-
Federal Reserve System
This is the central banking of the U.S. The purpose was as a monetary banking system and oversees most financial situations. -
The Great Migration
This was the movement of 6 million African-Americans out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West. When the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863. Less than 8% of the African American population lived in the Northeastern or Midwestern United States. By the year 1900 around 90% of African Americans still were living in southern states. -
Prohibition
Ratification of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors. This caused a temperance movement to happen. -
1st Red Scare
Fear of communism “Irrational Fear.” The causes of the Red Scare are the rise of radicalism- socialism, communism, and anarchism; The Bolshevik Revolution spread into Europe; Labor unrest- Strikes; and bomb scares. In 1920 A. Mitchell Palmer rounded up radicals and sent 249 radicals back to Russia on the Soviet Ark. -
Warren G Harding’s “Return to Normalcy”
The United States Presidential Candidate Warren G Harding’s promise in the election was the Return to Normalcy. During the campaign, he addressed the issue of the words origin, claiming that the word Normality was not in his dictionary. But that the word Normalcy is a good word. -
Social Darwinism
The term used in U.S history that started in the 1880s and is mainly known as "survival of the fittest." It became relevant in the 1920s because the huge gap in the rich and poor. In the Gilded Age the meaning of this was shown as, workers could have been taken advantage of, and businesses would exploit their own workers, -
Frances Willard
She founded the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. She was an American temperance reformer and women's suffragist. She was a key component in the passing of the 18th amendment. -
Teapot Dome Scandal
Albert Fall was Secretary of the Interior. He leased out government land to drill for oil reserves at TeaPot Dome, Wyoming. He received $400,000 in illegal payments, from oil companies hoping to be granted the leases. In 1922, secret details were released to the press. A government enquiry was demanded and in 1927 it was completed. Fall was found guilty of conspiracy and accepting bribes. -
Marcus Garvey
He was an advocate of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, inspiring the Nation of Islam and the Rastafarian movement. In 1923 he was convicted and sentenced to prison for five years. Claiming to be a victim of a politically motivated miscarriage of justice, he appealed his conviction, but he was denied. -
Jazz Music
First network radio broadcast was in 1923. The jazz culture became very popular in this time period. This so called “Jazz Age” was fueled by the prohibition of alcohol. -
Harlem Renaissance
Resurgence of black arts and literature. The Harlem Renaissance was also known as The New Negro Movement. In 1925 the term The New Negro was established by sociologist and critic Alain Leroy Locke. -
William Jennings Bryan
An American Orator and Politician from Nebraska, also a dominant force in the populist wing of the Democratic Party. He served as an associate counsel in the John Scopes trial. Bryan took the stand and underwent a withering cross-examination by Clarence Darrow. -
Clarence Darrow
Famous Defense Attorney who participated in the Scopes “Monkey” Trial, where he opposed William Jennings Bryan. Scopes was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act. Clarence spoke for Scopes in the trial. -
Scopes Monkey Trial
In 1925 the Butlers Act was violated. The Butlers Act was the law forbidding schools in Tennessee to teach any theory that denies the biblical story of creation. John Scopes was the one who taught the theory of biblical creation against the Butlers Act. -
Langston Hughes
He was an American Poet, Novelist, and Playwright whose African American themes made him a primary contributor to the Harlem Renaissance. He went to Columbia University, but left after a year to travel. Then he published his first book in 1926. -
Tin Pan Alley
This was the name given to New York City’s songwriters and music publishers during the 1920s. During this time the growth of music production. In 1926 the first movie with sound came out, creating a new outlet for production music. -
Henry Ford
He introduced the Model T Car, Assembly Line, $5.00 a day wage, and wanted to create a car affordable for the common man. In the year 1914 is when he introduced the $5.00 a day wage 8 hour workday. Doing this it gave workers an incentive to work, allowed workers to become consumers, would increase business, and reduce worker turnover. -
Eleanor Roosevelt
In 1927 Eleanor became part owner and teacher at the Todhunter School. This school was a finishing and college preparatory school in New York City for upperclass girls. Similar to her mentor Marie Souvestre, she blended a rigorous curriculum with exercises designed to help the girls think for themselves and beware of the problems facing others. -
Charles A. Lindbergh
He wanted to win a contest for $25,000. He could win if he flew solo in an airplane from New York to Paris without any stops. He completed this task and that is why he’s known for this today. -
The Great Depression
Period of economic hard times that followed the stock market crash on Tuesday October 29, which swnt Wall Street into a panic and wiped out many investors. -
Stock Market Crash “Black Tuesday”
It was called “Black Thursday” and was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States. The crash that had followed the London Stock Exchange’s crash in September signaled the beginning of the 10 year Great Depression. -
The Dust Bowl
Severe drought hits the Midwestern and Southern plains; the "Black Blizzard" begins. -
“Relief, Recovery, Reform”
This went along with the New Deal.
Relief: The government's immediate reaction to halt the economies deterioration.
Recovery: The temporary programs to restart the flow of consumer demand.
Reform: Permanent programs to avoid another depression and insure citizens against economic disaster. -
The New Deal
By 1932 the Americans were annoyed and fed up with the so called “hear nothing, see nothing, do nothing government.” Therefore FDR promised a change in the government with his idea of The New Deal. The New Deal would help stop the downward spiral of the economy. -
20th Amendment
This amendment means that the President takes office in January, and if the President dies the Vice President takes their place. The 20th Amendment was ratified in 1933. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt
In 1921 Franklin D.Roosevelt caught a deadly disease called Polio. But in 1933 he became the 32nd President of the United States. He was the only president to be elected four times. -
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
President FDR needed innovative solutions to lift the nation out of the Great Depression. FDR envisioned the TVA as “a corporation clothed with the power of government but possessed of the flexibility and initiative of a private enterprise.” Congress passed the TVA Act on May 18, 1933. -
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FCIC)
Before the FCIC was in operation, large scale cash demands of fearful depositors often struck the fatal blow to banks that might otherwise have survived. Ever since the FCIC went into operation, bank runs no longer constitute a threat to the banking industry. -
21st Amendment
This amendment revoked the 18th amendment, which mandated nationwide Prohibition on alcohol in 1919. The 21st Amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933. -
Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Securities & Exchange Commission was established to regulate to commerce in stocks, bonds, and other securities. After the stock market crash of 29, reflections on its cause prompted calls for reform. The unreported concentration of controlling stock interest in a very few hands led to the abuses of power that the free exchange of stock supposedly eliminated. -
Social Security Administration (SSA)
The Social Security Act created a social security board to oversee the administration of the new program. It was created as a part of president FDR’s New Deal with the signing of the social security act of 1935. -
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange was a documentary photographer. She is well known for her photographs taken with Roosevelt's Farm Security Administration. She would take pictures of people during the great depression in 1929.