1902

The National Women's Trade Union League is formed.

November: McClure's Magazine publishes the first installment of muckraker Ida Tarbell's exposé, The History of the Standard Oil Company.

1907

Swimmer Annette Kellerman is arrested for indecent exposure while trying to popularize a one-piece swimsuit worn with tights rather than bloomers.

1909

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.

1914

World War I begins in Europe.

1915

D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation is the first full-length feature film in the new motion picture industry. It portrays the Ku Klux Klan as American heroes.

The new sound recording industry begins a phase of rapid growth.

1917-18

The U.S. enters World War I. Of the 4.3 million American soldiers who fight, 126,000 are killed. The total number dead in the bloodiest war mankind has ever seen is 8.5 million, from over a dozen nations.

1919

The First International Congress of Working Women meets in Washington, D.C.

The Red Summer: widespread anti-Communist sentiment, racial and labor unrest, and the aftermath of war combine and cause the nation to erupt in violence.

1920

January: The Eighteenth Amendment makes the sale, manufacture, and transportation of intoxicating liquors illegal.

August: The Nineteenth Amendment is ratified, giving women the right to vote. The National League of Women Voters is organized.

1921

September 7: The first Miss America Pageant, called the "Inter-City Beauty Pageant," takes place in Atlantic City as a part of a Fall Frolic to attract tourists. There are seven contestants. Sixteen-year-old Margaret Gorman from Washington, D.C., wins the title, Miss America.

1923

September: The Inter-City Beauty Contest grows in popularity, attracting over 70 contestants. After pageant officials forget to include a "no marriage" rule, it is discovered that "Miss" Alaska, Helmar Leiderman, is not only married but is also a resident of New York.

September: Mary Katherine Campbell becomes the only woman to win the Miss America title two years in a row. Pageant officials subsequently establish a rule that a woman cannot hold the title more than once.

1924

The Immigration Act establishes a national quota system for limiting immigration.

1926

Norma Smallwood, Miss America 1926, makes $100,000 in appearance fees, an income higher than either Babe Ruth or the president of the United States.

1927

September: Baseball star Babe Ruth hits record-breaking home run number 60. All the people in attendance wave handkerchiefs in his honor. The record will stand for over 3 decades.

1929

Religious groups and women's clubs protest the loose morals of young women in the pageant. Bad press plus financial trouble shut the pageant down between 1929 and 1932.

October 24: The stock market crashes. The Great Depression begins.

1931

March 25: Nine black youths are accused of the rape of two white women in Paint Rock, Alabama. The Scottsboro boys' case becomes one of the most significant legal fights of the twentieth century.

1932

May 20: Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. She becomes a Depression-era hero and advocate for women's equality, saying, "A pilot's a pilot. I hope that such equality could be carried out in other fields so that men and women may achieve equally in any endeavor..."

September: Atlantic City sponsors revive the Miss America Pageant. Fifteen-year-old Marian Bergeron is Miss America 1933. Age requirements are instituted afterwards requiring contestants to be between 18 and 26.

1930s

Sometime in the 1930s a pageant rule is established requiring contestants to be of the white race.

Union membership among women in the U.S. increases threefold, to almost 20% of the female workforce.

1933

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is inaugurated.

1935

Pageant officials hope to re-invent the pageant. They hire Lenora Slaughter to do the job for six weeks. She will stay for 32 years, serving as the pageant's director.

1937

Winner Bette Cooper changes her mind about being Miss America, and flees Atlantic City.

1937

Dust Bowl farmers in the Great Plains suffer the effects of severe dust storms as well as economic hard times.

1938

A "society matron" chaperone system is enacted, to keep pageant contestants away from scandal.

A talent competition is added as part of the scoring process.

Contestants are no longer allowed to represent cities, resorts, or theaters. Instead, they are required to represent states.

1939

April: RCA's National Broadcasting Company (NBC) broadcasts the opening of the New York World's Fair. One of the first television sets is displayed at the Fair.

September 1: Germany invades Poland. World War II begins.

1940

September: The pageant is officially dubbed the Miss America Pageant and moves into Atlantic City's Convention Hall.

1941

December 7: The Japanese bomb a U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. A day later, President Roosevelt declares war on Japan and the U.S. enters World War II.

1941-1945

Women's employment rises dramatically as women take on new wartime jobs.

1942

Miss America is transformed into an emblem of patriotism. Miss America 1942, Jean Bartel, turns down a lucrative movie offer to sell a record number of war bonds.

1942-1943

Women's branches of armed forces are formed, including the Army WACS, the Navy WAVES, the Coast Guard SPARS, the Marines MCWR, and the Army Air Force's WASPS. Women are six percent of the armed services.

1944

January 22: More than 17 months after news of Hitler's plan to annihilate Europe's Jews reaches the U.S., President Roosevelt issues an executive order to establish the War Refugee Board.

Director Lenora Slaughter raises $5000 to launch the Miss America scholarship program. Previously Miss America is offered furs and movie contracts. Now she is offered funds for college. The original scholarship patrons are: Joseph Bancroft and Sons, Catalina Swimwear, F.W. Fitch Company, and the Sandy Valley Grocery Company. She also enlists Junior Chambers of Commerce across the country to sponsor local and state contests.

September 8: Bess Myerson becomes Miss America 1945, the first Jewish Miss America and the first winner of the scholarship program. She plans to study conducting.

1945

Bess Myerson receives few offers for appearances and product endorsement. America appears not to be ready for a Jewish Miss America. Myerson decides to spend her year speaking for the Jewish Anti-Defamation League on the topic, "You Can Not Be Beautiful and Hate."

May 8: V-E Day. President Harry Truman announces the end of the war in Europe via radio.

September 2: V-J Day, when Japan formally surrenders, ends World War II.

1946

Lenora Slaughter bans the phrase "bathing suit"-- the garments are to be called "swimsuits."

The Baby Boom begins. The birth rate will rise dramatically over the next decade.

1947

September: For the last time, Miss America is crowned in a bathing suit. Afterwards, winners are crowned in evening gowns.

1948

June 12: President Harry Truman signs into law the Women's Armed Services Integration Act, enabling women to serve as permanent, regular members of the armed services. The law limits the number of women that can serve in the military to two percent of the total forces in each branch.

1949

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is formed.

1950s

A "Cold War" develops between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.

1950

June: North Korea invades South Korea. President Truman commits U.S. troops.

September: Yolande Betbeze sings an operatic aria and is crowned Miss America 1951. Catalina Swimwear withdraws sponsorship of the pageant after Betbeze refuses to appear in public in a swimsuit.