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• Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance refers to a period in the 1920s that saw incredible achievements in
poetry, theater, music, and politics in the African American community. This period is
perceived as the first time that African American cultural achievements were absorbed into
the American mainstream.

The Great Depression and the New Deal

While the causes and specific start of the Depression have been debated, the stock market crash on
“Black Tuesday” (October 29, 1929) is a significant event at the start of the Depression. In the 1920s,
many Americans put their faith in the stock market, and widespread investing drove share prices to
artificially high levels. On Thursday, October 24, the bubble burst, and millions of shares were sold. Over
the next several days, investors sold tens of millions of shares, and countless investors were ruined
financially. This stock market crash led to banks closing, savings lost, and businesses closing. These
events left large numbers of people unemployed.

Other hallmarks of the Depression included drops in the gross domestic product of several nations, a
slowing of industrial production, small farm failure, and inflation.

With Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidency in 1933, the federal government began intervening in the
economy and promised the country a “New Deal.” Roosevelt’s administration with strong congressional
support immediately began implementing measures that they thought would improve the economy and
offer the country some relief from the grinding poverty that had taken hold. Roosevelt instituted
the Emergency Banking Act, the Economy Act, and the Agricultural Adjustment Act, a system of farming
subsidies.

FDR’s New Deal also led to the creation of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Civil
Works Administration, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The federal government was fully involved in
the financial dealings of the nation, and the United States began a slow rise out of the Depression. The
New Deal has received mixed reviews historically; it wasn’t until the United States entered World War II
that the U.S. economy fully recovered.

World War II

At first, the United States chose to simply support Britain and her allies against the Axis powers. However,
after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7th, 1941), the United States declared war and entered