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Jim Thorpe
Native American Jim Thorpe won the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Olympics but was stripped of his gold medals for violating amateur eligibility rules. -
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart, the first female pilot to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, mysteriously disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean in 1937. -
Charles Lindbergh
Lindbergh, Charles Augustus (1902-1974), an American aviator, made the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean on May 20-21, 1927. -
Model T
The Model T, also known as the “Tin Lizzie,” changed the way Americans live, work and travel. Henry Ford’s revolutionary advancements in assembly-line automobile manufacturing made the Model T the first car to be affordable for a majority of Americans. For the first time car ownership became a reality for average American workers, not just the wealthy. -
Welfare Capitalism
Welfare capitalism is the practice of companies providing their employees with good social conditions and benefits. One example of this from the 1920s is the Western Electric Company -
Welfare Capitalism
Welfare capitalism is the practice of companies providing their employees with good social conditions and benefits. One example of this from the 1920s is the Western Electric Company -
Rise of KKK
The rebirth, rise and resurgence of the 1920's KKK was due to the massive rise in immigration, the movement of African Americans from the south to the northern cities, race riots, strikes, problems caused by industrialization and Urbanization, the anti-immigration and anti-radical hysteria of the Red Scare and a series of terrorist attacks in America. -
Prohibition
The ratification of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution–which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors–ushered in a period in American history known as Prohibition. The result of a widespread temperance movement during the first decade of the 20th century, Prohibition was difficult to enforce, despite the passage of companion legislation known as the Volstead Act -
The Jazz Age
The Jazz Age was the era in American history that started with the end of WW1 and ended with the Great Depression of 1929 when jazz music, modern ideas, flappers and dance became popular. -
The Teapot Dome Scandal
The Teapot Dome scandal of the 1920s involved national security, big oil companies and bribery and corruption at the highest levels of the government of the United States. It was the most serious scandal in the country’s history prior to the Watergate affair of the Nixon administration in the 1970s. -
The Kellog Briand Pact
The Kellogg-Briand Pact was an agreement to outlaw war signed on August 27, 1928. Sometimes called the Pact of Paris for the city in which it was signed, the pact was one of many international efforts to prevent another World War, but it had little effect in stopping the rising militarism of the 1930s or preventing World War II. -
Black Tuesday
Black Tuesday hits Wall Street as investors trade 16,410,030 shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors, and stock tickers ran hours behind because the machinery could not handle the tremendous volume of trading. In the aftermath of Black Tuesday, America and the rest of the industrialized world spiraled downward into the Great Depression. -
Stock Market Crash
During the 1920s, the U.S. stock market underwent rapid expansion, reaching its peak in August 1929, after a period of wild speculation. By then, production had already declined and unemployment had risen, leaving stocks in great excess of their real value. -
Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance was a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that kindled a new black cultural identity. Its essence was summed up by critic and teacher Alain Locke in 1926 when he declared that through art, “Negro life is seizing its first chances for group expression and self determination.” -
The red scare
As the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States intensified in the late 1940s and early 1950s, hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. became known as the Red Scare. (Communists were often referred to as “Reds” for their allegiance to the red Soviet flag.) The Red Scare led to a range of actions that had a profound and enduring effect on U.S. government and society.
