Roaring 20's Study Guide (answer with definition and shuffle!)

Which US President promised a “Return to Normalcy” in the 1920 Election?

Warren G. Harding

What policies did Warren G. Harding promote?

No social change

Return to isolationism

Reversal to inclusive government policies

Restrictions on immigration and civil rights issues

How did Warren G. Harding’s cabinet perform?

Strengthened pro-business economies, but was extremely corrupt. It was defined by a massive scandal, the Teapot Dome Scandal

What was the Teapot Dome Scandal?

Albert Fall leased naval oil reserves to private companies for personal gain, making him the first cabinet member imprisoned

What were the Palmer Raids?

After a bomb went off in front of his house, Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer sought out radicals (communists, socialists, anarchists, etc.) violently — violating civil rights in the process

What groups did A. Mitchell Palmer target in the Palmer Raids?

Foreign-born radicals

What is Nativism?

Hostility towards immigrants, preferring U.S.-born people over foreign-born people.

Which action is a prominent example of nativism in U.S. history?

The Chinese Exclusion Act

What groups promoted Nativism?

The KKK, Congress, The CA Working Man Party, and some members of the Supreme Court

Who are Sacco and Vanzetti?

Italian-born anarchists convicted and executed (1927) for a 1920 Massachusetts robbery and murder, despite flimsy evidence.

Why was the Sacco and Vanzetti trial important?

They were most likely targeted because of their political beliefs and their immigrant status, rather than actual evidence. Their case is a key example of 1920s nativism, Red Scare hysteria, and anti-immigrant sentiment, highlighting prejudice in the justice system

What were the causes of the Tulsa Race Massacre?

A young boy, who was a Black shoe shiner, entered an elevator and likely tripped onto/stepped on the shoe of a young white girl. Eventually, word got out that a black boy had “assaulted” the girl, and a lynch mob began to organize. The black men in Tulsa, who were previous WW1 soldiers, organized to protect the boy.

What was the aftermath of the Tulsa Race Massacre?

3 days of violence overtook the town — 300+ black people were killed and the area was burned down. Many people fled and never returned.

What made the Model-T Ford unique?

It was built using the assembly line

How did the Model-T Ford influence the US economy in the 1920s?

Revolutionized transportation, encouraged productivity, and stimulated a range of other industries: gas, oil, construction, glass, steel, rubber, service stations, etc

How did the Model-T Ford influence social change?

Young people could escape parental supervision, and travelers could now be tourists

Why was the aviator Charles Lindbergh famous?

Made the 1st trans-Atlantic flight (New York City to Paris”

“Lucky Lindy” was brought back to NYC in Grand Style - aboard an ocean liner - before receiving an enormous parade

When did the Prohibition go into effect?

January 17, 1920

What law was used to enforce Prohibition?

Volstead Act

Was Prohibition enforced well?

Not really, if you had alcohol, you could still drink it. Also, after WW1 ended, the urgency of the restriction resided. There were also Black Market moonshiners and rumrunners.

Which amendment gave women the right to vote in the US?

19th Amendment

How did women’s suffrage change the US?

There was a huge social change in the nation, but politics weren’t changed much at all. Many women voted the same as their husbands.

What were Flappers?

Independent women who defied gender roles. They refused chaperones, lived alone or with other women in big cities, worked for themselves, spend their own money, smoked, drank, danced, etc. They dressed “provocatively” by showing elbows and shoulders, and they cut their hair short into bobs.

What clothing item did Flappers invent?

Mini skirts

What was the nation’s first radio station?

KDKA, Pittsburgh

What did the first broadcast of the KDKA do?

Shared the electoral college votes of the 1920 election

How was the KDKA radio paid?

They communicated, entertained, and raised advertising revenue

What was the Great Migration?

Movement of African American people from rural communities to large urban cities in the North. They went from agricultural to industrial lifestyles.

When did the Great Migration begin and end?

Early 20th century to the 1970’s

How were the lives of African American men and women improved during the Great Migration?

They could escape some of Jim Crow and make more money. (There were still limits)

Identify Marcus Garvey

A black man born in Jamaica who then immigrated to the United States. He led the biggest black separatist movement in US History

What did Marcus Garvey argue for in his “Back to Africa” movement?

Argued that African American people shouldn’t see themselves as a minority, but as a a global majority of people of color. They must exercise self-reliance and support other black business owners. He encouraged emigration and bought the ship “The Black Star” and sold tickets to potential emigrees.

What happened to Marcus Garvey when the government intervened?

He was charged with mail fraud and eventually deported. He would never be allowed to return to the United States.

What was the Harlem Renaissance?

A period when black literature and art bloomed in New York City. It celebrated black lifestyles and portrayed both joy and difficulties of the community

Who were some of the most important leaders of the Harlem Renaissance?

