The Roaring Twenties – Social Science Practice Flashcards

A set of practice flashcards covering key figures, events, laws, and cultural shifts of the Roaring Twenties as presented in the 2025–2026 Social Science Resource Guide.

What was Woodrow Wilson's postwar peace plan that promoted self-determination and led to the creation of the League of Nations?

The Fourteen Points (and the Covenant creating the League of Nations).

Which treaty ended World War I and imposed heavy penalties on Germany, while shaping the postwar order discussed at Versailles?

The Treaty of Versailles (Versailles Peace Treaty, 1919).

What act, paired with the Eighteenth Amendment, enforced Prohibition by providing the mechanism to do so?

Volstead Act.

Which amendment formally banned the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcoholic beverages in the United States?

Eighteenth Amendment.

Which amendment granted women the right to vote in 1920?

Nineteenth Amendment.

Which Supreme Court case established the 'clear and present danger' test for free speech during wartime?

Schenck v. United States (1919).

Which Supreme Court case held that Takao Ozawa could not be naturalized as 'white' due to racial definitions used at the time?

Ozawa v. United States (1922).

Which Supreme Court case ruled that Bhagat Singh Thind could not be naturalized as a citizen because he was not considered white?

United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923).

What international conference produced naval arms control treaties, including a 5:5:3 ratio for capital ships?

The Washington Naval Conference (Five-Power Treaty).

Who led the Bureau of Investigation before it became the FBI and orchestrated early anti-radical campaigns?

J. Edgar Hoover.

What perilous migration saw over a million African Americans move from the rural South to northern cities between 1915 and 1920?

The Great Migration.

Which mass organization did Marcus Garvey found that promoted Black nationalism and independence (UNIA)?

Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).

What Harlem-based cultural movement celebrated African-American artistic, literary, and musical achievements in the 1920s?

The Harlem Renaissance (New Negro Movement).

What term describes the wave of racial violence in 1919 across U.S. cities, often called the Red Summer?

Red Summer (1919).

What industrial system did Henry Ford popularize that used assembly lines and mass production to drive down costs?

Fordism.

What term describes corporate strategies—such as higher wages and company unions—used to foster worker loyalty and blunt unionism?

Welfare capitalism.

Which Ford model, introduced in 1927, signaled a comeback after the Model T?

Model A.

What practice allowed many Americans to buy cars and household goods on credit during the 1920s?

Installment buying (credit).

Which 1930 tariff raised duties and sparked retaliatory tariffs that deepened the Depression?

Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act.

What plan (1924) restructured German reparations and linked European debt to American credit?

The Dawes Plan.

What major stock market event in 1929 signaled the onset of the Great Depression (often called Black Tuesday)?

The Stock Market Crash of 1929.

Which 1927 film introduced synchronized sound to cinema, ushering in the era of 'talkies'?

The Jazz Singer.

Which 1924 immigration law restricted entry by national origin and banned immigration from Asia?

Johnson-Reed Immigration Act (National Origins Act).

What scandal involved the secret leasing of U.S. Navy oil reserves at Teapot Dome?

Teapot Dome Scandal.

What environmental disaster displaced thousands of farmers from the Dust Bowl era, driving many to California?

The Dust Bowl (Okies migration).

Which 1925 Dayton trial debated the legality of teaching Darwin's theory of evolution in public schools?

Scopes Monkey Trial.

Which iconic jazz trumpeter helped popularize the genre in Chicago and worldwide in the 1920s?

Louis Armstrong.

What term describes the generation of American writers who lived and wrote in Paris during the 1920s, including Hemingway and Fitzgerald?

The Lost Generation.

Which 1928 treaty pledged many nations to renounce war as an instrument of policy?

Kellogg-Briand Pact.

Which 1927 Supreme Court case upheld Virginia's involuntary sterilization law, infamously asserting 'Three generations of imbeciles are enough'?

Buck v. Bell (1927).

What 1927 law established federal radio regulation and created the Federal Radio Commission, earning the nickname 'Constitution of the Air'?

Federal Radio Act of 1927 (Radio Act).

Which famous Chicago gangster became a symbol of Prohibition-era crime and was later convicted for tax evasion?

Al Capone.

What major demographic and cultural shift did Louis Armstrong and the jazz movement help spread globally in the 1920s?

Jazz—its global spread from New Orleans to Chicago, the U.S., and Europe.

Which 1925 cultural wave in Paris, led by expatriates like Hemingway and Fitzgerald, shaped modernist literature?

The Lost Generation in Paris (modernist expatriates).

Which 1928 treaty by many nations renounced war as a national policy and sought peaceful means instead?

Kellogg-Briand Pact.

Which 1927-1928 court decision and related policy reinforced eugenics-based arguments and restricted citizenship based on race (Buck v. Bell is in this family of cases)?

Buck v. Bell (1927) and related eugenics jurisprudence.

What 1927 act reformed U.S. radio regulation by prioritizing public interest and creating the regulatory framework for licensing and frequencies?

Federal Radio Act of 1927 (Constitution of the Air).