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Plessy v. Ferguson
The Supreme Court ruled separate-but-equal facilities constitutional on intrastate railroads. For some fifty years, the Plessy v. Ferguson decision upheld the principle of racial segregation. The Court's majority opinion denied that legalized segregation connoted inferiority. However, in a dissenting opinion, Justice John Marshall Harlan argued that segregation in public facilities smacked of servitude and abridged the principle of equality under the law. -
First Black Collegiate Football Game
The first black collegiate football game was played. Atlanta University defeated Tuskegee Institute in a game played in Atlanta. -
Credit Men's Association
Nationwide movement launched against secret sale of goods in bulk, then the commonest method of defrauding creditors. Today, all states have enacted protective legislation. Proceedings of the first annual meeting of the New Orleans Credit Men’s Association dated March 9, 1897 -
Sinking of the Maine
An explosion of unknown origin sank the battleship U.S.S. Maine in the Havana, Cuba harbor, killing 266 of the 354 crew members. The sinking of the Maine incited United States’ passions against Spain, eventually leading to a naval blockade of Cuba and a declaration of war. -
U.S. and Spain Peace Treaty
The Senate ratifies the peace treaty between the United States and Spain by a vote of 57 to 27. The United States acquires Puerto Rico and Guam, and assumes the temporary administration of Cuba. While the United States pays Spain $20 million for certain Filipino holdings, the sum is interpreted by some as payment for the outright purchase of the Philippines. -
Hawaii Becomes a U.S. Territory
Hawaii was a native kingdom throughout most of the 19th century, when the expansion of the vital sugar industry (pineapple came after 1898) meant increasing U.S. business and political involvement. In 1893, Queen Liliuokalani was deposed and a year later the Republic of Hawaii was established with Sanford B. Dole as president. Then, following its annexation in 1898, Hawaii became a U.S. territory in 1900. -
Oil Discovered in Texas
Spindletop is a salt dome oil field located in the southern portion of Beaumont, Texas in the United States. On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindletop struck oil ("came in"). The new oil field soon produced more than 100,000 barrels of oil per day. Gulf Oil and Texaco, now part of Chevron Corporation, were formed to develop production at Spindletop. The frenzy of oil exploration and the economic development it generated in the state became known as the Texas Oil Boom. -
Assassination of William McKinley
The assassination of William McKinley occurred on September 6, 1901, inside the Temple of Music located on the grounds of the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. United States President William McKinley was visiting the Exposition and was standing in a receiving line shaking hands with ordinary citizens when he was shot twice by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist. -
JCPenney Opens First Store
James Cash Penney began his career in retail management when he opened The Golden Rule store, a partnership with Guy Johnson and Thomas Callahan, in 1902 in Kemmerer, Wyoming. He participated in the creation of two more stores, and when Callahan and Johnson dissolved their partnership in 1907 he purchased full interest in all three locations. -
Post Office Shut Down
President Theodore Roosevelt shuts down a post office in Indianola, MS. The post office refused to accept it's headmistrees, who was black. This was a great event for blacks and women. -
Wright Brothers First Airlane Flight
1903 would become a year for the history books. That year the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright, would fly the first powered, controlled, heavier-than-air airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903. -
Bank of Italy Opens
Bank of America, National Trust and Savings Association was the primary bank subsidiary of BankAmerica Corp. A.P. Giannini chose this extension for the bank's name in order to highlight its multiple functions when it converted from a state charter to a national one. The bank was founded as Bank of Italy on October 17, 1904. -
Anarcho-syndicalism originated close to the beginning of the twentieth century, and it remains a popular and active school of anarchism today and has many supporters as well as many currently active organisations. Anarcho-syndicalists, being socialist ana
Anarcho-syndicalism originated close to the beginning of the twentieth century, and it remains a popular and active school of anarchism today and has many supporters as well as many currently active organisations. Anarcho-syndicalists, being socialist anarchists, vary in their points of view on anarchist economic arrangements from a collectivist anarchism type economic system to an anarcho-communist economic system. -
San Francisco Earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other values have been proposed, from 7.7 to as high as 8.25. -
Ellis Island
At the opening of Ellis Island, in New York - 11,745 immigrants arrive from different countries in Europe. They all went through many different stages in order to be accepted into this country. -
Great White Fleet
The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the United States Navy battle fleet that completed a circumnavigation of the globe from 16 December 1907 to 22 February 1909 by order of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. It consisted of 16 battleships divided into two squadrons, along with various escorts. Roosevelt sought to demonstrate growing American military power and blue-water navy capability. -
New Year's First Ball Dropping
On January 1st, 1908, a ball signifying New Year's Day was first dropped at Times Square, and the Square has held the main New Year's celebration in New York City ever since. On that night, hundreds of thousands of people congregate to watch the Waterford Crystal ball being lowered on a pole atop the building, marking the start of the new year. It replaced a lavish fireworks display from the top of the building that was held from 1904 to 1906. -
First Credit Union
On April 6, 1909, the legislature of New Hampshire
passed a special act which officially chartered St.
