The Roaring Twenties

Unit 2

HUSH 111B

The Roaring ‘20s

American society changed in many ways following World War I. The country withdrew into isolationism and

called for worldwide disarmament Conflict existed between Americans ready to

adopt new manners and new ways and those who tried to resist the forces of change.

Postwar Adjustments Economic Adjustments

Wartime demand dropped

Soldiers faced unemployment

Lower demand Higher cost of living Labor Unrest increased Discrimination against

blacks

A Republican Decade Warren G. Harding

Elected in 1920 Scandals

Died August 3 1923 Calvin Coolidge

“Silent Cal” Laissez Faire Capitalism

“The business of the American people is business”

Herbert Hoover 1928 Led to Depression

Republican Foreign Policy Harding

Isolationism (leads to nativism) Disarmament – reducing the size and strength of the

military Limiting Immigration – Quota for 350,000 people per

year to immigrate

Coolidge Kellogg-Briand Pact 1928

Aristide Briand and Frank. B. Kellogg signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact (Pact of Paris).

The treaty outlawed war The US Senate ratified it in 1929 and over the next few

years forty-six nations signed a similar agreement committing themselves to peace.

Political Scandals Warren G. Harding

1921-1923 “Worst President in the history

of the U.S.” Harding’s cabinet was

extremely corrupt Several accused of bribery

Never linked directly to Harding however he was hurt by scandal

Appointed former President Taft as Chief Justice

Died in office in 1923 Replaced by Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge Succeeded to the Presidency upon the death of Warren G. Harding.

He was elected in his own right in 1924, and gained a reputation as a small-government conservative.

Believed the League of Nations did not serve American interests, and he did not advocate membership in it.

More Political Scandals Teapot Dome Scandal

Worst of the scandals Involved Harding’s cabinet

and illegal drilling rights in an oil field in CA known as “Tea Pot Dome”

Nativism refers to a widespread attitude in a society of a

rejection of alien persons or culture Believed immigrants could not be fully loyal to

the US Did not like Jews, Catholics, or Orthodox

Christians City problems (slums,corruption) were blamed

on the immigrants Immigrants meant competition for jobs Believed they carried dangerous political ideas

Socialism, Anarchy, etc. Most of them came from very politically unstable

countries

The Red Scare The Red Scare

Russian Revolution Bolsheviks

Vladimir Lenin Communism

Renewed Nativism Palmer Raids Anti-Immigration Laws American Civil

Liberties Union Sacco and Vanzetti

Public Opinion

Reasons to Fear- Would Communism Spread??

Communism in the Soviet

Union

A single political party controls the

government

Individuals have no rights that the government is

legally bound to respect

The government promises to create

revolutions in other countries and

spread communism

The government owns all land and

property

Attorney General Palmer became convinced that Communist agents were planning to overthrow the American government Thirty-eight bombs sent to leading politicians by

anarchists

Palmer recruited J. Edgar Hoover as his special assistant and together they used the Espionage Act (1917) and the Sedition Act (1918) to launch a campaign against radicals and left-wing organizations.

The public lost interest by spring of 1920 as one Palmer- predicted terrorist attack after another failed to occur

Schenck v United States

During World War I, Charles T. Schenck produced a pamphlet maintaining that the military draft was illegal

Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes rejected the argument that the pamphlet was protected by the First Amendment.

He argued that the government is justified in silencing free speech only if there is a “clear and present” danger to the nation

Labor Unrest One of the key social

tensions of the era 1919 – 4 million workers

held 3600 strikes Most strikes were beat

down by federal authorities

Communist Plot 1919 Bombings? Because of the

violence, Economic Boom, and increased wages Union membership declined from 5 million to 3.4 million in 1920

Strikes Steelworkers 1919 Gary, Indiana US Steel Corporation used

force to break the strike 18 dead, 100s seriously

wounded federal troops occupied the

city for several months.

United Mine Workers Coal Strike

Boston Police Strike•(1919), police commissioner refused to recognize a policemen's union. •Governor Calvin Coolidge finally called out the state militia to maintain order in the city, declaring "There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime.".

Public Opinion

Public Opinion

Prohibition- the "noble experiment" National prohibition of

alcohol (1920-33)--the was undertaken to reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, reduce the tax burden created by prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America.

1919 18th Amendment Volstead Act

1933 21st Amendment- Blaine Act

Per Capita Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages (Gallons of Pure Alcohol) 1910-1929.

Science vs. Religion Debate

‘Scopes Monkey Trial’

Creationism v Evolution John T. Scopes, TN Teacher

taught Darwin’s Origin of Species to students

Lawyer for ACLU Clarence Darrow

Lawyer for Creationists William Jennings Bryant

Creationists won case, but lost battle of public opinion

Nationwide Racial Discrimination Yellow Peril African Americans in the

North Anti Semitic business

practices Mexicans KKK Violence

The New Ku Klux Klan White, Protestant, native

born, Americans Hiram Wesley Evans –

Imperial Wizard Over 4 million member in

1924

Rising Intolerance

Sacco and Vanzetti

Two Italian immigrants wrongly accused of murder and robbery

They were convicted and executed for the crime even though another man confessed Many observers believed that their conviction resulted

from prejudice against them as Italian immigrants and because they held radical political beliefs

Fifty years later, on 23rd August, 1977, the Governor of Massachusetts, issued a proclamation, effectively absolving the two men of the crime

A Consumer Economy

Buying On Credit Age of Electricity Ford and the

Automobile Effects on the rest of

the economy Industrial growth

Henry Ford

Was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production.

