American Society and Economy in the 1920s

Vocabulary flashcards covering the social, political, and economic history of the United States during the 1920s, based on specific lecture notes.

Open Door policy

A government policy designed to make entry into the USA easy for immigrants in order to populate the continent.

"Old" immigrants

Immigrants from western and northern Europe (e.g. Britain, Ireland and Germany) who arrived in the early $19^{\text{th}}$ century.

"New" immigrants

Over $40$ million people from southern and eastern Europe (e.g. Italy, Poland and Russia) who arrived between $1870$ and $1919$.

Push factors

Reasons why people left their home countries, including to escape poverty, political or religious persecution (such as Jews escaping pogroms in Russia), or war.

Pull factors

Reasons that attracted immigrants to the US, such as employment opportunities, the prospect of owning property, and being seen as the "land of the free".

Ellis Island

The arrival point near New York for most immigrants, handling up to $5,000$ people per day who underwent medical and legal checks taking $3$ to $5$ hours.

Xenophobia

The fear of foreigners, which was increasing in American society by the early $1920\text{s}$.

WASP

White, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant; the group many Americans considered to be the ideal citizen.

The Literacy Test, $1917$

Legislation requiring immigrants to prove they could read a short passage in English and pay an immigration fee of $\$8$.

Emergency Quota Act, $1921$

A law setting a limit of $357,000$ immigrants per year, allowing in a quota of $3\%$ based on the foreign group population in the USA in $1910$.

National Origins Act, $1924$

An act that reduced the immigration quota to $2\%$ of the $1890$ census, further penalizing immigrants from southern and eastern Europe.

Immigration Act, $1929$

Legislation that limited total immigrants to $150,000$ per year and banned Asian immigration.

Red Scare

The fear of Communism in the US, heightened by the Russian Revolution of $1917$ and domestic strikes in $1919-20$.

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

A labor organization that led a general strike in Seattle; it was often viewed as having communist ideals.

Anarchists

Individuals who desire a society without government or law; many Americans conflated their radical ideas with Communism.

Palmer Raids

Illegal raids organized by Attorney-General Mitchell Palmer in $1920$ against left-wing groups, resulting in over $6,000$ arrests across $36$ cities.

"Soviet Ark"

The nickname given to the ship on which several hundred deported Russian immigrants were sent away during the Red Scare.

Sacco and Vanzetti

Italian anarchists arrested in $1920$ for murder and executed in $1927$; their case demonstrated the legal system's prejudice against immigrants.

Bible Belt

Conservative rural areas in the south and Midwest (e.g. Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee) where church attendance was strong.

Religious fundamentalists

Protestants who followed the World's Christian Fundamentals Association and believed the Bible word for word.

The Monkey Trial, $1925$

A legal battle in Tennessee between science and religion concerning biology teacher Johnny Scopes' right to teach the Theory of Evolution.

Merium Report, $1928$

A report stating that Native American boarding schools were underfunded, understaffed, and too harsh.

Jim Crow Laws

Southern laws that enforced the segregation of black and white housing, schools, transport, and public spaces.

KKK (Ku Klux Klan)

A white supremacist group that grew to $5$ million members by the mid-$1920\text{s}$ and engaged in lynchings and terrorization of minorities.

Great Migration

The movement of $1$ million black Americans from the south to northern industrial cities like New York, Chicago, and Detroit between $1916$ and $1920$.

Harlem Renaissance

A social and artistic movement centered in Harlem for black singers, musicians, artists, writers, and poets.

NAACP

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, co-founded by William Du Bois, which aimed for full black integration through nonviolent legal methods.

UNIA

The Universal Negro Improvement Association, founded by Marcus Garvey, which encouraged black independence and a return to Africa.

Eighteenth Amendment

A $1920$ amendment to the Constitution that made it illegal to sell alcohol anywhere in the USA.

Volstead Act

Legislation that set down specific penalties for breaking the prohibition laws.

Bootleggers

Individuals who sold illegal alcohol during the prohibition era.

Speakeasies

Illegal drinking bars that operated during prohibition; New York had over $100,000$ by $1925$.

Al "Scarface" Capone

The son of an Italian immigrant who rose to lead a major organized crime syndicate in Chicago, controlling speakeasies and breweries.

St. Valentine's Day Massacre

A $1929$ event where seven members of Bugs Moran's gang were killed by Al Capone's men disguised as police officers.

Tea Pot Dome scandal

A corruption scandal in which Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall leased government oil fields to friends in exchange for $\$409,000$ in bribes.

Mass production

Large-scale manufacturing using standardized mechanical processes, conveyor belts, and assembly lines, pioneered by Henry Ford.

Model T ("Tin Lizzie")

The iconic car produced by Ford; mass production dropped its price from $\$850$ to $\$290$.

Laissez Faire

A Republican policy of limited government intervention in the economy, based on the theory that businesses would create higher profits and more jobs if left alone.

Protectionism

The imposition of tariffs, such as the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act, to limit competition from foreign imports and encourage American sales.

Rugged individualism

Herbert Hoover's belief that people should work hard to overcome their own difficulties rather than expecting help from the government.

Black Tuesday

$29^{\text{th}}$ October $1929$, the day the stock market crashed when $16.5$ million shares changed hands at low prices.

Nickelodeons

Early cinemas; by $1910$ there were more than $8,000$ across the US.

The Jazz Singer

The first "talkie" film, released in $1927$, which featured sound and increased the popularity of cinema.

Hays Code

Hollywood guidelines implemented to maintain moral standards by banning screen nudity and requiring evil acts like murder to be portrayed negatively.

Cotton Club

The most famous jazz venue, located in Harlem, which featured performers like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong.

Nineteenth Amendment

The constitutional amendment granted in $1920$ that gave women the right to vote.

Flappers

Young, liberalized middle- and upper-class urban women who embraced new fashions, short hair, and challenged traditional social conventions.

Anti-Flirt League

An organization formed by the older generation to oppose the flapper lifestyle and maintain traditional values.