RAGTIME
1901
In the musical RAGTIME, fictional characters are interwoven with real figures and events from history. Events in blue really happened. Events in red are fictional.
TIMELINE
President McKinley is assassinated; Teddy Roosevelt becomes President.
Emma Goldman is wrongly accused of planning the assassination and is arrested.
Booker T. Washington is invited to meet with President Roosevelt. He's the first Black American to be invited to dine at the White House.
1902
In RAGTIME: Father builds a house in New Rochelle
1906
Harry Thaw murders Stanford White, out of jealousy over Evelyn Nesbit, triggering the “Trial of the Century”
Harry Houdini begins performing regularly in the US after European tours
Scott Joplin – a musician and composer of Ragtime music - moves to New York City. He's already famous for Maple Leaf Rag (1899) and The Entertainer (1902).
1907
RAGTIME connection: Coalhouse Walker Jr. is inspired to learn the piano after he hears Scott Joplin's ragtime music
1908
In RAGTIME: Father goes on the Arctic expedition with Peary and Henson
Henry Ford introduces the Model T and revolutionizes mass production
In RAGTIME: Coalhouse Walker Jr. owns a Model T
1909
W.E.B. Du Bois founds the NAACP, challenging Booker T. Washington’s philosophy
1910
Start of The Great Migration (1910–1970s): six million Black Americans who were living in the South relocate North, including to NYC
RAGTIME connection: Sarah’s family still lives in the South
1912
The Lawrence Textile Strike, also known as the “Bread and Roses” strike
In RAGTIME: Tateh and his daughter are caught up in the Lawrence Textile Strike
1914
Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated, triggering World War I
In RAGTIME: the Little Boy tells Houdini to “warn the Duke!”
1915
The British passenger ship, The Lusitania, is sunk by a German submarine during WWI
In RAGTIME: Father is on board the Lusitania
1916
In RAGTIME: Tateh proposes to Mother; their families unite
1917
Ragtime music falls out of popularity, giving way to jazz
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