Scottsboro Nine
A group of nine African American teenagers accused of raping two white women on a train in Alabama in 1931. Their trial and conviction highlighted racial injustices in the American legal system.
Bonus Army
A group of World War I veterans who marched on Washington, D.C. in 1932 to demand early payment of a promised bonus for their wartime service. The event ended with the veterans being forcibly removed by the U.S. Army.
New Deal
A series of programs and reforms introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in response to the Great Depression, aimed at restoring economic stability and providing relief to the unemployed.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
A U.S. government corporation created in 1933 that provides deposit insurance to depositors in U.S. commercial banks and savings institutions, ensuring bank deposits up to a certain amount.
Agricultural Adjustment Act
A federal law passed in 1933 as part of the New Deal, aimed at reducing agricultural production by paying farmers to not plant on part of their land and to kill off excess livestock, thus raising the value of crops.
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
A federal agency established in 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected by the Great Depression.
National Recovery Administration (NRA)
A New Deal agency created in 1933 to promote economic recovery by ending wage and price deflation and restoring competition. It was eventually declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
A public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942, providing unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state, and local governments.
Popular Front
A political coalition of leftist parties that formed in several countries during the 1930s to oppose fascism. In the U.S., it was associated with the alignment of progressive individuals and groups with the Communist Party.
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
The largest and most ambitious American New Deal agency, employing millions of job-seekers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads.
Social Security Act
A 1935 law that created the Social Security program, providing retirement and unemployment insurance for American workers, as well as benefits to certain individuals and families.
National Labor Relations Act
Also known as the Wagner Act, this 1935 law established the legal right for workers to organize and to bargain collectively with their employers.
Sit-down Strike
A form of protest during which workers physically occupy the workplace, preventing the employer from using it. This tactic was notably used by the United Auto Workers during the Flint sit-down strike in 1936-1937.
Fair Labor Standards Act
A 1938 federal law that established minimum wage, overtime pay eligibility, recordkeeping, and child labor standards affecting full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and in federal, state, and local governments.
Indian Reorganization Act (IRA)
A 1934 federal law that aimed to reverse assimilationist policies towards Native Americans, promoting tribal self-governance and restoring some land to Native American tribes.
Court-packing Plan
A controversial proposal by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to add more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court in order to obtain favorable rulings for New Deal legislation. The plan was widely criticized and ultimately failed.
Conservative Coalition
An alliance between Republicans and conservative Democrats that formed in the late 1930s to oppose New Deal policies and other liberal initiatives in Congress.