Key Terms and Figures from the 1920s to 1930s

18th Amendment

banned alcohol

19th Amendment

women's suffrage

21st Amendment

repealed the 18th

AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Act)

offered farmers subsidies in exchange for limiting their production of certain crops.

Black Tuesday

October 29, 1929. On this date, share prices on the New York Stock Exchange completely collapsed, becoming a pivotal factor in the emergence of the Great Depression.

Bonus Army

The Bonus Army in U.S. history was a gathering of World War I veterans in Washington, D.C. They marched to Washington, D.C. to try to persuade the government to issue the bonuses that they were promised for fighting in WWI early, rather than in 1945.

Bootleggers

the illegal manufacture, transport, distribution, or sale of alcoholic beverages during the Prohibition period

CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps)

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), established by Congress on March 31, 1933, provided jobs for young, unemployed men during the Great Depression

Dust Bowl

an area of land where vegetation has been lost and soil reduced to dust and eroded, especially as a consequence of drought or unsuitable farming practice.

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would invalidate many state and federal laws that discriminate against women

FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)

is an independent agency created by the Congress to maintain stability and public confidence in the nation's financial system by: insuring deposits; examining and supervising financial institutions for safety and soundness and consumer protection;

Fireside chats

The fireside chats were a series of evening radio addresses given by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, between 1933 and 1944.

First Hundred Days

First hundred days (alternatively written first 100 days) often refers to the beginning of a leading politician's term in office, and may refer to: First 100 days of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency.

Flapper

young woman known for wearing short dresses and bobbed hair and for

Great Depression

Great Depression, worldwide economic downturn that began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939. It was the longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world, sparking fundamental changes in economic institutions, macroeconomic policy, and economic theory.

Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was a period of rich cross-disciplinary artistic and cultural activity among African Americans between the end of World War I (1917) and the onset of the Great Depression and lead up to World War II (the 1930s).

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

Ku Klux Klan, either of two distinct U.S. hate organizations that employed terror in pursuit of their white supremacist agenda.

National Origins Act

The Immigration Act of 1924 limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota. The quota provided immigration visas to two percent of the total number of people of each nationality in the United States as of the 1890 national census.

New Deal

The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938.

New Negro Movement

promoted a renewed sense of racial pride, cultural self-expression, economic independence, and progressive politics.

Okies

a term for those who migrated from the American Southwest (primarily from Oklahoma) to California.

Prohibition

prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages.

Red Scare

A Red Scare is a form of moral panic provoked by fear of the rise, supposed or real, of leftist ideologies in a society, especially communism.

Red Summer

a period in mid-1919 during which white supremacist terrorism and racial riots occurred in more than three dozen cities across the United States, and in one rural county in Arkansas.

return to normalcy

"Return to normalcy" was a campaign slogan used by Warren G. Harding during the 1920 United States presidential election. Harding won the election with 60.4% of the popular vote.

Roaring Twenties

Roaring Twenties, colloquial term for the 1920s, especially within the United States and other Western countries where the decade was characterized by economic prosperity, rapid social and cultural change, and a mood of exuberant optimism.

Sacco and Vanzetti Trial

Sacco and Vanzetti were two Italian immigrants convicted for a crime with very little evidence. Their guilty verdict reflected the anti-immigrant and anti-radical attitude of American citizens, being sentenced to death only because they were anarchists & of the Italian origin.

Scopes Trial

The Scopes "monkey trial" was the prosecution of high school teacher John T. Scopes for violating the state's Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of evolution in public schools.

Shantytowns (or "Hoovervilles")

A Hooverville was a shanty town built during the Great Depression by the homeless in the United States, named after Herbert Hoover, who was widely blamed for the Depression.

Social Security Act

An act to provide for the general welfare by establishing a system of Federal old-age benefits, and by enabling the several States to make more adequate provision for aged persons, blind persons, dependent and crippled children, maternal and child welfare, public health, and the administration of their unemployment.

Stock Market Crash

The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash or the Crash of '29, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929.

Teapot Dome Scandal

The investigation uncovered Secretary Fall's shady dealings, leading to Fall being the first former cabinet officer to go to prison, and triggered several court cases testing the extent of the Senate's investigative powers.

The New Woman

Referring both to real, flesh-and-blood women, and also to an abstract idea or a visual archetype, the New Woman represented a generation of women who came of age between 1890 and 1920 and challenged gender norms and structures by asserting a new public presence through work, education, entertainment, and politics.

TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority)

President Roosevelt signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act on May 18, 1933, creating the TVA as a federal corporation. The new agency was asked to tackle important problems facing the valley, such as flooding, providing electricity to homes and businesses, and replanting forests.

Volstead Act

The National Prohibition Act, better known as the Volstead Act, defined an intoxicating beverage as anything that contained more than one half of one percent alcohol.

WPA (Works Progress Administration)

For an average salary of $41.57 a month, WPA employees built bridges, roads, public buildings, public parks and airports.

Al Capone

In the 'roaring twenties,' Al Capone ruled an empire of crime in the Windy City: gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, bribery, narcotics trafficking, robbery.

Andrew Mellon

Mellon's financial backing led to the creation of the Aluminum Company of America and the Gulf Oil Company.

Babe Ruth

Baseball player.

Charles Lindbergh

Military officer.

Clarence Darrow

Argued before the Supreme Court that the government's conspiracy and treason laws were unconstitutional violations of the First Amendment.

Duke Ellington

Jazz pianist.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Former first lady of the United States.

Frances Perkins

Former US Secretary of Labor.

Huey Long

Known as 'the kingfish.'

Jack Dempsey

Boxer.

John Maynard Keynes

Keynesian economics gets its name, theories, and principles from British economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946), who is regarded as the founder of modern macroeconomics. His most famous work, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, was published in 1936.

Langston Hughes

US poet.

Marcus Garvey

Jamaican activist.

Margaret Sanger

Starting in the 1910s, Sanger actively challenged federal and state Comstock laws to bring birth control information and contraceptive devices to women. Her fervent ambition was to find the perfect contraceptive to relieve women from the horrible strain of repeated, unwanted pregnancies.

Red Grange

Football player.

William Jennings Bryan

Democratic candidate in 1896 that advocated in free silver movement, farming interests and improved conditions for the urban working class. He gained immense support of the populist party after his famous 'Cross of gold speech.'

#29 - Warren G. Harding

Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 - August 2, 1923) was an American politician who served as the 29th president of the United States from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents.

#30 - Calvin Coolidge

He signed into law the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, which granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans, and oversaw a period of rapid and expansive economic growth known as the 'Roaring Twenties', leaving office with considerable popularity.

#31 - Herbert Hoover

July 1932. July 21 - Hoover signs the Emergency Relief and Construction Act into law. July 21 - Hoover signs the Emergency Relief and Construction Act into law. July 22 - Hoover signs the Federal Home Loan Bank Act into law. July 28 - Hoover orders the United States Army to clear Bonus Army protestors from Washington, D.C.

#32 - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Roosevelt won a third term by defeating Republican nominee Wendell Willkie in the 1940 United States presidential election. He remains the only president to serve for more than two terms.