Mary’s Cooperative Credit Union. This special act
only allowed for the operation of St. Mary’s Bank
under a community charter for the residents of
Manchester, New Hampshire. While it was an
important event, the limited scope of the act
denied it being the first credit union law. Rather,
Massachusetts has the honor of passing the first
credit union law. -
First American-Born Female Cop
Alice Stebbins Wells was the first American-born female police officer in the United States, hired in 1910 in Los Angeles.Previously a minister in Kansas, Wells joined the Los Angeles Police Department after petitioning the mayor, police commissioner and the Los Angeles city council in order to better aid other women and children who were victims of crime. Wells went on to become the founder and first president of the International Association of Police Women. -
Glenn Curtiss First Hydroplane
The Secretary of the Navy wrote a letter indicating interest in these events, but stating that the Navy could not consider encumbering a fighting ship with a deck such as those built for these demonstrations. What was needed was a plane that could be carried on board ship and lowered over the side. It would take off from the water, go on its scouting mission, return to land along side the ship and be hoisted aboard again.Curtiss had a successful hydroplane, -
The Titanic Sinks
Shortly after the two final lifeboats were lost, the forward funnel collapsed and crushed part of the bridge and people in the water. People on deck began jumping overboard in hopes of reaching a lifeboat. The Titanic’s stern rose into the air and everything not connected crashed into the ocean. The electrical system failed, the ship broke into two pieces, and the bow went under. A few minutes later at about 2:20am, the stern stank into the ocean. -
The Great Dayton Flood
The Great Dayton Flood of 1913 flooded Dayton, Ohio, and the surrounding area with water from the Great Miami River, causing the greatest natural disaster in Ohio history. The flood was created by a series of three winter storms that hit the region in March 1913. Within three days, 8-11 inches of rain fell throughout the Great Miami River watershed on frozen ground, resulting in more than 90% runoff that caused the river and its tributaries to overflow. -
Eccles Mine Disaster
About 2:30 p.m. on April 28, 1914, a series of massive explosions ripped through the mine. A later investigation indicated that the flame of a carbide lamp had touched off a pocket of coal gas, which in turn ignited other pockets. It was the second-worst mining disaster in West Virginia history (exceeded as of 2011 only by the Monongah Mining Disaster). At least 180 men lay dead, this being the death roll published as of 2011 by the National Coal Heritage Trail. -
NACA
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a U.S. federal agency founded on March 3, 1915 to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. NACA research and development produced the NACA duct, a type of air intake used in modern automotive applications, the NACA cowling and several series of NACA airfoils which are still used in aircraft manufacturing. -
25,000 Women March in New York City
On October 23, 1915, 25,000 women marched in New York City demanding the right to vote. The state granted women the right to vote in 1917, three years before the 19th Amendment was ratified. Henrietta Wells Livermore founded the Women’s National Republican Club in 1921 to spread political knowledge to women voters in New York. -
Preparedness Day Bombing
The Preparedness Day Bombing was a bombing in San Francisco, California on July 22, 1916, when the city held a parade in honor of Preparedness Day, in anticipation of the United States' imminent entry into World War I. During the parade a suitcase bomb was detonated, killing ten and wounding forty in the worst such attack in San Francisco's history. Two labor leaders, Thomas Mooney and Warren Billings, were convicted in separate trials and sentenced to be hanged. -
Houston Riot
The Houston Riot of 1917, or Camp Logan Riot, was a mutiny by 156 African American soldiers of the Third Battalion of the all-black Twenty-fourth United States Infantry. It occupied most of one night, and resulted in the deaths of four soldiers and sixteen civilians. The rioting soldiers were tried at three courts-martial. A total of nineteen would be executed, and forty-one were given life sentences. -
World War I Ends
World War I was known as the "war to end all wars" because of the great slaughter and destruction it caused. Unfortunately, the peace treaty that officially ended the conflict—the Treaty of Versailles of 1919—forced punitive terms on Germany that destabilized Europe and laid the groundwork for World War II. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the peace settlement signed after World War One had ended in 1918 and in the shadow of the Russian Revolution and other events in Russia. The treaty was signed at the vast Versailles Palace near Paris - hence its title - between Germany and the Allies. Many hundreds of people were involved in the process and the final signing ceremony in the Hall of Mirrors could accommodate hundreds of dignitaries. -
Wall Street Bombing
The blast killed 38 and seriously injured 143. Although the bombing was never solved, investigators and historians think it likely the Wall Street bombing was carried out by Galleanists (Italian anarchists), a group responsible for a series of bombings the previous year. The attack was related to postwar social unrest, labor struggles and anti-capitalist agitation in the United States. The Wall Street bomb was the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil up to that point.
