A Biography of America
The Redemptive Imagination – Timeline, 1876 – 1999
Revisit the events of 1876 – 1999
Presidential Election Crisis
Voting irregularities, especially in the South, result in an inconclusive presidential election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. Even though Hayes won the popular vote and came very close to winning in the electoral college, a backroom decision between party leaders in a Washington hotel gives the election to Hayes as part of a deal to end federal occupation of the former Confederate states.
Federal troops are withdrawn from the former Confederate states, formally ending the Reconstruction Era.
Molly Maguires Hanged
After a decade of labor strife in Pennsylvania coal mining towns, eleven Irish-American miners accused of being members of the secret Molly Maguire society are hanged, following testimony by James McParlan, an undercover agent for the mine owners.
Chief Joseph Surrenders
Federal troops force about 750 Nez Percé led by Chief Joseph from their ancestral lands. Chief Joseph leads his people on a long trek across the Rockies toward Canada, but in numerous encounters with U.S. troops, most of the braves are killed or wounded and the Nez Percé are weakened, without food and blankets. Forty miles from the safety of the border, Chief Joseph surrenders, saying, “I will fight no more forever.”
Arizona Apaches Forced onto Harsh Land
Under orders of U.S. General James Carleton, Apaches on the Chiricahua Reservation are driven to a hot desert wasteland with little vegetation and no game, where they are expected to live on rations supplied by Indian agents. General Carleton orders that anyone attempting to leave the reservation be shot.
National Railroad Strike
Striking railroad workers at Martinsburg, West Virginia spark others in Pennsylvania to strike, and soon the strike spreads nationwide. Railroads are shut down for a week, until federal troops restore order after firing on the strikers, killing several.
Exodusters Head for Kansas
Thousands of former slaves and their families, especially from Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, begin to migrate to Kansas to avoid the rising tide of racial violence and suppression in the South. In 1879 and 1880 the large migration of African Americans, called Exodusters, becomes national news. Many take up farming or establish small businesses. Some become cowboys.
Jim Crow Law Segregates Tennessee Railroads
The State of Tennessee becomes the first to pass laws that segregate railroad passengers by race. Soon many other southern states follow suit.
Tuskegee Institute Founded in Alabama
Booker T. Washington, age 25, establishes an all-black industrial school near Tuskegee, Alabama that becomes a model for industrial training for African Americans.
Clara Barton Founds American Red Cross
Former Civil War nurse Clara Barton returns from European relief work to found the American Association of the Red Cross, which she leads until 1904
Haymarket Riot in Chicago
On May 1, Chicago police fire on a group of strikers, killing four and wounding others. Three days later the Knights of Labor organize a protest rally in Haymarket Square. An unknown person throws a bomb into a group of policeman, killing several and causing general mayhem that results in the deaths of more strikers. The May 1 incident becomes an international day of commemoration for workers and unions.
AF of L Founded
Samuel Gompers, a cigar maker and union activist, founds the American Federation of Labor, the first successful attempt to create a federation of craft unions, building on his 1881 organization, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions. The AF of L focuses on organizing skilled workers.
Utopian Novel Predicts Future of the U.S.
Edward Bellamy, an American socialist, publishes his popular and influential utopian novel Looking Backward, 2000-1887, which predicts that in the year 2000, all industries will be owned by the government and all wealth will be distributed equally among the citizens.
Wounded Knee Marks End of Indian Resistance
Five hundred troops of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry massacre three hundred and fifty Sioux men, women, and children in South Dakota in the last major confrontation between the U.S. Army and the Plains Indians.
Labor Strikes for Higher Wages, Shorter Hours
A series of strikes across America relate mostly to worker’s demands for short hours, especially the eight hour work day, and higher wages.
Homestead Strike Violence
Steelworkers striking at Andrew Carnegie’s Homestead, Pennsylvania steel mill clash with private Pinkerton guards with casualties among both steelworkers and Pinkertons. The five-month-long strike ends with the firing of union leaders and workers returning to their 12-hour shifts.
