The Time Between the Wars

The Roaring 20s and the Great Depression

A time of rapid economic growth

“The business of the American people is business.”

- President Calvin Coolidge

• The majority of the people in Europe and the United States lived in urban (cities) areas.

• The 1920s are marked by the art, literature, cinema, and movies that were created, so it is sometimes known as the “Jazz Age.”

• The United States and Europe became consumer economies. People were buying more than they could afford.

Prohibition• The 18th Amendment makes alcohol illegal in

the United States.• Mobsters, such as Al Capone, gain power

through bootleg liquor (illegal alcohol).• The 21st Amendment repels prohibition (makes

alcohol legal again).

Talking Movies• During this time, the fairly new invention

the motion picture camera, caused the movie industry to boom.

• It was centered around Hollywood, California.

• The fashions and lifestyles shown in movies helped define national culture.• People wanted to look and live just

like the stars in the movies

Harlem Renaissance• African-American culture surged during the 1920.

• Music became popular (especially Jazz and Blues) and inspired new dances like the “Charleston.”

• Some of the most famous jazz musicians from this time period are Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.

• One of the most famous blues singers was Bessie Smith.• Langston Hughes wrote plays, short stories, and poems

about the African-American experience, a reminder of their African heritage.

• Since so much of the achievement took place in NYC, it is known as the Harlem Renaissance.

Langston HughesTheme for English B

“I wonder if it's that simple?I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.I went to school there, then Durham, then hereto this college on the hill above Harlem.I am the only colored student in my class.”

Bessie Smith

Duke Ellington

Louis Armstrong

The Great Depression

When the United States stock market crashed on October 29, 1929, the

world’s economy collapsed.

The Early 1930s• nations struggled through depressions• businesses went broke• millions of people were out of work• banks closed• poverty spread throughout the world• The climate was perfect for the rise of dictators

such as Adolf Hitler (Germany) and Benito Mussolini (Italy).

• This period is known as the Great Depression.

Paris in 1930

London in 1930

United States• October 29, 1929 (the day the US stock market fell)

is known as Black Tuesday.• Many investors lost everything• At one point, ¼ of all Americans were unemployed.• Breadlines and soup kitchens were set up to feed the

poor.• Many of the urban poor lived in shanty towns called

Hoovervilles (named after President Herbert Hoover, the president at the time of the beginning of the Great Depression).

Germany• Germany depended heavily on American loans.• The Wall Street Crash (Black Tuesday) placed

more pressure for Germany to repay US loans.• rampant hyperinflation = useless currency• massive unemployment (5 million in 1932, 20%

of total population)• production fell 40%• Germany turned to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party

to solve the German economic crisis.

The deutschmarkGermany’s currency

The deutschmark in 1923 was only good for making kites

…and burning in a stove for heat.

• Germans wanted someone

to blame for their misfortune.• The Nazi party offered

Jews as the scapegoat.• Children were often

organized in youth groups

and taught Nazi dogma.• Germans were told to

boycott Jewish businesses.

• Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass) was a night of destruction aimed at Jewish homes and businesses.