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

1900–1909
1900
American League established.
1900
North Carolinian, George White, proposes the first Congressional attempt to make lynching a federal crime. It fails. When George White’s term ends the next year, he becomes last black Congressman until 1928.
1900
The Cuban League permits black ballplayers, and Hall of Famers Cristóbal Torriente and José Méndez solidify the connection between Latin and Black baseball twenty years later.
1901
Booker T. Washington, former slave and author of Up from Slavery, is 1st African American invited to the White House.
1901
Cleveland’s Nap Lajoie hits for record .426 batting average, winning the American League’s first Triple Crown.
1903
The Wright Brothers make their first flight in Kitty Hawk.
1903
Henry Ford forms Ford Motor Company.
1903
The Boston Pilgrims defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series.
1903
W.E.B. DuBois publishes The Souls of Black Folk.
1904
Ice Cream Cones are introduced at the World’s Fair in St. Louis.
1905
The Chicago Defender becomes first big city Negro newspaper.
1905
The Niagara Movement is begun by DuBois and William Monroe Trotter to fight for the enforcement of civil rights.
1906
The Jungle is written by Upton Sinclair, revealing wretched working conditions and poor product quality.
1906
The Chicago Cubs play to an incredible 116-32 record.
1908
The first Model T is built and sold.
1908
Jack Johnson becomes the first African-American Heavyweight Boxing Champion.
1909
The Negro National Committee, soon to become the NAACP, has its first convention in New York.
1909
Tobacco company removes Honus Wagner from their advertisements, creating first valuable baseball card.