American Life in the “Roaring Twenties”

1919-1929

Chapter 31

Red Scare• Bolshevik Revolution created a fear of communism in America

• Palmer Raids (1919-1921)– Used Alien and Sedition Acts to identify foreign agitators and

arrest or deport them

• Anti-Red statutes– IWW (Wobblies) were persecuted for radical beliefs

• Businesses used fear of communism to break unions and labor

• Sacco and Vanzetti

– Were convicted of murder, but were found guilty and executed largely because they were Italians, atheists and anarchists

Ku Klux Klan and Nativism• Ku Klux Klan

–In 20s it focused mainly on anti-Immigrant sentiments–Attacked blacks, Jews, Catholics, communists–Mid 1920s it had 5 million members

• Nativism

–Wanted limits on immigration• Emergency Quota Act 1921

– Established fixed ratios of immigrants from specific countries based on 1910

• Immigration Act 1924– Lowered ratios and changed base year to 1890

to keep southern Europeans out

• Resulted in immigrants becoming more isolated• Cultural Pluralism

–Favored immigration and saw benefits and strengths as a result

Prohibition (18th Amendment)

• Prohibition movement led by women and churches

• 18th Amendment establishes Prohibition, Volstead Act passed to enforce it– Used to attack immigrants– Argued liquor led to poverty, unemployment, violence

• Wets vs. Drys– Oppose prohibition (mostly eastern cities) vs favor

prohibition (mostly west and south)

• Organized Crime develops to profit off sale of alcohol– Police and politicians were bribed – Chicago most notorious

– Expanded into prostitution, racketeering, gambling

• Crime leads to legalization– 21st Amendment repeals 18th Amendment

Scopes Trial• States began increasing amount of years for

education• John Dewey

– Led progressive education reform movement – John Scopes, a teacher in Tennessee, was

arrested for teaching Darwin’s Evolution• Clarence Darrow defended teacher; William

Jennings Bryan prosecuted• Trial represented conflict between science and

theology– Fundamentalism was seen as a force of

repression and ignorance

Mass Consumption Economy• Consumer Spending

– American economy boomed in 1920’s– Individuals have higher income so spend more money– Many goods available to buy – radio, washing machine,

refrigerators

• Installment Buying– Development of credit allows more purchases

• Collateral– Must have something of value equal to loan

• Synthetic Goods– Artificial products allow more and cheaper products

to be made

• Golden Age of Sports

Automobile

• Assembly Line– Brought parts of production in one spot which

increase speed but decreased uniqueness of production

– Developed by Henry Ford• Ford made cars cheap and paid workers well to

let them buy cars• Automobile industry in US

– Centered in Detroit, led by Ford and Ransom Olds– Ford developed Model T (Tin Lizzie)– Many industries and jobs were tied directly or

indirectly to cars

Humans Develop Wings

Charles Lindbergh was first person to fly solo nonstop across Atlantic in Spirit of St Louis

Amelia Earhart – first woman to fly solo across Atlantic

• Wilbur and Orville Wright– First plane to fly in air at Kitty Hawk, NC (December

17, 1903), lasted less than a minute• Planes were not important

• Commercial airlines and air mail develop after World War I– Created new industry for wealth and growth

Radio and Film• Long distance broadcasts were possible by late 1920s

– Allowed live broadcasts of events

• The Great Train Robbery (1903) first movie• Birth of a Nation (1915) first full length movie

(glorified KKK)• Jazz Singer (1927) first movie with sound

starring Al Jolson• Steamboat Willie (1928) introduced Mickey

Mouse and was first cartoon with synchronized sound

• Movies helped immigrants assimilate– Allowed for working classes to unite across

ethnic lines

Flapper• 1920 census for first time most Americans lived in cities

• Women in Roaring 20s– Worked in low paying “women’s” jobs– Margaret Sanger advocated for birth control and

contraceptives– Alice Paul’s National Women’s Party lobbied for Equal

Rights Amendment

• Flappers were women who challenged traditional roles of dress, attitude, behavior

• Sigmund Freud redefined attitudes towards sexuality

Jazz and Harlem Renaissance

Duke Ellington

Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong

• Jazz develops as a uniquely American musical style developed in New Orleans that was energetic, lively and represented spirit of times– WC Handy; Jelly Roll Morton; Joe King Oliver; Louis Armstrong

• Harlem Renaissance– Period of African American literature, poetry, music

• Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay– Increased pride and vibrancy of African American culture during

this time

• Back to Africa movement– United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) led by Marcus

Garvey believed African Americans should migrate back to Africa

– Encouraged black racial pride• Inspired Nation of Islam movement later on

Lost Generation• Lost Generation were artists who saw little hope for future

– World War I created sense of cynicism and disillusionment

– Criticized emptiness of wealth, mediocrity and conformity of middle class

• Sought new sense of values and morals

– Were not traditional New England WASPs

– Expatriates

– many moved to Paris to escape American culture