Roaring Twenties Flashcards
Emma Goldman
An Anarchist deported during the First Red Scare.
Robert H. Goddard
American who was ridiculed by the New York Times for theorizing the possibility of Lunar travel. Invented the rocket.
Carrie Chapman Catt
A suffragette who established the League of Women Voters and pushed for the 19th Amendment.
United States presidential election, 1920
Republican Harding defeated Democrat Cox. The public was not trusting of the Democratic party after the foreign policy and physical paralysis of Wilson. Wilson also alienated progressives due to his siding against labor in disputes, and supporting the Red Scare deportations in 1919. The “Return to Normalcy” won out.
One-drop rule
An historical colloquial term. Any person with “one drop” of African blood will be categorized as Negro.
Wall Street bombing
A 1920 terrorist attack carried out by anarchists.
Depression of 1920-21
An extremely sharp economic bust caused by the end of World War I.
Roaring Twenties
Post-World War I period typified by extreme economic growth and cultural changes, such as flappers, jazz, inventions, cinema, and Art Deco.
Emergency Quota Act
1920- An act restricting immigration from all countries except Northern European ones, for the purpose of “preserving culture.”
Tulsa race riot
In 1920, a wealthy black community was destroyed by white men and women killing over 39 and injuring hundreds.
Sacco and Vanzetti
In 1920, these two Italian anarchists were convicted of murder and robbery. They were found guilty and died in the electric chair rather unfairly.
Battle of Blair Mountain
1921, One of the largest civil uprisings in U.S. history by striking coal miners.
Margaret Gorman
The first Miss America crowned in 1921.
Sweetest Day
A Great Lakes holiday in which you share romantic deeds or expressions, concocted by candy industrialists in the 1920s.
William Desmond Taylor
An American actor whose 1922 murder evoked a wave of sensationalism.
Roscoe Arbuckle
An American silent film actor who was falsely arrested for rape and manslaughter, his 1921-1922 trial was another example of the rise of sensationalist journalism.
Washington Naval Treaty
A 1922 treaty which limited international naval construction to prevent an arms race.
Teapot Dome scandal
A bribery incident from 1921-1922 which smeared the face of the Harding presidency involving Sec. of the Interior Albert B. Fall.
Nanook of the North
1922- First feature length documentary. Largely staged.
Rebecca Latimer Felton
First woman to serve in the Senate, she was appointed and served for only one day in 1922.
Darwinism
The scientific belief in the theory of evolution, its teaching was outlawed in numerous conservative states.
United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind
(1923) A case which found that Indian people are not white, and therefore ineligible for naturalization.
Hollywood Sign
A landmark structure of cultural significance in Hollywood, California built in 1923.
The Walt Disney Company
An animation corporation created in 1923.
Rhapsody in Blue
George Gershwin’s jazz-inspired 1924 musical compositions.
Leopold and Loeb
Two University of Chicago students who committed a “thrill killing” against a 14-year old boy, Bobby Franks, in 1924.
Indian Citizenship Act
1924- Passed to recognize the valor of Indian soldiers in World War I, it granted citizenship to all American-born Native Americans. AKA Snyder Act.
Hanapepe massacre
In 1924, striking Filipino sugar workers in Hawaii were massacred by the U.S. military, ending all armed protests in Hawaii.
Nellie Tayloe Ross
In 1924 became Governor of Wyoming, the first female elected governor in U.S. history. Also first female Director of the US Mint under FDR, she served for 20 years.
United States presidential election, 1924
Republican Calvin Coolidge worked to restore honor to the executive branch after the sudden death of the unpopular Harding. Coolidge won easily due to a split in the Democratic party. His Democratic challenger was the conservative John W. Davis, while the Progressive nominee Robert M. La Follette was the only candidate with differing views.
bootlegging
The process of illegally smuggling alcohol during Prohibition.
Earth inductor compass
This American invention made transoceanic ventures easier during the 1920s.
1925 serum run to Nome
Media attention was drawn to this voyage to North Alaska to stop the spread of disease, it sparked an inoculation campaign.
Butler Act
1925 Tennessee Law prohibiting the teaching of evolution.
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel chronicling the shallowness of the Roaring Twenties.
Scopes Trial
1925- Intense international attention was given to a small Tennessee town after a teacher was arrested for teaching evolution.
Grand Ole Opry
Opened in 1925, a weekly country music stage concert which displays the biggest stars of that genre.
Motel Inn of San Luis Obispo
Pioneered the motel model, the first motel in the world since 1925.
Bessie Coleman
First female black pilot.
