2000 |
War & Peace |
"Travelin' Soldier" (1999) |
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- Bush v. Gore (December 12)
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Moving Along |
"Descendants of Dragon" (2000) |
2001 |
Home |
"Brotha" (2001) |
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- iTunes launched (January 9)
- Passage of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, marking the first of several pieces of legislation commonly referred to as the "Bush tax cuts" (June 7)
- Terrorist Attacks in New York City, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania (September 11)
- War in Afghanistan (October 7)
- USA PATRIOT Act (October 26)
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Moving Along |
"Wave" (2001) |
Moving Along |
"Somos mas americanos" (2001) |
2002 |
United/Divided |
"Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (The Angry American)" (2002) |
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- No Child Left Behind Act (passed in December 2001, signed January 8, 2002)
- Bush’s State of the Union labels Iran, North Korea, and Iraq the “Axis of Evil” (January 29)
- Homeland Security Act of 2002 establishes the Department of Homeland Security (November 25)
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War & Peace |
"Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?" (2002) |
2003 |
War & Peace |
"Have You Forgotten?" (2003) |
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- Iraq War begins (March)
- Massachusetts Supreme Court legalizes gay marriage (November)
- Hispanics surpass African Americans as the largest minority group in the United States.
- Space Shuttle Columbia explodes
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Home |
"Learn Chinese" (2003) |
Home |
"Mi Gente" (2003) |
Faith & Ideals |
"Where is the Love?" (2003) |
2004 |
Home |
"The APL Song" (2004) |
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- Facebook launched
- President Bush announces support for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman
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Moving Along |
"Who Discovered America?"(2004) |
Faith & Ideals |
"No Rest for the Weary" (2004) |
2005 |
United/Divided |
"The Corner"(2005) |
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- YouTube launched (April 23, 2005)
- Hurricane Katrina (late August)
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Work |
"America First" (2005) |
Home |
"Heroes of Earth" (2005) |
Moving Along |
"3rd Base, Dodger Stadium" (2005) |
2006 |
War & Peace |
"Light Up Ya Lighter" (2006) |
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- Twitter launched (March)
- An Inconvenient Truth (released May 24)
- Secure Fence Act (October 26)
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Moving Along |
"American Land" (2006) |
Faith & Ideals |
"Waiting on the World to Change" (2006) |
2007 |
United/Divided |
"Silence is a Weapon" (2007) |
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- Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female Speaker of the House
- Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 fails (June 7)
- iPhone released (June 29)
- Live Earth Concerts (July 7)
- Onset of the Great Recession (December)
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War & Peace |
"Violeta" (2007) |
Home |
"Black Happiness" (2007) |
2008 |
War & Peace |
"War Song" (2008) |
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- District of Columbia v. Heller
- Housing and Economic Recovery Act (July 30)
- Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy (September 15)
- Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (“Wall Street Bailout”) [signed Oct. 3]
- Barack Obama is elected the first African American president (November 4)
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2009 |
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- Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (January)
- American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (February)
- Obama announces expansion of the War in Afghanistan (December)
- Puerto Rican Sonia Sotomayor becomes the first Latinx justice on the Supreme Court
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2010 |
Home |
"Who I am" (2010) |
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- Affordable Care Act (March 23)
- Navy lifts ban on women in submarines (April)
- Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (
- Wall-Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (July 21)
- It Gets Better Project launched (September 21)
- Instagram launched (October)
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Faith & Ideals |
"Clouds" (2010) |
2011 |
Work |
"Words I Never Said" (2011) |
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- Navy SEALs raid a compound in Pakistan and kill Osama bin Laden (May 2)
- Occupy Wall Street Protests begin (September 17)
- Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” implemented (September 20)
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Faith & Ideals |
"I Smile" (2011) |
2012 |
Work |
"Rent Money" (2012) |
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- Trayvon Martin killed by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida (February 26)
- President Obama expresses support for marriage equality (May 10)
- President Obama announces the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program (June 15)
- National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius
- Black Lives Matter movement begins (July)
- Hurricane Sandy (October 29)
- Mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School (December 14)
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Home |
"Same Love" (2012) |
Moving Along |
"Where You From?" (2012) |
2013 |
Home |
"24K Town" (2013) |
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- American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 extends most of the “Bush tax cuts” except for those on the highest earners
- Military lifts ban on women in combat (January 24)
- Shelby County v. Holder
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Moving Along |
"Electric Intertribal" (2013) |
2014 |
Moving Along |
"Monsters Calling Home" (2014) |
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- Janet Yellen becomes the first female chair of the Federal Reserve (February 3)
- Russia invades Ukraine, leading the United States and its allies to impose economic sanctions (February–April)
- President Obama sends 300 military advisers to Iraq to protect diplomats from ISIS (June)
- To combat ISIS, US military begins airstrikes in Iraq and Syria and sends 1,500 troops to Iraq (August–November)
- President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping announce joint agreement to reduce carbon emissions by 2030 (November 12)
- President Obama announces Immigration Accountability Executive Action (November 20)
- Riots in Ferguson and St. Louis, Missouri, after a grand jury declined to indict a police officer for shooting and killing Michael Brown, an African American teenager (November 24)
- Bill Cosby is accused of sexual assault by dozens of women (November)
- Protests in New York City after a grand jury declines to indict police officers for the death of Eric Garner (December 4)
- The United States withdraws most troops from Afghanistan, marking the end of the War in Afghanistan
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2015 |
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- Supreme Court rules in Obergefell v. Hodges that state-level bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional (June 26)
- Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“Iran nuclear deal”) signed (July 14)
- Full diplomatic relations restored between the United States and Cuba (July 20)
- President Obama announces plans to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees in the United States in 2016
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2016
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- Protests at Standing Rock Reservation begin (April)
- Paris Agreement signed (April 22)
- Departments of Justice and Education issue new guidelines to allow students to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identities (May 13)
- Mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, kills 49 and wounds 53 in deadliest attack on LGBT community
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2017 |
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 |
- Executive Order 13769 (“Muslim Ban”) issued by President Trump (January 27)
- President Trump revokes Obama-era guidelines that allowed students to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identities (February)
- President Trump announces withdrawal from the Paris Agreement (June 1)
- Hurricane Harvey (late August)
- #MeToo goes viral after sexual misconduct allegations are made about movie producer Harvey Weinstein (October)
- Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed by President Trump (December 22)
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2018 |
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- Time’s Up founded (January 1)
- President Trump announces withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“Iran nuclear deal”)
- President Trump meets with Kim Jong Un of North Korea (June)
- Massacre at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh leaves 11 dead (October)
- Camp Fire in California kills X (November)
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2019 |
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- In a televised address to the nation, President Donald Trump makes the case for his proposed border wall.
- The Supreme Court rules that the Trump administration is allowed to limit military service for transgender people.
- around 50 people are accused of fraud to secure admission to elite colleges, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin
- President Trump issues a new permit to construct the Keystone Pipeline
- Maine becomes the first state to ban Styrofoam containers
- The U.S. officially withdraws from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty established with Russia in 1987
- Thousands of students across the United States join their counterparts world-wide in demonstrations against climate change led by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and 12-year-old Colorado activist Haven Coleman
- The House of Representatives votes 232–196 in favor of formally proceeding with an impeachment inquiry against President Trump.
- The United States Space Force (USSF) is founded
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2020 |
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- Covid-19 pandemic
- Kamala Harris becomes the first woman of color to be elected Vice President.
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