-
The ADA was put into place in 1990 to protect people with disabilities from discrimination, this law made it illegal to discriminate based on disabilities in public places such as jobs, schools, and transportation. This law makes it so that those have equal opportunities and rights as people without disabilities. This law was later revised to change the definition of disability. This is important because it modernized how people are viewed in the workplace. -
In 1993 Bill Clinton took office after campaigning on economic populism, putting people first. Clinton took 43 percent of the popular votes his opponent Ross Perot took 19 percent of the votes. Clinton had a political background, being Arkansas's governor for twelve years. He geared his focus toward making the government more efficient for ordinary Americans (204-205). Clinton's election was significant because he had been the first Democratic president since 1976. -
President George Bush launched a Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS along with Tuberculosis and Malaria in 2001. The United States made the first donation which consisted of 500 million dollars. In 2002 Bush launched a specific initiative to fight against the transmission of HIV from mother to child during pregnancy. The United States donates $15 billion annually to fight AIDS, 2.6 billion of these dollars are specifically for research and vaccines. -
On September 11th, 2001 four planes were highjacked and sent to attack the United States' major buildings. One target was the World Trade Center as well as the Pentagon. The fourth plane was unsuccessful in its attempts to strike what was assumed to be the capitol building but ended up landing in a field. This attack cost the lives of many Americans and is a huge part of history for the United States because of the fear and emotions surrounding this act of terrorism (245). -
The No Child Left Behind Act made it so that the government enforced national standards for school subjects. All public schools in the US had a specific goal they had to meet with their student's test scores, if these goals weren’t met the schools risked losing federal funding or even risked being shut down (248). This is an important event because it shows the government's control over school systems even though the student's best interest may be overlooked by solely looking at scores. -
Mark Zuckerberg was a sophomore in college when he first launched his website initially called TheFacebook. The purpose of this website was to connect students on the Harvard campus. Over a thousand people had registered within the first day of the app being created. Now the company is just called Facebook and is one of the most famous companies in the world. I included this on my timeline because social media plays such a huge role in day-to-day life and is a common form of communication. -
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled that “barring an individual from the protections, benefits, and obligations of civil marriage solely because that person would marry a person of the same sex violates the Massachusetts Constitution.” Massachusettes set an example for the rest of the states and even countries around the world but it wasn't until 2015 that all 50 states legalized gay marriage. It's hard to believe there was a time when people couldn't marry who they wanted. -
Hurricane Katrina started out as a category 1 storm but when it hit the Gulf of Mexico the storm developed into a category 4, by August 30th 80 percent of New Orleans was underwater. and control centers were unable to respond because of the flooding that occurred. This storm brought communities together to support each other in times of need. As well as brought attention to construction flaws within New Orleans which have since been fixed so the flood walls and floodgates can withhold a storm. -
The shooting began at 7.15 am in a dorm room on the campus of Virginia Tech. The shooter was identified as Seung-Hui Cho, two hours after the first shooting a second attack started, and messages to stay away from windows were broadcasted. The importance of first responders was recognized; due to their alertness, all injured victims survived. There were 32 deaths this day. This event opened people's eyes to safety on college campuses as well as in schools. -
Barrack Obama was the 44th president of the United States as well as the first African American president. He grew up in a middle-class family. Before becoming president he worked in a law firm specializing in civil rights. 1.8 million people gathered to watch Obama be sworn into office. Obama was also the fourth president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. His presidency was important to America's history because he broke the stigma of all the stereotypical presidents.