It created a basic right to a pension in old age and insurance against unemployment. The Social Security Act has been amended significantly over time, but contains major titles such as old age, unemployment, child aid, child welfare, public health, blindness, maternal and child health and mental retardation. -
The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the evology and agriculture of the American and Canadian praries during the 1930s. Severe drought and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wins erosion caused the phenomenon. During the drought of the 1930s, the unanchored soil turned to dust, which the prevailing winds blew away in huge clouds that sometimes blackended the sky. These choking billows of dust traveled cross country greatly reducing visibility. -
John Rockefeller
John Rockefeller was an American oil industry business magnate, industrialist, and philanthropist. He is widely considered by historians as the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Along with his brother William and friend Henry Flagler, their business focused more on the refining of oil rather than the drilling. As gasoline grew in importance, Rockefeller's wealth soared as he became the richest man in the country, controlling 90% of all oil in America. -
Fair Labor Standards Act
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is a United States labor law that creates the right a minimum wage, and "time-and-a-half" overtime pay when people work over forty hours a week. It also prohibited most employment of minors in "oppressive child labor". It applies to employees engaged in interstate commerce or employed by an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, unless the employer can claim an exemption from coverage. -
German U-Boats
A U-boat is the anglicised version of the German word U-Boot, literally meaning "undersea boat". Operated by the Germans during World War I and II for military purposes. The boats were efficient against enemy naval warships, but were most often used in economic warfare and enforcing naval blockades against enemy shipping. The primary targets of the U-boat campaigns in both wars were merchant convoys bringing supplies to the Allied Powers. -
Period: to
World War 2
-
Navajo Code Talkers
Code talkers are people in the 20th century who used obscure languages as a means of secret communication during wartime. The term is now usually associated with the United States service members during world wars who used their knowledge of Native American language as a basis to transmit coded messages. In particular, there were approximately 400-500 Native Americans in the United States Marine Corps whose primariy job was the transmission of secret tactical messages. -
Dunkirk
The Battle of Dunkirk was a military operation that took place in Dunkirk, France, during the Second World War. The battle was fought between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As part of the Battle of France on the Western Front, the Battle of Dunkirk was the defence and evacuation to Britain of British and other Allied force in Europe from May 26th to June 4th 1940. Despite the Allies' gloomy estimates of the situation, even discussing a conditonal surrender to Germany, more then 330,000 were saved. -
The Holocaust
The Holocaust was a genocide during World War II in which Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, systematically murdered some six million European Jews, around two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe, between 1941 and 1945. Jews were targeted for extermination as part of a larger event involving the persecution and murder of other groups, making them out to be "incurably sick". After Poland was taken over, the Germans set up over 42,000 concentration camps to contain the Jews. -
Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbon was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7th, 1941. The attack, led to the United States' entry into World War II. The Japanese intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the United States Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions that were planned in Southeast Asaia against the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the US -
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves. Nuclear physicist Robert Oppenheimer designed the actual bombs. The Army componet was designated the Manhattan District. -
D-Day
The Normandy landins were the landing operations on Tuesday, June 6th, 1944 (termed as D-Day) of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overord during World War II. The largest seaborne invasion in history, the operation began the liberation of German-occupied northwestern Europe from Nazi control, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front. Museums, memorials, and war cemeteries in the area now host many visitors each year. -
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was a German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party, Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and Fuhrer of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. As a dictator, Hitler initiated World War II in Europe with the invasion of Poland in 1939 and was central to the Holocaust, which resulted in millions of lives lost. Under his leadership and racially motivated ideology, the Nazi regime was responsible for the genocide of at least 5.5 million Jews and millions of other victims. -
Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt was an American politician, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, having held the post from 1933 to 1945 during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office, and served as United States Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 1945 to 1952. President Harry S. Truman later called her the "First Lady of the World" in tribute to her human rights achievements. -
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill was a British statesman, army officer, and writer, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for 2 separate terms. Churchill led Britain to an allied victory in the Second World War. in 1953, Churchill won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his lifetime body of work, the prize cited "his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values".
