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Prosperity and Depression (1919-1939)
What was life like during the 1920s?
Great prosperity
Consumerism:
People were buying more goods than ever
Lost Generation had died in World War I
People wanted to “eat, drink, and be merry!”oFlappersoMargaret Sanger
encouraged women to use birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancies
New technology changed American lifeoAutomobiles
oAirplanes Charles Lindbergh made the first
transatlantic flight Despite the
prohibition of alcohol (18th Amendment) people continued to drink
People went to speakeasiesoSecret clubs where you could drink
alcohol Bootleggers made alcohol or snuck it
into the country Prohibition increased crime and was
eventually repealed with the 21st Amendment
The Jazz Age Most popular music of the day
oBegan in New Orleans
oLouis Armstrong was the most famous musician
People listened to music on the radio
First moviesoSilent films and “talkies”oThe Jazz Singer
Writers also embraced the Jazz Age F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby,
This Side of ParadiseoCriticized upper class extravagance
Ernest Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms
Sinclair Lewis: Babbitt
9.04 Describe challenges to traditional practices in religion, race, and gender.
What was the Harlem Renaissance ?
Emergence of black artists and writers
Began in Harlem, New York
African American culture was
celebrated by blacks Whites began coming to black clubs and
bars and reading literature of African American writers
Famous Harlem Renaissance Writers oLangston Hughes: Famous poetoZora Neale Hurston: Wrote about
struggles of blacks during the Great Migration
Two Themes of Harlem Renaissance:o1.
o2.
Segregation and Lynching Continue South was more dangerous for blacks
than the North Ku Klux Klan reemerged to fight blacks
and immigrants
UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association)
Led by Marcus Garvey Urged blacks to move “back to Africa”
to form their own independent nation Lost popularity when Garvey was
arrested for mail fraud
NAACP Led by DuBois they continued to fight
for laws against lynching
The Scopes Trial
Teacher was fired for teaching evolution in school
Christian fundamentalists argued that it conflicted with the BibleoFundamentalism: Belief that the
Bible is literally trueoBilly Sunday, Aimee Semple
McPherson and other conservative leaders encouraged this belief
Did not want students being taught that we “evolved from monkeys”oAlso known as the Scopes “Monkey”
Trial
Sacco and Vanzetti Two immigrants were accused of murder Despite lack of evidence, both were
sentenced to death Many people felt their trial was unfair
and verdict was due to nativism
1924 Native American Suffrage Act
Gave Native Americans full US citizenship
Right to vote was handled by states
Warren G. Harding’s Presidency Teapot Dome Scandal
oSecretary of the Interior Albert Fall leased government land to oil companies
oReceived a bribe for $400,000oCompanies removed all the oil from
the land, decreasing its valueoFall was convicted of felony bribery
What caused the Great Depression ?
Government practiced laissez-faire oDid not regulate
businesses or the stock market
Hawley-Smoot Tariff raised the tariff even higheroDecreased foreign demand for our
products Americans were in debt from easy
creditoBought items they could not afford
on installment plans Factories were overproducing goods
oToo many to sell People even speculated and bought
stock with borrowed moneyoBuying on the margin
Stock
market crash
oKnown as Black Tuesday (October 29, 1929)
oPrices of stocks went down, people panicked and tried to sell all their stocks
oOvernight many people went into debt or lost all of their savings
oSince people had bought with credit, they could not pay their loans back
Herbert Hoover’s Presidency Had promised Americans “a chicken in
every pot and a car in every garage” Did not believe in direct relief to
AmericansoThought it would make them lazyoRugged Individualism
Americans began to demand action
The Great Depression
Almost all Americans were living in poverty
Banks closed and Americans lost all their savings
90,000 businesses closed
25% unemployment in 1933
The Dust Bowl For years farmers had been clearing the
grasses from the Great Plains There were no trees or grasses to hold
the dirt in place A drought followed by heavy winds
stirred up the dust and carried it long distances
Dirt from Oklahoma was found on ships in the Atlantic Ocean
The hardest hit region (KS, OK, TX, NM, CO) was called the Dust Bowl
Farmers picked up and moved to California and other states looking for jobs
Life during the Depression People could not pay
rent or mortgages Ended up living in
shantytowns nicknamed Hoovervilles
Hardworking Americans were forced to go to soup kitchens and bread lines to get food
What was the Bonus Army?
World War I veterans were promised
bonuses in 1945, but wanted them early Went to Washington to meet with
Hoover and protest
Military used tear gas to make them leave
Damaged Hoover’s reputation and led to his defeat in the 1932 election
Roosevelt’s New Deal
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was elected president
Used fireside chats over the radio to share his plan with the American people
Appointed the first female cabinet officeroSecretary of Labor Frances Perkins
FDR believed in Deficit Spending oGovernment must spend money to
get out of the DepressionoSome people criticized him for
spending money we didn’t have
The New Deal had 3 components:1. Relief for the needy2. Economic recovery3. Financial reform
Act Purpose Relief, Recovery or Reform? What do you think?
Creation of the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)
Insures individual bank accounts up to $5,000 (now up to $100,000)
Creation of the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)
Regulates the stock market
Agricultural Adjustment
Paid farmers subsidies to
Act (AAA) produce less food
Raised crop prices
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Renovated and constructed dams
Created jobs and hydroelectric power
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Created 3 million jobs
Built roads, parks, and planted trees
National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)
Created the Public Works Administration (PWA)
Money to the states to create jobs
Social Security Old-age insurance for
retirees 65 and older
Unemployment compensation
Aid to families with dependent children and the disabled
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Hired anyone who needed a job
Built many public buildings, projects and roads and operated large arts, drama, media and literacy projects
Fed children and redistributed food, clothing
and housingNational Labor Relations Act (NLRB)
Protects the rights of workers to join unions
Fair Labor Standards Act
maximum workweek of 44 hours
minimum wage no hazardous
work for people under 18
Critics of the New Deal Some thought it did too much Some thought it did too little Father Charles Coughlin
oWanted everyone to have a guaranteed annual income
Huey LongoSenator from Louisiana oShare-Our-Wealth plan
oAssassinated