African American journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett writes passionately against lynching and founds anti-lynching societies and grassroots efforts to end racial discrimination in New York, Boston, and other cities.
Coxey’s Army Marches on Washington
Unemployed workers from Ohio march to Washington, DC, to protest the lack of work and call for public assistance.
Pullman Strike Broken by Federal Troops
When George Pullman lowers workers’ wages by 25% at his Pullman Palace Car Company, the American Railway Union, led by Eugene V. Debs, calls for a strike. The Chicago strike quickly spreads to a national railroad strike as Pullman cars are boycotted. President Grover Cleveland orders out federal troops to quell the violence associated with the strike, resulting in the deaths of seven strikers.
Booker T. Washington — Atlanta Compromise
Booker T. Washington, the educator and founder of Tuskegee Institute, is launched into national prominence as an African American leader with his speech at the Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition, in which he proposes that black civil rights and social equality are not as important as the economic advancement of African Americans in the South.
Spanish American War
The war lasts 112 days and results in U.S. acquisition of the former Spanish territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. Cuba becomes independent of Spain. More U.S. troops die from disease, especially from contaminated meat, than die in battle.
Carry Nation Wields Axe Against Kansas Saloons
In her struggle against alcoholic beverages, Carry Nation literally destroys Kansas saloons by wielding an axe and breaking up saloon furniture and bottles and kegs of liquor.
Booker T. Washington — Up from Slavery
Booker T. Washington’s autobiography is a popular success in book form after having been printed as a magazine series the year before. The book adds to Washington’s fame as the leading spokesperson for African Americans and helps raise considerable money for the Tuskegee Institute from wealthy Northern philanthropists, including Andrew Carnegie.
Anthracite Coal Strike
John Mitchell, leader of the United Mine Workers (UMW) launches a five-month-long strike involving more than 145,000 coal miners. The price of coal skyrockets, forcing the closing of schools in many cities and towns. President Theodore Roosevelt intercedes in the strike. In the settlement, workers gain pay raises, but the UMW fails to gain recognition from mine owners as a legitimate agent of the workers.
Wright Brothers Successfully Fly Airplane
The first successful manned flight in a gasoline powered aircraft takes place at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, when Wilbur and Orville Wright, two Dayton, Ohio bicycle mechanics, achieve flights of 120 feet and 852 feet.
W. E. B. Du Bois Publishes Souls of Black Folk
The African American scholar W. E. B. Du Bois publishes a major exploration of black life in America and publicly criticizes the leadership of Booker T. Washington.
Ida Tarbell Exposes Standard Oil
Muckraking journalist Ida M. Tarbell publishes her brilliant expose of the Standard Oil Company.
Brownsville, Texas Race Riot
In a supposed shooting spree by African American soldiers stationed nearby, one citizen of Brownsville is killed and a woman is reportedly raped. A race riot follows in its wake. While the matter is investigated, no clear culprits are found. Nonetheless President Theodore Roosevelt angers African Americans by dishonorably discharging three whole companies of black soldiers, including some who have received the Medal of Honor.
Springfield Race Riot
For two days in August, white mobs roam black neighborhoods in Springfield, Illinois, burning homes and terrorizing black residents. Two African Americans are lynched, a half dozen are shot to death, and scores injured. The riot ends when more than 4,000 state militia march into Springfield. At least 2,000 black residents flee the city.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is founded in New York City by liberal whites and African Americans to promote racial justice and civil rights. The next year it becomes a permanent organization. The first president is prominent white Boston attorney, Morefield Storey. The director of publications is W. E. B. Du Bois, African American scholar and founder of the Niagara Movement in 1905.
Society of American Indians Founded
Dr. Charles Alexander Eastman (Ohiyesa) and others found the Society of American Indians, the first Indian rights organization created by and for Indians.