All of the choices

What makes Jazz music unique as a musical form?

1st distinct American art form to blend with African traditions (rhythm) and European harmonic structure

Who were some of the most accomplished and popular jazz musicians of the 1920s?

Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington

Who was Jazz loved by in the 1920s?

Everyone! It was just heavily segregated. For example, Harlem’s Cotton Club banned black guests — even though the performers themselves were black

Which American authors were considered members of the Lost Generation?

Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos

What (technically who) was the “Lost Generation?”

White American authors who were overlooked during the period

What did Ernest Hemingway write?

“A Farewell to Arms” - talked about his experience as an ambulance driver in Italy during WW1

What did John Dos Passos do in his writing?

Criticized excessive capitalism and the corruption of powerful leaders

What was the landmark case between freedom of expression vs. religion?

Scopes Monkey Trial

Who was John Scopes?

A science teacher in Tennessee who was arrested for teaching Darwinism (evolution) to students — a practice banned in Tennessee by the Butler Act

Who opposed / fought against John Scopes in the Scopes Monkey Trial?

William Jennings Bryan, a Christian fundamentalist and former Secretary of State

Who defended John Scopes in the Scopes Monkey Trial?

Clarence Darrow (famous attorney) volunteered to defend Scopes

What was the result of the Scopes Monkey Trial?

Scopes was convicted; yet those who heard the trial supported Clarence Darrow’s arguments, which doubted the Book of Genesis

What was the name of Charles Lindbergh’s plane?

The Spirit of St. Louis

He was the founder and leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association

Marcus Garvey

Who founded the Back to Africa Movement?

Marcus Garvey

He used the assembly line to mass produce automobiles. His most famous model, made on the line, came in “any color you like, as long as it’s black.”

Henry Ford

F. Scott Fitzgerald was also considered apart of this literary movement

The Lost Generation

These laws introduced a quota system to US immigration laws, and the number of immigrants allowed into the country was greatly reduced. The new laws favored immigration from Western Europe over all other counties

Immigration Acts of the 1920s

What happened when William Jennings Bryan took the witness stand to defend the Bible?

Clarence Darrow subjected him to a brutal cross-examination, questioning Bryan for over an hour regarding the literal interpretation of biblical stories. Under questioning, Bryan admitted that the Bible should not always be interpreted literally, suggesting that the "days" of creation might have been longer geological periods. Darrow successfully made Bryan appear ignorant of modern science and inconsistent in his beliefs, causing many observers to consider it a public humiliation for Bryan.

She was one of the most well-known advocates of Prohibition and a member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Eventually, the 18th Amendment was passed banning the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol in America.

Carry Nation

He was a well-known bootlegger, moonshiner, rumrunner, and gangster, who sold alcohol illegally during Prohibition in Chicago.

Al Capone

The inventors of the airplane, December 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, NC was their first flight.

The Wright Brothers

She was the first woman to complete a transcontinental flight; later, her plane would be lost over the Pacific Ocean and she is presumed dead.

Amelia Earhart

This Italian was the inventor of the radio, which revolutionized communication in the United States of America.

Guglielmo Marconi

She was the leader of the Woman’s Suffrage Movement in America and led the way to the passage of the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote.  Unfortunately, she did not live to see her movement achieve its victory in 1920.

Susan B. Anthony

This president died in office in 1923 from a stroke

Warren G. Harding

This “Silent” president was a believer in isolationism and laissez-faire economics. He stated, “The business of the American people is BUSINESS!”

Calvin Coolidge

This New Orleans cornet-playing jazz superstar, nicknamed “Satchmo” is credited with “inventing” jazz. He was world famous for both his playing and his singing.

Louis Armstrong

Who wrote “The Great Gatsby”?

F. Scott Fitzgerald

She was a melancholy jazz-blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s.

Bessie Smith

He invented the light-bulb and the motion-picture machine, among other things. These inventions changed people’s lives in the 1920s, since electrification changed how American lived, worked, and entertained themselves

Thomas Edison

His poetry was considered “representative” of the Harlem Renaissance. By the end of his life, he had served as a poet, playwright, novelist, columnist, and social advocate.

Langston Hughes

This conductor was a major innovator in jazz music during the 1920s and “swing music” of the mid-20th Century. He was the first African-American to play Carnegie Hall.

Duke Ellington

He was an African-American labor union leader (The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters) who rose to prominence in the 1920s and led the Civil Rights Movement.

Asa Philip Randolph

This African American artist of the 1930 and 1940s used The Great Migration – movement of African-Americans from Southern communities to Northern cities during and immediately after World War I – as one of his central themes.

Jacob Lawrence