The Roaring Twenties Flashcards
Grade 11 · Social Studies · Flashcards
Key terms and concepts for the 1920s era in U.S. History.
Flashcards
- Prohibition
- The 18th Amendment's ban on alcohol (1920–1933); created speakeasies, bootleggers, and empowered organized crime.
- Harlem Renaissance
- 1920s explosion of African American art, literature, and music centered in Harlem; key figures include Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Duke Ellington.
- Flappers
- Young women of the 1920s who challenged gender norms through fashion, behavior, and independence.
- Jazz Age
- F. Scott Fitzgerald's term for the 1920s era of cultural freedom, consumer spending, and artistic experimentation.
- Buying on margin
- Borrowing money to buy stocks; fueled the 1920s bull market but caused devastating losses when the market crashed.
- National Origins Act (1924)
- Law that restricted immigration using national origin quotas based on the 1890 census, favoring northern Europeans and excluding most Asians.
- Scopes Trial (1925)
- Trial of Tennessee teacher John Scopes for teaching evolution; symbolized the clash between modernism and religious fundamentalism.
- Red Scare (1919–1920)
- Anti-communist hysteria following WWI and the Russian Revolution; led to the Palmer Raids and mass deportations of suspected radicals.
- Speakeasy
- An illegal establishment that sold alcohol during Prohibition; estimated at 30,000 in New York City alone by the late 1920s.
- Lost Generation
- Writers like Hemingway and Fitzgerald who came of age during WWI and expressed disillusionment with American materialism and traditional values.
- KKK resurgence
- The Ku Klux Klan reached 4–5 million members by 1924, targeting Black Americans, Catholics, Jews, and immigrants during a decade of intense nativism.
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