Unit 3: The Roaring 20s & Dirty 30s Flashcards
(44 cards)
Why couldn’t returning soldiers from WW1 find jobs?
old jobs had been taken over by women, and factories for war materials had to be converted to peacetime production, so people were laid off
What happened when soldiers returned home from WW1?
Soldiers had caught the Spanish influenza (or flu) in the trenches and brought it home, killing 20 million people worldwide (35,000 in Canada), more than were killed in the war.
Describe the Winnipeg General Strike (4)
- Many soldiers joined unions to protest unfair treatment in the workplace
- The strike took place in 1919, where one union started it and then other joined in, until the city was unable to function
- The Canadian government believed that a Communist revolution was taking place, so sent in police to take control of the situation
- strike reminded businesses and factory owners of the need of fair treatment of employees.
What was Canada’s economy like during the Roaring 20s? (3)
- slow start due to inflation (government spending, soldiers returning, shortage of consumer goods and growing demand)
- as the world’s economy improved, Canadian products were in high demand (wheat, paper, oil, electricity, credit)
- huge economic growth, Canadian incomes rose, unemployment dropped
What is the economic cycle?
More buyers → more production → more jobs → more money (repeats)
What is the stock market?
Where people buy and sell stocks of a company
What is a stock?
A stock/share is a small percent of ownership of a company
How do you make money from a stock? How does a stock’s value go up/down?
Buy at a low price → stock value goes up = profit.
Goes up through high demand, confidence and business-friendly policies
Goes down if the company loses money or the public perception becomes negative
What was the culture around women working in the 1920s like?
Only low level jobs like telephone operator, nurse or secretaries. If she was married/had kids, she was expected to leave her job.
Describe the suffrage movement in the 1920s (4)
- the homefront experience of women in WW1 brought a new sense of equality for some
- Military Elections Act (1917): first federal vote for women
- women were given the right to vote by 1918
- however, women were still not considered “persons” under the law, so the Famous Five (group of suffragists) took the battle to court (the persons case), lost, but then took it to the highest court in the British Empire in 1929, and women were then officially ruled persons under the law
What was racism like in the 1920s for Black people? What was the KKK?
- many white people believed that they were the “superior race”
- racism took its form through segregation, restrictions on buying property and renting, and restrictions on employment (where tye could work)
- The Ku Klux Klan was a racist group that targeted Black and jewish communities, and revealed deep-seated racism and xenophobia in Canadian society at the time
How were Indigenous people treated in the 1920s?
- often targets of racism, some saw indigenous people as inferior and should be “civilized”
- the Canadian government tried to “educate” Indigenous children through residential schools and get rid of their culture
- were pushed onto small reserves after being forced to sign the Numbered Treaties (“agreements” between the Canadian government and Indigenous communities)
What is prohibition? When did Canada ban alcohol?
mking alcohol illegal to sell, buy or make. Canada passed the Prohibition Act in 1917
What was the Womens Christian Temperance Union?
The WCTU tried to ban alcohol completely, arguing that it is not necessary, public drunkenness is a problem and it accelerates crime rates
What us a bootlegger?
Someone who makes and sells illegal alcohol
What was some of the mob and criminal activity due to prohibition?
- Speakeasies were established: illegal/secret saloons where people could buy alcohol
- Outside of speakeasies, it would look like a funeral home or pet shop, inside there would be jazz, dancing and alcohol
What were the positives and negatives of prohibition?
Positives:
- crime rate decreases
- public drunkenness declines
- work place efficiency improves
Negatives:
- Governments lose millions
- unpopular with the public
- impossible to enforce
- organized crime made millions
When did Canada cancel prohibition? Who was AL Capone?
In 1919. The US went dry in 1920. Al Capone was one of the first gangsters to make money selling smuggled booze to speakeasies.
Who were the famous five?
A group of 5 women who fought for the right for women to be considered persons. Comprised of Emily Murphy (first female judge) Nellie McClung (teacher), Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby and Henrietta Edwards.
Who invented insulin?
Who was Stephen Leacock?
Who were the Matchless Six?
Who was Lionel Conacher?
Who were the Edmonton Grads?
Who were the Group of Seven?
Who was Guy Lombardo?
Frederick Banting and his partner Best, saved their first person in 1922 and it was made available by 1923
Canadian comedian, famous all around the world
Canadian women’s track and field team who almost never lost
Prominent Canadian athlete, won dozens of awards and amazing lacrosse player and undefeated boxer
An unparalleled women’s basketball team, got 502 wins and 20 loses
Canadian artists who were among the first to embrace a distinctive Canadian art movement
Most popular band leader on the American music scene at the time, sold at least 100 million records
Who were flappers?
Young women in the 1920s who got rid of old traditional ways of life, utilizing new fashion, danced, drank, had short hair, wore short skirts, wore excessive make-up, smoked and drove - unconventional
Who were William Lyon Mackenzie King, Julian Byng and Arthur Meighen?
WLMK: Prime minister (Liberal party)
Julian Byng: Governor General of Canada
Arthur Meighen: Leader of the opposition (Conservative party)
Describe the King-Byng affair. What is its significance?
1925 Federal Election: Conservatives won more seats, but King stayed in power with Progressive Party support (coalition)
Corruption scandal: Kings government was weakened by a customs corruption scandal
Request to dissolve parliament: King asks GG Byng to call for an election, he refuses, and offers Meighen the chance of PM instead
Meighen gov. fails: Meighen couldn’t maintain confidence in the Bouse of Commons and lost a vote
New election: King won on the campaign of Canadian independence, and returned to power
SIGNIFIGANCE: this was the first time a GG refused a PM request, and sparked a debate over the role of the Vritish Crown in Canadian politics. It helped to lead to reforms that reduced British control over Canada
What was the Balfour Report?
- a result of the Imperial Conference of 1926, declaring that Britain and its Dominions (including Canada) were equal status
- the Governor General was no longer a British representative
- it recognized Canadas independence, although there were no concrete laws about it, it laid the foundation for future independence
