UNITED STATES HISTORY AND THE

CONSTITUTION

South Carolina Standard USHC-

6.1Mr. Hoover,

Abbeville High School

Questions to be AnsweredWhat was the impact of the changes in the

1920s on the economy, society, and culture?How did these changes influence the

expansion of mass production techniques, the invention of new home appliances.

How did the introduction of the installment plan help lead to the Depreassion?

What was the role of transportation in changing urban life,?

How did radio and movies help in creating a national mass culture, and the cultural changes exemplified by the Harlem Renaissance.

Economic GrowthAfter World War I, the United

States entered a period of economic growth and cultural change that had both positive and negative consequences.

The expansion of economic opportunity in the 1920s did not extend to all Americans.

Negative ConsequencesThe economic boom of

the 1920s had negative consequences for some segments of the economy.

By the end of the 1920s, electric energy fueled most of American industry which brought economic hardship to the coal industry.

Farmers Loose AgainFarmers suffered

economic depression when the end of World War I brought a loss of markets and thus surpluses led to low prices and foreclosures, as it had in the late nineteenth century.

Mass ProductionMass production techniques such as the

assembly line, introduced by Henry Ford in 1913, brought radios, refrigerators, and many other new products to the marketplace, but also further marginalized the skilled worker.

Have-NotsWorkers were still

underpaid and labor unions were unable to protect their members because of the anti-union attitudes.

This led to a widening gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots.’

News Papers & RadioMass media

exacerbated these differences by advertising the goods that many American workers could not afford to buy.

The introduction of the installment plan encouraged consumers to change their attitudes about debt.

Buy now, pay laterThis cultural shift to a ‘buy now,

pay later’ philosophy stimulated the economy but later contributed to depression when the capacity of consumers to borrow was reached

AppliancesThe invention of new

home appliances such as the washing machine, electric irons, and vacuum cleaners led to some social change as women were able to do their household chores more easily.

More Time? More Money?However, working class women

could not afford these labor-saving devices and middle class women began to do their own housework rather than hiring help.

Consequently, electric appliances led to no significant decrease in household chores or to any changes in women’s position in society or the economy

Women in the 20sAlthough the flapper is an icon of the 1920s and

her freedom helped to change cultural attitudes towards the role of women, most women continued the traditional roles as wife and mother.

Advertising, radio, and the movies spread the mass consumer culture at the same time that it reinforced traditional gender roles.

Birth of the Road TripTransportation helped to change

urban life. The automobile changed living

and dating patterns for those who could afford to buy a car.

Street CarsTransportation by street car within the cities led

to a further differentiation in living and working neighborhoods that divided the urban community.

Suburbs grew but not as much as in the 1950s.

On the road againThe availability of the automobile also

changed the lives of country folk by mitigating the isolation of rural life.

Cars made it easier to get to town both to socialize and to market crops.

AviationThe advent of aviation was

exciting but had little impact on the average American who could not afford to fly.

The Great MigrationDuring this period, African

Americans migrated in greater numbers to segregated neighborhoods in the cities of the Northeast and Midwest in response to push factors such as Jim Crow discrimination, violence and poverty in the South and pull factors such as job opportunities and a cultural renaissance in the Northern cites.

New Middle ClassAs African Americans

congregated in neighborhoods and developed businesses that catered to their community, a black middle class developed.

This middle class supported African American writers, musicians, and artists.

The ArtsThe resulting Harlem Renaissance brought

recognition and pride to black artists, particularly musicians, but further pointed out their second class citizenship.

Harlem RenaissanceWriters of the Harlem Renaissance including

James Weldon Johnson and Langston Hughes, celebrated ties to African cultural traditions and black pride and questioned the position of African Americans in American life.

JazzThe radio helped to spread

appreciation for new trends in music such as jazz to white audiences and promoted a shared national culture.

Such appreciation for African American artistic contributions helped to slowly break down barriers and lay the foundation for the civil rights movement of the post-World War II era

Birth of a NationHowever, African

Americans were still most often portrayed as racial stereotypes, most notably in the popular film “Birth of a Nation” that fostered a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan and discrimination against African Americans continued.