1920s Culture & Social Change
These women of the 1920s challenged traditional gender roles by wearing shorter dresses, bobbing their hair, and smoking or drinking in public
The Flappers
He revolutionized American manufacturing by using the assembly line to mass-produce the Model T automobile.
Henry Ford
This event on October 29, 1929, also known as "Black Tuesday," is often cited as the symbolic start of the Great Depression.
Stock Market Crash
These makeshift shantytowns, built by homeless people during the Depression, were named after the President they blamed for their suffering.
Hoovervilles
This President was elected in 1932 on a platform promising a "New Deal" to provide relief, recovery, and reform.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
This 1920s cultural movement, centered in a New York City neighborhood, celebrated African American heritage through liturature, music, and art
Harlem Renaissance
This consumer practice allowed Americans to "buy now and pay later," contributing to the economic boom and rising household debt of the 1920s.
Buying on credit
This risky practice involved investors purchasing stocks with a small down payment and borrowing the rest from brokers.
buying on margin
At the height of the Great Depression in 1933, the United States unemployment rate reached this record percentage.
25%
This 1935 New Deal act created a safety net for the elderly, the unemployed, and the disabled, and is still in effect today.
Social Security Act
This constitutional amendment went into effect in 1920, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages.
18th Amendment
In 1927, he became a national hero and symbolized American ingenuity by completing the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight.
This environmental and economic disaster in the Great Plains was caused by severe drought and poor farming practices like over-plowing.
Dust Bowl
This group of WWI veterans marched on Washington D.C. in 1932 to demand early payment of their promised government service certificates
Bonus Army
This New Deal agency was created to restore public confidence in the banking system by insuring individual bank deposits
FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)
This 1925 trial in Tennessee highlighted the conflict between modern science and traditional religious values regarding the teaching of evolution.
Scopes Monkey Trial
This was the slogan of President Warren G. Harding, promising a break from the Progressive Era and a focus on domestic economic prosperity.
Return to Normalcy
Economic instability was worsened by this "run" on financial institutions, where panicked depositors withdrew all their money at once.
bank runs
This government policy during the 1930s forcibly sent hundreds of thousands of people of Mexican descent back to Mexico to reduce competition for jobs.
Mexican Repatriation Act
This controversial 1937 proposal by FDR aimed to increase the number of Supreme Court justices to ensure his New Deal laws weren't ruled unconstitutional.
Court-Packing Plan
This "Red Scare" event involved the controversial trial and execution of two Italian immigrants, highlighting the era's nativism and fear of radicalism.
Sacco and Vanzetti case
This 1920s economic philosophy, favored by Republican presidents, argued that reducing taxes on the wealthy would benefit the entire economy.
Laissez-faire
This 1930 law raised taxes on imported goods to record levels, causing international trade to plummet and worsening the global depression.
Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act
This famous Dorothea Lange photograph became the iconic symbol of the human suffering and resilience of the Depression era
"Migrant Mother"
This New Deal agency provided jobs to young men for environmental conservation projects, such as planting trees and building parks
CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps)