-
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. -
Muckrakes
Muckraking journalists successfully exposed America's problems brought on by rapid industrialization and the growth of cities. Influential muckrakers created public awareness of corruption, social injustices, and abuses of power. -
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
After becoming president in 1901, Roosevelt used his authority to protect approximately 230 million acres of public land. To protect and preserve some of America's natural wildlands like national parks and preserves -
Lincoln Steffens
New York reporter who launched a series of articles in McClure's titled "The Shame of the Cities" in 1902; unmasked the corrupt alliance between big business and municipal government -
Thomas Nast
Nast was a highly influential German-American political cartoonist who was active for most of the second half of the 19th Century. -
Wright Brothers
Wilbur and Orville Wright were American inventors and pioneers of aviation. In 1903 the Wright brothers achieved the first powered, sustained and controlled airplane flight; they surpassed their own milestone two years later when they built and flew the first fully practical airplane. -
Short Film Movie
Edwin S. Porter's (and the Edison Company) enterprising and ambitious adaptation of Harriet Beecher Stowe's familiar and popular novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1903) was one of the earliest 'full-length' features films (about 14 minutes!). -
Automobile - Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American automobile manufacturer who created the Model T in 1908 and went on to develop the assembly line mode of production, which revolutionized the automotive industry. -
New Mexico and Arizona became states
President William Taft signed the New Mexico statehood bill. -
William Howard Taft
Taft breaks up more trust than T.R.
Creates more national parks and preserves than T.R.
Creates children Bureau
Angry about Taft's failure to adopt or extend T.R.'s policies, Roosevelt challenges Taft for the Republican nomination
'Bull Moose Party'
Splitting the vote always fails -
War with Europe
The US entered World War I because Germany embarked on a deadly gamble. -
Woodrow Wilson
Wilson led his country into World War I and became the creator and leading advocate of the League of Nations. -
Air Mail
Beginning in 1915, British pilots carried army messages across the English Channel to Belgium. -
The 18th Amendment
The 18th Amendment prohibited the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors" -
The 19th Amendment
Movement in the West
Used rallies, marches, lobbyists, magazine articles, and debates
Settlement House Movement -
The End of the Progressive Era
The main objective of the Progressive movement was eliminating corruption in government. The movement primarily targeted political machines and their bosses. -
Radio & Hollywood
Brought the culture of the city out to people in the country. This spread city ideas to the country and helped convince traditionalists in the country that the cities were ruining American culture and society. -
Working Women/Motherhood
The roles of mothers changed from stay-at-home moms to working moms because the 1920s were a time of prosperity and new opportunities. -
Reasons for the Unprecedented Post-War Prosperity
Pent up demand for consumer goods
Cheap mortgages lead up to a rapid expansion of home construction
Increased defense spending to meet the requirements of the cold war
Fully ⅔ of Americans qualified as middle class in the post-war era. In the 1920s, less than ⅔ could be considered middle class.
Affluence -
The New Woman
The New Woman was a response to these limiting roles of wife and mother. Starting in the late nineteenth century, more and more women remained unmarried until later in their lives, gained education, organized for women's suffrage, and worked outside the home. -
Literacy Changes
The Lost Generation made an impact on society because the writings that came out of this period showed the effects war has on people. War was a terrible thing that made men lose their masculinity, gave people a sense of disillusionment, and made people want to return to a simpler, idealistic past. -
The Butler Act
The Butler Act was a Tennessee law that made it illegal for public schools to teach evolution -
President Hoover
Opposed direct federal aid
Provided some help to strengthen banks
Thought the U.S. could ‘ride it out
Pushed for people to seek help from charitable organizations, churches, etc...
