Chapter 26 The Roaring Twenties

flapper

nickname for the stereotypical 1920s woman who bobbed her hair, shortened her skirt, drank and spoke openly.

prohibition

the banning of alcohol via the 18th amendment

Al Capone

Nicknamed Scarface; he was the most successful gangster of the Prohibition era

bootlegging

the illegal selling and transportation of alcohol

Scopes Trial

A famous trial nicknamed the Scopes Monkey Trial that debated evolution vs. creationism. John T. Scopes was tried for teaching evolution.

drys

Supported Prohibition; opposite of the “wets”

cloche hats

Fashion trends such as close fitting hats that showed off a woman’s bob

21st Amendment

The amendment that repealed prohibition in 1933.

Harlem

Section of New York City where African Americans experience more social freedoms and equality during the 1920s.

Harlem Renaissance

A social, political, and cultural movement in which African Americans were freer to speak and act.

Teapot Dome Scandal

This was a bribery incident that took place in the United States from 1920 to 1923, during the administration of President Warren G. Harding about selling bribes for oil rich lands.

Margaret Sanger

Early feminist and women’s rights activist who coined the term “birth control” and worked towards its legalization.

KKK

This post Civil War terrorist group reorganized in the 1920s and stressed white, anglo-saxon, fundamentalist protestant supremacy.

The Birth of a Nation

The film was a commercial success, but was highly controversial owing to its portrayal of black men (played by white actors in blackface) as unintelligent and sexually aggressive towards white women, and the portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan (whose original founding is dramatized) as a heroic force.

Stock Market Crash

Also known as Black Tuesday began in late October 1929 and was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, when taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout. The crash signaled the beginning of the 13-year Great Depression that affected all Western industrialized countries.

Jazz Age

This age was a feature of the 1920s when jazz music and dance became popular. The Jazz Age is often referred to in conjunction with the phenomenon referred to as the Roaring Twenties.

The Red Scare

This began following the Bolshevik Russian Revolution of 1917 during the intensely patriotic years of World War I as Americans feared communism and anarchists.

modernism

Traditional ways of thinking and creating art were being rejected and replaced with new understandings and forms of expression.

Spirit of St. Louis

Charles Lindbergh flew this plane in the first solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight in 1927.

buying on margin

Purchasing stocks on credit

Tommy gun

The Thompson sub machine gun was invented in 1918 as a trench broom for WWI. When the war ended, this gun was sold to gangsters.

speakeasies

Illegal bars that used a secret word to enter.

Marcus Garvey

Leading spokesman for Negro nationalism and called upon African American to leave the US to return to Africa.

tin lizzie

Another term for the Model T that was invented by Henry Ford.

hooch

Term for illegal alcohol.

Great Migration

Movement of African American from the Jim Crow south to northern cities.

fundamentalism

Anti-modernism Protestant movement started in the early 20th century that proclaimed the literal truth of the Bible.

Sigmund Freud

Founder of psychoanalysis which suggested that human behavior was motivated by the unconscious mind.

Sacco and Vanzetti Trial

Italian immigrants who were arrested for stealing and murder and convicted on circumstantial evidence. Trial biased against their anarchist ties and sentenced to death in the electric chair.