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Period: Jan 1, 1491 to
Early Contact - Native culture
With Europeans came the sweeping immigration, intermarriages, diseases, and settlements that would change American culture vastly from what it once was. -
Dec 1, 1491
*CULTURE: A Brief Overview of Native American Culture
Before the Spanish ever arrived in America, it is important to note that native Americans had their own vast, complicated culture hundreds of years in the making. These natives had agriculture, complex hierarchies, and housing that varied greatly by region; for example, a plains native would eat and live by hunting and gathering, whereas a native living on the west coast would live by fishing. IMPORTANT: Iroquois Confederacy, Black Legend, intermarriage, assimilation. -
Aug 3, 1492
EVENT SERIES: Columbus Sets Out For Discovery
Discounting the fact that the Vikings reached America long before Columbus ever did, the discovery of the Americas by Spanish conquistadors was the very beginning of European settlement in the land. August 3rd marks the day he left his port in Spain, and is the setoff of a series of events which would decimate populations of natives and erase their culture. -
Establishment of Santa Fe By the Spanish
Spain's first permanent settlement was established in 1610. Having been previously occupied by Pueblo villages, Spanish settlers tended to want to convert the southwestern natives to Christianity, lending tension to Spanish/native American relations. -
Period: to
The Atlantic World (Colonizing America)
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The First Shipment of Slaves Arrives in Jamestown
In 1619, the first shipment of slaves arrived in Jamestown, twelve years after its founding. During this brief period of time, the headright system allowed for a sort of temporary slavery, as a start to the practice of slavery in the US. After finding crops which could be sold back to England, Jamestown had a strict hierarchy of wealthy merchants/landowners with many lower-class servants. Racism was less prevalent, but it would be in full swing by 1650. -
Pilgrims Drop Anchor in Plymouth Harbor
The reason for Massachusetts' founding was Pilgrims' desire to separate completely from the Catholic church of England, so with enough money they planned to go to Virginia, but were blown off-course to Plymouth, Massachusetts. They wrote the first framework for US government. They made an alliance with local natives who taught them how to hunt, fish, and farm the land. Very strictly religious and chaste, church members held power. Subsumed by Massachusetts Bay Colony of 1629. -
Establishment of the First Dutch Colony in America
The first Dutch settlement in the Americas was near present-day Albany.The settlement served as a place to trade fur with the natives. Yet another event that served to change American culture, natives would trade with the Dutch and other settlers at this time and receive guns and woven cloth which altered their lifestyles. -
Anne Hutchinson's Trial
Anne Hutchinson is important to American culture because she challenged not only the gender roles of early colonial society, but also the power the church held at the time. She opposed the Puritan clergy, saying that God revealed himself to individuals without it. At this trial, she was declared banished and died with her family in a raid by Siwanoys some years later. -
Pueblo Revolt
The Pueblo Revolt, also known as Pope's rebellion, was an uprising against the Spanish, who tried to force the natives to assimilate or otherwise treated them poorly. The rebellion resulted in 2,000 settlers being driven from the province, as a reclamation of their land and customs. -
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem Witch Trials exemplify this period's religious extremism, and tendency to piety rather than science. These were not the only witchcraft accusations in New England; more people were hanged than just those in Salem. -
Poor Richard's Almanac Published by Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin began publishing Poor Richard's Almanac on this date, a best-selling pamphlet that can be considered among cultural phenomena of the age. It contained forecasts, puzzles, sayings, and poems, and was translated into other languages to be sold in France. It influenced pamphlets decades after its publication years ('32-'58). -
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Preached to Enfield, Connecticut
This speech by Johnathan Edwards more or less marked the beginning of the First Great Awakening, a time of increased religious activity, especially in colonial America. It meant tension between traditional Protestants and revivalists who promoted spiritual conviction and emotional investment in religion. This movement also prompted people to convert slaves to Christianity. -
Period: to
The New Nation (Revolution!)
