Research Article: Individual Prosperity and the American Dream

Individual Prosperity and the American Dream

Timeline

1890–1919 ∼ Striking it Rich

Indians massacred at Wounded Knee (1890) / Alaskan gold rush begins in 1897 a year after the discovery of gold in the Klondike; peaks the following year / Sixty percent of the country’s population lives in rural areas; ten percent of students graduate from high school (1900) / Spindletop oil plume gushes, and the Texas black gold rush begins (1901) / Henry Ford institutes the five-dollar day for his factory workers (1914)

Milestones: Plessy v. Ferguson declares it illegal for blacks to ride in the same railroad car as whites (1896) • Spanish American War (1898) • Chinese immigration banned except...
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