The Roaring Twenties
US History Unit #7
Introduction: At the end of WWI the country had to make a dramatic transition
from a war footing to a peacetime footing. During the war many Americans
uprooted their families and moved to secure jobs in wartime industries. Women,
African Americans, and new immigrants were three groups that saw their
experience in society change as a result of war. As troops returned to familiar soil,
the American economy contracted, which created new and increased competition
for jobs. As troops took up their old jobs, new postwar tensions emerged. In addition
to the economic crisis, the country witnessed new racialized violence in the North,
anti immigrant legislation, labor unrest, and a “red scare” that would serve to define
our country for the next 70 years. However, despite these new tensions, the 1920s
are remembered as a time of prosperity and freedom for all. The 1920s played
witness to women’s suffrage, the Harlem renaissance, jazz music and the birth of the
consumer culture that we know so well today. While the 1920s is often glamorized,
and rightly so in many respects, the prosperity and change that country witnessed
left some groups of Americans in the dust (literally).
Essential Question: How did the 1920s change America?
Read: History Alive chapters 26 through 29
Terms for Note Cards and Exam:
Ch. 26
-Sacco and Vanzetti
-Red Scare
-Palmer Raids
-Quota System
-Anti-Defamation
League
Ch. 27
-Normalcy
-Free Enterprise
System
-Teapot Dome
-Kellogg-Briand
Pact
-Dawes Plan
Ch. 28
-Installment
Buying
-Consumer Culture
-League of Women
Voters
-Jazz Age
-Harlem
Renaissance
Ch. 29
-Traditionalists
-Modernists
-Flappers
-Prohibition
-Scopes Trial
Unit Questions:
-What effects did postwar tensions have on America’s founding ideals?
-Did the Republican Era of the 1920s bring peace and prosperity to all?
-What social trends and innovations shaped popular culture in the 1920s?
-How did social, economic, and religious tensions divide Americans during the
Roaring Twenties?
Schedule of Lessons
Lesson 1:
Introduction to the 1920s
Slide lecture- Postwar Tensions
Asn: Ch. 26 notes and clemency paragraph
Asn: Notes on slide lecture
Lesson 2:
The Politics of Normalcy
Read: History Alive! Chapter 27
Video: America’s Century
Asn: Ch. 27 notes and political cartoon
Lesson 3:
Pop Culture in the Roaring 20s
Asn: Ch. 28 notes
Asn: “Keen Talk for a Swanky Age” activity
Lesson 4:
I think the Friday before Spring Break…
We should watch a 20s themed movie
Asn: movie and catch-up opportunity
Lesson 5:
The Clash Between Traditionalism and Modernism
Asn: Chapter 29 notes
Film: America’s Century
Read: History Alive! Chapter 29
Quiz