The principal intellectual developments and reform movements since 1877 by Catherine Tuliano

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

ccarmelatuliano — 2025-07-26 00:29:52 UTC

Known as "The Great Upheaval," the Railroad Strike of 1877 resulted from increasing unrest due to poor working conditions and unfair pay in an increasingly industrialized economy, mobilized much of the workforce toward fighting for rights of the working class, and convinced many laborers of the need for organized labor unions.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 1911

ccarmelatuliano — 2025-07-26 00:31:32 UTC

Convinced many Americans of a need for reform after inequalities and injustices of the modern industrial age became increasingly apparent.

W.E.B. DuBois, "Returning Soldiers," 1919

ccarmelatuliano — 2025-07-26 00:32:31 UTC

Although during World War One the US army attempted to restrict the experiences of Black soldiers to prevent their becoming acquainted with being treated with equality and respect overseas, many who were assigned to fight and train alongside the French army were nonetheless exposed to such experiences. Upon returning home, these soldiers brought with them a new found willingness to fight for equal rights, expressed eloquently by W.E.B. Dubois in an editorial titled "Returning Soldiers."

The New Deal, 1933-1938

ccarmelatuliano — 2025-07-26 00:32:47 UTC

In response to the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt enacted a series of groundbreaking legislative measures that transformed the role of the Federal Government in the lives of the American people, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Social Security Act, the National Labor Relations Act; the establishment of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Securities Exchange Commission, and numerous public works administrations designed to increase government spending for the purpose of job creation.

Executive Order 8802, 1941

ccarmelatuliano — 2025-07-26 00:34:38 UTC

Signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941, Executive Order 8802 prohibited racial discrimination in defense industries and was the first federal action promoting equality of employment in the United States.

1954, Brown v. Board of Education

ccarmelatuliano — 2025-07-26 00:37:50 UTC

On May 17, 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren announced Supreme Court's decision on segregation in public schools, ruling that separate was inherently unequal and that racial segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment.

Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955-1956

ccarmelatuliano — 2025-07-26 01:54:06 UTC

Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat for a white man, leading to the 1955 to 1956 bus boycott and the ascendence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a leader of the civil rights movement.

Passage of the Civil Rights Act, 1964

ccarmelatuliano — 2025-07-26 01:54:34 UTC

Passage of the Civil Rights Act, making discrimination based on race, sex, religion, or national origin illegal in the United States.

Obergefell v. Hodges, June 2015

ccarmelatuliano — 2025-07-26 01:55:53 UTC

In Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was a constitutional right.

Nineteenth Amendment, 1920

ccarmelatuliano — 2025-07-26 03:36:17 UTC

Ratified on August 18,1920 following a decades long movement toward women's suffrage, the Nineteenth Amendment to the US constitution prohibited denial of voting rights based on sex and effectively granted women the right to vote in the US.