Vocabulary

“Lost Generation”

Term for American writers of the 1920’s marked by disillusion with World War 1 and a search for a new sense of meaning. Disappointed with the world 

consumer-oriented economy

Economy that focuses on making and selling goods like cars, radios

Jazz Age

Named by F. Scott. Fitzgerald, jazz symbolized the decade’s spirit of liberation

flapper

Young woman from the 1920s who defied traditional rules of conduct and dress

Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact

1928 agreement in which many nations agreed to outlaw(ban) war

Washington Naval Treaty

Was signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction.

Prohibition

The forbidding by law of the manufacture, transport, and sale of alcohol

Twenty-first Amendment

ends prohibition

Scopes Trial

1925 trial of a Tennessee school teacher for breaking a law that forbade teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution 

Immigration Act of 1924 (Quota Acts of 1920)

1. Limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota

   1. Red Scare

   2. Xenophobia

   3. Nativism 

Harlem Renaissance

Period during the 1920s in which African American novelists, poets, and artists celebrated their culture 

NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)

Interracial organization founded in 1909 to abolish segregation and discrimination and to achieve political and civil rights for African Americans (W.E.B. DuBois, Ida Tarbell)

Black Nationalism

a political and social movement that advocates for Black people's rights and self-determination

Back to Africa

a political movement that encouraged African Americans to return to Africa

Lynching

to execute someone illegally, by hanging, burning, or other means 

Pan-Africanism

a nationalist movement advocating for the unity and solidarity of people of African descent

on margin

term used to describe the practice of purchasing stocks by borrowing money from a broker

Great Stock Market Crash

a swift and drastic drop in the value of the stock market, erasing billions in wealth, and starting a severe, global economic decline.

Great Depression

Period of economic hard times from 1929 to 1941, economic crisis, people lost jobs, poverty

Hoovervilles

shanty towns built during the Great Depression by the homeless in the United States.

Dust Bowl

The drought-affected south central United States in the aftermath of horrific dust storms. People moved west

Bonus Army

a gathering of World War I veterans in Washington, D.C. for the bonuses they were promised

New Deal

Name given to the programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Court Packing

Franklin Roosevelt’s 1937 plan to add justices to the Supreme Court

Warren G. Harding

Wanted things to return to normal after WW1 (laissez faire, removing progressive ideals)

Calvin Coolidge

1920 president-pro business

Henry Ford

Made history with automobiles

W.E.B. DuBois

Founded NAACP

Langston Hughes

poet, harlem renaissance

Edward K. “Duke” Ellington

One of the originators of big-band jazz 

Marcus Garvey

leader of the Pan-Africanism movement

Herbert Hoover

President during the great depression-didn’t do enough

Franklin D. Roosevelt

New Deal-help americans during great depression