It encompassed a period of unprecedented economic prosperity and cultural experimentation as well as political conservatism and religious fundamentalism. A period developed under reductions in spending and taxes, while tariffs were raised to protect domestic industries, setting the tone for a prosperous decade. The public responded enthusiastically to the mass marketing of new consumer goods such as radios and affordable automobiles. Agricultural production, however, lagged after the wartime boom evaporated. Which leads us to the Great Depression, when the stock market crash revealed the structural flaws in the economy. Government policies throughout the twenties—high tariffs, lax enforcement of anti-trust laws, an absence of checks on speculation in real estate and the stock market, and adherence to the gold standard—contributed to the onset of the Depression. Banks failed, businesses closed, homes and jobs were lost.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a landmark 1954 Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled unanimously that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional.
