Social Movements and Cultural Changes in Early 20th Century America

Flashcards covering key concepts and vocabulary from social reforms, economic changes, cultural movements, and notable individuals in early 20th century America.

Florence Kelley

A social reformer who fought for child labor laws, better working conditions, and minimum wage protections for women.

Temperance Movement

A reform movement aimed at reducing or banning alcohol consumption to address social problems like poverty and domestic violence.

Margaret Sanger

An activist who promoted birth control and founded organizations that later became Planned Parenthood.

Ida B. Wells

A journalist and civil rights activist who led anti-lynching campaigns and fought for racial and gender equality.

Susan B. Anthony

A leader of the women’s suffrage movement who worked for decades to secure women the right to vote.

Carrie Chapman Catt

The president of NAWSA who helped organize a successful national campaign for women’s suffrage.

NAWSA (National American Woman Suffrage Association)

An organization that used state-by-state strategies and lobbying to gain voting rights for women.

Alice Paul

A suffrage leader who used protests, marches, and civil disobedience to push for a constitutional amendment.

NWP (National Woman’s Party)

A more radical suffrage group led by Alice Paul that demanded immediate voting rights for women.

19th Amendment

A constitutional amendment ratified in 1920 granting women the right to vote.

Inflation

A rise in prices that reduces the purchasing power of money.

Creditor Nation

A country that lends more money to others than it borrows; after WWI, the U.S. became one.

Henry Ford

An industrialist who revolutionized car production and made automobiles affordable for average Americans.

Mass Production

Manufacturing large quantities of goods quickly and cheaply using machinery and standardized parts.

Model T

An affordable car produced by Ford that expanded car ownership and changed American life.

Scientific Management

A system developed by Frederick Taylor to improve efficiency by breaking jobs into simple tasks.

Assembly Lines

A production method where workers perform one task repeatedly as products move along a conveyor.

Consumer Revolution

A shift toward buying more goods, often on credit, driven by advertising and mass production.

Installment Buying

Purchasing goods with a small down payment and paying the rest over time.

Bull Market

A period of rising stock prices and investor optimism.

Buying on Margin

Purchasing stocks by paying only part of the cost and borrowing the rest (high-risk).

Modernism

A cultural movement embracing new ideas, science, and artistic experimentation.

Fundamentalism

A religious belief system that stressed strict adherence to traditional Christian teachings.

Scopes Trial

A 1925 trial debating the teaching of evolution in schools, symbolizing science vs. religion.

Clarence Darrow

Defense attorney in the Scopes Trial who argued for academic freedom and evolution.

William Jennings Bryan

Prosecutor in the Scopes Trial who defended religious fundamentalism.

Red Scare

A fear of communism and radical political movements after WWI.

Palmer Raids

Government raids that targeted suspected radicals and immigrants.

Nicola Sacco & Bartolomeo Vanzetti

Italian immigrants controversially executed amid anti-immigrant and anti-radical hysteria.

Eugenics

Pseudoscientific belief that human traits should be controlled through selective reproduction.

Quota System

Immigration limits that favored northern Europeans and restricted others.

KKK (Ku Klux Klan)

A white supremacist group promoting racism, nativism, and religious intolerance.

Prohibition

A nationwide ban on alcohol intended to reduce crime and social problems.

18th Amendment

An amendment that made alcohol illegal in the United States.

Volstead Act

A law that enforced Prohibition and defined illegal alcohol.

Bootleggers

People who illegally produced, sold, or transported alcohol.

Charlie Chaplin

A silent film star whose movies reflected humor and social criticism.

The Jazz Singer

The first major 'talking' movie, marking a turning point in film history.

Babe Ruth

A baseball legend whose fame symbolized the rise of sports celebrities.

Charles Lindbergh

An aviator who completed the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight.

Flapper

A young woman who challenged traditional gender norms through fashion and behavior.

Sigmund Freud

A psychologist whose ideas emphasized unconscious desires and influenced modern culture.

Marcus Garvey

A black nationalist leader who promoted racial pride and economic independence.

Jazz

A music genre rooted in African American culture emphasizing improvisation and rhythm.

Louis Armstrong

An influential jazz musician known for his trumpet playing and vocal style.

Bessie Smith

A famous blues singer who expressed African American experiences through music.

Harlem Renaissance

A cultural movement celebrating Black art, literature, and identity in the 1920s.

Claude McKay

A poet whose work addressed racial injustice and Black pride.

Langston Hughes

A writer and poet who portrayed everyday African American life and culture.

Zora Neale Hurston

An author who highlighted Black folklore and Southern Black communities.