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Boom! The 1920s

Boom! The 1920s. Do Now. Agenda. Do Now – Lady Gaga Learner.org Video The Roaring 20s. Take out homework. Answer this question in your notebook: How “roaring” were the Roaring Twenties for average Americans?. Homework : M: Content Check T: Bonus March. World Map Post-WWI. The 1920s.

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Boom! The 1920s

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  1. Boom! The 1920s Do Now Agenda Do Now – Lady Gaga Learner.org Video The Roaring 20s • Take out homework. • Answer this question in your notebook: • How “roaring” were the Roaring Twenties for average Americans? Homework: M: Content Check T: Bonus March

  2. World MapPost-WWI

  3. The 1920s The 1920s were a decade best remembered for unprecedented affluence, a profusion of fantastic new consumer products, and a vibrant and creative urban cultural scene. But the decade also brought a deep agricultural depression, fueling traditionalist resistance to the encroachments of modernity on rural America.

  4. Why should you care about the 1920s? • In both eras—the 1920s and today—we see presidents elected because the voters liked their personalities, only to endure administrations mired in corruption and scandal. • In both eras, we see soaring stock markets, providing euphoric investors with incredible financial returns. • In both eras, we see a widening gulf between the incomes of the rich and the poor and middle-class. • In both eras, we see a populace enthralled by celebrity, zealously tracking every move of America's sports and entertainment heroes. • In both eras, we see a showdown between the secular values of the marketplace—in which everything is for sale, and sex sells—and the old-fashioned religious principles of fundamentalist Christianity. • In both eras, we see powerful movements to restrict immigration amid fears that the arrival of too many newcomers to this nation will undermine American society and culture.

  5. Unit 8 Overview

  6. Today… you will..

  7. A New Era: The 1920’s

  8. Economic Conditions Signs of Prosperity Signs of Trouble Least-prosperous group of the 1920s = farmers of Midwest and South For American farmers, the years 1921-29 = a period of falling prices for agricultural products • Standard of living rose • More people moved to urban centers • Large numbers of women and men working in office jobs • Increased emphasis on the marketing of consumer goods • Growing investment in the stock market • Assembly-line production of Henry Ford’s Model T enabled average families to purchase automobiles • Starting in 1920  number of kids ages 10-15 in the industrial workforce began to decline

  9. Economic Development Labor Problems • Wages rose. • Union membership declined • open shop policy: employers kept jobs open to nonunion workers • welfare capitalism (voluntarily offered benefits and higher wages) • Violent efforts to resist unionization in the South. • Strikes were unsuccessful: United Mine Workers had violent, unsuccessful strikes; courts issued injunctions. • Unemployment was low. • Standard of living improved (indoor plumbing & central heating) • 2/3 of all homes had electricity. • Real income increased significantly. • 40% of Americans (rural and urban) had income in the poverty range. • Farmers suffered financial problems. • Business Prosperity • Productivity: Greater use of Frederick W. Taylor’s principles of scientific management—most major industries adopted the assembly line, and increased productivity. • Energy Technology: oil was used to power factories and automobiles (23% of U.S. energy by 1930); electrical motors increased electrical generation 300%. • Government Policy: corporate tax cuts and no antitrust law enforcement helped businesses.

  10. Republican Presidencies-most were conservative-Republican popularity was a response to Roosevelt’s death • Coolidge 1923-1929 • (Election 1924 v. LaFollette, Progressive Party, 5 million votes) • Popular: Massachusetts governor who broke Boston Police Strike • “Silent Cal”: “If you don’t say anything, you won’t be called on to repeat it.” • “When more people are thrown out of work, unemployment results.” • “The business of America is business.” • Laissez-faire policies: limited government allowed businesses to prosper. • Vetoed most Congressional acts; Cut spending • Refused bonuses for World War I veterans • Vetoed a Bill [McNary-Haugen] to help farmers cope with falling crop prices. • Hoover, 1929-1933 (Election of 1928-v. Alfred E. Smith: Roman Catholic, anti-prohibition) • Harding 1921-1923 (Election 1920-“return to normalcy”) • Made some good appointments • Pardoned Eugene Debs (imprisoned for violating the espionage act) • Laws he approved: • reduction of income tax • Increase in tariff rates [Ford-McCumber Tariff Act of 1922] • Establishment of Bureau of the Budget (Congress reviews all government expenditures together) • Scandals: • Teapot Dome Scandal: Secretary of the Interior Albert Fallaccepted bribes for granting oil leasing near Wyoming. • Attorney General Harry M Daugherty took bribes for agreeing not to prosecute criminal suspects.

