THE ROARING TWENTIES IN A NUTSHELL
AMERICA GONE WILD
The Birth of Popular Culture
The “Roaring Twenties” were a time of rapid change. Popular culture roared to life as the economy boomed. New technologies, soaring business profits, and higher wages allowed more and more Americans to purchase a wide range of consumer goods. Prosperity also provided Americans with more leisure time. In their leisure time, people were able to enjoy new literature, films, music, dancing, and parks.
Henry Ford Changes Production
During this era, electricity and more advanced machinery made factories nearly twice as efficient as they had been under steam power in the 1800s. Perhaps the greatest increase in efficiency came when Henry Ford perfected the assembly-line production method, which enabled factories to churn out large quantities of a variety of new things, such as radios, telephones, refrigerators, washing machines, and cars. The increasing availability of such consumer goods pushed the U.S. economy to shift away from heavy industry like steel production, towards the production of these household items.
The Automobile
The automobile quickly became the symbol of the new America. Although Americans did not invent the car, they certainly perfected it. Much of the credit for this feat went to Ford and his assembly-line method, which transformed the car from a luxury item into a necessity for modern living. By the mid-1920s, even many working-class families could afford a brand-new Model T Ford, priced at just over $250. Increasing demand for the automobile in turn trickled down to many other industries. The demand for oil, for example, boomed, and oil prospectors set up new wells in Texas and the Southwest practically overnight. Newer and smoother roads were constructed across America, dotted with new service stations. Change came so rapidly that by 1930, almost one in three Americans owned cars.
The Birth of the Suburbs
The automobile changed American life tremendously. Cars affected the way that Americans moved around, but they also changed also the way that Americans lived and spent their free time. Trucks provided faster modes of transport for crops and perishable foods and therefore improved the quality and freshness of perishable food. Perhaps most important, the automobile allowed people to leave the inner city and live elsewhere without changing jobs. During the 1920s, more people purchased houses in new residential communities within an easy drive of the big cities. After a decade, these suburbs had grown enormously, making the car more of a necessity than ever.
Migration to Cities
American cities changed drastically during the 1920s because of factors above and beyond those related to the automobile. First, the decade saw millions of people flock to the cities from country farmlands; in particular, African Americans fled the South for northern cities after World War I. This became known as the Great Migration. Immigrants, especially eastern Europeans, also flooded the cities. As a result of these changes, the number of American city dwellers—those who lived in towns with a population greater than 2,500 people—came to outnumber those who lived in rural areas for the first time in U.S. history. At the same time, new architectural techniques allowed builders to construct taller buildings. The first skyscrapers began dotting city skylines in the 1920s, and by 1930, several hundred buildings over twenty stories tall existed in U.S. cities.
The Airplane
Aviation developed quickly after the Wright brothers’ first flight in 1903, and by the 1920s, airplanes were becoming a significant part of American life. Several passenger airline companies popped up, allowing wealthier citizens to travel across the country in a matter of hours rather than days or weeks. In 1927, stunt flyer Charles Lindbergh soared to international fame when he made the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean (from New York to Paris) in his single-engine plane, the Spirit of St. Louis. His achievement gave an enormous boost to the growing aviation industry.
Radio and the Jazz Age
Another innovation of the time was the radio, which entertained and brought Americans together like nothing else had before. Electricity became more readily available throughout the decade, and by 1930, most American households had radio receivers. The advertising industry blossomed as companies began to deliver their sales pitches via the airwaves to thousands of American families who gathered together nightly to listen to popular comedy programs, news, speeches, sporting events, and music.
In particular, jazz music became incredibly popular. Born in black communities in New Orleans around the turn of the century, jazz slowly moved its way north and became a national phenomenon thanks to the radio. Jazz greats like Louis Armstrong who introduced improvisation to jazz and Ella Fitzgerald known as the First Lady of Scat became legends. Along with new music came “scandalous” new dances such as the Charleston and the Jitterbug.
In particular, jazz music became incredibly popular. Born in black communities in New Orleans around the turn of the century, jazz slowly moved its way north and became a national phenomenon thanks to the radio. Jazz greats like Louis Armstrong who introduced improvisation to jazz and Ella Fitzgerald known as the First Lady of Scat became legends. Along with new music came “scandalous” new dances such as the Charleston and the Jitterbug.