Smith W. Brookhart
Republican Iowa senator, unseated by his caucus in 1925 due to his criticisms of the Harding and Coolidge administrations.
Aimee Semple McPherson
An evangelist and media celebrity in the 20s and 30s, responsible for the revitalization of Christianity in America in the 20th century.
Selman Waksman
Discovered enzymes during the 1920s.
1926 Miami hurricane
Ended the Florida land boom of the 1920s and pushed the state into the Great Depression early.
Don Juan
A 1926 Warner Brothers film about a man who kisses 126 different women. First to be made with synchronized Vitaphone sound effects.
Bath School disaster
A man bombed a schoolhouse in 1927 killing around 37 children, the first of the school massacres that would come to greatly increase in number from the 1990s to present day.
Charles Lindbergh
Flew the Spirit of St. Louis plane transatlantic, also known for the kidnapping of his son, and burning off his public sympathy as the face of the America First! movement which combined elements of isolationism and eugenicist.
Peace Bridge
Bridge connecting New York to Canada built during the architectural boom of the 1920s.
Holland Tunnel
Tunnel connecting New Jersey to New York, built during the architectural boom of the 1920s.
The Jazz Singer
1927- The first ever “talkie.”
Murderers’ Row
Nickname given to the 1927 Yankees.
Pan Am
First International airline company since 1927.
Marion Parker
A 12-year old girl kidnapped and murdered in 1927, her disapearance sparked the largest manhunt in U.S. history and showed the power of yellow journalism.
Ruth Snyder
First woman killed via electric chair. Her 1928 execution was captured in a famous and circulated photograph.
St. Francis Dam
Built during the architectural boom of the 1920s, its collapse in 1928 was the worst civil disaster in American history.
Pineapple Primary
The 1928 Republican primary in Chicago, marred by political assassinations and curroption.
Amelia Earhart
American aviatrix, first woman to cross the Atlantic (among other things). She vanished in 1937 while attempting to be the first female to fly around the world.
Plane Crazy
This 1928 Disney short was the first to feature Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
Al Smith
Democratic nominee in 1928, Catholic New York governor.
Richard E. Byrd
Flew to the North and South poles in the 1920s.
1928 Okeechobee hurricane
Killed 1200 people, devastated Florida and Puerto Rico.
United States presidential election, 1928
Democrat Al Smith lost to Republican Herbert Hoover due to his association with Catholicism, anti-Prohibitionism, and Tammany Hall. The parties shared positions on lower taxes, restricted immigration, media regulation, and Prohibition. Hoover supported the ERA.
Steamboat Willie
First sound Disney cartoon, 1928.
Eliot Ness
Leader of “The Untouchables” fought against Chicago Anti-Prohibition.
Show Boat
This 1927 play was a watershed moment in American musicals. It’s racist overtones birthed the song “Ol’ Man River.”
Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre
In a 1929 Prohibition gangster battle, Al Capone and his Italian mafia assassinated seven Irish mobsters.
Frederick Gotthold Enslin
A sodomy case was brought against this Continental soldier, kicked out of the army in 1778 for having sex with another soldier.
National Crime Syndicate
A loosely organized, multi-ethnic organized crime syndicate formed in 1929.
Wings
This 1927 film was the first to win Best Picture.
Wickersham Commission
This 1929 Hoover created commission established that Prohibition was a failure but maintained support for it anyway.
Herbert E. Ives
Headed the development of television technology at AT&T in the first half of the twentieth century and is also known for the Ives-Stilwell experiment which was central to the technology making moving pictures possible.
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, October 24th to 29th 1929. Causes were the continued neglect of the agriculture industry throughout the Roaring Twenties, corruption and the failure of the London Stock Market, and Hoover not vetoing the Smoot-Hawley Act.
Albert B. Fall
Secretary of the Interior under Hoover, went to prison for bribery for his role in the Teapot Dome scandal.
Bernt Balchen
One of the first men to ever fly over the South Pole in 1929.
Museum of Modern Art
An art museum in Manhattan opened by three wealthy women in 1929.
Ambassador Bridge
A suspension bridge connecting Detroit and Ottawa built during the architectural boom of the 1920s.
Algonquin Round Table
A celebrated group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits, prominent during the 1920s into the 30s, who made phenomenal contributions to literature.
Bonus Act
A 1924 law which granted benefits to veterans of World War I, passed over Harding’s extremely unpopular veto.
Great Railroad Strike of 1922
This large scale railroad strike was met with an injunction from Pres. Harding. His injunction was seen as authoritarian, unconstitutional, and stirred sympathy for the striking union members who ultimately saw little return.
