Temporal Coverage

Item set

• Allotment and Assimilation Era
  1887-1934. The Allotment and Assimilation Era began with the Dawes Act and was characterized by the forced assimilation of Native Americans. Allotment ended the reservation system and broke up communal tribal lands, granting individual allotments to tribal members. 2/3 of Native land was lost during this period. Assimilation was an inherently violent process that included Native American boarding schools in an attempt to directly colonize the people. This period also saw Native Americans gaining federal citizenship rights as a tool for assimilation.
• Antebellum Period
  1820-1860. The Antebellum Period stretches from the Missouri Compromise until the secession of South Carolina. The prominent legal issue during this period was that of slavery and its expansion, as well as the restriction of rights for free Black people in the South. It also marked the beginning of Native American removal policies that displaced Native tribes in order to make way for white settlement.
• Civil War and Reconstruction
  1861-1877. The Civil War saw several constitutional issues arise, such as the secession of the Southern states and wartime restriction of civil liberties. The Reconstruction era saw the establishment of constitutional rights and enforcement of civil rights laws. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments significantly amended the Constitution to give formerly enslaved people American citizenship and access to greater rights.
• Cold War Era
  1947-1991. This period involved issues related to the restriction of civil liberties as a result of national security fears. The perceived threat of communism led to blacklisting, further segregationism, and persecution of the LGBTQ+ community.
• Colonial America
  1607-1775. This period covers the colony of Jamestown to the start of the American Revolution. Colonists from European countries brought with them their ideas of race and liberty and the introduction of racial slavery. Documents from this era include racialized legislation relating to enslaved Africans, free Black people, and Native tribal nations, as well as colonial charters that reveal some of the founding liberal principles that would become central to American ideology.
• Contemporary America
  2008-present. Civil rights successes such as the first Black president and the federal protection of same-sex marriage defined the first part of the 21st century. These civil rights successes have been followed by the rise of radical conservatism and has seen the Supreme Court consistently restricting civil rights.
• Early Colonial America
  1492-1607. The earliest European imperial presence in the Americas were Spain and Portugal. Their first interactions with Indigenous people began the racial trajectory that would come to dominate the colonization and settlement of the Americas. By the early 17th century, other European powers had arrived and exerted control over the people and resources.
• Early Republic
  1780-1830. In this era, the new American Republic continued to explore liberal principals relating to citizenship and voting rights. Further tensions over slavery included the rise of the Abolitionist Movement as well as the institution of laws that both recognized Black liberty and limited it. The Northwest Ordinance and the Louisiana Purchase signaled the beginning of westward expansion, leading to conflict with and violence against Native Americans.
• Exclusion Era
  1882-1943. From the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act to its repeal, this era saw the increased exclusion of immigrants from Asian nations and other non-European countries. During this period, the courts debated the definition of whiteness as it relates to citizenship.
• Gilded Age
  1868-1899. The Gilded Age is defined by the rise of an American wealthy class that relied on the exploitation of minorities and the working class. During this time period, there was increased displacement of Native Americans and the start of Chinese exclusion.
• Great Depression and the New Deal
  1929-1940. The Great Depression was an unprecedented worldwide economic downturn exacerbated by the Dust Bowl, an environmental disaster caused by drought and over-cultivation in the southern Great Plains. The New Deal was a series of reforms and programs initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide social relief to help the American people and economy recover.
• Interwar Period
  1920-1941. The return of Black soldiers following the First World War saw increased racial tensions and the second coming of the Ku Klux Klan. This period saw continued legal battles for citizenship rights for Asian Americans and Native Americans. The 1920s were characterized by prohibition and conservatism, while the 1930s saw the Great Depression and new liberal policy with the New Deal.
• Jim Crow Era
  1877-1965. The Jim Crow Era is defined by racial segregation that started at the end of Reconstruction and continued until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 enforced the right to vote granted to Black people by the 15th Amendment. This period is characterized by the "separate by equal" doctrine established by the Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson.
• Long Civil Rights Movement
  1896–1968. This period traces the movement for equality and the end of Jim Crow segregation, from the Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson to the assassination of Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Civil rights successes include women's suffrage, the end of the Exclusion Era, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the first uses of affirmative action.
• Middle Ages
  500-1500. The Middle Ages saw the first arrival of Europeans in the Americas. Their highly racialized first impressions of Indigenous people began the racial trajectory that would come to dominate the colonization and settlement of the Americas.
• Modern Civil Rights Movement
  1968-present. The Modern Civil Rights Movement featured expanded rights for women, Native Americans, the LGBTQ+ community, Asian Americans and the implementation of affirmative action. Reactions to these expanded rights include Supreme Court debates over the use of affirmative action in college admissions, the recision of the Voting Rights Act with the decision in Shelby County v. Holder, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
• Post-Cold War Era
  1991-2008. The Post-Cold War Era covers the time period between the break up of the Soviet Union and the election of President Barack Obama. This period saw expanded rights for the LGBTQ+ community and the beginning of abortion restrictions. Cold War Era policies surrounding free speech were challenged in the Supreme Court.
• Post-War Era
  1945-1968. Following World War II, women and people of color capitalized on their important roles in the war to gain access to expanded rights, including the right to access contraception, expanded voting rights, and interracial marriage. The post-war period was also the first time the United States defined refugee status and expanded immigration quotas. The Indian Civil Rights Act extended constitutional rights to Native Americans, while also ensuring their tribal sovereignty.
• Progressive Era
  1890-1920. The Progressive Era is one marked by reform, both social and political. Key issues addressed were labor, immigration, citizenship, and women's suffrage.
• Prohibition Era
  1920-1933. The passage of the 18th Amendment reflected an era of conservatism that saw increased policing of Black people, immigrants, the poor, and suspected socialists. Prohibition expanded the powers of the federal government and led to increased incarceration. Prohibition ended with the passage of the 21st Amendment.
• Revolutionary America
  1765-1783. From the earliest rumblings of an American independence movement through the end of the American Revolution, this period saw British imperial overreach that helped to push the creation of an American identity forward. Tensions over slavery and Native Americans were high as the British and Independence movement attempted to leverage control over these oppressed groups.
• Territorial Expansion
  1803-1917. This time period covers the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory through the purchase of the U.S. Virgin Islands, the last major acquisition of U.S. territory until after World War II. This period dealt with issues of colonization of Native land and tensions between American settlers and Native people. The westward expansion of slavery led to conflict between regions of the U.S., culminating in the Civil War. Westward territorial expansion continued following the war, including land outside of the continental United States.
• Vietnam War
  1954-1975. Social turmoil surrounding the Vietnam War resulted in grassroots movements such as the Anti-Draft and War Movements, the American Indian Movement, and the Gay Liberation Movement. The end of the war saw an influx of southeast Asian refugees, renewing anti-Asian sentiment in the U.S.
• World War I
  1914-1919. After formally entering the First World War, the U.S. employed a draft of all male citizens to fill the ranks of its armed services, while women took on more important roles at home. As a result, women won the right to vote with the 19th Amendment, while Black soldiers faced renewed racism upon returning from the war.
• World War II
  1941-1945. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and America's entry into the Second World War, Japanese Americans living in exclusion zones were interred in concentration camps for supposed national security reasons. As in World War I, Black soldiers faced segregation while serving and renewed racism upon returning home.