  11. Republican Politics: Harding, Coolidge, & Hoover Foreign Policy “Isolationist” policies, but actively participated in decisions regarding international finance & payment of war reparations Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 = international agreement  62 nations pledged to foreswear war as instrument of policy Washington Naval Conference of 1921-1922 Restrained naval arms race among US, Britain, Japan, Italy, & France Signatory nations agreed to specific limitations on the # of battleships each nation could build Dawes Plan Response to econ. crisis in Germany Rescheduled Germany’s reparation payments & opened way for US private loans to Germany Republican Prosperity • Republican presidents favored tax cuts for wealthy Americans • During Harding & Coolidge  federal agencies created during the Progressive Era aided business

  12. Washington Naval Conference (1921) • International Disarmament Conference • Naval Ratios • Arms Race

  13. The Dawes Plan NOTE: This is different from the Dawes Act (1887)

  14. The Kellogg-Briand Pact (1929) Renounced war as an “instrument of national policy”

  15. New Culture: Jazz Age • High school and college youth expressed rebellion against elders’ culture by dancing to jazz music. • Brought north by African American musicians • Phonographs and radios made jazz music available to the public.

  16. New Culture: Consumerism • Electricity • Millions of Americans could purchase new appliances : refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, washing machines • Automobiles • Nearly everyone owned a car by 1930 (replaced railroads as key economic growth producer). • Stimulated other industries: • Steel, glass, rubber, gasoline, highway construction • Impacted all aspects of social life. • Entertainment • The radio was new. Networks enabled people all over the country to listen to the same programs • Movies were a national pastime. Talking pictures (The Jazz Singer) increased their popularity. • Popular Heroes • Heroes went from being popular heroes (Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, and Wilson) to sports and movie stars.

  17. Summary: The Culture of Modernism The “Lost Generation of the 1920s” • Key writers = Sinclair Lewis & F. Scott Fitzgerald • Called Lost Generation b/c disillusioned w/ American society during 1920s • Criticized middle-class materialism & conformity • Sinclair Lewis criticized middle-class life in novels like Babbit and Main Street Jazz • Black musicians such as Joseph (“Joe”) King Oliver, W.C. Handy, & “Jelly Roll” Morton helped create Jazz • Especially popular among the youth b/c it symbolized a desire to break with tradition Mass Entertainment • Movies = most popular form of mass entertainment • Sports becomes big business (led by baseball) • Tech innovations made long-distance radio broadcasting possible • National radio networks reached millions of Americans

  18. Art & Literature • Literature of Alienation • Authors saw religion as hypocritical and the war as fraud created by business owners. • Disillusioned authors were called the “Lost Generation.” • Art • Architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright expanded on Louis Sullivan’s ideas in applying functionalism, leading to skyscrapers without decoration. • Paintings:Painters such as Edward Hopper and Georgia O’Keefe showed the stark impact of technology and urban life.

  19. New Culture: Gender Roles, Family, Education • Flappers • Symbolized the new freedom by challenging traditional American attitudes about women • Favored short, bobbed hair, smoked cigarettes, and even wore the new one-piece bathing suits (scandalous!) • High school and college graduates took office jobs until they were married. • Divorce liberalized 1:6 marriages • Education • More state governments enacted compulsory school laws. • 1930: over 25% of school age young adults graduated from high school.

  20. Summary: Struggle for Women’s Equality • Revolution in Sexual Morals • Movies, automobiles, and dance steps encouraged promiscuity. • Contraceptives were mostly illegal, but Margaret Sanger advocated to achieve growing acceptance. • Outspoken reformer who openly championed birth control for women

  21. Summary: Struggle for Women’s Equality Women and the Workforce • Percentage of single women in labor force declined b/n 1920-1930 (even though new jobs available in offices/stores) • Did not receive equal pay & faced discrimination in the professions • Most married women didn’t seek jobs outside of the home Decline of Feminist Movement of 1920s • Passage of 19th amendment granting women the right to vote • Inability of women’s groups to agree on goals • Decline of Progressive reform movement

  22. Summary: Struggle for African American’s Equality The Harlem Renaissance • Thrived in 1920s • Outpouring of Black artistic & literary creativity • Writers & artists expressed pride in African American culture • Supported full social & political equality for African Americans • African American intellectual movement • Literature, Poetry, Art, etc. • Langston Hughes • Novelist and Poet • Most famous figure of HR

  23. Marcus Garvey • Jamaica  Harlem • Universal Negro Improvement Association • Largest black mass movement in history • Black Nationalism / Pan-Africanism • Back to Africa Movement • Separatism

