The Jazz Age/1920s

US History II- Costigan

Teapot Dome

Harding administration scandal of government leasing navy oil lands to private companies

Supply-side economics

the idea that low tax rates increase government tax revenue and increase workers’ wages; “trickle-down economies”

isolationism

the idea that the US will be safer and more prosperous if it stays out of world affairs

cooperative individualism

Herbert Hoover’s philosophy of encouraging businesses to form information-sharing trade associations

Charles G. Dawes

American diplomat who negotiated the Dawes plan

Charles Evans Hughes

Early 1920’s Secretary of State who proposed the moratorium on warships at the Washington Conference

Mass Production

Large-scale manufacturing done with machinery

Assembly Line

A moving belt that divided operations into simple tasks and minimized unnecessary movement

Model T

Ford’s assembly line automobile, also called the “Tin Lizzie” or “Flivver”. It first came out in 1908

Charles Lindbergh

A former airmail pilot who made the first transatlantic solo flight in 1927

Nativism

A belief that one’s native land needs to be protected against immigrants

anarchists

people who oppose all forms of government

National Origins Act

A law that strengthened the Emergency Quota Act by lowering the amount of entering ethnic groups from 3% to 2% and made them permanent

Emergency Quota Act

An act restricting annual admission to the United States to only 3% of the total number of people in any ethnic group in the nation

Fundamentalism

A religious movement that felt that the nation was in moral decline and that the Bible must be taken literally and at face-value

Evolution

The theory that human beings had developed from lower forms of life

Creationism

The belief that God or an intelligent being created the world

Speakeasies

Secret bars where liquor was sold illegally during the Prohibition era

Ernest Hemingway

Author who wrote about “heroic antiheroes” - flawless individuals who have heroic qualities. Books: For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Farewell To Arms

F. Scott Fitzgerald

An author who wrote about colorful characters who chased futile dreams. Book: The Great Gatsby

Mass Media

Radios, movies, newspapers, and magazines aimed at a broad audience. More people had access during the 1920s

Great Migration

The move of hundreds of thousands of African Americans from the South to industrial cities in the North

Harlem Renaissance

A “flowering” of African American arts and culture, origination in the hearth of the Harlem neighborhood of NYC

Claude McKay

The first important writer of the Harlem Renaissance. Book: Harlem Shadows became a mainstream success, the first for a black writer

Langston Hughes

A prolific, original writer; a leading voice of the African American experience

Zora Neale Hurston

An important Harlem Renaissance author. Books: Jonah’s Gourd Vine, Their Eyes were watching god

Jazz

A style of music influenced by Dixieland blues, ragtime, and new orleans jazz with syncopated rhythms and improvisation

Marcus Garvey

A dynamic black leader from Jamaica who promoted “Negro Nationalism”

NAACP

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The organization that fought socially and legally for equal civil liberties for African Americans.

KKK

Ku Klux Klan. White supremacist group that was active during the 1920s. Targeted African Americans as well as Jews, Catholics, and the immigrants with lynchings and intimidation tactics

Flapper

Young women of the 1920s that behaved and dressed in a “rebellious” fashion.

Scopes Monkey Trial

1925 court case in Tennessee that focused on the issue of teaching evolution in public schools. Displayed the clash between traditional, religious values and modern values in 1920s USA.

John Scopes

Tennessee high school teacher who violated a state law by teaching evolution in 1925

Warren G. Harding

President of the US from 1921-1923. Believed in laissez-faire capitalism and a “Return to normalcy” after WWI. Harding lowered the corporate income tax rates on the highest earners in an effort to promote corporations. His administrations. His administration was marred by corruption such as the Teapot Dome scandal.

Calvin Coolidge

Became president when Harding died of pneumonia in 1923. He was known for pro-business and capitalist stances. He was a true industrialist and, like Harding, lowered income taxes for the wealthiest individuals. Believed in the government should stay our of many economic affairs, but create an environment to support big business.

Dawes Plan

A plan to revive the German economy after WWI: the US loans Germany money which then can pay reparations to England and France, who can then pay back their loans from the US. This circular flow of money was a success.

Prohibition

The period from 1920 to 1933 when the sale of alcoholic beverages was prohibited in the Unites States by a constitutional amendment

18th Amendment/Volstead Act

Prohibited the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages

19th Amendment

prohibits discrimination in voting based on sex or gender (gave women the right to vote)

21st Amendment

Repeal of the 18th Amendment (ended Prohibition)

significance of the Scopes Monkey Trial

• Traditional values vs. modern values

• religion being challenged by science in a legal setting

• Showdown with Christian fundamentalism

women’s roles after WWI

• More women in office/clerical positions (fewer in agriculture)

• Right to vote (19th Amendment, 1920)

• More social freedom (flapper)

changes for African American’s in the 20s

• Racial discrimination

• Vibrant communities emerging in northern cities

• Great Migration

• Becoming more involved in politics following WWI

pop culture in the 1920s

• Radio allowed more people to get news and entertainment. Most homes in the late 1920s had radios

• Motion became prominent and more people had money to spend to attend them

• Folk heroes arise: Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth, etc.

Economy of the 1920s

• Prosperous time for many people (not everyone)

• Americans had more money to spend on goods and appliances

• Lower tax rates for corporations and wealthy individuals

• Wages and stock prices increased

• People began buying goods on credit

Sacco and Vanzetti

In 1920 these two men were convicted of murder and robbery. They were found guilty and executed. Many argued the evidence against them was flimsy at best and were targeted due to being immigrants and having connections with anarchists.

Red Scare

Fear that communists and anarchists were working to destroy the American way of life. Influenced by propaganda and government actions against suspected communists.

Black Wall Street

Greenwood, OK: an area in Tulsa of highly successful African-American neighborhoods. A false accusation led to the destruction and burning of 35 blocks in 1921 (Tulsa Race Massacre)

Tulsa Race Massacre

Took place on May 31st and June 1st, 1921, when mobs of white residents, many of them deputized and given weapons by city officials, attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Lost Generation

A group of writers in the 1920s that shared the belief that they were lost in a greedy, materialistic world that lacked moral values and often chose to flee to Europe. Including F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.

Negro Nationalism

The idea that African Americans had a distinct and separate national heritage that should inspire pride and a sense of community while separating from the white society to provide for the needs of black people (education, political/economic power, etc)

UNIA

A Harlem-based group, led by charismatic leader Marcus Garvey, that arose in the 1920s to mobilize African American workers, business owners, and educators to champion the struggles of African American communities and promote black separatism.

Consumerism in the 1920s

Americans were fascinated with new consumer products in the 1920s (radios, cars, refrigerators, etc.) and began borrowing credit to buy these things.