Hollywood and Talkies
The Hollywood motion picture industry also emerged during the 1920s. Although movies were nothing new to Americans, as silent films had enjoyed widespread popularity during the previous decade, the first “talkies” brought actors’ voices into theaters and kicked the moviemaking business into high gear. Actors Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford became two of the most popular actors in the 1920s. Glamorous actors and actresses like these two soon became “American royalty” and came to dominate American pop culture.
The Harlem Renaissance
Harlem is an area of New York City which became a black community during the 1920s. As many African Americans flocked to this area, a renaissance occurred. Renaissance means a rebirth or revival of intellectual or artistic achievement. Harlem became a great center of African American culture as the community found a new sense of independence and developed pride in its own traditions.
Black culture in the North flourished throughout the years of the Harlem Renaissance, during which writers such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston created a new tradition in African-American poetry, fiction, and scholarship. Jazz, was the first truly American art form. Jazz was born out of and evolved through the African American experience in the U.S. Jazz came from slave songs, field hollers, and spirituals - religious African American folk songs. The people who created and changed jazz were mainly African Americans. Jazz brought more African Americans into major cities where new styles and forms developed.
Black culture in the North flourished throughout the years of the Harlem Renaissance, during which writers such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston created a new tradition in African-American poetry, fiction, and scholarship. Jazz, was the first truly American art form. Jazz was born out of and evolved through the African American experience in the U.S. Jazz came from slave songs, field hollers, and spirituals - religious African American folk songs. The people who created and changed jazz were mainly African Americans. Jazz brought more African Americans into major cities where new styles and forms developed.
The New Woman
The booming twenties also brought more rights and freedoms for women. In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment granted American women the right to vote. Just as important, more women gained financial independence as the number of women in the workforce skyrocketed. Approximately 15 percent of women were employed by 1930. Although they were generally confined to “traditional” women’s jobs such as secretarial work and teaching, the new financial freedom that these jobs afforded opened the doors to increased social mobility for women. As women’s rights increased, so too did social freedoms. A new symbol of the Jazz Age emerged: the image of the short-haired, short-skirted, independent-minded, and liberated “flapper” woman who lived life in the fast lane. Soon, the flapper came to represent everything modern in 1920s America.
FEAR AND SCANDAL
Isolationism
After World War I, American went back to their policy of isolationism. They wanted to remain neutral and not involve themselves in any more conflicts. After the war, President Woodrow Wilson proposed his plan for peace called The Fourteen Points. One of these points included the establishment of a League of Nations but Americans wanted to stay out of foreign affairs. Congress voted against joining the League of Nations, even though it was the American President who came up with it. The United States tried to separate themselves further from Europe in other ways. Tariffs were imposed on foreign goods. Quotas were placed on the number of European immigrants to the U.S. Americans remained opposed to joining any alliances. America once again isolated themselves from the world.
Politics of the 1920s
The two presidents after Woodrow Wilson were, first, President Warren G. Harding and then, President Calvin Coolidge. Both men were Republican presidents. Republicans are conservative, meaning they supported limited federal government, encouraged the government to stay out of the economy, tried to limit government aid programs that increased taxes, and did not support radical change in the way the country was managed. With a market driven economy, big business rose up again. Bribery and instances of government corruption, such as the Teapot Dome scandal, were relatively frequent during Harding’s presidency, and in some cases the money trail led all the way to the president himself. When Harding died unexpectedly in 1923, the even more conservative Calvin Coolidge became president. Coolidge was elected to another term in the three-way election of 1924.
Though they had their faults, Harding and Coolidge did work hard with other nations to prevent another war. Harding, for example, negotiated the Five-Power Naval Treaty in 1922 to reduce the number of American, British, and Japanese battleships in the Pacific. The same year, France, Britain, Japan, and the United States signed the Four-Power Treaty where these four nations agreed to honor each other’s territories in the Pacific. Furthermore, Coolidge’s secretary of state signed the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact (along with sixty other nations) to outlaw aggressive warfare. Coolidge’s vice president also drew up the Dawes Plan, which arranged a new timetable for impoverished Germany to pay off its World War I reparations to Britain and France.
