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Progressive Era
This movement marked a time of reform in all aspects underlined by progressive thinking. Americans were optimists as they began to experience the potential for new discoveries and higher human thinking. Immigration rates were high in hopes for more opportunities and a potential for a better life. -
Brownie Camera Invented
Eastman Kodak Company was the first to put out inexpensive amateur cameras. The Brownie cost as little as $1 and was the only motion picture film camera of its kind until 1951. -
Paris Universal Exhibition
The theme of this exhibition was “Evaluation of a Century,” intended to share ideas and developments across all fields among countries and colonies within the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. This event of over 50 million guests, was during the art nouveau movement in which modern art became more about meaning and ideas open for interpretation. The exhibit created by W. E. B. Du Bois, "Exposition des Negres d'Amerique" won a bronze award. -
Theodore Roosevelt becomes President
After the sudden death of President William McKinley, Vice President Roosevelt is sworn in as President. Roosevelt was a key role in the Progressive Movement, advocating for all Americans and encouraging mental, scientific, and social growth. -
A Trip to the Moon
This fourteen-minute French Satire by Georges Méliès was the first film known to be made using special effects, purely for entertainment purposes. Méliès experimented with the camera's features, including effects such as slow motion and fades. -
Heart of Darkness is Published
Joseph Conrad's unique war short story captures questions civilization and savagery on the Congo River. This work has been an inspiration to many works, including works by Francis Ford Coppola and T.S. Eliot. Heart of Darkness is still taught in schools today as it's themes of racism and imperialist thinking are still relevant to modern day understanding. -
First Flight
The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, successfully fly the first airplane in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina after years in the making. -
Ford Motor Company is established
Henry Ford started his company Ford in Detroit, Michigan, after selling his first Model A car to a local physician. This allowed for faster mobilization than ever before. The Model T Ford would later be invented in 1908. -
Quantum Theory and The Theory of Relativity
The foundational beliefs in modern-day physics that were officially discovered by Albert Einstein, but were built off of many other scientists' theories at the time. Quantum Theory explains the moving path of energy in a grouping and its relation to matter. Albert was also first to explain the photoelectric effect. -
Le bonheur de vivre
Henri Matisse, a French artist, is demonstrating a new pos- imperialist style of art called fauvism, which focuses on expressing emotions through color. -
The Jungle
Upton Sinclair's fiction work was written to promote socialist thinking on labor reforms against capitalism though the narrative of Chicago meat packaging workers. This writing was part of the larger realism movement, including moral purpose. -
Death of Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony was an essential leader in the women's suffrage movement, leading the National Women’s Suffrage Association. Susan also traveled advocating for women's rights, such as equal pay and legal rights. Her efforts eventually led to the writing of the 19th amendment in 1920, declaring women's right to vote. -
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
Pablo Picasso's famous oil painting represents the larger cubism movement in art, using more abstraction of subjects and background. -
Vacuum Hoover is invented
James Murray Spangler, an Ohio janitor, first invented the vacuum suction tube. It was this foundational mechanism that was later used to further develop radio signals and was the concept that led to the founding of the first computer. The collaboration of Americans William Henry Hoover and Spangler in there business, Hoover Suction Company, led to the founding of the first Hoover suction tube. This Hoover sold for $70 each and 352 units were sold within the first year. -
Houses at l'Estaque
This oil painting by Georges Braque demonstrates his cubist style, using geometric shapes and lines as his subject matter. His new style of work received much criticism. -
NAACP formed
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was formed to fight racism when race riots and lynching were common practices.