Suffragists March on Washington
Alice Paul leads a parade in the nation’s capital of more than 5,000 women demonstrating for the right to vote. Men along the parade route attack the women with lighted cigars, or jeer and even slap some of the demonstrators. The parade is stopped before it can reach the White House. More than three dozen women sustain injuries.
Ludlow, Colorado Coal Strike
State militia and striking coal miners seeking recognition for the United Mine Workers clash at Ludlow, Colorado. Twenty-one persons die, including women and children who are burned to death when soldiers set fire to tents. The strikers hold the coal fields for more than a month and only end the strike when federal troops arrive to restore order.
World War I Begins in Europe
World War I begins, but the United States avoids formal entry into the war until 1917. A handful of volunteer American flyers enter the war in 1916.
Margaret Sanger Raises Issue of Birth Control
Feminist Margaret H. Sanger publishes The Woman Rebel, a magazine about contraception, which coins the term “birth control.” To escape prosecution for distributing information about the use of contraceptive measures, she flees to England.
Women for Peace
Women march in New York City to protest the horrors of the World War.
U.S. Declares War on Germany
On April 6, the United States Congress declares war on Germany.
Jeannette Rankin Opposes War
Jeannette Rankin, a Republican from Montana and the first woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, votes against the U.S. declaration of war against Germany.
Armistice Ends World War I
The Great War ends with an armistice signed November 11. The slaughter of the war has killed millions of Germans, Russian, French, and Austrian and Hungarian soldiers, and hundreds of thousands of British, Italian, and Turkish soldiers. U.S. war dead number 115,000. Another 20 million are wounded or maimed in the war.
Race Riots in Many U.S. Cities
Twenty-six race riots occur in U.S. in the volatile year following the end of World War I. Some riots involve soldiers returning from the war. Major riots in Chicago and Washington, DC leave scores dead.
Millions of Workers Strike
A year of major domestic unrest sees strikes ranging from Boston policemen to steelworkers and coal miners. During the year more than four million workers are off the job because of strikes or lock-outs. Many strikes are over the issue of shorter working hours, higher wages, and the recognition of unions.
Ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution ushers in the era of Prohibition. Congress passes the National Prohibition Act (The Volstead Act) outlawing the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages. Prohibition lasts until 1933, when the Twenty-First Amendment repeals the provisions of the Eighteenth Amendment. Some consider Prohibition a “noble experiment” others see it as a disaster and failure.
Women Gain Right to Vote
Ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment guarantees women the right to vote, the culmination of a national movement that began in 1848.
Margaret Sanger Founds Birth Control League
Margaret Sanger (see 1914) founds the American Birth Control League to promote understanding of the use of contraceptives and family planning. This organization becomes the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1942.
Black Union Founded
The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters is founded by A. Phillip Randolph. The union allies with the American Federation of Labor and begins a long struggle with the Pullman Company, the largest single employer of African Americans, for better wages and working conditions.
Ku Klux Klan Resurgence
40,000 hooded Klansmen march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC. The Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist group which intimidated blacks in the South during Reconstruction, is re-established in 1915 and grows in numbers during the 1920s with chapters in northern cities and towns as well as in the South. In addition to the usual themes of white supremacy, the Klan opposes foreign immigration.
Lindbergh Makes Transatlantic Flight
American aviator Charles A. Lindbergh completes the first non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, from New York to Paris. He becomes an instant world-wide hero and celebrity.
Stock Market Crash
Stock prices plummet beginning October 24, 1929, in the largest sell-off of stock ever before seen on Wall Street, marking the beginning of the Great Depression in the United States and other countries around the world.
FDR Inaugurated — New Deal Era Begins
Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt is sworn in as President of the United States and immediately launches measures to counter the Great Depression. His program is called the New Deal, an ambitious governmental effort to provide relief for millions of unemployed and to turn the economy around. While some New Deal measures help, only U.S. entry into World War II in 1941 finally ends the Great Depression.
Labor leader John L. Lewis heads the newly founded Congress of Industrial Organizations.
