The Beginning of World War I
The beginning of World War I was triggered when the Austrian-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated on June 28, 1914 while they were visiting Bosnia to check on the army. Keep in mind that Austria-Hungary was not fond of the Archduke, but they used the event as an excuse to declare war on Germany. This triggered the war that started exactly a month later on July 28th with the first preparation shots. The Central powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire) and the Allies (Great Britain, France, and Russia) formed and began fighting in what became known as the Western Front. This front was located in the area between Germany and France. The bloody war continued for three years until the U.S finally joined the Allies in 1917 and helped them to victory.
Germanophobia
For the first three years of war, America remained neutral. However, most Americans during these years favored the Allies. This favoritism led to an anti-German feeling that became known as Germanophobia, and Americans went to extremes to stamp out everything German in the United States. Schools that taught German classes eliminated them from their class lists. Even foods and animals with German names had their names changed to something more American. For example, sauerkraut became "liberty cabbage", hamburgers became "liberty sandwiches", and dachshunds became "liberty pups".
The Great Migration
After Reconstruction ended after the Civil War, white Americans gained supremacy in the South once again. Segregation and hate crimes against African Americans were back on the rise up until about the time the U.S. joined the war in 1917. At this time, production of weapons and other war supplies in the North needed to be at top speed. Because of this, factory owners started paying more money to attract more workers. The amount of money that factories paid in the North was nearly triple that of which an African American could make working in the fields in the south, so beginning in about 1917, African Americans started to make the long journey to the Northern states to find work. By 1919, nearly one million African Americans had moved North. This massive shift in population became known as the Great Migration.