**The Roaring 20s** Flashcards
Scopes Trial
- Fight over evolution and the role of science and religion in public schools and in American society
- Scopes was found guilty and fined $100, evolution law not changed
Harlem Renaissance
-A literary and artistic movement celebrating African American culture
Langston Hughes
- Many of his 1920s poems described the difficult lives of working-class African Americans
- Also wrote about civil rights issues
Flapper
- Young woman who embraced the new fashions and urban attitudes of the day
- Bright waistless dresses an inch above the knees
- Hair: bobs, dyed yet black
- Assertive
Prohibition
-The manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages were legally prohibited
Speakeasies
- Obtain liquor illegally, drinkers went underground to hidden saloons and nightclubs
- When inside, one spoke quietly to avoid detection
- Could be found everywhere
Ku Klux Klan
-
Buying on margin
- Paying a small percentage of a stock’s price as a down payment and borrowing the rest
- Pay rest off later when you sell
Margin call
-You are ordered to pay your margin
Black Tuesday (Oct 29)
- Shareholders frantically tried to sell before prices plunged even lower
- The number of shares dumped that day
- Additional millions of shares could not find buyers
- People who had bought stocks on credit were stuck with huge debts as the prices plummeted, while others lost most of their savings
Run on the banks
- Large groups of customers withdraw their money from banks simultaneously before bank failed
- Banks don’t have enough money
Dust Bowl
- Farmers had exhausted the land through overproduction of crops, the grasslands became unsuitable for farming
- Drought and winds - few grass and trees left to hold down soil
- Dust traveled hundreds of miles
- Region hit hardest: Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado
Herbert Hoover
- Tried to reassure the nation
- More Laissez-faire – felt that the government could play a limited role in helping to solve problems
- Opposed direct relief to people
- Said that individuals, charities, and local organizations should pitch in to help care for the less fortunate
- Don’t cut wages
- Boulder/Hoover Dam: provided the region with electricity, flood control, and regular water supply - growth of economy
Hooverville
-
How did the attitudes of the younger generation change during the 1920s? Why did they change?
- Many men died during WWI, so women were left without future husbands, so they decided they were going to enjoy life instead of waiting around for a man
- Men: live for today
List some new consumer products that were invented during the 1920s? How did many Americans pay for these things?
- Films, washing machine, toaster, radio, car
- Payed for with credit
What was the pro and con of paying for luxuries with credit?
PROS: you don’t have wait until you have the money to buy something
CONS: debt
Describe the generational fight between the “traditional” and “modern” views of the 1920s. What terms can you associate with this struggle?
-
How were the policies of President Hoover different from the Progressive presidents?
Why did he adopt these policies?
Why were his policies seen as a reason that the economic downturn became a massive depression?
-
Normalcy
- The simpler days before the Progressive Era and the Great War
- Words of peace and calm comforted the healing nation
Why did many people not like Hoover?
- They believed he permitted the economic crisis to continue/deepen
- He refused to help the poor – he did not want people to depend on the gov. for help every time they hit hard times
Why did the 1920’s economy boom?
- The use of loans and other forms of credit
- Invention of labor-saving appliances for home (washing machines, vacuums, dishwashers), popular, affordable
- The high demand for US-made goods in Europe
Similarities between farmers and factories/businesses during 1920s
- Both employed people with few skills and little or no need for education
- Both hurt by overproduction of products – drove down prices and profits
Why did the banks fail?
- Gave out loans, once economy tanked couldn’t pay them back
- Bought stocks that then became worthless when the stock market crashed
- After run on banks, no money left to give customers
