1900
Over 5,000 students were now enrolled in the universities of Harvard, Yale, and John Hopkins
Over 5,000 students were now enrolled in the universities of Harvard, Yale, and John Hopkins
The Association of American Universities was formed to promote high standards among colleges
The first telephone designed for the home is introduced
A fifth of all U.S. women are wage earners. Nearly 30% of all working women are domestics-others work on farms, as teachers, or in factories.
Carrie Nation leads a group of women in an anti-liquor campaign
GDP has reached over $350 billion
Ragtime jazz becomes popular
Theodore Dreiser’s naturalistic novel Sister Carrieis recalled by the publisher and not reissued for twelve years
Frank Baum writes The Wizard of Oz
Annual teacher pay during this decade was $325 a year
President McKinley is assassinated at the Pan-American Exhibition in Buffalo on September 6. Theodore Roosevelt, Mc Kinley's vice president, is sworn in as President.
A study shows that 42% of women admitted to insane asylums were well educated compared to only 16% of men. This fuels arguments against women's higher education.
Owen Wister publishes The Virginian, a novel romanticizing cowboy life in Wyoming. It introduces the strong, silent hero and the climactic "showdown" to the growing myth of the American West.
Orville Wright flies 120 feet in 12 seconds in the first heavier-than-air machine at Kittyhawk, North Carolina
The first journey in an automobile between San Francisco and New York City takes 52 days
National Women's Trade Union League of America founded
The Department of Commerce and Labor is created by an Act of Congress
An eleven-minute Edison film by Edwin S. Porter, The Great Train Robberyis shown in theaters. It is hailed as the first full-length commercial motion picture.
During this decade bilingual education for the children of German immigrants was mandated by the city of Cincinnati, Ohio after demands by the immigrant German population
The Lake Placid Conference on homemaking forms the basis for the American Home Economics Association
National Child Labor Committee is formed
Roosevelt wins the presidential election by 2.5 million votes
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton is published
The Niagra Movement is organized by intellectuals and activists demanding abolition of all laws resulting in racial discrimination
The construction of the Panama Canal begins
Elinor Glyn publishes her romantic novel Three Weekswhich is banned in Boston
First public showing of a color motion picture with sound
By Presidential order the U.S. excludes Japanese labourers from entering the country
The electric iron and toaster are invented
William Howard Taft is Roosevelt’s chosen successor and wins the presidency
Henry Ford introduces the Model T for $850. It is only available in black.
W.E.B. DuBois founds the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Bakelite, an early form of plastic, is patented
Charlotte Perkins Gilman founds the feminist magazine The Forerunner, famous for writings on women's issues, ethics, and labour
The first wireless message is sent from New York to Chicago
The Boy Scouts of America are established in Washington by William D. Boyce. The Girl Scouts follow two years later.
The first electric washing machine is introduced
Approximately 8 million women now work outside the home
Suffragists bring a petition with 500,000 names to Congress
The White Slave Traffic Act (The Mann Act) is passed, outlawing the transportation of women across state lines for 'immoral purposes'
Director D. W. Griffith is sent by the Biograph Company to the west coast with his acting troop. They start filming on a vacant lot in Downtown Los Angeles.
It is now illegal to admit criminals, paupers, anarchists and diseased persons into the U.S. Some countries have been scouring jails and asylums and officially sending the inmates over to the U.S.
The first U.S. transcontinental flight takes place
The National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NAOWS) is organized
An estimated 8 million immigrants arrive in the United States
Maria Montessori creates the Montessori method for teaching disadvantaged children reading and self care
Theodore Roosevelt survives an assassination attempt
Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson is elected President in a landslide victory
The U.S. Public Health Service is established
A Magazine of Verseis founded and becomes a major stimulus for American poetry
The White Slave Traffic Act (The Mann Act) is passed in this decade, outlawing the transportation of women across state lines for 'immoral purposes'
The Panama Canal opens
Ford Motor Company sets up assembly-line mass production in Detroit
Refrigerators are invented
Alice Paul and Lucy Burns organise the Congressional Union
Members participate in hunger strikes and picket the White House to publicise the suffrage cause
The first modern bra is designed
Many movie-makers head west to avoid the fees imposed by Thomas Edison, who owned patents on the movie-making process. In Los Angeles, California, the studios and Hollywood grow.
The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) is formed in New York City
President Woodrow Wilson declares the second Sunday in May "Mother's Day" and makes it a national holiday
The Ludlow massacre in Colorado gives rise to demonstrations across the country. 66 people are killed.
The Nestor Company opens the first film studio in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles
The metal lipstick container is invented, allowing the mass production and purchase of lipsticks
The invention of the farm tractor helps transform farming into a business
Margaret Sander is jailed for supporting birth control
Theda Bara, known as "The Vamp", becomes a star in A Fool There Was
D.W.Griffith’s film The Birth of a Nation incites bitter protests because of its glorification of the Ku Klux Klan and lurid racism
The Ku Klux Klan is revived
20% of public high schools now offered courses in home economics or domestic science
Jeannette Rankin of Montana is the first woman elected to the House of Representatives
The first birth control clinic opens in Brooklyn
The Congressional Union is renamed the National Woman's Party
Woodrow Wilson is reelected on the slogan ‘He kept us out of the war’
The first supermarkets featuring self-service and checkout counters open
The first Pulitzer prizes are given out by the Columbia School of Journalism
Wilson asks Congress to declare war on Germany. The U.S. enters World War I on April 2 ; In October American troops arrive in France, the first of 2 million to do so by the end of the war.
President Wilson proposes ‘Fourteen Points’ for peace in the world
The proposal to adopt the 19th Amendment to enfranchise American women, is passed by Congress and goes to the States for ratification
Coco Chanel introduces the chemise dress, made without a corset
Prohibition Act becomes law and goes into effect on January 16th 1920
Women gain the right to vote
Ethelda Bleibtrey is the first U.S. woman to win a gold medal in the modern Olympic Games
The U.S. Department of Labor establishes a Woman's Bureau
Warren G. Harding is elected President
The Nineteenth Amendment is adopted and woman's suffrage becomes part of the United States Constitution
The first commercial radio station begins operation - KDKA in Pennsylvania
37 million immigrants have arrived in the U.S. since 1840