His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry.

“Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black".

http://www.macomb.k12.mi.us/wq/alvaro/video.htm

Society in the 1920s

The Flapper and Changes for WomenStyle

“bobbed” their Hair Wore makeup and

shorter dresses Smoked and drank in

public

Work and Politics Women moved into

office, sales, and professional jobs

Voted in local and national elections

Elected to political office

Important Roaring 20’s Demographics

The Great Migration The movement of African-Americans from the South

to the North in search of jobs and equality Immigration changes

Less from Europe More from Canada and Mexico

Development of barrios

Growth of Suburbs Trolley lines brought commuters to work in the cities

Important Roaring 20’s Demographics

The Great Migration The movement of African-Americans from the South

to the North in search of jobs and equality Immigration changes

Less from Europe More from Canada and Mexico

Development of barrios

Growth of Suburbs Trolley lines brought commuters to work in the cities

Trolley Line in Inman ParkAtlanta, GA

American Heroes Charles “Lucky

Lindy” Lindberg Amelia Earhart Jack Dempsey Babe Ruth and Lou

Gehrig Gertrude Ederle Helen Wills (Moody)

Mass Media Newspapers

Between 1920 and 1930circulation rose from 27.8 million to almost 40 million

Motion Pictures Moviemaking became the

4th largest business in the country

1922 40 million viewers per week, 1930, 90 million per week

Radio NBC Medium for the masses United the country…Why?

The Harlem Renaissance

In the early 1900s, particularly in the 1920s, African-American literature, art, music, dance, and social commentary began to flourish in Harlem, a section of New York City.

This African-American cultural movement became known as "The New Negro Movement" and later as the Harlem Renaissance.

Background

Harlem, a neighborhood in New York City, was the center of the African American political, cultural, and artistic movement in the 1920s and 1930s.

The Harlem Renaissance emerged in a time of social and intellectual upheaval in the African American community.

Causes

The Great Migration, a movement of hundreds of thousands of African Americans from rural to urban areas was a factor

A growing middle class also helped foster the growth Increasing numbers of

educated and socially conscious African Americans Dust to Dust by Jacob Lawrence

Art, Music, and Literature

More than a literary movement, the Harlem Renaissance exalted the unique culture of African-Americans and redefined African-American expression.

African-Americans were encouraged to celebrate their heritage.

Langston Hughes

Was an American poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer, and newspaper columnist.

Hughes is quoted as saying that in his work he “confronted racial stereotypes, protested social conditions, and expanded African America’s image of itself”

He considered himself a “people’s poet” who sought to reeducate both audience and artist by lifting the theory of the black aesthetic into reality

The Negro Speaks of Riversby Langston Hughes

I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset. I've known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

American Art in the 1920’s

Art movements included the modernist movement, abstract expressionism, surrealism, dadism, and landscapes. Georgia O’Keefe

Edward Hopper

The Jazz Age

Jazz Clubs 500 clubs in Harlem

alone Cotton Club, Connie’s

Inn, The Saratoga Club

Jelly Roll Morton Band, Louis Armstrong (Satchmo), Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington

Born Edward Kennedy Ellington, Duke Ellington was one of the founding fathers of jazz music.

He started playing piano at the age of seven, and by the time he was 15, he was composing.

A pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer, Ellington and his band played together for 50 years.

Some of Ellington's most famous songs include "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," "Sophisticated Lady" and "In a Sentimental Mood."

George Gershwin

George Gershwin was an American composer who wrote most of his vocal and theatrical works in collaboration with his elder brother lyricist Ira Gershwin.

Gershwin is known for his contributions to the world of jazz known as ‘Tin Pan Alley’

His most famous pieces’ include the lyrics from “Porgy and Bess” and “Rhapsody in Blue”

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.

Fitzgerald was the self-styled spokesman of the "Lost Generation", Americans born in the 1890s who came of age during World War I.

He finished four novels, left a fifth unfinished, and wrote dozens of short stories that treat themes of youth, despair, and age. The Great Gatsby This Side of Paradise

Marcus Garvey and Black Pride Alternative solutions to accepting

white supremacy Marcus Garvey-

“the first man to give millions of Negroes a sense of dignity and destiny” MLK

Black Pride Published the Negro World Black Eagle Flying Corps Empower blacks worldwide

toward economic, religious, psychological, and cultural independence

Believed in racial separatism

That’s it for the 20’s…

Read your chapters!!!

Test on Friday!!!