-
John J. Pershing
John J. "Blackjack" Pershing was promoted to General of the Armies during World War I, the highest rank ever held in the United States Army. After unsuccessfully pursuing Pancho Villa through northern Mexico during the Punitive Expedition in 1915 and 1916, Pershing was given command of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War I. He died in 1948. -
Glenn Curtiss
"Father of Aviation", "Founder of the American Aircraft Industry"; began with motorcycles and became fastest man in world when got up to 136.3 mph; 1908 became first person to fly publicly viewed flight; court battle with Wright brothers over design of his plane; Curtiss Company build largest fleet of airplanes for WWI; later developed sea plane; 1929 merged with Wright Brothers forming Curtiss-Wright Corporation. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D Roosevelt contracted Polio in 1921; elected 1932 during Great Depression; New Deal; 4 terms as president; died of cerebral hemorrhage 1945; Truman became president after he died. -
Marcus Garvey
Jamaica born, first African American to speak openly and publicly about African Nationalism; believed only way to achieve equality was moving back to Africa; brought ship line known as Black Star Line to transport Africans; FBI believed he was dangerous radical; later Malcolm X and MLK believed Garvey was a model of a man who attempted to instill a sense of pride and dignity into African Americans. -
Alvin C. York
Alvin C. York was an American war hero during WWI. Born in Pall Mall, Tennessee, York was a blacksmith who was drafted into the army during WWI. He received a Congressional Medal of Honor and his story was told in the film "Sergeant York". -
Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes was a leading poet of the Harlem Renaissance who described the rich culture of African American life using rhythms influenced by jazz music. He wrote of African American hope and defiance in poems such as "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" and "My People". -
Charles Lindbergh
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo transatlantic flight in his plane, Spirit of St. Louis. In 1932, his 20-month-old son was kidnapped. The Lindberghs paid the $50,000 ransom, but sadly their son's dead body was found in the nearby woods weeks later. The events made world news and added to Lindbergh's fame. Lindbergh died in Maui, Hawaii, in 1974. -
Sussex Pledge
A promise Germany made to America, after Wilson threatened to sever ties, to stop sinking their ships without warning. -
The Battle of Argonne Forest
On September 26, an American force of over 1 million soldiers advanced against the Germans in the Argonne Forest. After 42 days, the force had helped push the Germans back toward their own border and had cut the enemy's major supply lines to the front. -
Red Scare
Red Scare was the movement of 1919-1920 that spawned by fear of Bolshevik revolution, that resulted in the arrest and deportation of many political radicals. -
The Treaty of Versailles
This treaty formed the League of Nations to protect territorial integrity and political independence of all members. Germany was held responsible for the war and was required to pay reparations to all the contries involved, they also were forced to demilitarize. -
The Great Migration
The movement of African Americans from the South to the industrial centers of the Northeast and the Midwest. Causes for migration included decreasing cotton prices, the lack of immigrant workers in the North, increased manufacturing as a result of the war, and the strengthening of the KKK. Migration led to higher wages, more educational opportunities, and better standards of life for some blacks. -
Jazz Music
American Jazz music emerges from African American church and community, becomes international, uniquely American, white America and Europe embrace. -
Warren G. Harding’s “Return to Normalcy”
The campaign theme of Warren Harding during the election of 1920. It reflected the conservative mood of the country after the constant appeals to idealism that characterized both the progressive era and Wilson's fight over the League of Nations. -
The Great Depression
This was the depression that began months after Hoover was elected because of the Stock Market Crash. Decline in American economy meant less money spent on loans and products from other countries. Foreign powers were not able to pay debts back to the US. American exports dropped and the Depression started. -
Harlem Renaissance
A flowering of African American culture in the 1920s when New York City's Harlem became an intellectual and cultural capital for African Americans; instilled interest in African American culture and pride in being an African American. -
The Dust Bowl
Dust Bowl was the drought-stricked plains areas from which hundreds of thousands of "Okies" were driven during the Great Depression. -
The New Deal
New Deal is the term used by FDR in 1932 acceptance speech that came to describe his whole reform program. -
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange is a United States photographer remembered for her portraits of rural workers during the Depression. She died in 1965.