1920s U.S. History: Prohibition, Scandals, and Cultural Movements

Prohibition

The legal ban on the production, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages in the United States from 1920 to 1933, established by the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act.

Bootlegger

A person who illegally produced, transported, or sold alcoholic beverages during Prohibition.

Speakeasy

An illegal bar or nightclub where alcoholic drinks were sold during Prohibition, often hidden behind unmarked doors or in basements.

Ponzi Scheme

A fraudulent investment operation where returns for existing investors are generated by money from new investors rather than from actual profits.

Teapot Dome Scandal

A bribery scandal during President Warren G. Harding's administration in which the Secretary of the Interior secretly leased federal oil reserves to private companies in exchange for personal gifts.

Red Summer of 1919

A period of intense racial violence and riots across American cities in 1919, triggered by racial tensions and competition for jobs and housing.

Harlem Renaissance

A cultural and artistic movement of African Americans centered in Harlem, New York, during the 1920s, featuring advances in literature, music, and visual arts.

Marcus Garvey

A Jamaican-born activist who led the Universal Negro Improvement Association and promoted Black nationalism and African pride during the 1920s.

Ku Klux Klan

A white supremacist organization that experienced a resurgence in the 1920s, promoting racism and violence against African Americans, immigrants, and other minorities.

Eugenics

A pseudoscientific movement based on the false belief that human populations could be 'improved' through selective breeding and the elimination of those deemed genetically inferior.

IQ Test

A standardized assessment designed to measure intelligence, which was misused in the 1920s to justify discrimination against immigrants and other groups.

Immigration Restriction Act of 1924

Federal legislation that severely limited immigration to the United States by establishing national origin quotas that favored Northern European immigrants.

Quota System

A numerical limit on the number of immigrants allowed from each country, based on the proportion of that nationality already in the United States.

Scopes Trial

A 1925 court case in Tennessee in which teacher John Scopes was prosecuted for teaching evolution, reflecting the conflict between science and religious fundamentalism.

Fundamentalism

A religious movement emphasizing strict adherence to traditional religious doctrines and literal interpretation of sacred texts.

Flapper

A young woman of the 1920s who rejected traditional social norms by wearing short skirts, bobbing her hair, and engaging in new social behaviors.

Jazz Age

A term for the 1920s, named after the popular jazz music that emerged from African American culture and became widespread during the decade.

Assembly Line

A manufacturing process in which products move along a conveyor belt with workers adding parts at each station, revolutionizing automobile production.

Consumer Culture

An economic system focused on the production and consumption of goods and services, which expanded dramatically during the 1920s.

Laissez-faire Economics

An economic philosophy that advocates minimal government intervention in business and the free operation of market forces.

Conformity

The practice of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms and social expectations.

Discrimination

The unjust or prejudicial treatment of individuals based on their membership in a particular group or category.

Prosperity

A state of economic success and financial well-being characterized by growth, employment, and wealth.

Resurgence

A return to strength, popularity, or prominence after a period of decline.

Pseudoscience

A system of beliefs or practices that claims to be scientific but lacks the rigor, evidence, and methodology of genuine science.