Seen as a do-nothing who was unable or willing to act in a time of national economic crisis -
Immediate Response
The new law allows the twelve Federal Reserve Banks to issue additional currency on good assets and thus the banks that reopen will be able to meet every legitimate call. -
Tennessee Valley Authority
President Roosevelt signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act on May 18, 1933, creating the TVA as a federal corporation. The new agency was asked to tackle important problems facing the valley, such as flooding, providing electricity to homes and businesses, and replanting forests. -
Social Security Act
Safety me for all Americans
Percentage of paycheck
Based on shorter life-span
Intended to supplement (not replace) income
People had been less inclined to retire because they would lose their income
The SSA gave people an incentive to retire -
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was an ambitious employment and infrastructure program created by President Roosevelt in 1935, during the bleakest years of the Great Depression. Over its eight years of existence, the WPA put roughly 8.5 million Americans to work. -
Emergence of Rock
Rock ‘n’ Roll music emerges as a new sound
Appeals to the younger generations and provides a way for average youth with a way to rebel
Starts as ‘black’ music
Combines blues with pop & western
Elvis introduces white audiences -
WWII
On December 7, 1941, following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Japan. Three days later, after Germany and Italy declared war on it, the United States became fully engaged in the Second World War. -
Pearl Harbor
Roosevelt, inhibited by the American public's opposition to direct U.S. involvement in the fighting and determined to save Great Britain from a Nazi victory in Europe, manipulated events in the Pacific in order to provoke a Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 -
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was a meeting of three World War II allies: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. The trio met in February 1945 in the resort city of Yalta, located along the Black Sea coast of the Crimean Peninsula. -
Potsdam Conference
The main aims of the Potsdam Conference were to finalize a post-war agreement and to pressure Japan, which was still in the war. In February 1945, the leaders of the Alliance -nicknamed the Big Three- attended a conference in Yalta, where many agreements were made -
The Cold War
The Cold War was a period of increased tensions and competition for global influence between the United States that lasted from approximately 1945 until 1991. -
Iran Crisis
The Iran crisis of 1946, also known as the Azerbaijan Crisis in the Iranian sources, was one of the first crises of the Cold War.
"I'M SICK OF BABYSITTING THE SOVIETS." - PRESIDENT TRUMAN -
Jackie Robison
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 opened public facilities to all races. But the movement against segregation after World War II really began in 1947 with Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball. He was spiked, beaned, threatened, players refused to play with or against him, & he was refused service while on the road
He never retaliated -
Brown v. Topeka Board of Education
n this milestone decision, the Supreme Court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. It signaled the end of legalized racial segregation in the schools of the United States, overruling the "separate but equal" principle set forth in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks invigorated the struggle for racial equality when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. Parks' arrest on December 1, 1955, launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott by 17,000 black citizens. -
Emmett Till
Emmett Till's murder was a spark in the upsurge of activism and resistance that became known as the Civil Rights movement. The sight of his brutalized body pushed many who had been content to stay on the sidelines directly into the fight. -
Little Rock Arkansas
Orval Faubus opposed the decision and attempted to block nine black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock by calling in the Arkansas National Guard on September 4, 1957. These students, known as the Little Rock Nine, and their plight drew national attention. -
Martin Luther King
He advocated for peaceful approaches to some of society's biggest problems. He organized a number of marches and protests and was a key figure in the American civil rights movement. He was instrumental in the Memphis sanitation workers' strike, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the March on Washington. -
Rebellious Youth
By the late 1960s, a full-fledged cultural rebellion was underway, and all forms of authority were being questioned. The so-called counterculture celebrated personal freedom at the expense of traditional social mores. Youthful rebels—dubbed hippies—defied parental authority and college officials. -
Television
By the very early 1960s around 90 percent of households owned a television. The television was established as every American family's new favorite piece of furniture. Television had became the main source of communication in American society. -
Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote, Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election. -
The U-2 Incident
A US U-2 WAS A RECONNAISSANCE (SPY) PLANE THAT WAS SHOT DOWN OVER THE SOVIET UNION AND ITS PILOT GARY POWERS WAS CAPTURED AND PUT ON TRIAL. KHRUSHCHEV USED THIS INCIDENT TO CANCEL A PLANNED EAST-WEST SUMMIT CONFERENCE IN PARIS. -
Ruby bridges
At the tender age of six, Ruby Bridges advanced the cause of civil rights in November 1960 when she became the first African American student to integrate an elementary school in the South. -
Lunch Counter Sit-Ins
The Greensboro Sit-In was a critical turning point in Black history and American history, bringing the fight for civil rights to the national stage. Its use of nonviolence inspired the Freedom Riders and others to take up the cause of integration in the South, furthering the cause of equal rights in the United States. -
C.O.R.E.