Though they had their faults, Harding and Coolidge did work hard with other nations to prevent another war. Harding, for example, negotiated the Five-Power Naval Treaty in 1922 to reduce the number of American, British, and Japanese battleships in the Pacific. The same year, France, Britain, Japan, and the United States signed the Four-Power Treaty where these four nations agreed to honor each other’s territories in the Pacific. Furthermore, Coolidge’s secretary of state signed the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact (along with sixty other nations) to outlaw aggressive warfare. Coolidge’s vice president also drew up the Dawes Plan, which arranged a new timetable for impoverished Germany to pay off its World War I reparations to Britain and France.
Teapot Dome Scandal
President Harding appointed some of his friends to cabinet positions, giving important responsibilities to men who were not qualified. One of these men was his Secretary of the Interior, Albert B. Fall. When Congress designated land in Elk Hills, California and Teapot Dome near Casper, Wyoming, to ensure that enough oil would be available for the U.S. Navy in the event of another crisis or war, Secretary Fall secretly plotted to have these oil reserves turned over to his department. He then sold drilling rights to the land to private developers for bribes. He received over three hundred thousand dollars in cash, stocks, and cattle in return for lands. It wasn’t long until a Senate investigation uncovered the scheme. He was convicted for accepting a bribe and became the first cabinet member in history to go to jail.
The Red Scare
There were two ideas that came about in the 1920s that scared many Americans. These ideas were communism and anarchy. Communism is a system of government in which most property and goods belong to the state. Its citizens are expected to share everything. It is intended to make everyone equally wealthy and get rid of upper and lower classes. Anarchy is the opposite. It is when there is no government or law. Anarchists are people who believe all government is bad and they are willing to do anything, including violence, to get rid of the government.
After Russia collapsed to communism in the Russian Revolution of 1917, panic swept across the United States. In the Red Scare of 1919–1920, Americans became suspicious that they might fall victim to a communist plot to take over the country. The two main methods that workers’ unions used to create fair labor agreements—striking and collective bargaining—came to be seen as tools of communists and anarchists. As a result, labor unions were frowned upon and dwindled in number and size. Several hundred Americans who affiliated with the Communist and Socialist parties were arrested, as were labor organizers and others who criticized the U.S. government.
The Socialist Party’s growing membership in the United States was also perceived as a threat, especially since labor organizer Eugene V. Debs received nearly a million popular votes in the presidential election of 1920. Even though the Red Scare eventually subsided, the fear of socialism and communism in the United States never truly went away. It would eventually resurface in the 1950s and throughout the Cold War.
After Russia collapsed to communism in the Russian Revolution of 1917, panic swept across the United States. In the Red Scare of 1919–1920, Americans became suspicious that they might fall victim to a communist plot to take over the country. The two main methods that workers’ unions used to create fair labor agreements—striking and collective bargaining—came to be seen as tools of communists and anarchists. As a result, labor unions were frowned upon and dwindled in number and size. Several hundred Americans who affiliated with the Communist and Socialist parties were arrested, as were labor organizers and others who criticized the U.S. government.
The Socialist Party’s growing membership in the United States was also perceived as a threat, especially since labor organizer Eugene V. Debs received nearly a million popular votes in the presidential election of 1920. Even though the Red Scare eventually subsided, the fear of socialism and communism in the United States never truly went away. It would eventually resurface in the 1950s and throughout the Cold War.
New Restrictions on Immigration
Congress passed new restrictive immigration laws because of the growing fear of communism that was spreading through southern and eastern Europe. Many Americans stood firmly against immigration during the 1920s. Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act in response to the huge wave of new immigrants into the country. The Emergency Quota Act established a specific number of immigrants from each country who would be allowed to enter the United States every year. All other immigrants would be shipped back to the countries from which they came. Three years later, Congress repealed the Emergency Quota Act and passed the Immigration Act of 1924 , which lowered each foreign country’s annual immigrant quota. The Emergency Quota Act and the Immigration Act of 1924, however, slammed the door shut on the bulk of new immigrants. The effect was enormous and reduced the number of yearly arrivals by about 500,000 annually—blocking almost all southern and eastern Europeans. The number of immigrants from northern and western Europe, on the other hand, remained relatively steady, between 150,000 and 200,000 per year. These laws were the first big limitations on immigration after nearly a century without restriction.
