Roarings 20s Vocabuluary Terms

Isolationism

A policy of remaining apart from the affairs or interests of other groups, especially the political affairs of other countries.

Communism

A political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.

Socialism

The belief that sharing ownership of the means of production equally among society would increase people's quality of life. 

Red Scare

A period during the Cold War when the American public was terrified of Communists and the spread of Communism. Reds. Another name for communists.

Palmer Raids

A series of raids conducted in November 1919 and January 1920 by the United States Department of Justice under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson to capture and arrest suspected socialists, especially anarchists and communists, and deport them from the United States.

Sacco and Vanzetti

The 1921 guilty verdicts and death sentences of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for robbery and the killing of a payroll master and his guard in South Braintree, Massachusetts, set off worldwide condemnation. Those protests and public outcries exposed the trial's biases and the pervasive nativism of the time.

Roaring 20’s

A period in American history of dramatic social, economic, and political change.

Immigration Act of 1924 (quota system)

The quota system provided immigration visas to two percent of the total number of people of each nationality in the United States as of the 1890 national census.

Nativism

The policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants.

Great Migration

One of the largest movements of people in United States history. Approximately six million Black people moved from the American South to Northern, Midwestern, and Western states roughly from the 1910s until the 1970s.

Marcus Garvey

Known as the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). Formed in Jamaica in July 1914, the UNIA aimed to achieve Black nationalism through the celebration of African history and culture.

Langston Hughes

An American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance.

W.E.B. Du Bois

A American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist.

NAACP

An interracial American organization created to work for the abolition of segregation and discrimination in housing, education, employment, voting, and transportation; to oppose racism; and to ensure African Americans their constitutional rights.

Harlem Renaissance

An intellectual and cultural revival of African-American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics, and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s.

Segregation

The separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. The spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, such as schools and hospitals by people of different races.

Jim Crow Laws

Mandating segregation of schools, parks, libraries, drinking fountains, restrooms, buses, trains, and restaurants. "Whites Only" and "Colored" signs were constant reminders of the enforced racial order.

Chicago Race Riots 1919

The summer riots were fueled by simmering tensions and sparked by the stoning and drowning of a Black teenager named Eugene Williams. Williams had been on a raft with friends when they floated across the line dividing the White and Black beaches.

Anti-Semitism

Hostility to or prejudice against Jewish people.

18th Amendment

Prohibited “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” but not the consumption, private possession, or production for one's own consumption.

Women’s Christian Temperance Union

Strove to abolish the liquor trade, reduce consumption of alcohol, and secure pledges of abstinence.

19th Amendment

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Suffrage

The right to vote in political elections

Speakeasies

An illicit establishment that sold alcoholic beverages.

Bootlegging

The illegal manufacture, distribution, or sale of goods, especially alcohol or recordings.

Organized Crime

Billion-dollar businesses operating in many crime areas. As a general rule, organized criminal networks are involved in many different types of criminal activities spanning several countries.

Scopes Trial

An American legal case from July 10 to July 21, 1925, in which a high school teacher, John T. Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which had made it illegal for teachers to teach human evolution in any state-funded school.

21st Amendment

Repealed the 18th Amendment, ending Prohibition and allowing the states to regulate the sale of alcohol

Calvin Coolidge

The 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929.

Geneva Naval Conference 1927

A gathering of the United States, Great Britain and Japan, to discuss making joint limitations to their naval capacities. The conference was a failure because the parties did not reach an agreement and the naval arms race continued unabated after the conference.

Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928

In the final version of the pact, they agreed upon two clauses: the first outlawed war as an instrument of national policy, and the second called upon signatories to settle their disputes by peaceful means.

Capitalism

An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit.

Indian Citizenship Act of 1924

Granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the U.S.

Mortgage

An agreement between you and a lender that allows you to borrow money to purchase or refinance a home and gives the lender the right to take your property.

Credit

The ability of the consumer to acquire goods or services prior to payment with the faith that the payment will be made in the future. 

Installment Plan

An arrangement for payment by installments.

Stock Market

A trading network that connects investors looking to buy and sell stocks and their derivatives. 

Speculation

Stock market prediction. Further, new investors believed that wealthy people are buying, so we should also buy to make a profit. Additionally, new investors didn't consider other economic factors and invested a huge amount in the stock market.

Oversupply / Overproduction

Excess of supply over demand of products being offered to the market. This leads to lower prices and/or unsold goods along with the possibility of unemployment.

Financial Margin Calls

An indicator that the securities held in the margin account have decreased in value.