1860–1869
1870–1879
1880–1889
1890–1899
1900–1909
1910–1919
1920–1929
1930–1939
1940–1949
1950–1959

Historical Timeline

American History | African American History
Baseball History | Negro Leagues Baseball History

1920–1929
1920
The 19th Amendment is ratified, allowing women the right to vote.
1920
Red Sox pitcher Babe Ruth is traded to the New York Yankees.
1920
Andrew "Rube" Foster calls for a meeting at the Kansas City YMCA and forms the Negro National League.
1920
John Donaldson moves from J.L. Wilkinson’s All Nations team to the Kansas City Monarchs.
1921
The Tulsa riots leave at least 30 dead.
1921
The first radio broadcast of a baseball game is heard.
1922
The Dyer Anti-Lynching bill gets through the House of Representatives, but dies in the Senate.
1922
James "Cool Papa" Bell joins the St. Louis Stars as a pitcher. He will be remembered though for the speed of his legs, not of his arm.
1923
Kennesaw Mountain Landis restricts major league teams from barnstorming. They are only allowed to compete in All-Star Contests.
1923
Colombia Records signs burgeoning blues singer Bessie Smith.
1923
Martin Dihigo plays first base for the New York Cubans in his first of 12 seasons in the Negro Leagues. He is the only player inducted into the Baseball Halls of Fame of Mexico, Cuba and the United States.
1923
John Donaldson forms his barnstorming team, the Donaldson Stars, and plays exhibition games all through the Midwest.
1923
The Rens become basketball’s first all-black team.
1924
Citizenship is granted to all Native Americans with the Indian Citizenship Act.
1924
The Kansas City Monarchs win the first Negro League World Series, five games to Hilldale Daisies' four.
1924
The Ku Klux Klan grows to 4.5 million members. A year later, 40,000 Klan members march in Washington, D.C.
1926
Magician Harry Houdini dies.
1926
John Coltrane and Miles Davis are born and soon will transform the world of music.
1926
Langston Hughes writes The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He urges black artists to be proud of their African American heritage and produce and perform in their own style.
1927
The New York Yankees, considered one of the best teams of all time, is led by Babe Ruth’s 60 home run season.
1927
The Jazz Singer is the first major film with sound.
1927
Duke Ellington fills in for "King" Oliver at the Cotton Club in Harlem and makes a name for himself.
1927
Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis fly across the Atlantic Ocean, landing 3,600 miles away in Paris.
1928
Ty Cobb retires, leaving his name stamped all over the record book.
1928
Nella Larsen publishes Quicksand; the following year, she writes her novel Passing.
1929
Stock Market crash spirals into the devastation of the Great Depression.
1929
At twelve years old, Dizzy Gillespie teaches himself to play the trumpet.