The Sacco-Vanzetti Trial
Americans’ fears of immigration, communism, and anarchy collided in the Sacco-Vanzetti Trial of 1921, in which Italian-born Niccola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were tried for murder. The two men admitted to being atheists and anarchists but claimed to be innocent. This made most of the public automatically hate them. Investigators and historians both looked at the facts and the evidence of the case and whether they were innocent or guilty is still debated today. Most historians have concluded that both men were most likely guilty of the crime. At the time of the trial though, they were convicted not because the jury was convinced of their guilt but because they were immigrants, communists, and atheists. In the end, Sacco and Vanzetti were convicted of murder and executed in the Electric Chair.
Prohibition
Many people blamed alcoholism for the great changes and widespread panic of the 1920s. Men would drink away whole paychecks, leaving no money to support their families. Some women’s groups, religious groups, and reformers fought for prohibition. The prohibition movement, also called the temperance movement, was a push to make alcohol illegal. This movement already existed before the 1920s, but began to gain more and more support with each change and fear that arose in the “Roaring Twenties”. The movement was successful. First, many states became dry. Dry means it was dry of alcohol. It was illegal to buy or sell alcohol in a dry state. The Prohibition Movement also worked to make a constitutional amendment to make it illegal in the whole country.
The Prohibition Movement gained much support from Americans. Religious groups viewed alcoholism as a sin. Business leaders felt it led to constant employee absences. Social workers and many others believed alcoholism was to blame for poverty, disease, and crime. Doctors warned of the effects alcohol had to unborn babies. Eventually, the majority of Americans were convinced and the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution also called the Volstead Act, was passed making it illegal to make, transport, buy, sell, or consume alcohol in the United States.
Prohibition did not last long. Prohibition made drinking more attractive to many people. Drinking actually increased in women and young people. It also led to the beginning of organized crime also called, “gangs” or “the mob”. Gangsters like Al Capone of Chicago, made a living by illegally selling alcohol. He bribed local police forces to turn a blind eye to his illegal business, and became extremely powerful. Speakeasies were another problem that popped up all over the country. Speakeasies were illegal night clubs. They got their name because people spoke quietly about these places in public, or when inside it, so they did not alert the police.
Prohibition became the most disliked and most disobeyed law in U.S. History. Law enforcement struggled to enforce the law. Federal agents in the newly formed Prohibition Bureau, who were grossly understaffed and overworked, could do little to stop the gangsters’ activities. Finally, on August 27, 1935, the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment. The 21st Amendment was the first amendment to repeal another amendment.
The Prohibition Movement gained much support from Americans. Religious groups viewed alcoholism as a sin. Business leaders felt it led to constant employee absences. Social workers and many others believed alcoholism was to blame for poverty, disease, and crime. Doctors warned of the effects alcohol had to unborn babies. Eventually, the majority of Americans were convinced and the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution also called the Volstead Act, was passed making it illegal to make, transport, buy, sell, or consume alcohol in the United States.
Prohibition did not last long. Prohibition made drinking more attractive to many people. Drinking actually increased in women and young people. It also led to the beginning of organized crime also called, “gangs” or “the mob”. Gangsters like Al Capone of Chicago, made a living by illegally selling alcohol. He bribed local police forces to turn a blind eye to his illegal business, and became extremely powerful. Speakeasies were another problem that popped up all over the country. Speakeasies were illegal night clubs. They got their name because people spoke quietly about these places in public, or when inside it, so they did not alert the police.
Prohibition became the most disliked and most disobeyed law in U.S. History. Law enforcement struggled to enforce the law. Federal agents in the newly formed Prohibition Bureau, who were grossly understaffed and overworked, could do little to stop the gangsters’ activities. Finally, on August 27, 1935, the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment. The 21st Amendment was the first amendment to repeal another amendment.
The Monkey Trial
In 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee a group of teachers decided to test a law called the Butler Law. The Butler law made it illegal to teach the theory of evolution and instead mandated that they teach only the Christian theory of Creation. The teachers felt that the Butler Law restricted academic freedom, and violated the separation of church and state. The group of teachers chose twenty-four year old science teacher and football coach John T. Scopes to teach the theory of evolution to the class. The teachers all knew he would be arrested. When Scopes taught the class, he set into motion one of the most important trials in American history.