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The French and Indian War Begins
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Publication of Common Sense by Thomas Paine
This pamphlet became an immediate sensation at the beginning of the American Revolution, and was read aloud at taverns and meeting places. In proportion to the population of the colonies, it is the all-time best-selling American title, and a mentionable part of American culture, especially at the time of the Revolution. -
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Reform and Social Changes
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Second Great Awakening
Peaking in the 1820s, the Second Great Awakening had converted many people to Baptism and others into Methodist with preaching techniques that had strong emotions, that usually moved the crowd. -
American Temperance Society Founded
The temperance movement of the early 1800s was another aspect of early American culture.Temperance groups advocated for the prohibition of, and abstinence from, alcohol. Within five years the ATS had 1,500,000 who had taken the pledge. -
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The Civil War (Conflict & Compromise)
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Seneca Falls Convention
The first metting at Seneca Falls for women's suffrage. -
South Seceeds: The Confederacy is Established
South Carolina seceeds from the United States of America and forms the Confederate States of America, the first of many. -
Period: to
The Gilded Age
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Invention of the Telephone
The telephone allowed for quick and easier communication of either long or short distances compared to the telegram. Invented by Alexander Graham Bell. -
Creation of the Phonograph
The phonograph, a device that was invented by Thomas Edison allowed for music and other various sounds to be recorded then played back. -
Plessy Vs. Ferguson
This was the court case where Homer Plessy, a mixed man that had a majority of European descent, was sitting in the "Whites" section of a rail car, but was told to move because he was considered black under state law. This case led to the term "Seperate but Equal". -
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Creation of Mass Culture
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First Model T Finished at Ford Power Plant
The production of the Model T revolutionized the way Americans traveled and introduced an entirely new aspect to American culture. It shortened travel time, increased the pace of American life, and added another level of convenience to living. -
Suffrage Parade
A parade led by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns for women's suffrage in Washington D.C. -
Volstead Act
On this date, the United States enacted the National Prohibition act which prohibited the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages except for relgious practices. This led to a giant increase in crime because people began to smuggle in their own alcohol and others bootlegged alcohol themselves. -
The Flapper Movie Released
The release of this movie was the first time in the US that the 'flapper' lifestyle had been portrayed. Flapper girls, who disregarded social norms, bobbed their hair, and listened to jazz, became a huge fad throughout the 1920s and a staple of Jazz Age culture. This event is also an example of the growing cultural importance of the movie theater. -
Scopes Trial
The clash between fundamentalists and modernists during the twenties was in full swing as more people moved to cities and embraced 'modern' ideas. The dispute came to a head with the Scopes Trial, involving a man (John Scopes) who was accused of unlawfully teaching evolution to children in Tennessee. -
Television
This was the date that thetelevision was invented. A device that would greatly impact the United States and the culture within in. Arguably, it is the most influential thing that shaped the culture of this country. -
Steamboat Willie Released in New York
When talking about the way culture has changed in America, the Walt Disney Company is worth mentioning. -
Black Tuesday - Great Depression
This is a day during the Wall Street crash of October 1929 when people were heavily trading their stocks for no profit, effectively crashing the stock market and plunging America into a financial crisis. -
FDR's Second Fireside Chat
This Fireside Chat outlined the plans for the New Deal: a new era of economic reform geared towards easing the pain caused by the Depression. It centered around three ideals: relief, recovery, and reform, giving many lower class Americans hope and eventually repairing the economy. The fireside chats were also an example of the popularity of radio at this time. -
Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor Navy Base
The bombing of Pearl Harbor struck fear into Americans and influenced perceptions of foreigners that would lead to pervasive racial stereotypes in the US. It also marked the beginning of the sale of war bonds, and rationing of items, as well as a better role for women outside the homes (due to needing factory workers while men were away at war). -
Executive Order 9066 Signed by FDR
This order was the legal beginning of the internment of Japanese Americans in the US. Xenophobia haunted America at the time as tens of thousands of Japanese-, Taiwanese-, and Korean-Americans were sent to internment camps. -
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Prosperity & Global Responsibility
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Mao Zedong Takes Over in China
Mao Zedong's communist takeover was seen as a failure of the containment policy. It started the Second Red Scare, which was more pervasive and deep than the first, and HUAC was created to find and stop communists in America. Americans feared communist spies, which gave way to the rise of McCarthyism (a quest to rid the government of communists), -
Creation of NASA
NASA was created as a reaction to Sputnik I. The technological revolution occurred alongside the Space Race, and it would eventually lead to American astronauts walking on the moon (an event that would move the American people in hope and wonder). -
March on Washington
This was the march led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for civil rights. He led thousands of people to the Lincoln Memorial and gave his famous, well known, 'I Have a Dream' speech. -
Moon Landing
On this date, the Apollo 11 mission successfully landed on the moon. Neil Armstrong was the first person to do a moon walk and said the famous words, 'This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.' -
Woodstock Festival
The Woodstock Festival has secured a place in American culture as the climax of American radical culture. When talking about cultural trends in America, Woodstock deserves a mention. Constantly referenced in pop culture, it was the cause for the phrase 'the Woodstock generation' and a lasting example of the decade's counterculture. -
Roe Vs. Wade
This was the Supreme Court decision that said women have the right to have abortions and it's their decision. -
Period: to
Redefinition of Culture
