Life in the Roaring 20

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Life in the Roaring 20s
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A. Treatment of Minorities
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1. Post-WWI Racial Tension

• a. Return of the Ku Klux Klan
• b. New Klan established in 1915 at Stone
  Mountain, GA
• c. New Klan targeted not only African-
• Americans but Catholics, Jews and
• suspected radicals (immigrants!)
• d. Membership soared in the 1920s almost 5
  million members

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• e. Membership declined almost as rapidly it
• grew because
• i. Decrease in Red Scare
• hysteria
• ii. A strong economy took away fears
• of radicals controlling government
• iii. Publicity about terrorism and
• violence gave way to criticism
• iv. There was corruption at the
• national level of Klan leadership

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KKK in the 1920s
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2. Immigration Restrictions

• a. Backlash against immigrants coming into the
  country
• b. By 1920, 25 of the country was foreign born
  or non-white
• c. Emergency Quota Act of 1921 the Immigration
  Act of 1924 set quotas for of immigrants
  allowed annually

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3. African-Americans Defend Their Rights

• a. An anti-lynching campaign was organized by the
  NAACP ? limited success
• b. A. Philip Randolph African-American socialist
  who campaigned for improved working conditions
  hoped to unite workers to fight against poor
  working conditions

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• c. Marcus Garvey a Jamaican native who supported
  Black Nationalism, a movement aimed for a
  new political state for
  African-Americans in
• Africa
• impacted the black community in a
  positive way by expressing
• racial pride

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B. An Alcoholiday?!?
Prohibition The Noble Experiment

• 1. 18th Amendment passed 1917,
• ratified 1919
• 2. Prohibited the manufacture, sale, and
  transportation
• of alcoholic beverages

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• 3. October, 1919 Congress passed the Volstead
  Act to enforce the 18th Amendment
• 4. Prohibition was very unpopular and ignored by
  many resulted in bootlegging and speakeasies

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• 5. Criminal gangs controlled liquor sales
• 6. Al Capone controlled Chicagos underworld
  St. Valentines Day Massacre 1929 Capones gang
  murdered 7 members of a rival gang

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• 7. Prohibition led to shocking crimes
• a. bribery of policemen - paid to see and
• smell no evil
• b. Violent wars broke out in large cities
• between rival gangs
• (In the Chicago gang wars of the 1920s,
• about 500 mobsters were murdered)
• c. Arrests were few and convictions were
• even fewer
• 8. Prohibition was not an entire failure ? Bank
  savings increased and job absenteeism decreased

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C. The New Woman

• 1. New woman of the 1920s was stylish and
  independent called Flappers
• 2. Stopped wearing heavy corsets, wore shorter
  skirts, and cut their hair short

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• 3. Equal Rights Amendment
• a. Constitutional amendment
• proposed in 1923 by Alice Paul.
• b. Men and women shall have equal
• rights throughout the U.S. and
• every place subject to its
• jurisdiction.
• c. It met with significant
• opposition, even from women! It
• failed to be added to the
• Constitution.

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D. Entertainment
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1. Jazz Age

• Jazz emerged in the
• early 1900s in
• New Orleans and
• grew in popularity
• b. Jazz expressed
• the lifestyles of
• the 1920s. Big-band
• jazz swept the nation
• c. Jazz Clubs such as the Harlem Cotton Club
  became popular.

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2. Harlem Renaissance

• a. Harlem, in New York City, became the cultural
  center for African-Americans during the 1920s.
• b. Writers, actors, artists, and musicians
  glorified African American traditions, creating
  new ones at the same time.

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3. The Lost Generation

• a. The Harlem Renaissance coincided with the rise
  of a new generation of American writers,
  horrified at destruction of WWI and disillusioned
  with the new consumer culture.
• b. Included F Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest
  Hemingway, e.e. cummings, and others

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4. Movies

• Silent films ? talkies
• - Jazz Singer, 1927
• Ushered in standardization,
• assimilation
• c. Used as govt
• propaganda

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5. Dancing

• a. One of the most popular pastimes of the
  Roaring 20s
• Dance Marathons
• Popular Dances
• - The Charleston
• - The Shimmy
• - The Lindy Hop

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E. Technology
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• Henry Ford
• a. Assembly line - applied to all mass
  production industries sped up production
• b. Creation of Model T

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2. Impact of the Auto Industry

• a. 400,000 miles of new roads built in the 20s
• b. Billboards, Drive-in Restaurants, Gas
  Stations, Tourist Cabins began to appear along
  the highways

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• c. Because of mass production and assembly line,
  the price of the Model T dropped from 850 in
  1909 to 290 in 1924
• d. Middle class families moved to the
• suburbs
• e. Negative effects
• decreased morality,
• increased crime,
• fatal accidents,
• decreased RR industry

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3. The Radio

• a. Wireless technology was developed by Marconi
  in the late 19th century
• b. Frank Conrad, an engineer, set up an amateur
  radio station in a Pittsburgh suburb he set up
  the first commercially-licensed radio station,
  KDKA
• c. Radios became widely popular stimulated
  the emergence of fads

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4. Airplanes Charles Lindbergh

• a. known as "Lucky Lindy" and "The Lone Eagle"
• b. an American pilot famous for the first
  solo, non-stop flight across the Atlantic

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Lindbergh parade in NYC on June 13, 1927. An
estimated three to four million people turned out
for the pageant to mark Lindbergh's triumphant
return.
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F. Religion
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• 1. Many Americans worried about the decline of
  moral standards
• 2. Religious leaders preached sermons denouncing
  the evils of entertainment and alcohol
• 3. Fundamentalism a Protestant movement that
  argued Christian doctrine should be accepted
  without question

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4. Result of the Fundamentalist Movement ?
Scopes Trial!

• a. TN Legislature outlawed the teaching of
  Charles Darwins theory of human evolution
• b. The ACLU offered to defend any teacher that
  taught this subject- John T. Scopes accepted
• c. The Scopes Monkey Trial began in July, 1925
  Dayton, TN

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• d. Clarence Darrow became Scopess defense
  attorney
• e. William Jennings Bryan (yes! He is still
  alive!) was the prosecuting attorney

John T. Scopes
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• f. The prosecution technically won Scopes
  fined 100.
• g. Illustrated the
• division in the US
• traditional views
• versus new values/
• science

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Summary of life in the 20s

• Consumerism!
• Entertainment
• Prosperity (for now)
• African-American pride
• Mainstreaming of culture
• New social values,
• esp for women!
• New fads
• Sports (new heroes)