1920s United States History: Society, Culture, and Organized Crime

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering key social, economic, cultural, and political developments in 1920s America as detailed in the lecture slides.

Limits of Prosperity

An economic situation in the 1920s where corporate profits grew twice as fast as wages, 40% of Americans lived in poverty, and most families had zero savings.

Rural Economic Depression

An economic downturn in rural America following World War I caused by falling crop prices, leading many farmers to lose their debt-ridden farms and causing the total number of U.S. farms to decrease for the first time.

Sheppherd-Towner Act

A federal act ended by Congress that had previously provided healthcare assistance to mothers and babies.

Equal Rights Act (ERA)

A proposed law championed by Alice Paul to ensure men and women shared the same legal rights, which failed due to concerns from women's groups that it would remove special workplace protections.

Flapper

A young, single woman in the 1920s who embraced short hair, short skirts, smoking, dancing, and birth control to express personal independence.

Ku Klux Klan (1920s Expansion)

A nationwide hate group that grew to 3 million members across the U.S. and targeted Black Americans, immigrants, Catholics, Jews, feminists, and labor unions.

Immigration Law of 1924

Federal legislation that restricted U.S. entry for immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, banned Asian immigration, and led to the establishment of the Border Patrol.

Native American Citizenship (1924)

A 1924 government decision granting U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans, which received mixed support due to concerns over weakening tribal independence.

The Great Migration

The movement of approximately 1 million Black Americans from the South to Northern cities in pursuit of better jobs and economic opportunities.

Harlem Renaissance

A Black cultural, artistic, and literary movement centered in Harlem, New York, which produced famous figures such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston.

The "New Negro"

A concept embraced by Black writers and artists during the Harlem Renaissance that rejected racist stereotypes and celebrated Black pride, African culture, and Black life.

The Cotton Club

A famous Harlem nightclub featuring Black performers like Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Louis Armstrong, which admitted only white customers and presented racist jungle and plantation themes.

18th Amendment

The constitutional amendment that banned alcohol in the United States, spurring a large illegal market and empowering organized crime.

Speakeasies

Hidden, illegal bars and clubs that became extremely popular during Prohibition.

Bootlegger

A person who illegally manufactured, transported, or sold alcohol during the Prohibition era.

The Five Families

Five major Italian-American crime families in New York, organized with the help of Lucky Luciano, involved in illegal alcohol, gambling, and other illicit businesses.

Al Capone

A famous Chicago gangster who controlled illegal alcohol, gambling, and prostitution through bribery and violence before being convicted of tax evasion in 1931.

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

A February 14, 1929 incident in which seven Chicago gang members were killed by rival gang members dressed as police officers, ordered by Al Capone to eliminate rival Bugs Moran.