Culture and Popular Memory

Music, books, sports, holidays, landmarks, and legends that shaped how Americans see themselves.

22 entries, in chronological order

Colonial America1607–1763

T. H. Matteson’s 1855 painting of the 1692 witchcraft trial of George Jacobs in Salem, with an accuser pointing at the old man

Feb 1692 – 1693Event

The Salem Witch Trials

The 1692 witch hunt in Puritan Massachusetts that sent twenty people to their deaths

Revolution and Independence1763–1789

John Lewis Krimmel’s painting of a crowded Fourth of July celebration in Philadelphia’s Centre Square, around 1812

Jul 4, 1776Event

Independence Day (the Fourth of July)

The nation’s birthday, celebrated since 1776 and a federal holiday since 1870

The Early Republic1789–1828

c. 1788–c. 1812Person

Sacagawea

The Lemhi Shoshone teenager who traveled with Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery

Nov 26, 1789 – Dec 26, 1941Event

Thanksgiving Day

How a day of thanks became a fixed national holiday, from Washington to Roosevelt

Civil War and Reconstruction1861–1877

The handwritten text of General Order No. 3, issued at Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865

Jun 19, 1865Event

Juneteenth

June 19, 1865: freedom announced in Texas — now a national holiday

Industrialization and the Gilded Age1877–1900

1835–1910Person

Mark Twain

Humorist and novelist who turned American speech into literature

1847–1931Person

Thomas Edison

Inventor of the phonograph and a practical electric light, and creator of the modern research laboratory

Oct 28, 1886–presentPlace

Statue of Liberty

France’s gift to the United States, and a welcome to generations of immigrants

The Progressive Era and World War I1900–1920

John T. Daniels’s photograph of the Wright Flyer’s first flight on December 17, 1903, with Wilbur Wright running alongside the wingtip

Dec 17, 1903Event

The Wright Brothers’ First Flight

Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, December 17, 1903: the first powered, controlled airplane flights

Concept

Jazz

America’s homegrown music, born in New Orleans

The Twenties and the Great Depression1920–1939

1895–1948Person

Babe Ruth

The slugger who transformed baseball and became the most celebrated athlete of the 1920s

1897–1937Person

Amelia Earhart

The first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, who vanished over the Pacific in 1937

1901–1971Person

Louis Armstrong

New Orleans trumpeter and singer who made jazz a soloist’s art and a world music

1901–1966Person

Walt Disney

Creator of Mickey Mouse, the animated feature film, and Disneyland

Portrait of the poet Langston Hughes, photographed by Carl Van Vechten in 1936

1922–1935Movement

The Harlem Renaissance

A flowering of Black literature, art, and music in 1920s New York

1926–1985Place

Route 66

The “Mother Road” from Chicago to Santa Monica

1927 – Oct 31, 1941Place

Mount Rushmore

Four presidents carved into the Black Hills — a national symbol on land sacred to the Lakota

Bonnie Parker leaning on Clyde Barrow’s shoulder as they pose in front of a car, about 1933

Feb 1932 – May 23, 1934Event

Bonnie and Clyde

Depression-era outlaws whose short, violent crime spree became an American legend

World War II and the Early Cold War1939–1960

1919–1972Person

Jackie Robinson

The ballplayer who broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947, and a civil rights advocate

1935–1977Person

Elvis Presley

The “King of Rock & Roll,” who carried a blend of Black and white Southern music to a mass audience

Civil Rights and Social Transformation1954–1980

1942–2016Person

Muhammad Ali

Three-time heavyweight champion who gave up his title rather than fight in Vietnam

Aug 1969Event

Woodstock

“3 Days of Peace and Music” that came to define a generation