  24. Big Question How “roaring” were the roaring twenties for average Americans?

  25. New Culture: ReligionDivision among Protestants reflected tensions in society. Modernism • Changing role of women + Social Gospel movement + scientific knowledge = a redefinition of faith • Modernists believed they could accept Darwin’s theory of evolution without abandoning their religious faith. Fundamentalism • Rural Protestant preachers taught that every word in the Bible must be taken literally. • Creationism (God created the universe in seven 24-hour days) explained the beginning of all life. • Blamed modernists for a decline in morals. • Anti-liberal & anti-secular movement that gained strength in the 1920s Revivalists of the 1920’s (Radio Evangelists) • Preached a fundamentalist message using the radio. • Billy Sunday (attacked drinking, gambling, and dancing) • Aimee Semple McPherson (attacked communism and jazz music)

  26. Cultures in Conflict: The Scopes Trial • John T. Scopes = H.S. Bio teacher in Tennessee who was indicted for teaching evolution • Modernist Lawyer: Clarence Darrow • Fundamentalist testifier: William Jennings Bryan (“expert on the Bible”) • The nation followed the trial in newspapers and on the radio. • Scopes was found guilty, but Darrow made Bryan look foolish in the trial. • Bryan died of a stroke soon afterward. Aftermath: • laws banning evolution remained, but were rarely enforced • the Northern press felt Darrow had discredited fundamentalism. • The question of religion and public schools remains controversial. • Shows cultural conflict in 1920s b/n fundamentalism & modernism

  27. Cultures in Conflict: Prohibition • Defying the Law • 1919: 18th amendment: prohibition of alcohol. • Conserve grain during the war. • Maintain a sober workforce. • The Volstead Act = a federal law enforcing the 18th Amendment • In cities, speakeasies sold bootleg liquor. • City police looked the other way. • President Harding served liquor to guests. • Organized crime became big business • Rival gangsters (Al Capone) fought for control of the bootlegging trade. • Gangsters made millions selling illegal booze, prostitution, and narcotics • Political Discord/Repeal • Republicans supported prohibition • Southern Democrats supported it; northern city politicians wanted it repealed. • The Great Depression added economic reasons for repeal; the 21st Amendment (1933) repealed prohibition.

  28. Cultures in Conflict: Nativism • Causes • Immigration resumed after the Great War ended (mainly eastern European Catholics and Jews) • Nativist prejudices and fears heightened: • Competition for jobs • European radicals might incite revolution • The public demanded that Congress limit immigration. • Quota Laws [existed for all Asian and European nationalities] • The Quota Act of 1921: limited immigration to 3% of the number of foreign-born persons from a given nation present in the 1910 census. • Quota Act of 1924 (specifically discriminated against Southern and Eastern European immigrants): 2% of those present in the 1890 census. • 1927: Japanese immigration barred; 150,000 = limit for all Asian and Eastern and Southern European immigration.

  29. The Sacco and Vanzetti Trial • The People of Massachusetts v. Sacco and Vanzetti • After a robbery in Massachusetts led to two deaths, Boston police arrested Sacco (shoeworker) & Vanzetti (fish seller), poor Italian immigrants and anarchists who had protested the Palmer raids. They were sentenced to death by electric chair. • Artists and intellectuals debated over evidence used in the trial (guns). • Many believed Sacco and Vanzetti were victims of government repression and xenophobia (fear of outsiders). • Significant b/c it illustrated the fear of radicals and recent immigrants

  30. Cultures in Conflict: The Ku Klux Klan • After lynching a Jewish man accused of attacking a girl, the Ku Klux Klan reformed in 1915, and had 5 million members by 1925. • It directed its hatred against Catholics, Jews, foreigners, and suspected Communists. • Tactics • Wearing white hoods, Klansmen burnt crosses, ad whipped, tarred and feathered , and hanged their victims. • In Indiana and Texas, they had strong political influence. • Demise • Native-born white Americans tolerated the Klan at first, feeling it reinforced Christian morality. • The murder conviction of Grand Dragon David Stephenson (Indiana Klan’s leader) caused membership to decline. It continues to exist, however.

  31. Summary: Response to Modernism - Nativism The Ku Klux Klan • 1920s witnessed dramatic expansion of the KKK  shows nativist reaction to modernism! • D.W. Griffith’s full-length film The Birth of a Nation glorified the KKK • Favored white supremacy and restrictions on immigration • Hostile towards immigrants, Catholics, Jews, and African Americans The National Origins Act of 1924 • Primary purpose = use quotas to restrict flow of newcomers from Southern & Eastern Europe • Quotas established by National Origins Act discriminated against immigrants from S & E Europe  primary reason for decrease in the numbers of Euro immigrating to the US in 1920s • # of Mexicans & Puerto Ricans migrating to US increased b/c neither group was affected by restrictive immigration acts of 1921 & 1924

  32. Big Question What fundamental cultural shifts did America experience in the 1920s? Was there any resistance to these changes?

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