Scopes was arrested, as expected, for violating the Butler Law. At the trial William Jennings Bryan acted as special prosecutor. World famous criminal defense lawyer Clarence Darrow defended Scopes. The trial raged on for days. The judge did not allow any of Darrow's scientists to testify. Because the trial took place in the Bible Belt, most people were against Scopes. Bryan portrayed Darrow as an atheist. In desperation Darrow put Bryan himself on the stand. Darrow brilliantly was able to get Bryan to admit that the word of the Bible is not literal, it was interpreted. This seemed to destroy the whole case. Darrow asked for immediate judgment and when the jury came back Darrow was shocked...he had lost! The judge levied the minimum fine possible ($100) against Scopes. Later that year the Scopes conviction was overturned on a technicality.
The trial showed the religious and conservative nature of America. It also displayed the vast differences between the big cities and the small towns. The big city newspapers, hailed Scopes as a hero. These papers covering the trial scoffed at the Butler Law as small minded and backward thinking. In the small town of Dayton, Tennessee though, he was a criminal.
Scopes was arrested, as expected, for violating the Butler Law. At the trial William Jennings Bryan acted as special prosecutor. World famous criminal defense lawyer Clarence Darrow defended Scopes. The trial raged on for days. The judge did not allow any of Darrow's scientists to testify. Because the trial took place in the Bible Belt, most people were against Scopes. Bryan portrayed Darrow as an atheist. In desperation Darrow put Bryan himself on the stand. Darrow brilliantly was able to get Bryan to admit that the word of the Bible is not literal, it was interpreted. This seemed to destroy the whole case. Darrow asked for immediate judgment and when the jury came back Darrow was shocked...he had lost! The judge levied the minimum fine possible ($100) against Scopes. Later that year the Scopes conviction was overturned on a technicality.
The trial showed the religious and conservative nature of America. It also displayed the vast differences between the big cities and the small towns. The big city newspapers, hailed Scopes as a hero. These papers covering the trial scoffed at the Butler Law as small minded and backward thinking. In the small town of Dayton, Tennessee though, he was a criminal.
KKK
There are those who believe that certain races, religions, and nationalities are superior to others. The Ku Klux Klan, commonly called the KKK, is one such group. The Ku Klux Klan is an organization of people who hate other groups of people, who are not native born Americans, Protestant, and white. They especially hated blacks, Catholics, and Jews. After World War I, problems in farming, migration, and social change caused the Ku Klux Klan to become active. By the mid-twenties, the KKK had almost 6 million members and heavily influenced the government in at least seven states. It became known as the “Invisible Empire.”
During the presidential election of 1928, the KKK strongly influenced the outcome. Al Smith, the Democratic Presidential nominee, was an Irish Catholic. The KKK campaigned that if Smith were elected, the Catholic Pope would rule America from Rome. The sudden changes in society and mounting fears of communism, made the the KKK’s argument about Smith believable. Smith was easily defeated in the election and it was obvious that the KKK had a definite influence on national decisions.
During the presidential election of 1928, the KKK strongly influenced the outcome. Al Smith, the Democratic Presidential nominee, was an Irish Catholic. The KKK campaigned that if Smith were elected, the Catholic Pope would rule America from Rome. The sudden changes in society and mounting fears of communism, made the the KKK’s argument about Smith believable. Smith was easily defeated in the election and it was obvious that the KKK had a definite influence on national decisions.
CRASHING THE PARTY
The Crash
On Tuesday, October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed. Ten million dollars in stock were lost in only a few hours. Stocks that had sold for $20 and $40 a share, were sold for pennies within two weeks. Many investors went bankrupt. Before long, five thousand banks failed and closed their doors, causing over nine million people to lose their savings accounts. For three years, an average of 100,000 jobs were lost each week. When people lost or feared loosing their jobs, they began to watch their spending and avoid anything they did not absolutely need. As the demand for goods decreased, factories had to lay off workers and many eventually closed. People’s money ran out after being unemployed for too long. Unable to pay mortgages and loans, people lost their homes, cars, and many other valuables. Hardship became a way of life. Many people lived in shacks made of discarded lumber and cardboard. These shacks were called Hoovervilles after President Herbert Hoover.
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover was elected president in 1928. Hoover promised more prosperity and more benefits for big business. Hoover did many good things. He established the Veterans Association. He was an incredible engineer and spoke four languages well. He won honorary degrees from over 50 American universities. He was a self-made millionaire and gave out over 18 million tons of food to starving people in Europe during World War I. Hoover never took a salary as president and spent his own money on anything he bought while he was president. Unfortunately, he made many poor decisions as president.
