Standard Five

Products

During World War One, Americans had lived under many kinds of restrictions. The federal government had controlled railroads, shipping, and industrial production. At the end of the war, these controls were lifted. Industries that had been making war supplies began making products for a peacetime economy.

New Technologies

• Technology made it possible for millions of people to improve their lives. It also caused great changes in American society. Two of the most important new technologies were radio and automobiles.

Radio

Radio greatly changed communication.The first radio station opened in the state of Pennsylvania in nineteen-twenty. Within ten years, there were hundreds of others. There were more than thirteen million radio receivers. Most of the radio stations were owned by large broadcasting networks. These networks were able to broadcast the same program to stations all over the country.

Crystal Radio

The earliest practical use of crystal radio was to receive Morse code radio signals transmitted by early amateur radio experimenters using very powerful spark-gap transmitters. As electronics evolved, the ability to send voice signals by radio caused a technological explosion in the years around 1920 that evolved into today's radio broadcasting industry.

Crystal Radios

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqdcU9ULAlA

Radio Hamshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBGIdf0VjQ4

Programs

Most programs were simple and entertaining. There were radio plays, comedy shows, and music programs. But there also were news reports and political events. Millions of people who never read newspapers now heard the news on radio. Citizens everywhere could hear the president's voice.

Radio Personalities

Radio created public personalities, like announcer Graham McNamee. In 1921, McNamee first broadcast a baseball game by radio. He knew little about sports, but his vibrant baritone soon became familiar to millions of Americans. McNamee became the top sports announcer for the new National Broadcasting Company (NBC).

Rudy Vallee ShowAnother NBC radio star was Rudy Vallee, a singer who created a variety show format. The Rudy Vallee Show began in 1929 and was one of the most popular shows of the 1930s. Many famous vaudeville names paid a visit to the show.

War of the WorldsOn Sunday, October 30, 1938, millions of radio listeners were shocked when radio news alerts announced the arrival of Martians. They panicked when they learned of the Martians' ferocious and seemingly unstoppable attack on Earth. Many ran out of their homes screaming while others packed up their cars and fled.

Though what the radio listeners heard was a portion of Orson Welles' adaptation of the well-known book, War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells, many of the listeners believed what they heard on the radio was real.

Orson Welles

War of the Worlds Part 1 Part 2http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl_J4J2mQpQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACc6ucc4Wgo

Ads

Radio also was a great help to companies. Businesses could buy time on radio programs for advertisements. In these 'ads', they told listeners about their products. They urged them to buy the products: cars. Electric refrigerators. Foods. Medicines. In this way, companies quickly and easily created a nationwide demand for their goods.

Women

Women had worked in factories and outside of the home in other areas during World War I. During the 1920’s roles for women began to change as new household products were made widely available.

Vacuum Cleaners, Refrigeratiors, Washing Machines

During the 1920s, vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, and washing machines seemed to promised consumers more time for leisure activities. Advertising came of age during this era to sell the goods that bustling factories were producing.

The traditional "wash day" in many homes was Monday, and the arrival of the washing machine did, indeed, free up part of that day for other activities.

Cars Everywhere

Before long, there were cars everywhere. All these cars created a need for better roads. Outside cities, most roads were made just of dirt. They were chokingly dusty in dry weather and impassably muddy in the rain.

They were rough and full of holes. Few bridges connected roads across rivers and streams. America's new drivers demanded that these problems be fixed. So, local and state governments began building and improving roads as they had never done before

New Living Conditions

Cars changed more than the way Americans traveled. They changed the way Americans lived. They removed some of the limitations of living conditions.

Drive to Work

For example, families with cars no longer had to live in noisy, crowded cities. They could live in suburbs -- the wide-open areas outside cities. They could use their car to drive to work in the city.

Businesses Moved

Businesses moved, too. No longer did they have to be close to railroad lines. With new cars and trucks, they could transport their goods where they wanted, when they wanted. They were no longer limited by train times.

Go to TownCars also made life on farms less lonely. It became much easier

for farm families to go to town on business or to visit friends.

Cars helped Americans learn more about their nation. In the nineteen twenties, people could drive all across the land for not much money. Places that used to be days apart now seemed suddenly closer.

Families that normally stayed home on weekends and holidays began to explore the country. They drove to the seashores and lakeshores. To the mountains and forests. To places of historical importance or natural beauty.

Air Travel

positive effect of World War I were the different kinds of transportations that were invented. The Americans needed airplanes to fight in the Great War but later on the airplane was established as a peacemaker means of transportation. People were now starting to take trips by airplanes.

