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Period: to
Modern America
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Creation of the Freedmen’s Bureau
The Freedmen’s Bureau was created to ease Black people’s transition from slavery to freedom. -
Thirteenth Amendment
Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. It states that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment of crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” -
Fourteenth Amendment
Passed by Congress on June 13, 1866, and ratified July 9, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment extended liberties and rights granted by the Bill of Rights to formerly enslaved people. It states that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” -
Fifteenth Amendment
Passed by Congress on February 26, 1869, and ratified February 3, 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment granted African American men the right to vote. It states that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” -
National Child Labor Committee (NCLC)
The National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) was a private, non-profit organization that urged the passage of labor laws to ban child labor in the United States. -
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
The NAACP’s mission is to ensure the political, educational, equality of minority group citizens of States and end racial prejudice (Our History 2025). -
The Moving Assembly Line
Created by Henry Ford, the moving assembly line is a manufacturing process that allowed workers to stay in one place as the work came to them. -
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
As an effort to extend Serbia’s territory over all ethnic Serbs in southeastern Europe, Serbian nationalists shot and killed the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, starting the beginning of World War 1 in Europe. -
The Zimmerman Telegram
The Zimmerman telegram was the telegram sent from German foreign minister Arthur Zimmerman to the German ambassador in Mexico, which invited Mexico to fight alongside Germany should the United States enter World War 1 on the side of the Allies. -
Nineteenth Amendment
Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote. It states that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” -
The Stock Market Crash
Also known as “Black Thursday”, the stock market crash was a sharp decline in U.S. stock market values in 1929 that contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s. -
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was a massive global economic downturn that started in 1929 and lasted through most of the 1930s. -
The German invasion of Poland
On September 1, 1939, Hitler unleashed his Blitzkrieg, or “lightning war,” against Poland, using swift, surprise attacks combining infantry, tanks, and aircraft. -
The attack on Pearl Harbor
At 7:48 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, the Japanese attacked the U.S. Pacific fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. -
The Cold War
The Cold War was the prolonged period of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, based on ideological conflicts and competition for military, economic, social, and technological superiority. It was marked by surveillance and espionage, political assassinations, an arms race, attempts to secure alliances with developing nations, and proxy wars (P. Scott Corbett 2014). -
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization started as an alliance between the United States, Great Britain, France, and eight other Western European nations. They pledged mutual defense in the event of an attack. -
The Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam and its allies in South Vietnam, known as the Viet Cong, against the government of South Vietnam and its ally, the United States (Spector 2025). The United States entered to stop the spread of Communism from North Vietnam into the South. -
The March on Washington
The March on Washington was the most famous of the civil rights-era demonstrations. It was held on the one hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and it was for “Jobs and Freedom”. -
The Assassination of President Kennedy
President Kennedy was shot by trained sniper Lee Harvey Oswald, while Kennedy and his wife were driving through Dallas, Texas in Kennedy’s motorcade. Seriously injured, Kennedy was rushed to Parkland Hospital and pronounced dead. -
Stonewall Riots
Early in the morning of June 28, 1969, police raided a Greenwich Village gay bar in New York City called the Stonewall Inn. Police prepared to arrest many of the customers, especially transgender people, who were targets for police harassment. Angered by the brutal treatment of the prisoners, a crowd attacked. Beer bottles and bricks were thrown. Police barricaded themselves inside the bar and waited for reinforcements. The riot continued for several hours and continued the following night.