Barack Obama

2009

Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President. He is the first African-American to hold the post.

Hurricane Katrina

2005

Hundreds of people die when Hurricane Katrina strikes New Orleans.

Iraq War

2003

The bombing of Baghdad marks the start of a U.S.-led campaign to overthrow the Iraqui leader Saddam Hussein.

September 11th

2001

More than 3,000 people die when a terrorist attack on September 11th destroys the World Trade Center in Manhattan and damages the Pentagon in...

Human Genome

2000

The Human Genome project publishes the first draft of the human genome; President Bill Clinton announces that it cannot be patented. The sequence of...

NAFTA

1994

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, creates the largest free trade zone in the world.

Gulf War

1991

U.S. forcesplay a dominant role in the war triggered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and ending with the expulsion of Iraqi troops.

Toni Morrison, 'Beloved'

1986

Arthur Haley, 'Roots'

1976

Watergate scandal

1974

President Richard Nixon resigns in the wake of the Watergate scandal over a 1972 break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters.

Neil Armstrong

1969

Neil Armstrong is the first person to walk on the moon..

Philip Roth, 'Portnoy's Compaint'

1969

Mario Puzo, 'The Godfather'

1969

Martin Luther King

1968

The civil rights leader Martin Luther King is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

Truman Capote, 'In Cold Blood'

1966

Civil Rights Act

1964

The Civil Rights Act becomes law.

Edward Albee, 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'

1962

Cuban Missile Crisis

1962

The U.S. compels the Soviet Union to withdraw nuclear weapons from Cuba in what becomes known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Bay of Pigs

1961

Cuban exiles, organised and financed by the U.S. government, make an unsuccessful attempt to invade Cuba's Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs)

Allen Ginsberg, 'Howl and Other Poems'

1956

McDonalds opens

1955

The first MacDonald's restaurant is opened in Illinois.

Rosenbergs executed

1953

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are executed for espionage.

Invisible Man

1952

Ralph Ellison published Invisible Man.

J.D. Salinger, 'Catcher in the Rye'

1951

Death of a Salesman

1947

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller opens on Broadway.

Joseph McCarthy

1947

Senator Joseph McCarthy carries out a crusade against alleged communists in government and public life. (1950-1954)

Korean War

1947

U.S. forces play a leading role against North Korean and Chinese armies in the Korean War.

A Streetcar Named Desire

1947

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams opens on Broadway.

The Atomic Bombs

1945

In August the U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Japan surrenders

War on Japan

1941

The U.S. declare war on Japan after Japanese warplanes attack the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.

Citizen Kane

1940

Release of Orson Welle's film, Citizen Kane

Richard Wright, 'Native Son'

1940

Richard Wright's novel, "Native Son" is the first book by an African-American to be chosen for the Book-of-the-Month-Club

Margaret Mitchell, 'Gone with the Wind'

1936

William Faulkner, 'Absalom, Absalom!'

1936

Zora Neale Hurston, 'Their Eyes Were Watching God'

1936

The Jazz Singer

1927

The "Jazz Singer" is released as the first talking picture.

Charles Lindbergh

1927

Charles Lindbergh flies from New York to Paris

F. Scott Fitzgerald, 'The Great Gatsby'

1925

The New Yorker

1925

The New Yorker is founded.

The Indian Citizenship Act

1924

The Indian Citizenship Act is passed.

T.S. Eliot, 'The Wasteland'

1922

Women's Voting Rights

1920

Women gain voting rights under the Nineteenth Amendment.

Alcohol Prohibitation

1919

The Eighteenth Amendment to Constitution is ratified, prohibiting the manufacture , sale and transport of alcohol. Prohibitation is repealed in 1933.

Influenza Pandemic

1918

At least 675,000 Americans die in the Influenza Pandemic

D.W. Griffiths, 'The Birth of a Nation'

1915

D.W. Griffiths' film about the 1870's Klan, "The Birth of a Nation" is released

The Lusitania

1915

The "Lusitania" is sunk by a german U-boat

Lincoln Highway

1913

Opening of the Lincoln Highway, which runs 3,389 miles from Times Square in New York to Lincoln Park in San Francisco.

W.E.B DuBois

1909

W.E.B DuBois is one of the founders of the National Association for Coloured People (NAACP)

Henry Ford

1908

Henry Ford introduces the Model T car, his factories adopt assembly line production in 1913

Upton Sinclair, 'The Jungle'

1906

Upton Sinclair's novel "The Jungle" exposes corruption in the meat industry.

Theodore Dreiser, 'Sister Carrie'

1900

Galvestone Hurricane

1900

More than 6,000 people die after a hurricane hits the city of Galvestone on the Gulf of Mexico.

Battle of Wounded Knee

1890

The U.S defeat the Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee.

Kodak

1888

The first kodak box cameras are sold in 1888

Statue of liberty

1886

The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, is dedicated in New York Harbour.

Mark Twain, 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'

1884 - 1910

Brooklyn Suspension Bridge

1883

Opening of the Brooklyn Suspension Bridge; then the world's longest suspension bridge

Henry James

1881

Henry James publishes "The Portrait of a Lady"

Booker T. Washington

1881

Booker T. Washington founds the Tuskegee Normal School for Coloured Teachers - one of many such institutions established after the Civil War.

Battle of the Little Bighorn

1876

Sioux indians defeat US troops at the Battle of the Little Bighorn

Louisa Alcott, 'Little Women'

1868

Chilsholm Trail

1867

Some 35,000 Texan longhorn cattle follow the first Chilsholm Trail (mapped by Jesse Chilsholm) to the railhead at Abilene, Texas.

