Key terms

Scientific Management

A system of industrial management created by Frederick W. Taylor in the early twentieth century, focusing on stopwatch efficiency to enhance factory performance.

Fordism

An assembly-line manufacturing system named after Henry Ford, known for mass production techniques, particularly with the Model T car.

Bolshevik Revolution

The November 1917 event where Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik party seized power in Russia, establishing a communist state.

United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)

A black nationalist organization founded by Marcus Garvey in 1914 to promote African American resettlement to Africa and stimulate a separate black economy.

Criminal Syndicalism Laws

Laws passed during the red scare that outlawed advocacy of violence for social change, targeting groups like the IWW.

Red Scare

A period of intense anticommunism marked by the Palmer raids, resulting in thousands of deportations of suspected subversives.

American Plan

A 1920s business approach to worker relations aimed at defeating unionization by enhancing communication and offering benefits while promoting an "open shop."

Immigration Act of 1924

Legislation that established immigration quotas, sharply reducing immigration from southern and eastern Europe and excluding Asian immigrants.

Indian Citizenship Act of 1924

Law granting citizenship to American Indians born in U.S. territory, but not extending voting rights until 1962.

Bible Belt

A region in the American South known for strong Protestant Fundamentalism and literal interpretation of the Bible.

Scopes Trial

A 1925 court case in Tennessee debating the teaching of evolution in public schools, highlighting the conflict between fundamentalists and modernists.

Fundamentalism

A Protestant movement emphasizing the literal truth of the Bible and opposing religious modernism, particularly strong in the Baptist Church.

Modernism

An artistic and cultural movement that rejected Victorian standards, embracing change, uncertainty, and fragmentation in various art forms.

Lost Generation

A group of expatriate American artists and writers, including Hemingway and Fitzgerald, who found inspiration in post–World War I Europe.

Harlem Renaissance

A cultural movement in the 1920s centered in Harlem, celebrating black culture and advocating for a "New Negro" in American life.

Bureau of the Budget

An agency created in 1921 to oversee the federal budget and enforce fiscal discipline, later replaced by the Office of Management and Budget.

Adkins v

A Supreme Court decision that reversed protections for women in the workplace established in Muller v. Oregon.

Nine-Power Treaty

An agreement from the Washington Disarmament Conference pledging nations to uphold the Open Door policy in China.

Kellogg-Briand Pact

A 1928 agreement linking sixty-two nations in the "outlawry of war," reflecting the peace movement of the 1920s.

Fordney-McCumber Tariff Law

A bill aimed at protecting domestic production by increasing trade barriers against foreign competitors.

Teapot Dome Scandal

A corruption scandal involving the illegal leasing of naval oil reserves during President Harding's administration.

McNary-Haugen Bill

A farm-relief bill aimed at maintaining agricultural prices by government purchasing of surpluses, vetoed by President Coolidge.

Agricultural Marketing Act

Legislation establishing the Federal Farm Board to assist farmers and stabilize prices, struggling during the Great Depression.

Hawley-Smoot Tariff

The highest protective tariff in U.S. history, seen as economic warfare by other nations.

Black Tuesday

The catastrophic day on October 29, 1929, when a massive stock sell-off triggered the Great Depression.

Hoovervilles

Shantytowns for the impoverished during the Great Depression, named sarcastically after President Hoover.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)

A government agency created under Hoover to lend support to banks and businesses during the Great Depression.

Norris–La Guardia Anti-Injunction Act

A law banning antiunion contracts and preventing federal courts from issuing injunctions against strikes and boycotts.

Bonus Expeditionary Force (BEF)

A group of World War I veterans who marched on Washington demanding immediate payment of bonuses, forcibly dispersed by General MacArthur.