Marian Anderson Sings at Lincoln Memorial
African American contralto Marian Anderson is denied use of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) hall for a concert in Washington, DC, because of her race. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigns from the DAR over the issue and an outdoor concert is arranged at the Lincoln Memorial that draws 75,000 persons.
World War II Begins
World War II begins in Europe, when Great Britain and France declare war on Germany.
FDR Issues Order on Racial Discrimination
African American labor leader A. Phillip Randolph, head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, threatens to protest racial discrimination in the workplace by conducting a March on Washington. The plan is called off when President Roosevelt issues an executive order banning racial discrimination in U.S. defense plants.
U.S. Enters World War II
The day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States declares war on Japan and three days later declares war on Germany and Italy.
Jeannette Rankin Opposes War Again
As she did in World War I, Jeannette Rankin votes against the U.S. declaration of war against Japan. This time she is the only dissenting vote.
Japanese American Internment
Between March 25 and August 12, 120,000 West Coast Japanese Americans are ordered into internment camps under Executive Order 9066, which gives the War Department the authority to to exclude anyone who might threaten the war effort.
Bombs Dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
A single U.S. B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, drops an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, killing more than 100,000 people and destroying the city. Three days later another U.S. bomber drops an atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, Japan, killing more than 60,000 persons. Japan surrenders, ending World War II, on August 10. The age of nuclear weapons begins.
Korean Conflict Begins
Communist forces in North Korea invade South Korea, involving the United States in a three-year undeclared war to halt the spread of communism in Asia.
Public School Desegregation
The Supreme Court rules in the case of Brown v. Board of Education that public schools segregated by race are unequal and orders desegregation “with all deliberate speed.”
Rosa Parks Arrested on Bus
Rosa Parks, a black resident of Montgomery, Alabama is arrested for refusing to move to the back of a segregated bus. Her action inspires many others to protest racial segregation.
AF of L and CIO
The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge, creating an umbrella organization representing workers in both trade and industrial unions.
Soviet Union launches first orbiting artificial satellite, Sputnik. The Space Race escalates and U.S. begins to step up science and math education.
Civil Rights March on Washington
Several hundred thousand persons, white and black, gather on the Washington, DC, mall between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. They hear leaders including Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., speak for civil rights for African Americans and for racial tolerance on the part of all Americans, regardless of creed or color.
Passage of Civil Rights Act
Congress passes the most sweeping and comprehensive civil rights legislation in almost a hundred years.
War in Vietnam Escalates
Congress passes the Tonkin Gulf Resolution giving President Lyndon Johnson broad authority to conduct war even in the absence of an official declaration of war. The war in Vietnam escalates into a major conflict.
National Organization for Women Founded
Feminist Betty Friedan becomes the first president of the National Organization for Woman.
Man Walks on Moon
U.S. Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong becomes the first person from Earth to set foot on the Moon, on July 21, 1969, during the Apollo 11 mission.
Vietnam War Ends
Ceasefire agreement results in the end of U.S. involvement in the long Vietnam Conflict. U.S. forces withdraw quickly from South Vietnam.
Roe v. Wade Decision Shapes Abortion Issue
The Supreme Court declares a Texas law outlawing abortion unconstitutional. The decision nullifies most state laws that make abortion illegal. The controversy over abortion continues to be hotly contested in many local, state, and national elections. It affects both major political parties and becomes a national campaign issue in several presidential elections.
AIM at Wounded Knee
Members of the militant American Indian Movement take hostages and a trading post at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, demanding the rights guaranteed Indians in treaties with the United States.
President Nixon Resigns
Richard M. Nixon, facing certain impeachment by the House of Representatives for his role in the cover-up and various crimes related to the burglary of Democratic party offices in the Watergate building complex, resigns from office, the only U.S. president to do so.
Air Traffic Controllers Strike
President Reagan fires 12,000 air traffic controllers for staging an illegal strike.
Equal Rights Amendment Defeated
A long campaign to add an equal rights amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution to protect women’s rights gets within three states of ratification before opposition forces, lead by conservative housewife Phyllis Schlafly, launches a Stop ERA campaign that is successful in defeating the measure.
