The Postwar and Modern Age (1945-present)
After World War II the United States enjoyed decades of unprecedented prosperity. The Civil Rights movement also began in his era, greatly changing American society.
Recommended Reading
- The Cold War: A New History - John Lewis Gaddis
- Silent Covenants: Brown v. Board of Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes for Racial Reform - Derrick Bell
- Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Movement - Michael J. Klarman
- Lyndon B. Johnson and American Liberalism: A Brief Biography with Documents (The Bedford Series in History and... - Bruce J. Schulman
- Lyndon B. Johnson and the Transformation of American Politics (Library of American Biography Series) - John Bullion
- The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload - Daniel J. Levitin
- Management Information Systems for the Information Age - Stephen Haag
The Postwar Strike Wave of 1945-46
The wave of strikes after World War II was much bigger than many people realize, given how the postwar era is often portrayed now.
Timeline
- 1954 - Brown v. Board of Education outlaws segregated schools. President Eisenhower is later forced to deploy the 101st Airborne Division to enforce the decision.
- 1955 - The Montgomery Bus Boycott unleashes a wave of civil rights protests across the United States.
- 1960 - "The Pill" is approved by the FDA on June 23. It usage will become legal in every state with the Eisenstadt v. Baird decision in 1972.
- 1962 - The Cuban Missile Crisis threatens nuclear war.
- 1963 - John F. Kennedy is assassinated under suspicious circumstances.
- 1964 - The landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed, significantly strengthening the federal enforcement of civil rights laws for minorities.
- 1967 - "The Long Hot Summer" highlights the deteriorating social climate of the nation. 159 race riots erupt in a single year, most infamously in Newark and Detroit.
- 1969 - Stonewall Riots in New York become rallying point for gay community. The first Pride Parade is held on June 28th, 1970 to commemorate the one-year anniversary.
- 1975/1976 - Microsoft and Apple are founded one year apart, becoming innovators and rivals in the computer industry.
- c.1980 - Widespread cases of the AIDS virus begin to appear in the United States.
- 1991 - Tim Berners-Lee creates the first websites on the World Wide Web. "Browser Wars" and email soon ensue.
- 2000 - For the first time, Hispanics become the largest minority group as measured in the United States Census.
- 2001 - Terrorist attacks topple the World Trade Center on September 11.
- 2004 - Facebook is launched, initially limited to active students of Harvard University.
ERAS:
Pre-Contact - Colonial - Revolutionary - Antebellum - Civil War - Gilded Age - Depression/World War II - Modern
PEOPLE:
American Indian - Anglo/Scottish - Black - Hispanic - Women - Asian - LGBT - Irish - Jewish - Children
