20th Century Events and People in American History

Question 0

Suffrage

Answer 0

Suffrage means having the right to vote.

Question 1

Panama Canal

Answer 1

The Panama Canal was opened in 1914. It connected the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. It provides a short cut for shipping between the two oceans.

Question 2

Carrie Chapman Catt

Answer 2

Carrie Chapman Catt was a suffragist shoes leadership in the suffrage movement was key to the passage of the 19th amendment which gave woman the right to vote.

Question 3

Temperance Movement

Answer 3

The temperance movement was a social movement against the use of alcohol. The temperance movement advocated for the total abstinence from alcohol. The 18th amendment passed in 1918 , created the prohibition. The 21st amendment passed in 1933, repealed prohibition.

Question 4

Susan B. Anthony

Answer 4

Susan B. Anthony was a leader in the suffrage movement and the temperance movement.

Question 5

Carry Nation

Answer 5

Carry Nation was a crusader for the temperance movement who was known by the hatchet she carried to break up saloons.

Question 6

W.E.B. Dubois

Answer 6

W.E.B. Dubois was a teacher and writer who helped found the Nation, 1 Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.

Question 7

Jane Addams

Answer 7

Jane Addams was the founder of Hull House, which provided services for Chicago’s new foreignimmigralits. Through her efforts, a federal child labor law was’ passed in 1916. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

Question 8

Helen Keller

Answer 8

Helen Keller is a powerful symbol of triumph over adversity. She lost her sight and hearing at . age 19 months as a result of illness. She became the,first blind-deaf person to effectively communi”cate with the sighted and hearing world.

Question 9

Thomas Alva Edison

Answer 9

Thomas Alva Edison was an inventor and scientist who patented over 1000 inventions. Among his inventions are incandescent light bulbs, phonographs, and mimeograph machines.

Question 10

Isolationism

Answer 10

Isolationism is an attitude of remaining separate from other countries. The United States maintained an attitude of isolationism by staying out of the affairs of other countries until World War I.

Question 11

Woodrow Wilson

Answer 11

Wilson was the president of the United States during World War I. His Fourteen Points were fourteen goals he ‘ hoped would establish a peaceful world following World War I. One of the fourteen points called for the creation of a League of Nations.

Question 12

Harlem Renaissance

Answer 12

The 1920s, in New York, was a time of great artistic development for African American artists. This was known as the Harlem Renaissance. Among the better known artists from this period are Langston Hughes, a poet, and Louis Armstrong, a musician.

Question 13

Dust Bowl

Answer 13

The Dust Bowl refers to the Great Plains drought of the 1930s that made farming impossible in the Great Plains region. Eventually conservation programs were started and farming methods were changed which saved the land.

Question 14

Amelia Earhart

Answer 14

Amelia Earhart was an aviator who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean (1932) and the Pacific Ocean (1935). She disappeared in the Pacific Ocean during an around the world trip in 1937.

Question 15

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Answer 15

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (“FDR”) was the 32nd President of the United States. His New Deal of federally supported public works programs helped pull the United States out of the Great-Depression of the 1930s. His Good Neighbor Policy called for less interference by the United States in the affairs of the countries of Latin America and South America. He was the president during most of World War II.

Question 16

Eleanor Roosevelt

Answer 16

Eleanor Roosevelt was the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and niece of President Theodore Roosevelt. Eleanor Roosevelt transformed the role of the First Lady by holding press conferences and traveling to all parts of the country, as well as giving lectures and radio broadcasts.

Question 17

General Dwight. D. Eisenhower

Answer 17

Dwight D. Eisenhower served as supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II. He was later elected the 34th President of the United Stales.

Question 18

Audie Murphy

Answer 18

Audie Murphy was the son of a Texas sharecropper. He rose to national fame as the most decorated United States combat soldier in World War II, earning 33 awards including the Medal of Honor.

Question 19

Cleto Rodriguez

Answer 19

Cleto Rodriguez was a Hispanic soldier awarded the Medal of Honor due to his heroism during the battle of Manila, during World War II.

Question 20

Marshall Plan

Answer 20

The Marshal Plan, officially called the European Recovery Program, and named for Secretary of State George C. Marshall, was the plan of the United States which helped to rebuild Western Europe following World War II by providing financial and material assistance.

Question 21

Thurgood Marshall

Answer 21

Thurgood Marshall was the first African American Supreme Court Justice, serving from 1961-91. As an attorney; Marshall represented the Brown family in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, which demolished the legal basis for segregation in American schools. “Separate but equal”, schools were no longer allowed because of Brown v. Board ofEducation. The decision led to the desegregation of the public school system.

Question 22

Rosa Parks

Answer 22

Rosa Parks is called the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement. In 1955, she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, AL. city bus to a white passenger. Her action resulted in her arrest, which led to a citywide boycott of city busses, which helped raise awareness of then unknown Rev. Martin Luther king, Jr. and the struggle for civil rights.

Question 23

Martin Luther King, Jr

Answer 23

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a leader of the civil rights movement. His “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered in 1963, was one of the most recognized symbols of the American Civil Rights struggle. Martin Luther King was shot and killed on April 4, 1968. A federal holiday in January celebrates his birthday.

Question 24

Cesar Chavez

Answer 24

Cesar Chavez organized Mexican American and migrant farm workers to win better wages and working conditions. His leadership focused national attention on farm workers’ terrible working conditions which eventually led to improvements in their condition.

Question 25

Neil Armstrong

Answer 25

Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon, on July 16, 1969. He famously said, “This is one small step for a ma!” one giant step for mankind” as he stepped onto the surface of the moon.

Question 26

Carl Sagan

Answer 26

Carl Sagan was an American astronomer and author who contributed to NASA’s-{National Aeronautics and Space Administration} unmanned space missions. He conceived the idea of adding a message on spacecraft that were destined to leave our solar system that could be understood by any extraterrestrial intelligence that might find it.

Question 27

Henry Cisneros

Answer 27

Henry Cisneros was the first Hispanic mayor of a large city, San Antonio, when elected in 1981. He also served as President Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Question 28

General Colin L. Powell

Answer 28

General Colin L. Powell was a career army officer who became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and eventually the first African American Secretary of State.