Progressive Era Timeline

By le.oshi
  • Pendleton Civil Service Act

    Pendleton Civil Service Act

    The Pendleton Civil Service Act was a federal law that established a merit system for people to get jobs. It was enacted on January 16th, 1883.
  • Period: to

    Progressive Era

    From the 1890s to the 1920s, the Progressive Era in the United States of America was marked by intense civic change and electoral change. Women from the middle class or Christian ministers were popular among progressive reformers.
  • Sherman Anti-Trust Act

    Sherman Anti-Trust Act

    The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was a law that was passed on July 2nd, 1890. The law prohibited the restriction of trade or commerce through the use of contracts, combinations, or conspiracies.
  • Publication of “Lynch Law in all its Phases” by Ida B. Wells

    Publication of “Lynch Law in all its Phases” by Ida B. Wells

    Ida B. Wells was a journalist and activist for Black Americans’ rights. Her book, “Lynch Law in all its Phases,” advocated for equal rights and against lynching. It was published in 1892.
  • Homestead Strike

    Homestead Strike

    The Homestead Strike was an industrial lockout and strike which began on July 1, 1892.
  • Pullman Strike

    Pullman Strike

    The Pullman Strike was a widespread railroad strike and boycott that severely disrupted rail traffic in the Midwest of the United States in May–July 1894.
  • Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta Compromise Speech

    Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta Compromise Speech

    Booker T. Washington was chosen to give the opening speech at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 18, 1895. This was the first time an African American gave a speech in front of a racially diverse audience in the South.
  • President Roosevelt

    President Roosevelt

    Theodore Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 26th president of the United States.
  • First airplane flight

    First airplane flight

    On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright made four brief flights at Kitty Hawk with their first powered aircraft. The Wright brothers had invented the first successful airplane.
  • Pure Food and Drug Act, Meat Inspection Act

    Pure Food and Drug Act, Meat Inspection Act

    The laws required certified, trained officials to inspect all animals before slaughter to ensure their health. Any found diseased would not be fit for eating.
  • Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire

    Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire

    On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City burned, killing 146 workers. It is remembered as one of the most infamous incidents in American industrial history, as the deaths were largely preventable–most of the victims died as a result of neglected safety features and locked doors within the factory building.
  • First Model T automobile

    First Model T automobile

    On October 1, 1908, the first production Model T Ford is completed at the company’s Piquette Avenue plant in Detroit.
  • Founding of the NAACP by W.E.B. DuBois

    Founding of the NAACP by W.E.B. DuBois

    The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights group in the United States that was established in 1909 by civil rights leader W.E.B. DuBois as an interracial effort to advance justice for African Americans.
  • President Taft

    President Taft

    William Taft is inaugurated as the 27th president of the United States.
  • 16th Amendment

    16th Amendment

    The 16th Amendment was ratified on February 3rd, 1913, and gave the government the ability to enact a nationwide income tax.
  • Washington, D.C. Suffrage Parade

    Washington, D.C. Suffrage Parade

    The Woman Suffrage Procession was the first suffragist parade in Washington, D.C., taking place in 1913. It was also the first large-scale, politically motivated march on Washington.
  • President Wilson

    President Wilson

    Woodrow Wilson is inaugurated as the 28th president of the United States.
  • 17th Amendment

    17th Amendment

    The 17th Amendment was ratified on April 8th, 1913, and it provided for the direct election of U.S. senators by the voters of the states.
  • Ludlow Massacre

    Ludlow Massacre

    The Ludlow Massacre was a mass killing perpetrated by anti-striker militia during the Colorado Coalfield War. The strikers were protesting low pay and abysmal working conditions in the coalfields of Colorado.
  • ‘Night of Terror’ suffrage arrests

    ‘Night of Terror’ suffrage arrests

    The superintendent of the Occoquan Workhouse, W.H. Whittaker, directed nearly forty guards to brutalize the suffragists on November 14, 1917, remembered as the "Night of Terror." Lucy Burns was beaten, her hands were handcuffed to the cell bars above her head, and she was left there for the night.
  • 18th Amendment

    18th Amendment

    The 18th Amendment was ratified on January 6th, 1919, and prohibited the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors..."
  • 19th Amendment

    19th Amendment

    The 19th Amendment was ratified on August 18th, 1920, and it stated that the right to vote could not be denied on the basis of sex (women were given the right to vote).
  • First commercial radio station broadcast

    First commercial radio station broadcast

    On November 2, 1920, KDKA broadcasted the first commercial broadcast in the United States (a term coined by Conrad himself). They chose that date because it was election day, and people could hear the results of the Harding-Cox presidential race before reading about it in the newspaper, demonstrating the influence of radio.

Looking for a timeline maker?

Create timelines for projects, roadmaps, history, lessons, legal cases, and stories with Timetoast. Timetoast is a timeline maker for work, school, research, and stories.