Unit 4: The 1920's study guide Flashcards
Red Scare
A nationwide anti-radical hysteria provoked by a mounting fear and anxiety that a Bolshevik revolution in America was coming
Scopes Trial
John Scope’s trial that was set up to demonstrate the foolish nature of the Tennessee law (The Butler Act) that made it illegal for public schools to teach theories that contradicted the bible. Scopes had taught evolution in a biology class.
Effects of the Radio
It bridged the divide in American culture and effected consumer taste, meaning it led to an increase of debt as it became popular to buy products with credit in order to fit the modern American consumerist culture. The mass manufacture of radios also contributed to the economic boom in the 1920’s.
Traditionalism versus Modernism
Traditionalists lived in rural areas and had a deep respect for long-held cultural and religious values since they believed that those values were necessary to maintain order and stability in society and Modernists were people who lived in urban areas and who were more open and accepting to new ideas, styles, and social trends since they viewed traditional values as restricting of freedom and happiness
18th Amendment
Made the manufacture, transport, and sale of alcohol illegal in the US.
Effects of prohibition
Prohibition led to the creation of secret bars and drinking clubs called speakeasies. It also led to the multi-million-dollar bootlegging industry.
Volstead Act
Reinforced 18th amendment by prohibiting beverages with 0.5% or greater alcohol in it
19th Amendment
Allowed women to vote
Modern 1920’s woman/flapper (description)
Wore short dresses, short hair, showed knees and shoulders, read fashion magazines, wore heavy makeup, smoked and drank and partied in public, put off marriage/waited longer to marry.
Harlem Renaissance
Cultural explosion of African American art, literature, music and nightlife in New York City from the 1910s to the 1930s.
Jazz Music
Musical genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
Marcus Garvey’s Back to Africa Movement
Encouraged people of African ancestry to strive for authentic and full equality by returning to their ancestral motherland
Factors of the economic boom of 1920s
1) Boosted US industry due to the war 2) Republican government’s policy of laissez faire 3) Mass production of cars, radios, refrigerators, and other consumer goods, and 4) People being allowed to buy on credit
Economic changes for consumers in the 1920s
1) Economic prosperity led to increased consumer spending and the growth of a consumerist culture and 2) Advances in advertising and credit systems further fueled the desire for consumer goods
1920’s farmers
After WW1 US farmers were left with heavy debt and the lowered demand (European countries needed food in WW1 and no longer did) caused a surplus and forced farmers to lower prices.
