Houston Institute for Culture 2000

The Twentieth Century Illuminated

The Century Invented
What would the Twentieth Century have been without the electric light bulb, record player or movie projector? It would not resemble what it was and we would not be able to hear the sounds or see the images as we do today without Thomas Alva Edison. The Twentieth Century was illuminated by his inventions and those of many who would follow him. Edison's patented inventions following the discovery of electricity and sound waves are the basis for modern media and our lifestyles today.

Music Electrified
Music before the Twentieth Century was handed down through family lineage and advancements were often the result of great migrations of people over hundreds of years from old cultural centers.

The mass appeal of popular music began with the electrification of instruments and amplification of the sound, enabling larger audiences to hear the musicians. 1000 years of migration of Gypsies and a century of interaction of Black and White musicians in the South was transformed in only a few short decades after the introduction of amplifiers. Wider audiences and the birth of the recording industry spread the sound of Rhythm and Blues around the world.

| The Century of War
100 Million people died in war during the Twentieth Century. If the technological advances of the Twentieth Century ever are in question, warfare is the main reason, followed by the polluted environment, and health and safety.

Many, who helped to develop the most destructive forces the world has ever known, hated what they had done. On the brink of the Atomic Age, Albert Einstein knew that if one side didn't first develop such devastating weapons made possible by science, the other side would.

It was left to the living to say that war was the necessary evil to protect freedom.

The Century Recorded
The history of previous centuries is written in journals and the ancient unknown is uncovered by archaeologists in the stoneware trash piles of ancient civilizations. But the Twentieth Century is chronologed daily in video libraries and everything is there somewhere to be found on the Internet.
Stay tuned/more to come.

| Technology Transformed
Stay tuned/more to come.

The Country Divided
It was nearly 100 years after the Civil War when racial equality and equal rights became realistic topics.

Civil Rights movements were spawned by Black leaders such as Medger Evers and Martin Luther King, Jr., Ameriacn Indians Dennis Banks and Russell Means, and the voice of migrant workers, Caesar Chavez.
Stay tuned/more to come.

Poverty Revealed
Americans were captivated by photography. In the Nineteenth Century photographers created images of grand landscapes and war heroes. But Jacob Riis showed the world the slums of New York and that the camera was a tool to promote social change. [See Photos (soon)]
Stay tuned/more to come.

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