U.S. History: Gilded Age to Roaring Twenties Key Events & Movements

Robber Barons

Powerful industrialists in the late 1800s.

Rise of big biz

Labor abuse and wealth gap.

Industrial era

Justifies inequality.

Social Darwinism

"Survival of fittest" in society during the late 1800s.

Gospel of Wealth

Carnegie's philanthropy idea from 1889.

Wealth criticism

Promoted giving back.

Bonanza Farming

Large-scale farms during the late 1800s, associated with railroad/agricultural expansion that displaced small farmers.

Wounded Knee

Massacre of Sioux Native resistance in 1890, marking the end of the Plains Wars.

Ghost Dance

Native religious revival from 1889-90.

Gov't crackdown

Led to Wounded Knee.

Dawes Act

1887 law that divided tribal land as an assimilation policy, undermining tribal unity.

Western migration

Displaced Natives.

Homestead Act

1862 law providing free land to settlers.

Turner Thesis

"Frontier closed" in 1893, marking the end of westward expansion and shaping U.S. identity.

Populism

1890s movement of farmers vs elites during an economic crisis, influencing reform.

Omaha Platform

1892 document outlining Populist demands and anti-elite movement, leading to Progressivism.

Chain Migration

Family immigration from 1880s-1920s forming ethnic enclaves.

Nativism

Anti-immigrant belief prevalent from the late 1800s to 1900s.

Scientific Racism

Pseudoscience on race from the 1800s to 1900s.

RR Strike

1877 national rail strike due to wage cuts, highlighting labor-capital tensions.

Knights of Labor

Inclusive union active from 1869 to 80s, representing early labor rise but collapsed after violence.

Haymarket Riot

1886 bombing at a protest marking the peak of the labor movement.

Sharecropping

Post-1865 system of cropping for land use in the post-slavery South that kept Black poverty cycle.

Poll Taxes/Lit. Tests

Voting barriers from the 1870s to 1900s, part of Jim Crow laws that blocked Black voters.

Ferguson

Legalized segregation

Post-Recon backlash

"Separate but equal" stands

Lost Cause

Post-1865 Confederate glorification

White Man's Burden

Pro-imperialist poem from 1899

Spanish-Am War

1898 conflict between U.S. and Spain over Cuba and the Philippines, leading to U.S. global power rise

Platt Amendment

1901 U.S. limits Cuba through a post-war treaty establishing semi-imperial control

Filipino Rebellion

1899-1902 resistance to U.S. rule that revealed hypocrisy after the war

Roosevelt Corollary

1904 extension of the Monroe Doctrine allowing U.S. intervention, establishing the U.S. as a hemispheric cop

Muckrakers

Reform journalists in the 1900s who exposed corruption

Settlement Houses

Aid centers established between the 1880s and 1920s to help urban poverty and immigrants

Women's Suffrage

Vote movement from the 1800s to 1920 leading to the passage of the 19th Amendment

Eugenics

Early 1900s movement advocating racial 'improvement' and justifying sterilization

Lusitania

Ship sunk by Germans in 1915, turning U.S. opinion against Germany

Zimmerman Telegram

1917 communication from Germany to Mexico that impacted national security and limited speech

Esp./Sedition Acts

1917-18 laws leading to an anti-war crackdown

Versailles Treaty

1919 treaty that ended WWI, blamed Germany, and fueled WWII

Flu Epidemic

Global disease outbreak from 1918-19 causing over 50 million deaths

Harlem Hellfighters

Black soldiers from 1917-18 who served in a segregated military and challenged racism

CPI

1917-19 U.S. propaganda agency symbolizing failure

Hoovervilles

Shantytowns from the 1930s representing Depression-era poverty

Dust Bowl

1930s environmental crisis caused by drought and storms leading to migration west

Bonus Army

1932 protest by veterans demanding early pay during the Depression

New Deal

FDR's programs from 1933-39 aimed at economic recovery and expanding government role

Neurasthenia

Condition described in the 1800s-1900s as 'nervous exhaustion' reflecting industrial stress and anxiety

Marcus Garvey

Black nationalist leader from the 1910s-1930s promoting racial segregation, colonialism, and Black activism

Flappers

Young, rebellious women in the 1920s challenging gender norms and symbolizing women's independence

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882 U.S. federal law banning Chinese immigration, the first major law to restrict immigration based on race/nationality

Henry Ford

Early 20th-century American industrialist and founder of Ford Motor Company, revolutionizing manufacturing with the assembly line

Harlem Renaissance

1920s-early 1930s African American cultural, artistic, and intellectual movement celebrating Black identity and influencing American culture

Scopes Trial

1925 court case over teaching evolution in schools, highlighting cultural tensions between modern science and religious fundamentalism