A | B |
Harlem Renaissance | movement of black writers, artists, and musicians to Harlem, New York, marking a rebirth of black culture during the 1920s. |
stock market crash (1929) | When a stampede of selling that caused stock prices to plunge and resulted in the loss of millions of dollars. This event triggered the Great Depression of the 1930s. |
installment buying | buying on credit and agreeing to pay back over time |
Emergency Quota Act of 1921 | a law passed by Congress which set up a quota system that allowed only a certain number of people from each country to enter the United States. The law favored immigrants from Northern Europe and ended the open immigration that had brought in more than 25 million immigrants since the 1860s. |
Prohibition | period of time between 1919-1933 making the sale, production, and transportation of alcohol illegal |
prosperity | economically successful; enjoying wealth or profit |
anarchist | person who opposes organized government |
Great Depression | name given to the social welfare programs of President Lyndon Johnson designed to help the less fortunate; programs included Medicare, Head Start, and food stamps |
The Grapes of Wrath | book written by John Steinbeck which depicted the hard times Americans faced during the Great Depression |
Franklin D. Roosevelt | Democratic president elected in 1932. He helped America survive the Great Depression and led the U.S. into World War II |
New Deal | legislation developed by President Franklin Roosevelt using the power of the federal government to create relief, recovery, and reform programs to combat the Great Depression |
Works Progress Administration | a New Deal law which provided jobs for the unemployed. Artists, photographers, actors, writers and composers were among the people given jobs. In addition, people were hired to build hospitals, schools, parks, playgrounds, and airports. |
Federal Emergency Relief Administration | A New Deal law gave federal money to state and local agencies to help the unemployed. |
Civilian Conservation Corps | a New Deal law passed to conserve natural resources and give jobs to young people. It hired unemployed single men between 18 and 25 to plant trees, build bridges, work on flood control projects and develop new parks. |
Social Security Administration | organization responsible for the Social Security Act which gives retired people economic security through payments made by the government. |
Agricultural Adjustment Act | a New Deal law that paid farmers not to grow certain crops to avoid overproduction. |
National Industrial Recovery Act | a New Deal law passed to help industry by ending price cutting and worker layoffs by establishing a set of rules and standards for production, wages, prices and working conditions. |
Dust Bowl | Midwestern states suffering from a drought that prevented farmers from growing crops and forced many to leave their farms during the Great Depression. |
soup kitchens | place where food is provided to the needy at little or no charge |