The Gilded Age and Progressive Era (1877-1929)
The industrialization of the United States proceeded at a frantic pace in the late 19th century. The subsequent chasm between rich and poor eventually spawned an army of Progressive reformers.
Recommended Reading
- Frederick Lewis Allen - Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s
- Plessy v. Ferguson: Race and Inequality in Jim Crow America (Landmark Law Cases and American Society) - WilliamJames Hull Hoffer
- Booker T. Washington and the Struggle against White Supremacy: The Southern Educational Tours, 1908-1912 - David H. Jackson
- Woodrow Wilson: A Biography - John Milton Cooper Jr.
- Yellow Journalism: Puncturing the Myths, Defining the Legacies - W. Joseph Campbell
- Standing at Armageddon: A Grassroots History of the Progressive Era - Nell Irvin Painter
- Theodore Roosevelt - Lewis L. Gould
The Violent and Disputed Death of Crazy Horse
Under disputed circumstances, Crazy Horse was stabbed and killed at Fort Robinson, Nebraska on September 5, 1877.
Timeline
- 1877-1890 - A number of tribes in the Plains are defeated in their struggles against American encroachment. Wounded Knee is the final battle.
- 1877 - The Great Railroad Strike spreads across half of the country before it ultimately fails.
- c.1880 - Another great wave of immigration from Europe begins. Irish, Italians, Polish, Czechs, Slavs, and European Jews all diversify the nation's heritage.
- 1889 - For the first time, the U.S. produces more steel than Great Britain. America's status as an industrial power is secured.
- 1890 - The Union Stockyards in Chicago slaughter 9 million animals in a year. Chicago becomes known as the "hog-butcher of the world".
- 1893 - The Panic of 1893 triggers a deep economic depression, particularly affecting agricultural areas. Populist Party expands its strength.
- 1896 - Plessy v. Ferguson decision symbolizes the increasing hold of Jim Crow in the South.
- 1903 - The Wright Brothers successfully fly their first airplane in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
- 1908 - Henry Ford produces the first Model T and creates an assembly line that will revolutionize American industry.
- 1913 - The 16th Amendment establishes a federal income tax -- one of the biggest victories for the Progressive Movement.
- 1913 - The Federal Reserve is established, bringing central banking back to the United States.
- 1919 - The 18th Amendment establishes Prohibition -- another Progressive victory.
- 1920 - After a suffragist campaign of decades, the 19th Amendment grants the vote to women.
- 1929 - A steep crash in the stock market precipitates the Great Depression.
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
