Unit 4 chapter 11Section 1

Flappers, Depression, and Global War

1920 - 1945

WWI

• Final shots that ended the war were at 10:59 a.m. on November 11, 1918.

• President Wilson wrote, “Everything for which America has sought has been accomplished. It will now be our fortunate duty to assist by example, by sober, friendly counsel, and by material said, in the establishment of just democracy throughout the world.”

The Roaring Twenties

• The war is over and people were ready to party.

• President Warren Harding promised to return the country to normalcy.

The New Woman• August 25, 1920, the nineteenth Amendment was ratified, giving

women the right to vote.• Many women that stepped into the work force during the war

decided to remain working.• Feminity changed• Out were tight corsets and long petticoats, in were knee-length,

free-moving dresses that exposed women’s legs and arms.• Out was the long hair put up in buns or braids, in was the short

bobbed, boyish hair style.• Out was the natural look; in was make-up such as lipstick and

rouge.• Out was the demure, modest, and well-behaved matron.• In was the young woman who drank, smoked, and danced all night

without a chaperone.• Many started wearing the flapper dresses.

Flapper Girls

First Female Legislators in Georgia

• House of Representatives• Bessie Kempton Crowell/Viola Ross Napier• In 1920 Rebecca Latimer Felton was honored

when Governor Thomas Hardwick appointed her to fill the U.S. Senate seat of Tom Watson who had died in office.

• She was sworn in for a day and was the oldest senator, at age 87.

Music• The Charleston became famous

– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJC21zzkwoE

• Andrews Sisters– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1hv32rOXfQ

• Blues– Based on black folk music– Ma Rainey became known as the “Mother of the Blues”

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-mRHNAeJXE– Her songs mostly spoke of love, loneliness, poverty, and jealousy– Bessie Smith was another famous blues singer.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0TDNR3NEY0

• Jazz – did not follow written notes and was “on the spur of the moment.”– Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington were famous jazz musicians.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnRqYMTpXHc• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHRbEhLj540

– The most famous club was the Cotton Club in Harlem which was packed each night with both black and white.

Crime

• The prohibition of the 1920s gave rise to organized gangs in large cities such as Chicago and New York.

• These gangsters made millions by supplying illegal liquor.

• Mobsters – Scarface Al Capone, “Bugs” Moran, Baby Face Nelson, and Frank Nitty.

• Capone spent one year in the Atlanta federal penitentiary before he was transferred to Alcatraz.

Al Capone/”Bugs Moran”/Baby Face Nelson/Frank Nitty

Life in the Roaring Twenties• Trip to the doctor’s office was $5.00• If the doctor came to your house it was an extra dollar or two.• Many things came right to the front door-milk, butter and cream, ice, and

even fresh vegetables.• In 1926, a man named Clarence Birdseye perfected a method for freezing

and packaging foods.• His process kept women from the chore of buying fresh foods every day and

from having to cook everything from scratch.• Life is becoming more convenient all the time.• Electricity is becoming more available, and electric appliances become

more common.• In 1927, the first pop-up toaster was introduced.• Gas ranges replace coal stoves.• Quick-cooking rolled oats, pancake mix, and canned goods were available.• Gerber’s baby foods went on the market in 1928.• Families could now buy sliced bread.

First Toaster Oven/First Gas Stove

Life in the Roaring Twenties• Laurel and Hardy

– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBfXNOl9btw• Families would gather around the radio station KDKA located in Pittsburgh.• They would listen to baseball games, news reports, and favored programs

such as “The Grand Ole Opry.”• In 1922, WSV radio in Atlanta joined the ever growing number of stations

around the country.• This station became known as “The Voice of the South.”• In 1923, WRAB was licensed in Savannah• In 1924, WDBA was licensed in Columbus.• The radio stationed linked Americans to each other and to the world.• The Children and adults were enthralled just a year later when Walt

Disney’s first talking cartoon, “Steamboat Willie,” appeared.• It introduced a new American movie hero-Mickey Mouse.

– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RexXDDA8RoI

The Destruction of King Cotton• A small grayish, long-snouted beetle called the boil weevil, was

destroying the primary source of income for the Georgia farmers, cotton.

• The boil weevil had come from Mexico and moved its was through Texas, and into the southern states in the 1890s.

• The beetles hatch in the yellow flower of the cotton plant.• As the flower becomes a boil (the place were the fibers are formed),

the larvae feeds on the growing white, fluffy cotton, making it useless.

• The boil weevil appeared in southwest Georgia in 1915 and quickly spread across the state, destroying thousands of acres of Georgia’s crops.

• By 1923, cotton production had dropped to 600,000 bales from a high 2.8 million bales in 1914.

• The post war price was only fifteen to seventeen cents a lb.

Goodbye, boll weevil

• Well, I saw the bo weavil, Lord, a-circle in the airNext time I seed him, Lord, he had his family thereBo weavil told the farmer that "I 'tain't got ticket fare"Sucks all the blossom and leave your hedges squareBo weavil, bo weavil, where your native home?"Most anywhere they raise cotton and corn"Bo weavil, bo weavil, "Oughtta treat me fair"The next time I did you had your family there.

-- Charley Patton, "Mississippi Bo Weavil Blues"

The Destruction of King Cotton

• In 1924, Georgia farmers were hit with another natural disaster – a major drought.

• The sun-baked fields slowed down the destruction of the boil weevil, but the drought ruined most of Georgia’s other crops.

• Over 375,000 farm workers left Georgia between 1920 and 1925.

• The number of working farms fell from 310,132 to 249,092.

• When farms failed, banks that had loaned the farmers money took huge losses.

• Many farm-related businesses closed.• Georgia was in a depression.

The Great Migration• The Agricultural depression caused many from the South to head

north looking for work.• Black farmers, in particular, moved north to find industrial work in

cities like Chicago and Detroit.• This movement from the southern blacks, which lasted until the

1960s, was called the Great Migration.• In the South, most well-paying jobs went to the whites.• Many northern companies actively recruited the blacks for jobs.• There were other reasons the blacks moved North, voting rights.• The North also offered better educational opportunities.• Health care was better in the North.• The segregation in the South also played a big part.• As more and more black Southerners moved North, the cities

becamae over populated.

The Klan Strengthens• The Klan planned to target Catholics, immigrants, Jews, and blacks.• Membership into the Klan grew in stature from doctors, lawyers, judges, and

businessmen.• In 1922, the Klan gained a foothold in the Midwest and Southwest.• In 1922 they had branches in all 48 states.• In 1925, 40,000 costumed and hooded Klansmen marched past the White

House.• Only rain prevented them from burning a cross beside the Washington

Monument.• Five US Senators were open members of the Klan.• One member who later recanted his membership was a Supreme Court

Justice.• Race riots broke out in many parts of the country.• In some parts of the country the Klan became an organized part of the local

law.• Scandals within the Klan during the late 1920s led to its decline.• By the time the depression hit the Klan had lost most of its national power.

A Special Day

• In 1919, a wealthy businessman offered $25,000 to the first person who could fly nonstop from New York to Paris, France, or from Paris to New York.

• In May 1927, three pilots in the US tried.• One of those men was 25 year old Charles

Lindbergh, who flew this 3,600 mile trip alone.• He called his plane the “Spirit of St. Louis”

because he flew mail out of St. Louis.

“Spirit of St. Louis”/Charles Lindbergh

A Special Day• Lindbergh flew with only landmarks to guide him.• He took along with him sandwiches, water, and a rubber raft in case

he had to land in the ocean.• Left Friday morning, May 20, 1927, at 8:00 a.m. from Long Island,

New York.• His progress was followed by the public by tuning in to their radios.• The trip took 33 ½ hours.• Upon landing in France he became a hero.• Songs were written about him, including one called “Lucky Lindy.”• Six months after his historic flight, Lindbergh flew into Atlanta were

he was welcomed by over 20,000 admirers.• They named a street in Atlanta Lindbergh Drive.

• (Look up the Lindbergh baby kidnapping in 1932.)