• The motion picture industry also began during the early 20th century.

1927 - First talking movie, The Jazz Singer released

Rin-Tin-Tin

• Rin-Tin-Tin, the movie dog, used to be a starving German Shepherd dog during the Great War. He became most famous dog ever to star in the movies in 1923. Rin-Tin-Tin, a German shepherd, icon of the 1920s and early 1930s, was a famous movie hero. His athletic feats astonished audiences -- he could scale an 11--foot, 9-inch fence, leap over chasms, and climb trees. His acting brought tears, laughter, and amazement. Thousands of children sent him fan mail, and he answered with a paw-printed photograph

The peanut butter and jelly sandwich became famous in 1922.

18th Ammendment

Prohibition

Although some prominent Black leaders opposed Black participation in WWI, contrasting the fight for freedoms overseas with overt segregation, a result of the 1896 Plessey vs. Ferguson’s ruling of separate but equal, on the home front, most African Americans believed that WWI was as an opportunity to demonstrate their patriotism and their place as equal citizens in the nation. Black political leaders believed that if the race sacrificed for the war effort, the government would have no choice but to reward them with greater civil rights.

African Americans served in world war one because many African Americans eagerly volunteered to join the Allied cause following America's entry into the war. By the time of the armistice with Germany on November 1918, over 350,000 African Americans had served with the American Expeditionary Force on the Western Front.

Most African American units were largely relegated to support roles and did not see combat. Still, African Americans played a notable role in America's war effort. One of the most distinguished units was the 369th Infantry Regiment, known as the "Harlem Hellfighters", which was on the front lines for six months, longer than any other American unit in the war. 171 members of the 369th were awarded the Legion of Merit.

The First Great Migration 1910-1930

Americans, especially African Americans, moved to northern cities. This "Great Migration" of African Americans led to many finding better paying jobs in war industries during World War I. However, they also ran into prejudice and violence due to job competition. A riot in East St. Louis was the high point of racial tension in the North during the war - but many African Americans felt it was much better than in the South.

Red SummerOne of the negative changes right after WWI were mostly

negative for African Americans, immigrants, and other minorities who had social or political ideas different from the ones in America. One incident that took place in Chicago on June 1919 was when a young African American named Eugene Williams decided to go swimming by a beach along Lake Michigan. By mistake, Williams crossed over the invisible line, which was an area that was reserved for whites only. When the whites saw Williams they stoned him and eventually drowned him. Since the police refused to make any arrest both races soon started to fight against each other causing 38 deaths. This incident soon became known as "Red Summer." African Americans felt that they needed to be treated better because they also fought in the war.

Penicillin

Discovered in the 1920's were penicillin and discovery of insulin for diabetics. This decade had some major breakthroughs in medicine and science.

Prominent African AmericansEarly 20th Century

Mamie SmithBessie Coleman“Ma” RaineyCotton Club: Ethel WatersMarian AndersonHarlem RenaissanceMarcus GarveyWEB DuboisDuke Ellington

Louie ArmstrongEubie BlakeLangston HughesClaude McKayCountee Cullen Jessie Faucet Jean Toomer Rudolph FisherNegro LeaguesThurgood Marshall

Count BasieRalph BuncheEmmett AshfordJoe LewisMuddy Waters

Promenant Women of the 1920’sAlice PaulCarrie Chapman CattLouise BrooksGertude EderleBessie SmithGertude EderleHelen Wills

Dorothy ParkerZora Neale HurstonEdna St. Vincent MillayGeorgia O’KeeffeMary PickfordGreta GarboNellie Tayloe RossClara BowGloria Swanson Coco ChanelZelda SayreMargaret GormanAmelia EarhartBonnie Parker

Promenant Men 1920’s

•Charles Lindbergh -- Famous Aviator and adventurer•Al Capone -- Famous Gangster•F. Scott Fitzgerald -- Self-proclaimed "Flapper King" & Author of The Great Gatsby•Jack Dempsey -- Boxer•Babe Ruth -- Baseball Player and unofficial King of New York•Albert Einstein -- Famous Scientist•Al Jolson -- Entertainer and Movie Star•Charlie Chaplin -- "The most famous person who ever lived" (at least in the 1920s)•Duke Ellington -- Musician and band leader at "The Cotton Club"

Victory Gardens (save for WWII)

One major cause of the food shortages was the forced internment of Japanese-Americans. According to the California Farm Bureau, Japanese farmers were responsible for 40% of the vegetables grown in California valued at over $40 million annually. Japanese farmers were forced to leave about 200,000 acres of farmland.