1920s

Starting in January 1920, the United States became a dry country. Prohibition banned the manufacture and sale of alcohol in an attempt to civilize unruly Americans (and some other reasons). The experiment had many unintended consequences, but most dangerously, it fostered the rise of organized crime and the American Mafia.

In 1928, an unknown Cherokee farm boy joins a brutal cross-country footrace designed to promote Route 66, risking his life for a prize that could save his family’s land.

Against world-class runners and impossible odds, Andy Payne closes in on victory, but finishing the Bunion Derby is only the beginning of Route 66’s transformation into an American legend.

The deadliest race massacre in American History started with two people. Find out the origins of this tragic event in this History special, "Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre."

Here are 10 things you didn't know about prohibition.

As African Americans flocked to Northern cities in the 1920s, they created a new social and cultural landscape.

When Prohibition began, two ordinary men thought it would be fun to enforce the new law. They were right.

Located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, this residential neighborhood known as Greenwood provided an opportunity for Blacks to accumulate wealth and make advancements during a time of racial terror, in this History special, "Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre."

Battling illness, dirt roads and a blinding sandstorm, Andy Payne pushes deeper into the Bunion Derby, while promoter C.C. Pyle’s schemes threaten to derail the race entirely.

Police raid a garage in Chicago that contained five hundred and thirty-seven barrels of alcoholic beverage, $30,000 worth of illegal drink.

Learn more about the history of Pancho Villa & The Mexican Revolution.

The 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial was one of the most important legal battles of its time. Two of the greatest speakers of the era, Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, faced off in a debate encompassing science, religion, and Constitutional rights.

Learn the history of Al Capone's secret city.