Persian Gulf War
U.S. leads a war effort against Iraq.
Riots erupt in Los Angeles after a jury acquits four policemen accused of beating African American Rodney King, in spite of videotaped evidence of the incident.
President Clinton impeached by House of Representatives and acquitted in Senate trial.
Unit 1 New World Encounters
American history moves from west to east, beginning with Ice Age migrations, through the corn civilizations of Middle America, to the explorations of Columbus, de Soto, and other Spaniards.
Unit 2 English Settlement
As the American character begins to take shape in the early seventeenth century, English settlements develop in New England and Virginia. Their personalities are dramatically different. Professor Miller explores the origins of values, cultures, and economies that have collided in the North and South throughout the American story.
Unit 3 Growth and Empire
Benjamin Franklin and Franklin's Philadelphia take center stage in this program. As the merchant class grows in the North, the economies of southern colonies are built on the shoulders of the slave trade. Professor Miller brings the American story to 1763 with the Peace of Paris and English dominance in America.
Unit 4 The Coming of Independence
Professor Maier tells the story of how the English-loving colonist transforms into the freedom-loving American rebel. The luminaries of the early days of the Republic -- Washington, Jefferson, Adams -- are featured in this program as they craft the Declaration of -- and wage the War for -- Independence.
Unit 5 A New System of Government
After the War for Independence, the struggle for a new system of government begins. Professor Maier looks at the creation of the Constitution of the United States. The Republic survives a series of threats to its union, and the program ends with the deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson on the Fourth of July, 1826.
Unit 6 Westward Expansion
At the dawn of the 19th century, the size of the United States doubles with the Louisiana Purchase. The Appalachians are no longer the barrier to American migration west; the Mississippi River becomes the country's central artery; and Jefferson's vision of an Empire of Liberty begins to take shape. American historian Stephen Ambrose joins Professors Maier and Miller in examining the consequences of the Louisiana Purchase -- for the North, the South, and the history of the country.
Unit 7 The Rise of Capitalism
Individual enterprise merges with technological innovation to launch the Commercial Revolution -- the seedbed of American industry. The program features the ideas of Adam Smith, the efforts of entrepreneurs in New England and Chicago, the Lowell Mills Experiment, and the engineering feats involved in Chicago's early transformation from marsh to metropolis.
Unit 8 The Reform Impulse
The Industrial Revolution has its dark side, and the tumultuous events of the period touch off intense and often thrilling reform movements. Professor Masur presents the ideas and characters behind the Great Awakening, the abolitionist movement, the women's movement, and a powerful wave of religious fervor.
Unit 9 Slavery
While the North develops an industrial economy and culture, the South develops a slave culture and economy, and the great rift between the regions becomes unbreachable. Professor Masur looks at the human side of the history of the mid-1800s by sketching a portrait of the lives of slave and master.
Unit 10 The Coming of the Civil War
Simmering regional differences ignite an all-out crisis in the 1850s. Professor Martin teams with Professor Miller and historian Stephen Ambrose to chart the succession of incidents, from 'Bloody Kansas' to the shots on Fort Sumter, that inflame the conflict between North and South to the point of civil war.
Unit 11 The Civil War
As the Civil War rages, all eyes turn to Vicksburg, where limited war becomes total war. Professor Miller looks at the ferocity of the fighting, at Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, and at the bitter legacy of the battle -- and the war.
Unit 12 Reconstruction
Professor Miller begins the program by evoking in word and picture the battlefield after the battle of Gettysburg. With the assassination of President Lincoln, one sad chapter of American history comes to a close. In the fatigue and cynicism of the Civil War's aftermath, Reconstructionism becomes a promise unfulfilled.
Unit 13 America at Its Centennial
As America celebrates its centennial, 5 million people descend on Philadelphia to celebrate America's technological achievements, but some of the early principles of the Republic remain unrealized. Professor Miller and his team of historians examine where America is in 1876 and discuss the question of race.
