Changing America

Anarchy — Absence of government
Communists — People who support or believe the political philosophy in which goods are
owned in common and the state owns the means of production
Dawes Plan — Plan to assure that Germany was able to pay reparations after WWI
Demobilization — Move from wartime to peacetime economy and society
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) —Investigative agency – part of Department of Justice
Fordney-McCumber Act — Raised taxes on imported goods to try and protect American industry
Immigration — Influx of people moving to America from other countries
J. Edgar Hoover — FBI leader
Ku Klux Klan (KKK) — Racial terror group started after the Civil War, expanded to incite violence against immigrants, Catholics, and Jews
Labor Unrest — Post-World War I demand for better working conditions led to many strikes
Nativism — Policy of favoring the native born rather over immigrants
Normalcy — Attempt to return to pre-War “normal” conditions
Palmer Raids — Raids on suspected communists ordered by Attorney General A. Mitchell
Palmer and carried out by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI
Protective Tariffs (Smoot-Hartley) —Taxes on imported goods designed to protect American industry by making foreign made goods more expensive
Quota System — A plan to limit immigration by imposing restrictions on how many from each
country could enter the United States
Sacco & Vanzetti Trial — Italian born anarchists executed for a murder; many felt they were treated unfairly and were persecuted for their beliefs
Social Unrest — The rise of the KKK, nativism, Prohibition, and religious fundamentalism in
addition to new social norms led to a decade of tensions
“The Business of America is Business” — Quote attributed to Calvin Coolidge promoting American free-market capitalism
Vladimir Lenin — Communist leader of the Soviet Union

Air Conditioning — Invention by Willis Carrier
Alfred Dupont — American industrialist and financier
Assembly Line — Process of assembling a product as it moves along and each worker is
responsible for one step in production; greatly reduced production time
Bull Market — Stock prices rising
Buying on the Margin — Buy stock on credit
Consumerism — Increased interest in buying consumer goods
Economic Boom — Rapid economic expansion
Florida Land Boom — Postwar prosperity enabled many people to travel and invest in real estate; burst in 1925
Installment Buying Plans — Credit system that enabled people to buy goods by paying over a pre-set
period
Materialism — Interest in obtaining material items
Roaring Twenties — Period of rapid economic growth and social change
Speculation — Purchasing stocks and other investments in the hopes that they will increase
in value
Teapot Dome Scandal — Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall gave rights to US held oil reserves in exchange for bribes

18th Amendment 1920 - banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol
21st Amendment 1933 – repealed the 18th Amendment
Al Capone — Chicago gangster and bootlegger
Al Jolson — Singer and actor known for appearing in blackface; starred in the 1st talking
movie
Bessie Smith — African American blues singer of the 1920s
Bootlegger — Term used for someone who sold alcohol illegally
Carter G. Woodson — African American scholar who introduced Negro History Week which has now become Black History Month
Duke Ellington — African American pianist, composer, and leader of a jazz orchestra
Earnest Hemingway — “Lost Generation” American journalist and novelist; wrote the Sun Also Rises
F. Scott Fitzgerald — Author of The Great Gatsby
Flappers — Young women who defied social norms by wearing shorter dresses, cut their
hair, drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes, and visited speakeasies
Fundamentalist Movement — Reaction to the changing social norms of the 1920s – movement to a stricter interpretation of biblical beliefs
Great Migration — Movement of millions of African Americans from the South to the North in
search of employment and as escape from racial terror
Harlem Renaissance African American artists flourished in Harlem, a predominantly black NYC
neighborhood – music, art, writing, and more
James Weldon Johnson African American civil rights activist and a leader of the NAACP
Jazz Age Time of increased prosperity and loosened social norms
Langston Hughes African American writer and a leader of the Harlem Renaissance
Lost Generation Generation that came of age after World War I, in a time of increased
prosperity and changing society
Louis Armstrong African American bandleader and trumpet player; part of the Harlem
Renaissance
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Florida novelist who wrote of rural themes
Organized Crime Organizations created for the purpose of illegal activities; in the 1920s often
focused on the illegal manufacture, sale and distribution of alcohol
Prohibition Time from 1920 – 1933 when alcohol was illegal or prohibited
Scopes Trial Example of religious fundamentalism – Tennessee biology teacher John Scopes
was convicted for teaching about evolution in defiance of law requiring him to
teach creationism
Sinclair Lewis First American writer to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature
Speakeasy An establishment that served alcohol illegally
Volstead Act Law that carried out the provisions of the 18th amendment
Zora Neale Hurston African American writer who portrayed racial struggles in her works

19th Amendment 1920 – voting rights were not restricted due to gender
Back to Africa Marcus Garvey’s movement for African Americans to escape racism by
establishing a colony in Liberia in Africa
Booker T. Washington African American, founder of the Tuskegee Institute, encouraged African
Americans to concentrate on industrial education to gain equality
Marcus Garvey African American civil rights activist and leader of the Back to Africa Movement
NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Universal Negro
Improvement League
Started by Marcus Garvey to promote racial pride, economic self-sufficiency
and advocated for African Americans to move to Liberia
W.E.B. DuBois African American civil rights leader, founder of the Niagara Movement to
demand racial equality and the first director of the NAACP

100% Americanism Post-World War I intense patriotism and anti-immigrant sentiments
Ku Klux Klan Racial terror group started after the Civil War, expanded to incite violence
against immigrants, Catholics, and Jews
Ocoee Election Day
Massacre
1920 Election Day violence against African Americans attempting to vote, led
to countless murders and the destruction of the African American community
Nativism Policy of favoring interests of the native-born over immigrants
Rosewood Massacre 1923 incident in northwest Florida that led to the destruction of an entire
African American community