The Roaring Twenties: A Decade of Change and Conflict
Roaring Twenties – Decade of 1920’s, booming economy brought a fast pace of life and a sometimes frantic pursuit of pleasure to the era.
Disarmament–
Reduction of armed forces and weapons
Red Scare–
A period during the Cold War where the American public was terrified of Communists and the spread of Communism.
Palmer Raids – Raids Conducted by the Justice Department (Atty Gen Mitchell Palmer) to find and deport Communists
J. Edgar Hoover – The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who investigated and harassed alleged radicals.
Sacco and Vanzetti – Italian radicals who became symbols of the Red Scare of the 1920s;
Arrested (1920), tried and executed (1927) for a robbery/murder, they were believed by many to have been innocent but convicted because of their immigrant status and radical political beliefs.
Warren Harding – 29th president of the US; Republican; “Return to Normalcy” (life as it had been before WWI-peace, isolation); presidency was marred by scandal
Normalcy – Harding wanted a return to “normalcy” – the way life was before WW I.
Fordney McCumber Act – these two acts created the highest ever schedule of tariffs for foreign made goods
Nativism–
the policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants.
Quota System – A system that sets limits on how many immigrants from various countries a nation will admit each year
National Origins Act – Very restrictive immigration legislation passed in 1924, which lowered immigration to 2 percent of each nationality as found in the 1890 census. This lowered immigration dramatically and, quite intentionally, almost eliminated immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe.
Dawes Plan – A plan to revive the German economy, the United States loans Germany money which then can pay reparations to England and France, who can then pay back their loans from the U.S. This circular flow of money was a success.
League of Nations–
A world organization established in 1920 to promote international cooperation and peace. It was first proposed in 1918 by President Woodrow Wilson, although the United States never joined the League. Essentially powerless, it was officially dissolved in 1946.
Washington Naval Conference – 1921 – president harding invited delegates from Europe and Japan, and they agreed to limit production of war ships, to not attack each other’s possessions, and to respect China’s independence
Four Power Treaty – 1921. Treaty between the US, Great Britain, France, and Japan to maintain the status quo in the South Pacific, that no countries could seek further territorial gain
Kellogg Briand Pact – Agreement signed in 1928 in which nations agreed not to pose the threat of war against one another
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom – led by Jane Addam
Henry Ford–
1863-1947. American businessman, founder of Ford Motor Company, father of modern assembly lines, and inventor credited with 161 patents.
Assembly Line–
In a factory, an arrangement where a product is moved from worker to worker, with each person performing a single task in the making of the product.
Consumerism–
a movement advocating greater protection of the interests of consumers
Installment Buying – A consumers buys products by promising to pay small, regular amounts over a period of time
Fundamentalist Movement – a movement that began as a militant reaction to liberal Protestantism and to developments in modern science and the historical study of the Bible
18th Amendment – Prohibited the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages
Volstead Act – Legislation that banned the sell and production of alcohol in the United States.
Prohibition–
A law forbidding the sale of alcoholic beverages
19th Amendment – Gave women the right to vote
Flappers–
1920s new breed of young women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior
Great Migration–
movement of over 300,000 African American from the rural south into Northern cities between 1914 and 1920
Booker T Washington – Prominent black
American, born into slavery, who believed that racism would end once blacks acquired useful labor skills and proved their economic value to society, was head of the Tuskegee Institute in 1881. His book “Up from Slavery.”
WEB DuBois – Opposed Booker T. Washington. Wanted social and political integration as well as higher education for 10% of African Americans-what he called a “Talented Tenth”. Founder of the Niagara Movement which led to the creation of the NAACP.
Marcus Garvey – African American leader durin the 1920s who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and advocated mass migration of African Americans back to Africa. Was deported to Jamaica in 1927.
Harlem Renaissance–
Black literary and artistic movement centered in Harlem that lasted from the 1920s into the early 1930s that both celebrated and lamented black life in America; Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston were two famous writers of this movement.
Jazz Age–
Name for the 1920s, because of the popularity of jazz-a new type of American music that combined African rhythms, blues, and ragtime
UNIA – universal negro improvement association; founded by marcus garvey to end racism through seperation of races
NAACP – National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded in 1909 to abolish segregation and discrimination, to oppose racism and to gain civil rights for African Americans, got Supreme Court to declare grandfather clause unconstitutional
KKK–
1920s brought its rebirth; received supporters from across the country; members targeted not only African Americans, but Catholics, immigrants, and Jews with physical intimidation
100% Americanism – The end of WWI brought about this movement which celebrated all this American and attacked all ideas and people it viewed as foreign or anti American. People were afraid that immigrant ideologies would lure Americans into radically revolting against the government.(KKK)
Rosewood – A racially motivated massacre of several African Americans in a Florida town in 1923 that ignited as a result of a rumor that a black man had assaulted a white woman
Seminole Indians – This native American tribe was living in Spanish Florida in 1817, when it launched a series of raids into the U.S. President J. Q. Adams ordered Andrew Jackson, whose troops were on the U.S./Florida border, to seize Spanish forts in northern Florida. Jackson’s successful attacks convinced the Spanish that they could not defend Florida against the U.S.
Demobilization – The transition process during which a nation at war returns to a state of peace