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Prohibition Begins.
Prohibition was the period in United States history in which the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors was outlawed. It was a time characterized by speakeasies, glamor, and gangsters and a period of time in which even the average citizen broke the law. -
The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is Adopted.
The 19th amendment guarantees all American women the right to vote. This is significant because now not just the men have rights, but the women as well. It changed America. -
KDKA in Pittsburgh
The U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Navigation, which served as the radio licensing agency of the day, issued the first radio license ever to KDKA, on Oct. 27, 1920. KDKA was the world's first commercial radio station. -
Congress Enacts Emergency Quota Act.
This act restricted immigration into its country; the act imposed a quota that limited the number of immigrants who would be admitted from any country annually. A total of 357,802 new immigrants would be allowed annually. -
The Boll Weevil ruins more than 85 Percent of the South’s Cotton Crop.
The boll weevil is a beetle that feeds on cotton buds and flowers. Thought to be native to Central America, it migrated into the United States from Mexico in the late 19th century and had infested all U.S. cotton-growing areas by the 1920s. This hurt the economy and ruined many southern jobs. -
National Origins Act replaces Emergency Quota Act.
The National Origins Formula was an American system of immigration quotas, between 1921 and 1965, which restricted immigration on the basis of existing proportions of the population. The goal was to maintain the existing ethnic composition of the United States. It had the effect of giving low quotas to Eastern and Southern Europe. -
The Stock Market Begins its Spectacular Rise.
The stock market begins its spectacular rise. Bears little relation to the rest of the economy. -
Scopes trial takes place in Dayton, Tennessee.
An American legal case in 1925 in which a substitute high school teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school.[1] The trial was deliberately staged in order to attract publicity to the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, where it was held. Scopes was unsure whether he had ever actually taught evolution, but he purposely incriminated himself so that the case could have a defendant. -
Ku Klux Klan members stage a major march through Washington, D.C.
The Klan put it all over its enemies. The parade was grander and gaudier, by far than anything the wizards had prophesied. -
Langston Hughes publishes “The Weary Blues.”
A poet, novelist, fiction writer, and playwright, Langston Hughes is known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties and was important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance. -
Sacco and Vanzetti are executed.
In 1961, a test of Sacco's gun using modern forensic techniques apparently proved it was his gun that killed the guard, though little evidence has been found to substantiate Vanzetti's guilt. In 1977, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation vindicating Sacco and Vanzetti, stating that they had been treated unjustly and that no stigma should be associated with their names. -
Charles Lindbergh flies across the Atlantic.
At 7:52 A.M., May 20, 1927 Charles Lindbergh gunned the engine of the "Spirit of St Louis" and aimed her down the dirt runway of Roosevelt Field, Long Island. -
Herbert Hoover is elected U.S. president.
Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), America’s 31st president, took office in the year the U.S. economy plummeted into the Great Depression. Although his predecessors’ policies undoubtedly contributed to the crisis, which lasted over a decade, Hoover bore much of the blame in the minds of the American people.
