Roaring Twenties VocabUS History Honors
Conservative: those less willing to bring about or accept change; preferred tradition
Liberal: open minded; willing to accept new ideas and bring about change; challenged tradition
flapper: a young woman, who shows bold freedom from conventions in conduct and dress
rural: country areas with few people living there
Red: a radical, anarchist, or communist
anarchist: people who want to do away with government
installment plan: a system in which a consumer may buy and take possession of goods, paying for them at agreed-upon intervals while having use of the goods
Consumer Revolution: flood of new, affordable goods in the decades after World War I
Prohibition: 1920-1933; when the 18th Amendment made it illegal to make, sell, or transport alcohol in the US
bootlegger: one who produces, reproduces, or distributes alcohol illicitly or without authorization
speakeasy: illegal bar during prohibition
Wet vs. Dry: wets were against prohibition; drys were in favor of prohibition
Fundamentalists: a movement in 20th century Protestantism emphasizing the literally interpreted Bible as fundamental to Christian life and teaching
xenophobia: a fear of immigrants
Ku Klux Klan: a secret society whose purpose was to ensure white supremacy over blacks; also opposed to Jews, Catholics and foreigners
intolerant: the unwillingness to put up with something or someone
corruption: inducement to do wrong by unlawful or improper means
Lost Generation: term for American writers of the 1920s marked by disillusion with World War I and a search for a new sense of meaning
Great Migration: movement of African Americans in the twentieth century from the rural South to the industrial North
Harlem Renaissance: period during the 1920s in which African American novelists, poets and artists celebrated their culture