CORE turned its attention to the South, challenging public segregation and launching voter registration drives for African Americans. It became one of the leading organizations of the civil rights movement in the early 1960s by organizing activist campaigns that tested segregation laws in the South -
Freedom Rides
Virginia (1960), which ruled that segregation of public buses was unconstitutional, foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement began the Freedom Rides. The Freedom Riders rode interstate buses across the South and drew national attention to their cause because of the violence that often erupted against them. -
John Kennedy Becomes President
JOHN F. KENNEDY BECOMES PRESIDENT OF THE US IN 1961 AND INHERITS A PLANNED INVASION OF CUBA FROM THE EISENHOWER ADMINISTRATION -
SNCC
SNCC sought to coordinate youth-led nonviolent, direct-action campaigns against segregation and other forms of racism. SNCC members played an integral role in sit-ins, Freedom Rides, the 1963 March on Washington, and such voter education projects as the Mississippi Freedom Summer. -
Declassified 1962 Map
SHOWING THE DISTANCES
NUCLEAR-ARMED MISSILES WOULD GO IF FIRED FROM
CUBA. ALMOST ALL MAJOR US POPULATION CENTERS WERE WITHIN RANGE. MAPS LIKE THIS CONVINCED JFK
THAT THE SOVIET MISSILES MUST BE REMOVED FROM CUBA. -
James Meredith
James Meredith was an American civil rights activist who gained national renown at a key juncture in the civil rights movement in 1962 when he became the first African American student at the University of Mississippi. -
March on Washington
It not only functioned as a plea for equality and justice; it also helped pave the way for both the ratification of the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (outlawing the poll tax, a tax levied on individuals as a requirement for voting) and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 -
Cuban Missile Crisis
THE CLOSEST THE WORLD HAS COME TO FULL-SCALE NUCLEAR WAR US INTELLIGENCE BEGINS RECEIVING REPORTS OF SOVIET MISSILES IN CUBA. A U-2 FLIGHT ON AUGUST 29TH CONFIRMED THE PRESENCE OF SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILE BATTERIES IN CUBA. THESE MISSILES WERE DESIGNED TO SHOOT DOWN ENEMY AIRCRAFT. -
King Jailed
In 1967, King serves out the sentence from his arrest four years earlier in Birmingham, Alabama. In April 1963, King was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, after he defied a state court's injunction and led a march of black protesters without a permit, urging an Easter boycott of white-owned stores. -
Medgar Evers
As NAACP's first field officer in Mississippi, Evers established new local chapters, organized voter registration drives, and helped lead protests to desegregate public primary schools, parks, and Mississippi Gold Coast beaches. -
Birmingham church Bombing
Outrage over the death of the four young girls helped build increased support behind the continuing struggle to end segregation—support that would help lead to the passage of both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. -
Children’s Crusade
Although unsuccessful in immediately desegregating the city's public spaces, the Crusade did bring national attention to the harsh realities of Jim Crow laws in the South. Soon after the event, Pres. John F. Kennedy called for a civil rights bill that one year later became the Civil Rights Act of 1964. -
President Johnson
On July 2, 1964, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law the historic Civil Rights Act in a nationally televised ceremony at the White House. In the landmark 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional. -
Voting Rights Act
President Lyndon B. Johnson aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. -
Selma to Montgomery
on March 7, 1965, hundreds of people gathered in Selma, Alabama to march to the capital city of Montgomery. They marched to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote — even in the face of a segregationist system that wanted to make it impossible.
