Great Depression and WWII Lecture Review

These vocabulary flashcards cover the key causes, effects, and programs of the Great Depression, social movements and racial tensions of the early 20th century, and major events and policies of World War II based on the lecture notes.

Overproduction

A cause of the Great Depression where factories and farms made more goods than people could buy, leading to layoffs and low crop prices.

Buying on margin

Buying stocks with borrowed money, which contributed to the stock market crash.

Stock market speculation

People taking big risks by buying stocks in the hope that prices would rise.

Black Tuesday

October 29, 1929; the day stock prices collapsed suddenly, helping to start the Great Depression.

Hoovervilles

Homeless camps that appeared across the country as families struggled with poverty and unemployment.

Relief

Immediate assistance designed to aid suffering Americans and the unemployed.

Recovery

Economic help aimed at putting people back to work and helping businesses and the economy improve through federal spending.

Reform

Implementing laws and regulatory legislation to prevent future depressions and provide long-term fixes for the economy.

CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps)

An alphabet agency that employed people for seasonal environmental projects, such as planting trees.

AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Administration)

A program where the government paid farmers to reduce production in order to allow crop prices to rise.

WPA (Works Progress Administration)

An agency that created jobs by building new hospitals, schools, airports, and playgrounds.

Social Security Act

Legislation that provided pensions to the elderly to retire, which helped create more job openings for others.

FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)

An agency that insured bank deposits, ensuring the government would pay you back if a bank closed.

SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)

A watchdog for the stock market designed to eliminate fraud.

Mexican Deportations of the 1930s

The unconstitutional removal of around 1.8 million people, including U.S. citizens, violating the 14th Amendment’s due process and the 4th Amendment.

Watsonville

The 1930 site of anti-Filipino race riots against farmworkers in California caused by racism and job competition.

Tulsa Race Massacre

A 1921 event in Oklahoma where white mobs destroyed a successful Black community called Greenwood, also known as Black Wall Street.

Great Migration

The movement of millions of African Americans from the South to Northern and Western cities to escape Jim Crow laws and find jobs.

Harlem Renaissance

An African American cultural movement in Harlem, NYC, that celebrated Black identity through music, literature, and art.

Dust Bowl

An environmental disaster caused by drought and poor land management in the Great Plains, leading to "Black blizzards" and the westward migration of farmers to California.

Axis Powers

The WWII alliance consisting of Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Allied Powers

The WWII alliance consisting of the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union (USSR), and France.

Fascism

A highly conservative government system involving a strong dictator and extreme nationalism that prioritizes the nation above the individual.

Isolationism

The policy favored by many Americans after WWI to avoid involvement in foreign wars.

Appeasement

The policy of giving aggressive countries what they want to avoid conflict, such as when Britain and France allowed Hitler to take the Sudetenland.

Invasion of Poland

The 1939 event that started World War II when Germany and the Soviet Union invaded from different sides.

Cash and carry

A 1939 policy that allowed Allied nations to buy U.S. weapons if they paid in cash and provided their own transportation.

Lend lease

A 1941 program that allowed the U.S. to lend weapons and supplies to Allied nations for later payment.

Blitzkrieg

Meaning "Lightning War," a fast German military tactic using planes, tanks, and soldiers together to overwhelm enemies quickly.

Pervitin

A drug used by the German military as a secret weapon to keep soldiers awake, active, and less empathetic during war.

Pearl Harbor

The U.S. naval base in Hawaii attacked by Japan on December 7, 1941, leading the U.S. to enter WWII.

Internment camps

Camps where Japanese Americans, many of whom were U.S. citizens, were forced to live during WWII due to fear and suspicion.

Zoot Suit Riots

1942 racial violence in Los Angeles between U.S. servicemen and Mexican American youth who wore baggy, pleated outfits.

Holocaust

A genocide carried out by the Nazis that murdered about 6 million Jews and millions of others in concentration and death camps.

Atomic Bombs

Weapons dropped by the U.S. on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 to bring a quick end to WWII and avoid a land invasion of Japan.