Unit 14 Industrial Supremacy
Steel and stockyards are featured in this program as the mighty engine of industrialism thunders forward at the end of the nineteenth century. Professor Miller continues the story of the American Industrial Revolution in New York and Chicago, looking at the lives of Andrew Carnegie, Gustavus Swift, and the countless workers in the packinghouse and on the factory floor.
Unit 15 The New City
Professor Miller explores the tension between the messy vitality of cities that grow on their own and those where orderly growth is planned. Chicago -- with Hull House, the World's Columbian Exposition, the new female workforce, the skyscraper, the department store, and unfettered capitalism -- is the place to watch a new world in the making at the turn of the century.
Unit 16 The West
Professor Scharff continues the story of Jefferson's Empire of Liberty. Railroads and ranchers, rabble-rousers and racists populate America's distant frontiers, and Native Americans are displaced from their homelands. Feminists gain a foothold in their fight for the right to vote, while farmers organize and the Populist Party appears on the American political landscape.
Unit 17 Capital and Labor
The making of money pits laborers against the forces of capital as the twentieth century opens. Professor Miller introduces the miner as the quintessential laborer of the period -- working under grinding conditions, organizing into unions, and making a stand against the reigning money man of the day, J. Pierpont Morgan.
Unit 18 TR and Wilson
Professor Brinkley compares the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson -- the Warrior and the Minister -- in the first decades of the twentieth century. Professor Miller discusses American socialism, Eugene Debs, international communism, and the roots of the Cold War with Professor Brinkley.
Unit 19 A Vital Progressivism
Professor Martin offers a fresh perspective on Progressivism, arguing that its spirit can be best seen in the daily struggles of ordinary people. In a discussion with Professors Scharff and Miller, the struggles of Native Americans, Asian Americans, and African Americans are placed in the context of the traditional white Progressive movement.
Unit 20 The Twenties
The Roaring Twenties take to the road in Henry Ford's landscape-altering invention -- the Model T. Ford's moving assembly line, the emergence of a consumer culture, and the culmination of forces let loose by these entities in Los Angeles are all explored by Professor Miller.
Unit 21 FDR and the Depression
Professor Brinkley continues his story of twentieth century presidents with a profile of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Brinkley paints a picture of America during the Depression and chronicles some of Roosevelt's programmatic and personal efforts to help the country through its worst economic crisis. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt is at FDR's side and, in many respects, ahead of him as the decade unfolds.
Unit 22 World War II
America is enveloped in total war, from mobilization on the home front to a scorching air war in Europe. Professor Miller's view of World War II is a personal essay on the morality of total war, and its effects on those who fought, died, and survived it, including members of his own family.
Unit 23 The Fifties
World War II is fought to its bitter end in the Pacific and the world lives with the legacy of its final moment: the atomic bomb. Professor Miller continues the story as veterans return from the war and create new lives for themselves in the '50s. The GI Bill, Levittown, civil rights, the Cold War, and rock 'n' roll are discussed.
Unit 24 The Sixties
Professor Scharff weaves the story of the Civil Rights movement with stories of the Vietnam War and Watergate to create a portrait of a decade. Lyndon Johnson emerges as a pivotal character, along with Stokely Carmichael, Fanny Lou Hamer, and other luminaries of the era.
Unit 25 Contemporary History
The entire team of historians joins Professor Miller in examining the last quarter of the twentieth century. A montage of events opens the program and sets the stage for a discussion of the period -- and of the difficulty of examining contemporary history with true historical perspective. Television critic John Leonard offers a footnote about the impact of television on the way we experience recent events.
Unit 26 The Redemptive Imagination
Storytelling is a relentless human urge and its power forges with memory to become the foundation of history. Novelists Charles Johnson (Middle Passage), Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha), and Esmeralda Santiago (America's Dream) join Professor Miller in discussing the intersection of history and story. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., closes the series with a reflection on the power of the human imagination.