But since the 1900's things began to boom,
It was the turn of the century; there was no apparent doom.

People were thinking different, with clothing and hair all newly styled.
While amongst all the commotion, the Wright brothers were trying something real wild.

They wanted to make aviation history, try something not so sane,
To do something really amazing, to fly an airplane!

So in 1902 at Kittyhawk they flew their dreams into the abyss.
To return with their hopes still intact, and in absolute perfect bliss.

Then came the roaring 20's when women voting was finally aloud.
Though they pleased many a woman then, there was still quite a few unhappy in the African-American crowd.

The minds of many were open, but still not open enough,
To tackle something as big as segregation, many were still not that tough.

Before anything could be done to help this. the stock market took a plummeting crash.
'there wasn't a single person in the nation not affected by some sort of backlash.

But we helped one another and looked out for each other and soon our country grew strong,
We thought the hard times were over, but we were oh so very wrong.

World War II had started and the men went to fight overseas.
While the women stayed home and did their part working in scrap yards and canneries.

Now the war had ended, and things were becoming less wound,
But Rosa Parks caused quite a stir by refusing a white man and standing her ground.

She refused to give up her bus seat, and was dragged off to jail,
But when people heard they were outraged, they protested, argued and sent mail.

They told her not to worry, they told her this was wrong,
And if they had anything to do with it, she wouldn't be in there long.

The police left Rosa in jail and changed the law but no one seemed to mind,
Segregation was still at its worst; African-Americans were still in a bind.

So Martin Luther King Jr. started talking and telling people all they must do,
To protest against inequality, "It's going to be hard", he said, "It's true."

So many people banded together, to set this injustice right,
And to tell the world it didn't matter how dark your skin is or how light.

So the law against segregation was enforced, and peoples attention shifted to environmental care,
They realized green house gases were building, and we weren't treating mother earth all too fair.

So the government started to push to recycle, and we the people responded with much zeal,
The air started getting oh so much cleaner, the earth began to heal.

Then Sally Ride thrilled the world by being the first woman on the moon;
It was finally the 1980's and there was a technology typhoon.

Everything was becoming electronic, some for better, some for worse,
But no one could deny, our world was becoming much more diverse.

And then the Internet was invented, and our lives were altered for good,
And no one could have guessed it could end up doing everything it would.

Now time has flown so fast and sure, since when the country began,
We now have an African-American president who's quite an amazing man.

And you never would have guessed that it's been so little time;
Because we've accomplished so much in the last century and the beginning of this rhyme.