Assassination

1865

Abraham Lincoln is assassinated.

Klu Klux Klan

1865

Six Confederate veterans from Tennessee form the Klu Klux Klan

Slave Freedom

1863

Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation which declares that slaves in Confederate states are free.

Abraham Lincoln

1860

The republican candidate Abraham Lincoln is elected President.

Fort Sumter Attack

1860

After the founding of the Confederate States of America, war breaks out with an attack on Fort Sumter.

Dred Scott

1857

A slave called Dred Scott sues for his freedom. The case reaches the Supreme Court which rules that slaves and their descendants are not citizens but...

Atlantic Monthly

1857

The Atlantic Monthly is launched

Walt Whitman, 'Leaves of Grass'

1855

Walt Whitman publishes "Leaves of Grass"

Republican Party

1854

Opponents of slavery; abolitionists, set up the Republican Party .

Henry David Thoreau, 'Walden'

1854

Harriet Beecher Stowe, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'

1852

Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes "Uncle Tom's Cabin", which sells a million copies the following year.

Herman Melville

1851

Herman Melville publishes "Moby Dick". The initial printing of 3,000 copies is not sold in his lifetime.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, 'The Scarlet Letter'

1850

Womens Rights

1848

The Senecca Falls Convention of womens rights

Gold Rush of 1848

1848

Gold is found at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. By 1849 word had spread across the country bringing around 90,000 "fourty niners" to California....

Elias Howe - Sewing Machine

1846

Elias Howe patents sewing machine in U.S.

Margret Fuller, 'Woman in the Nineteenth Century'

1845

Publication of the "Narrative Life of Fredrick Douglass" and Margret Fuller's "Woman in the Nineteenth Century"

Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'Essays - Series One'

1841

Ralph Waldo Emerson publishes "Essays-Series One", including "Self-reliance"

Transcendentalist Club, 'The Dial'

1840

The Transcendentalist Club, founded in 1836, begins to publish "The Dial"

Samuel F. B. Morse- Telegraph

1837

Samuel F. B. Morse patents his idea for a telegraph, sending the message 'What hath God wrought?' from Washington to Baltimore.

Samuel Colt's Revolver

1836

Samuel Colt patents the revolver named after him.

William Dunlap

1834

William Dunlap, 'Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States'.

Nat Turner's Slave Revolt

1831

In Virginia Nat Turner's slave revolt results in the death 50 whites.

John James Audubon, 'Birds of America'

1827

John James Audubon publishes the first volume of 'The Birds of America'.

Thomas Cole

1825

Thomas Cole establishes the Hudson Valley school of landscape painting.

Completion of the Erie Canal

1825

Completion of the Erie Canal connecting the Great Lakes to New York City.

Thomas Jefferson

1815

Thomas Jefferson sells his personal library to the government; it forms the basis of the library of Congress.

Francis Scott Key

1812 - 1814

After witnessing a bombardment by the British Navy, Francis Scott Key writes 'The Defence of Fort McHenry' which, under the title 'The Star Spangled...

Louisiana Purchase

1803

The geographical area of the U.S. nearly doubles in size following the Louisiana purchase from France.

Eli Whitney- Cotton Gin

1794

Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin, an invention which, over the next sixty years contributes to the massive expansion of the cotton industry and...

Susanna Haswell Rowson, 'Charlotte Temple'

1794

Susanna Haswell Rowson's 'Charlotte Temple' (first published in London and then in Philadaelphia) becomes the first American novel to be a...

George Washington Elected

1789

The U.S. Constitution is ratified and goes into effect. George Washington is elected the country's first President. A first national day of...

Olaudah Equiano

1789

Publication in England of The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by Himself

Thomas Paine, 'Common Sense'

1776

Thomas Paine published 'Common Sense'. The Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence on 4th of July and names the new country the...

The Revolutionary Wars

1775 - 1783

The Revolutionary Wars are fought between the British and the thirteen colonies of the eastern seaboard of North America

The Boston Tea Party

1773

A group of colonists, disguised as Mohawk Indians, boarded three ships in the Boston Harbour and threw more than 300 crates overboard as a protest...

The Boston Massacre

1770

The Boston massacre, in which five men were shot by british soldiers. One is an escaped slave called Crispus Attucks.

Jonathan Edward

1741

Jonathan Edward's sermon 'Sinners in the Hands of an angry God' is a key work in the period of intense religious fervour known as the 'First Great...

Benjamin Franklin, 'Poor Richard's Almanac'

1733

Benjamin Franklin begins publishing 'Poor Richard's Almanac'

Witchcraft Trials

1692

Witchcraft trials held in Salem, Massachusetts.

Mary Rowlandson

1682

Mary Rowlandson's narrative of her three-month captivity by Algonquim Indians during King Philip's War (1675-1678) becomes one of America's first best...

John Winthrop, 'A Model of Christian Charity',

1630

John Winthrop's sermon published in 1638, describes the Puritan vision of the 'City Upon the Hill'. The Massachusetts Bay Company is founded.

John Smith, 'The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer...

1624

Jamestown

1607

Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement, is established in Virginia by the London Company.

Sir Walter Raleigh

1584

Sir Walter Raleigh sends a reconnaissance fleet to what is now North Carolina. In the following year, he authorises a colonising expedition to Roanoke...

Leiff Ericsson lands in Vinland, the modern Newfoundland

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