In 1930, for example, he signed into law (against the advice of many leading economists) the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which raised many import duties so high that foreign countries could not sell goods in the United States; as a result, those countries could not—or would not—purchase American goods at a time when the need for sales abroad had never been greater. More problems arose in 1932, when Hoover authorized General Douglas MacArthur to make the Bonus Army leave Washington D.C. The Bonus Army was a group of World War I veterans who had camped at the nation's capital to pressure Congress into awarding World War I veterans their promised combat bonus now instead of the due date in 1945. MacArthur greatly exceeded Hoover's orders in using military force against the unemployed former soldiers. The result was a nightmare for the president. Hoover's silence regarding MacArthur's cruelty led the public to think that the president had been responsible for the brutality. The man who had enjoyed a worldwide reputation as a humanitarian now appeared heartless and cruel.
In 1930, for example, he signed into law (against the advice of many leading economists) the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which raised many import duties so high that foreign countries could not sell goods in the United States; as a result, those countries could not—or would not—purchase American goods at a time when the need for sales abroad had never been greater. More problems arose in 1932, when Hoover authorized General Douglas MacArthur to make the Bonus Army leave Washington D.C. The Bonus Army was a group of World War I veterans who had camped at the nation's capital to pressure Congress into awarding World War I veterans their promised combat bonus now instead of the due date in 1945. MacArthur greatly exceeded Hoover's orders in using military force against the unemployed former soldiers. The result was a nightmare for the president. Hoover's silence regarding MacArthur's cruelty led the public to think that the president had been responsible for the brutality. The man who had enjoyed a worldwide reputation as a humanitarian now appeared heartless and cruel.
101 TERMS, EVENTS, & PEOPLE TO KNOW
- popular culture: any type of entertainment such as music, art, literature, fashion, dance, film, television, and radio that are liked by the average people in a nation
- Henry Ford: inventor of the Model T automobile - the first car affordable and available to the general American public and perfecter of the assembly line production method of manufacturing products
- assembly line: an arrangement of machines, equipment, and workers in which work passes from operation to operation in direct line until the product is assembled
- Model T Ford: the first car affordable and available to the general American public created by Henry Ford
- suburbs: a town or other area where people live in houses near a larger city
- perishable: food not likely to stay fresh for a long time if not eaten or used
- residential: containing mostly homes instead of stores, businesses, etc
- decade: a period of ten years
- Great Migration: the time period from roughly 1910 - 1940 where African Americans left the rural south in great numbers looking for jobs in the big cities of the North and West.
- rural: places that are not highly populated; the country
- aviation: the business or practice of flying airplanes, helicopters, etc.
- Wright Brothers: two American brothers who were credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane
- Charles Lindbergh: American aviator, made the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean on May 20-21, 1927
- Jazz: a type of music created by African Americans in New Orleans, Louisiana at the turn of the century, that combined African American traditional music such as the blues, spirituals, and traditional African beat with the rich chords and harmonies of classical European music; then added the technique of improvisation to make it the first truly American Art form.
- Louis Armstrong: the famous trumpet player that introduced improvisation to jazz
- Ella Fitzgerald: the famous Jazz singer known as the First Lady of Scat because she was so good at using the scat technique in her vocals
- scat: vocal improvisation with sounds that are not real words
- The Charleston: a lively dance of the 1920s that involved turning the knees inward and kicking out the lower legs
- scandalous: a shocking, shameful, or improper act
- improvisation: to compose, deliver, or perform on the spot without any previous preparation
- talkies: the first movies with sound
- Charlie Chaplin: one of the first movie stars who performed funny roles in comedies
- The Harlem Renaissance: a cultural movement in the 1920s during which black art, literature, and music flourished, originating in New York City's Harlem district
- traditions: a way of thinking, behaving, or doing something that has been used by the people in a particular group, family, society, etc., for a long time
- Langston Hughes: American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist who became well known during the Harlem Renaissance for writing a new type of poetry called, jazz poetry
- Zora Neale Hurston: an author and anthropologist from Notasulga, Alabama, who became an important part of the Harlem Renaissance with her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God.
