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Clash of Values: Changes in the Roaring 20s

Explore how the societal changes of the Roaring 20s clashed with traditional American values such as prohibition, immigration, and religious beliefs. Discover the rise of organized crime, the Red Scare, and the growth of the Ku Klux Klan.

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Clash of Values: Changes in the Roaring 20s

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  1. Essential Question: • How did the changes of the “Roaring 20s” clash with traditional American values? • Warm-Up Question: • ?

  2. Life in the 1920s • The 1920s were an era of change: • Increased wealth, consumerism, leisure time, & new forms of entertainment led to a “Jazz Age” • By 1920, more Americans lived in cities than in rural areas • Rural Americans reacted to these changes by attacking behaviors they viewed as “un-American”

  3. Prohibition

  4. Prohibition • In 1920, the 18th Amendment went into effect & Prohibition began: • Supported by rural Protestants who believed drinking led to crime, abuse, & job accidents • 26 states had already outlawed alcohol before 1920 • The Volstead Act made the sale, manufacture & transportation of alcohol illegal

  5. Prohibition: A “Noble Experiment”

  6. The U.S. Treasury Dept was in charge of enforcing the Volstead Act

  7. As a result of prohibition, alcohol consumption declined

  8. Prohibition • But, many urban Americans resisted prohibition: • Most immigrants considered drinking part of socializing • Wealthy urban Americans wanted to enjoy themselves • Bootleggers made illegal alcohol&rum runnerssmuggled foreign alcohol into the country • Secret saloons (speakeasies) were created to sell booze

  9. Rum Runners smuggled booze from Canada, the Caribbean, & Europe

  10. Bootleggers & moonshiners made illegal booze Why are they called “bootleggers”?

  11. Speakeasies were secret saloons or nightclubs

  12. Prohibition • Prohibition had some negative effects on America in the 1920s: • Smuggling & bootlegging increased crime & lawlessness • Organized crime grew & took control of the illegal alcohol trade • Mob bosses paid off politicians, judges, & police departments • The federal gov’t could not enforce prohibition effectively

  13. Organized crime grew in American cities, especially in Chicago where Al Capone’s gang was dominant To control the liquor trade, mobsters resorted to bloody gang killings; The most notorious was the St. Valentines Day Massacre in 1929 Gangster Al Capone made $60 million per year in bootlegging & became a notorious icon

  14. Prohibition • By the end of the 1920s, only 19% of Americans supported prohibition • The strongest defenders of prohibition were rural Americans • But, most Americans believed prohibitioncausedmoreproblems than it solved • In 1933, the 21st Amendment ended prohibition

  15. The Rise of Prohibition (4.31) Optional Prohibition Film Clips Prohibition & Corruption (3.05) Prohibition & Gangsters (4.33)

  16. Intolerance

  17. Intolerance in the 1920s • In the 1920s, America experienced a new wave of nativism: • 800,000 Southern & Eastern European immigrants arrived each year in the early 1920s • Rural folks associated immigrants with “anti-American” cultures: non-Protestant religions & supporters of anarchy or socialism

  18. The Red Scare • In 1917, Lenin led the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution & created the 1st communist gov’t • During WWI & 1920s, Americans fearedasimilarrevolutionintheU.S. • EugeneDebsformedanAmerican Socialist Party & ran for president • Unskilled workers were unhappy with low wages & went on strike

  19. Red Scare in America

  20. Sacco & Vanzetti • DuringtheRedScare, suspected immigrants were under attack: • In 1920, two Italian immigrants named Sacco & Vanzetti were arrested & charged with murder • Sacco&Vanzettiwereanarchists (believed in no gov’t) but claimed to be innocent of the crime • Withonlycircumstantialevidence, they were found guilty & executed

  21. Sacco & Vanzetti

  22. Immigration Restrictions • In 1921 & 1924, the gov’t passed new laws restricting immigration: • These laws created quotas that placed a maximum number on how many immigrants could enter the United States • The laws discriminated against Southern & Eastern European immigrants & Asian immigrants

  23. National Origins Act & the Sacco/Vanzetti Trial Video (2.19)

  24. The Ku Klux Klan • The 1920s saw an increase in membership in the Ku Klux Klan: • The KKK promoted traditional values & “100% Americanism” • Used violence & fear to attack African Americans, immigrants, Catholics,Jews,unions,socialists • By 1924, the KKK had 4.5 million members & elected politicians to power in several states

  25. The 1st KKK disbanded when Reconstruction ended in the 1870s, but the 2nd KKK formed in 1915 to protect rural, Christian values

  26. The KKK was anti-Catholic & anti-immigrant (many “new immigrants were Catholic) The KKK supported Protestant, white American values, including prohibition

  27. D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915) was one of the most controversial films in movie history. Set during & after the Civil War, the film glorifies white supremacy & the KKK

  28. At its height in the 1920s, the KKK had 4.5 million members nationwide

  29. Religion

  30. Religious Fundamentalism • Inthe1920s,ruralAmericansfound comfortinreligiousfundamentalism (a literal interpretation of the Bible) • Disliked the immigrants, flappers, socialists they saw in cities • Evangelists used the radio to broadcast Christian messages • Rejected many modern scientific theories; Towns in the South & Westoutlawedteachingevolution

  31. Religious Fundamentalism • In 1925, teacher John Scopes was arrested in Dayton,TN forteachingevolutioninhis biology class

  32. The Scopes “Monkey Trial” was a national sensation ACLU attorney Clarence Darrow defended Scopes; Represented urban America, science & modernity Scopes was found guilty & fined $100, but evolutionists believed they won because Darrow got Bryan to admit that the world might not have been made in six 24 hour days Former presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan served as prosecutor; Represented fundamentalism & rural America

  33. Scopes “Monkey Trial” Video (stop at 2:00)

  34. Conclusions • America in the 1920s experienced a decade of change: • Wealth, consumerism, credit, cars, radios, advertising • Pro-business gov’t attitude & isolationist foreign policy • New freedoms for women & African Americans • Attempts by tradition-minded rural folks to protect against the rapid changes of America

  35. Closure Activity:The Urban vs. Rural Debate • Fold a piece of paper in half: • On each half, write a sentence that describes the changes of the 1920s from the perspective of an urban & rural American • On each side, include 3 images for each side that represent these different perspectives

  36. Essential Question: • In what ways were 1920s a decade of change? • Warm-Up Question: • ?

  37. The 1920s: A Graphic Organizer • ?

  38. The 1920s

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