Every card in The twentieth-century world, Year 10: the boom and the Roaring Twenties (America 1920–1973 option)
The whole deck, in order — so you can read it through before your child ever sees it.
- In October 1913 Henry Ford brought in a new way of building the Model T at his Highland Park factory. What was it?
A moving assembly line
HintThe cars came to the workers.
WhyBefore the line, one car took about 12.5 hours of labour to assemble; afterwards it took 93 minutes. That speed let Ford cut his prices and sell the Model T to ordinary families.
- What name is given to the Republican belief in the 1920s that government should keep out of business and the economy? (French term, one word)
laissez-faire
HintGovernments left businesses free to do as they chose.
WhyHarding, Coolidge and Hoover, all Republicans, held the presidency from 1921 to 1933. Coolidge cut income taxes sharply and favoured a light hand in regulating business.
- Buying goods by paying small regular instalments over a period of time (a 1920s credit scheme)
Hire purchase
HintBuy now, pay later.
WhyIt let families take home cars and radios before they had saved the full price, which helped to keep sales, and so production and jobs, rising.
- Buying shares with borrowed money, paying only a small part of the price in cash
Buying on the margin
HintA small deposit, and the broker lent the rest.
WhyTypically buyers put down about 10 per cent and borrowed the rest, using the shares as security for the loan. When prices fell, many could not repay, and that made the crash worse.
- Why did most American farmers miss out on the boom of the 1920s?
They grew more than could be sold, so prices fell
HintThink supply and demand.
WhyForeign tariffs also made it harder to sell American farm produce abroad.
- Which change to the US Constitution, ratified in August 1920, gave American women the vote?
The 19th Amendment
HintIt followed decades of campaigning by suffragists.
WhyIt said the right to vote could not be denied on account of sex. In practice, many Black women in the Southern states were still kept from voting.
- Which 1927 film starring Al Jolson is usually remembered as the first 'talkie'? (film title)
The Jazz Singer
HintIt was made by Warner Bros. in the late 1920s.
WhyMost of it was still silent, with a music score; only some scenes had speech and song. Its success helped to push Hollywood towards sound films, or 'talkies'.
- A young woman of the 1920s who cut her hair short, wore short dresses and acted independently
Flapper
HintShe might bob her hair and dance the Charleston.
WhyMany older Americans disapproved of flappers, accusing them of flouting the old rules of behaviour.
- More women took jobs in the 1920s. How did their jobs and pay usually compare with men's?
Their jobs were mostly lower-skilled and lower-paid
HintThink of typists and shop assistants, not managers.
WhyEducated women mostly found openings in 'women's professions' such as teaching and nursing. In factories, women often started on a lower hourly rate than men.
- How did Prohibition-era speakeasies help to spread jazz?
Thousands of illegal clubs needed live bands to attract customers
HintThink about what drinkers wanted besides the drink.
WhyThese clubs also brought men and women together, unlike the old men-only saloons.
1★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0166
2★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0167
3★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0168
4★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0169
5★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0170
6★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0171
7★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0172
8★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0173
9★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0174
10★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0175
Keep what you learn
Here, nothing is saved. In your child’s own sky every card is scheduled — it comes back just before they’d forget it — and the professor who wrote it is one tap away.