Name ___________________________________________ Date _______________________ Block _____
1920s/1930s Test Study Guide
USII.6a-d
What resulted from the improved transportation brought about by affordable automobiles?
1) Greater mobility
2) Creation of jobs
3) Growth of transportation-related industries (road construction, oil, steel, automobile)
4) Movement to suburban areas
What were some communication changes during the early 20th century?
1) Increased availability of telephones
2) Development of the radio and broadcast industry
3) Development of the movies
How did electrification change American life?
1) Labor-saving products (washing machine, electric stove, water pump)
2) Electric lighting
3) Entertainment (radio, movies)
4) Improved communication
Define consumerism.
The belief that buying and using lots of products and services is good for people and society
What was "mass culture" and give an example during the 1920's.
Everyone was following what was popular - from Harlem, NY, jazz goes nationwide
What do you call the time period during the 1920s when the economy was doing well? What do you call the
time period in the 1930s when the economy was doing poorly?
Boom; Bust
Which amendment started Prohibition?
18th Amendment – ratified in 1919
What was Prohibition?
Time period when it was illegal to manufacture, transport and sell alcoholic beverages
What were the illegal clubs or bars called during Prohibition?
Speakeasies
What were the results of Prohibition?
1) Speakeasies were created as places for people to drink alcoholic beverages
2) Bootleggers made and smuggled alcohol illegally and promoted organized crime
3) Federal agents could not keep up with the increased crime
Which amendment repealed (ended) Prohibition?
21st Amendment – ratified in 1933
What was the Great Migration?
African Americans moved to cities in the North and Midwest in search of better employment
opportunities
What caused the Great Migration?
1) Jobs for African Americans in the South were scarce and low paying
2) African Americans faced discrimination and violence in the South
What continued to happen after African Americans participated in the Great Migration?
African Americans also faced discrimination and violence in the North and Midwest
Identify three celebrities or cultural icons of the 1920’s.
Pilot - Charles Lindbergh
Baseball - Babe Ruth
Golf - Bobby Jones
What is a flapper?
A woman in the 1920s who had a more rebellious, modern attitude - wore shorter skirts and looser
shirts and had a bob hairstyle - would go to speakeasies and dance halls in the evening
Who was an artist who was known for urban scenes and, later, paintings of the Southwest?
Georgia O’Keeffe
Who was a novelist who wrote about the Jazz Age of the 1920s?
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Who was a novelist who portrayed the strength of poor migrant workers during the 1920s and the Dust Bowl?
John Steinbeck
Who were the two composers who wrote uniquely American music?
Aaron Copland and George Gershwin
What was the Harlem Renaissance?
African American artists, writers and musicians based in Harlem, NY, who revealed the freshness and
variety of African American culture
How did the Harlem Renaissance affect African Americans?
The Harlem Renaissance encouraged African Americans to take pride in their culture
Who was a painter who chronicled the experiences of the Great Migration through art?
Jacob Lawrence
Who was a poet who combined the experiences of African and American cultural roots?
Langston Hughes
Who were two jazz musicians during the Harlem Renaissance?
Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong
Who was a blues singer during the Harlem Renaissance?
Bessie Smith
How did buying stock “on margin”/overspeculation work?
One would borrow money and buy stock on credit and think that the value of the stock would
increase
What were the causes of the Great Depression? Circle the short-term, immediate cause.
1) People over speculated on stocks, using borrowed money that they could not repay when stock
prices crashed (Stock Market crashes) Buying on the Margin: Only Pay 10%
2) The Federal Reserve failed to prevent the collapse of the banking system
3) High tariffs discouraged international trade
4) Overuse of credit
5) Farmers and manufacturers overproduced
6) Deflation (reduction of the money supply)
7) Dust Bowl in the Southern Plains
What was the impact of the Great Depression on Americans?
1) A large number of banks and other businesses failed
2) One-fourth of workers were without jobs
3) Large numbers of people were hungry and homeless
4) Farmers’ incomes fell to low levels
What caused the Dust Bowl?
Land had already been over-farmed during the 1920s and then there was a drought in the early 1930s
- the soil turned to dust and was blown away by the wind storms
Which states were most affected by the Dust Bowl?
Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado
Define “migrant worker.”
A person who moves from region to region looking for work
Who was Franklin Delano Roosevelt?
He was president during the Great Depression and created the New Deal to give hope to Americans
What were the major features of the New Deal?
1) Social Security
2) Federal work programs
3) Environmental improvement programs
4) Farm assistance programs
5) Increased rights for labor
What were the three categories of agencies during the New Deal?
Relief, Recovery, and Reform
What did the Social Security Act do?
It made payments to retired people, children and people with disabilities