- spirituals: religious African American folk songs
- 19th Amendment: a constitutional amendment that granted American women the right to vote in 1920
- financial independence: the ability to make your own living; not being dependent on another person to support or take care of you
- social mobility: to move up in status, prestige, or respect
- flapper: a young woman in the 1920s who dressed and behaved in a way that was considered very modern
- isolationism: the policy of remaining neutral or not getting involved in foreign affairs
- Woodrow Wilson: the president of the United States during and after World War I that wrote the Fourteen Points and suggested the League of Nations
- The Fourteen Points: President Woodrow Wilson’s peace proposal to end World War I that also suggested a League of Nations to avoid future wars
- foreign affairs: issues and happenings having to do with countries other than your own
- tariffs: taxes on foreign goods sold in a country
- quotas: a set, limited amount allowed
- Warren G. Harding: Republican President after Woodrow Wilson whose Secretary of the Interior was involved in the Teapot Dome Scandal
- Calvin Coolidge: Republican President after Warren G. Harding who’s secretary of state signed the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact to outlaw aggressive warfare and who’s vice president wrote the Dawes Plan
- Republicans: the conservative political party in the United States that supports limited federal government, encourages the government to stay out of the economy, tries to limit government aid programs that increase taxes, and does not support radical change in the way the country is managed
- radical: having extreme views that are not shared by most people
- bribery: the crime of accepting or giving money or favors in order to influence someone to do something
- corruption: dishonest or illegal behavior especially by powerful people
- scandal: an occurrence in which people are shocked and upset because of behavior that is morally or legally wrong
- negotiated: to discuss something formally in order to make an agreement
- impoverished: to make someone poor
- reparations: money that a country or group that loses a war pays because of the damage, injury, deaths, etc., it has caused
- Dawes Plan: arranged a new timetable for impoverished Germany to pay off its World War I reparations to Britain and France.
- reserves: something saved to use if needed in the future
- developers: a person or firm that takes plots of land and develops it by clearing the land, setting up parcels of the land for utilities services, and building structures for industries and companies to buy or rent in order to do business
- scheme: a clever and often dishonest plan to do or get something
- cabinet: a group of people who give advice to the leader of a government
- communism: a system of government in which most property and goods belong to the state; and where citizens are expected to share everything. It is intended to make everyone equally wealthy and get rid of upper and lower classes
- anarchy: when there is no government or law; the belief all government is bad and that everything should be used, even violence, to get rid of the government
- Teapot Dome Scandal: when Warren G. Harding’s Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall secretly plotted to have these oil reserves turned over to his department; then sold drilling rights to the land to private developers for bribes.
- Albert B. Fall: Warren G. Harding’s Secretary of the Interior, who was involved in the Teapot Dconvicted for accepting a bribe and became the first cabinet member in history to go to jail
- The Red Scare: after World War I when Americans became suspicious that they might fall victim to a communist plot to take over the country and believed workers’ unions were the tools of communists and anarchists and when hundreds of Americans who affiliated with the Communist and Socialist parties were arrested, as were labor organizers and others who criticized the U.S. government.
- striking: to stop work in order to force an employer to comply with demand
- collective bargaining: talks between an employer and the leaders of a union about how much a group of workers will be paid, how many hours they will work, etc.
- socialists: a way of organizing a society in which major industries are owned and controlled by the government rather than by individual people and companies
- Eugene V. Debs: the labor organizer who received nearly a million popular votes in the presidential election of 1920
- Emergency Quota Act: a law that established a specific number of immigrants from each country who would be allowed to enter the United States every year and shipped all others back to the countries from which they came.
- Immigration Act: lowered each foreign country’s annual immigrant quota even lower than the Emergency Quota Act
- Sacco-Vanzetti Trial: a trial that prosecuted and convicted two Italian - American men of murder not because of their guilt, but because they were immigrants, communists, and atheists; the trial illustrated how Americans feared that immigration would spread communism and anarchy
- atheist: a person who believes God doesn’t exist
- prohibition: when it was illegal to make, buy, sell, or transport alcohol
- alcoholism: a medical condition in which someone frequently drinks too much alcohol and becomes unable to live a normal and healthy life
- constitutional amendment: a correction, rewording, or revision in a law of the Constitution of the United States
- The 18th Amendment/Volstead Act: a constitutional amendment passed making it illegal to make, transport, buy, sell, or consume alcohol in the United States.
- Al Capone: an extremely powerful Chicago gangster who made a living by illegally selling alcohol by bribing local police forces to turn a blind eye to his illegal business
- Speakeasies: illegal night clubs that got their name because people spoke quietly about these places in public, or when inside it, so they did not alert the police
- Prohibition Bureau: Federal agents who worked solely to fight gangsters breaking Prohibition laws
- The 21st Amendment: the amendment that repealed Prohibition and the first amendment to repeal another amendment.
