1900–1919 ∼ Migration of the Farm Population
Pure Food and Drug Act sets standards for food and drug control (1906) / Mass migration of workers across the nation depletes the farm population (1915–1919) / African Americans comprise more than 20% of the workers in the Chicago stockyards (1917) / Eighteenth Amendment outlawing the sale of alcoholic beverages begins prohibition era (1919)
MILESTONES: Formation of the Ford Motor Company (1903) • Wright brothers’ gasoline engine aircraft successfully flies at Kitty Hawk (1903) • World War I provides new roles and opportunities for women (1917–1919) • Great flu epidemic begins in U.S. (1918)
1920–1929 ∼ Beginning the Farming Revolution
Farm tractor begins the farming revolution (1920s) / For the first time more Americans live in urban than in rural areas (1920) / Pig Stand in Dallas is the first drive-in restaurant (1921) / Japanese and Filipino farm workers strike against Hawaiian plantation owners (1920 and 1924)
MILESTONES: Women’s right to vote enacted (19th amendment, 1919) • Route 66 beginning in Chicago and ending in Santa Monica, CA is begun; by 1937 it is fully paved, crossing 8 states and 3 time zones (1926) • Stock market crash propels economy into the worst economic depression in American history (1929)
1930–1939 ∼ Dust Bowl Misery and Federal Assistance to Farmers
Hog and corn subsidy programs enacted (1933) / Rural Electrification Act brings electricity to rural areas (1935) / Soil and Water Conservation Act provides government assistance for soil-saving efforts (1936) / Hybridization yields significantly better seeds and harvests (1930s–1940s)
MILESTONES: Unemployment is 24.9%; 9,000 banks fail; 100,000 businesses fail (1932–1933) • Twin engine Boeing 247, the first modem commercial aircraft, put into service (1933) • Germany invades Poland, starting WWII (1939)
1940–1949 ∼ The Beginning of Commercial Farms
Commercial fertilizers introduced (1940s) / Farmers dramatically increase food production for the war (1942–1945) / Massey-Ferguson introduces the first combine (1944) / The beginning of commercial farms (1946)
MILESTONES: Japanese attack American ships at Pearl Harbor, forcing the U.S.
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