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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1865 | - 31 Jan 1865—31 Jan 1965: Slavery abolished
Congress passes 13th Amendment abolishing slavery
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| 2 | 1872 | - 1 Nov 1872—1 Nov 1872: Susan B. Anthony casts a vote
By 1872, the Fourteenth Amendment had been ratified. Reconstruction was under way, and many Americans found it obscene that only one gender could participate in the most basic democratic exercise. Championing the rights of women was eloquent suffragette Susan B. Anthony, who, before the war, had been an abolitionist and prohibitionist. The temperance movement radicalized Anthony, though not in the way its leadership intended. Barred by men from speaking at anti-drinking rallies, she turned her intellect and ire away from the distillers and toward a bigger target: America’s male-dominated political system. And so, on the first day of November, she and three other women talked their way into registering to vote in a barbershop in the Eighth Ward in Rochester, NY. The male registrars didn’t want to do it, but Anthony threatened to sue them personally. The ballots they cast four days later were secret, but their sympathies were not: President Grant and his Republican Party were more receptive to women’s rights than the Democrats.
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| 3 | 1902 | - 1902—1902: 1st Electric Theatre
Thomas L. Tally opened his Electric Theater in Los Angeles, a radical new venture devoted to movies and other high-tech devices of the era, like audio recordings.
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| 4 | 1903 | - 15 Feb 1903—15 Feb 1903: The teddy bear debuts
In November 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt decided he needed a break from the White House. For the Rough Rider, a vacation meant hunting, so he traveled to Mississippi during bear-hunting season. On the second day of the trip, the hounds picked up a scent — and an aging 235-pound black bear was promptly clubbed and tied to a tree, awaiting the commander in chief’s lethal shot. Roosevelt, however, refused the unsportsmanlike opportunity. Although the bear was eventually euthanized, reporters’ stories still made the president seem merciful — and Washington Post cartoonist Clifford Berryman immortalized the moment with an illustration showing the old bear as a cute little cub and the president waving his arm: “Drawing the line in Mississippi,” it read. Brooklyn candy-shop owner Morris Michtom saw the cartoon and had an idea for his wife Rose to stitch up stuffed-toy bears. The president gave his permission to dub them “Teddy’s bears,” and knockoffs quickly abounded.
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| 5 | 1905 | - 1905—1905: Theory of special relativity published
Einstein’s theory of special relativity published. It transforms the nature of modern physical knowledge
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| 6 | 1914 | - 18 Jun 1914—1918: WW1
The Habsburg and Ottoman empires collapse; maps of Europe and the Middle East are redrawn.
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| 7 | 1915 | - 1 Jan 1915—1 Jan 1915: NYC’s first female cabbie gets behind the wheel
NYC’s first female cabbie gets behind the wheel
- 25 Jan 1915—25 Jan 1915: 1st Transatlantic phone call
Alexander Graham Bell makes 1st transcontinental phone call
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| 8 | 1929 | - 1929—1929: Stock Market Crash
“The chief business of the American people is business,” U.S. Pres. Calvin Coolidge said in 1925. And with the American economy humming during the “Roaring Twenties” (the Jazz Age), peace and prosperity reigned in the United States…until it didn’t. The era came to a close in October 1929 when the stock market crashed, setting the stage for years of economic deprivation and calamity during the Great Depression.
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| 9 | 1939 | - 1939—1945: WW2
Outbreak of Second World War: 50 million die worldwide from 1939-45 in the world’s largest and most deadly conflict, which ends the long age of imperialisms.
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| 10 | 1941 | - 7 Dec 1941—7 Dec 1941: Peal Harbor Attacked
Peal Harbor Attacked
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| 11 | 1944 | - 6 Jun 1944—6 Jun 1944: D Day
D Day
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| 12 | 1945 | - 1945—1945: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Having again stayed out of the initial stages of another worldwide conflict, the U.S. entered World War II on the side of the Allies following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (December 1941). In August 1945, with the war in Europe over and U.S. forces advancing on Japan, U.S. Pres. Harry S. Truman ushered in the nuclear era by choosing to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in the hope that the terrible destruction unleashed would prevent an even greater loss of life that seemed likely with a protracted island-by-island invasion of Japan.
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| 13 | 1949 | - 1949—1949: Communist China founded
China is created as a single territorial unit with a common administration and a modernizing economy.
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| 14 | 1950 | - 1950—1950: Korean War
Korean War
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| 15 | 1955 | - 1 Nov 1955—1 Nov 1955: Start of Vietnam War
Start of Vietnam War
- 1 Dec 1955—1 Dec 1955: Rosa Parks arrested for not moving to the back of the bus
Rosa Parks arrested for not moving to the back of the bus
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| 16 | 1958 | - 1958—1958: NASA Formed
NASA Formed
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| 17 | 1959 | - 1959—1959: Silicon Chip invented
Invention of the silicon chip is the major technical invention of the past century, making possible the computer age.
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| 18 | 1960 | - 1960—1960: 1st Contraceptive Pill
First contraceptive pill made available for women, who can now make their own biological choices about reproduction.
- 1960—1960: Explosion of an atom bomb device by France
Explosion of an atom bomb device by France; Election of John F. Kennedy as President of USA
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| 19 | 1961 | - 5 May 1961—5 May 1961: Alan Shepard is first American in space
Alan Shepard is first American in space
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| 20 | 1963 | - 28 Aug 1963—28 Aug 1963: MLK delivers “I Have a Dream” speech
MLK delivers “I Have a Dream” speech
- 22 Nov 1963—20 Nov 1963: JFK Assassinated
JFK Assassinated
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| 21 | 1965 | - 1965—1965: Death of Sir Winston Churchill
Death of Sir Winston Churchill; Singapore becomes the sovereign independent nation; outbreak of Indo-Pak war.
- 9 Sep 1965—9 Sep 1965: Sandy Koufax throws a perfect game
A high-school baseball star in Brooklyn, Sanford “Sandy” Koufax signed a professional contract with his hometown team, the Dodgers, in 1955 after an Ebbets Field tryout. “There are two times in my life the hair on my arms has stood up,” general manager Al Campanis recalled. “The first time I saw the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the first time I saw Sandy Koufax throw a fastball.” Campanis was Catholic, Koufax Jewish, but the pitcher’s talent was not a question of faith. By 1961, Koufax was the best in baseball on his way to four no-hitters. On Sept. 9, 1965, the hurler threw a perfect game in a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs. But after leading his team into the World Series, he declined to pitch Game 1 because it fell on Yom Kippur. The Dodgers lost to the Twins 8-2. But Koufax came back to throw a complete game shutout in Game 5, helping his team take the Series in seven games.
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| 22 | 1968 | - 4 Apr 1968—4 Apr 1968: Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr
At the center of the widespread social and political upheaval of the 1960s were the civil rights movement, opposition to the Vietnam War, the emergence of youth-oriented counterculture, and the establishment and reactionary elements that pushed back against change. The April 4, 1968, assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the most prominent civil rights leader, revealed the tragic, violent consequences that could result from a country’s political polarization.
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| 23 | 1972 | - 1972—1972: Watergate Scandal
Watergate Scandal
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| 24 | 1980 | - 1980—1980: Iraq/Iran War
War starts between Iran and Iraq; Ronald Reagon elected USA President.
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1871 -