- The Monkey Trial: the trial of science teacher John T. Scopes, who broke the Butler law and taught Darwin’s theory of evolution instead of the mandated Creation Theory because he felt that the Butler Law restricted academic freedom, and violated the separation of church and state; the trial showed the religious and conservative nature of America
- The Butler Law: a law that made it illegal to teach the theory of evolution and instead mandated only the teaching of the Christian theory of Creation.
- Theory of Evolution: Charles Darwin’s theory that explains how survival experiences of different species cause the species to change over time; it caused issues especially in during this time because the theory proposed the humans developed from primates (monkeys). The theory caused and still causes heated arguments between scientists and Fundamentalist Christians.
- Creation Theory: believed that the creation of the world and all its creatures took place in six calendar days; they therefore deny the theory of evolution.
- John Scopes: a twenty - four year old science teacher and football coach from Dayton, Tennessee who was tried in the infamous “Monkey Trial” because he had challenged the Butler Law when he taught the theory of evolution and instead of the mandated teaching of the Christian theory of Creation, because he felt that the law restricted academic freedom, and violated the separation of church and state
- William Jennings Bryan: a Populist Party politician and the special prosecutor in the “Monkey Trial” that portrayed the defense attorney, Clarence Darrow, as an atheist and as a result was put on the stand by Darrow and was forced to admit that the word of the Bible is not literal but it was interpreted.
- Clarence Darrow Scopes: world famous criminal defense lawyer who defended John T. Scopes in the “Monkey Trial” and brilliantly defended Scopes when he put the special prosecutor, William Jennings Bryan on the stand and forced him to admit that the word of the Bible is not literal but it was interpreted.
- Bible Belt: an area chiefly in the southern United States where a majority of the people believe in the literal accuracy of the Bible; most of these people deny evolution and only acknowledge creationism
- levied: to give a fine, ticket, or impose a tax
- technicality: a small detail in a rule, law, etc. and mostly something that is understood by experts but usually not by other people
- Ku Klux Klan: an organization of people who hate other groups of people, who are not native born Americans, Protestant, and white; they especially hated blacks, Catholics, and Jews that heavily influenced the government and became known as the “Invisible Empire
- Protestant: a member of any church denomination that came from the Lutheran faith that broke away from the Catholic Church during the Reformation; any non-Catholic Christian church
- Catholic: the first Christian Church; referring to the Roman Catholic faith that is lead by the pope in Rome
- Jew: descendants of the Hebrews or a believer in their religion characterized by belief in one God who has revealed himself to Abraham, Moses, and the Hebrew prophets and by a religious life in accordance with Scriptures in the Torah
- Al Smith: the Irish Catholic Democratic Presidential nominee, that the KKK prevented from winning when they convinced Americans that if he became president, the Pope would actually be controlling the U.S. government
- pope: the leader of the Roman Catholic Church
- The Stock Market Crash of 1929: when U.S. stocks began to rapidly lose value on Tuesday, October 29, and within hours $10 million in stock was lost, bankrupting many investors and resulting in banks closing, businesses going bankrupt, unemployment, and a severe economic depression in the American economy
- bankrupt: when a person or business is unable to pay debts
- lay off: to stop an employee from working temporarily because the company is short of money or the employee violated a work policy
- mortgages: the loan on a house or property that is paid back to the bank over a period of years
- Hoovervilles: a collection of shacks made of discarded lumber and cardboard during the Great Depression
- Herbert Hoover: president of the United States in the late 1920s and early 1930s known as a great humanitarian for his good deeds in World War I, but as a president made poor choices like with the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act and authorization of the raid of the Bonus Army
- prosperity: the state of being successful usually by making a lot of money
- Smoot - Hawley Tariff Act: the highest tariff in U.S. History that raised the tariffs so high on foreign imports that it caused an international tariff war
- General Douglas MacArthur: the officer who raided the protest of the Bonus Army with excessive force in Washington D.C. under President Herbert Hoover
- Bonus Army: the army veterans that fought in World War I who marched at the White House for their war “bonuses” right then, during the Great Depression, instead of on the date promised in 1945
- veterans: someone who has retired from the military or who fought in a war as a soldier, sailor, etc.
- humanitarian: a person who works to make other people's lives better