The New Era
1920s
Michael Quiñones, NBCT
WWW.SOCIALSTUDIESGUY.COM
ADAPTED FROM A PRESENTATION CREATED BY APRIL AND GREG LONG
Gender Controversies
During the 1920s many women throughout the United States decided to challenge
established acceptable behaviors.
Women who dressed in skimpy, short skirts revealing most of their legs became known as
Flappers. The term is related to prostitution.
These women were often considered “slutty” because of their fashion choices and loose
attitudes about sex, smoking and alcohol consumption.
ROLE OF WOMEN:
the “New Woman”
the “New Woman”
“pink collar” jobs
Women’s fashions, 1920
Women in the Workforce,
1900-1940
Margaret Sanger
Sanger was a devout Catholic
woman from New York state in
during the late 1800s and early
1900s.
She was an advocate of sex
education and birth control. She
was a founder of the American
Birth Control League which
sought to provide women with
information and options for
pregnancies.
She was met with extreme
opposition by the government
and religious fundamentalists.
She was always imperiled by the
strict Comstock Laws of 1873.
Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Semple McPherson ne of the most popular female evangelists
in U.S. history.
From California she founded the Four Square Church that focused on
the Rapture.
Through radio programs McPherson warned people they needed to be
prepared for Jesus’ return.
Amelia Earhart

Kansas born Earhart despite gender
discrimination was the first woman to “copilot” a transatlantic flight in 1928.

The flight was made months after Charles
Lindbergh's historic voyage and though she
was a skilled she believed the voyage was too
risky to do solo.

Many Americans believed women had no
business as pilots but in 1932 she became the
first female pilot to complete the flight solo.

By 1932 Earhart was an enormously famous
and wealthy woman due to commercial
endorsements and exhibition flights.

As an aviation pioneer Earhart pushed to
become the first to complete a Transpacific
flight however during her attempt her plane
disappeared in 1937 somewhere near the
Howland Islands in the Pacific.
Earhart and President Hoover
Espionage and Sedition Acts
 Two laws were passed by Congress to curtail [limit] the civil
liberties of U.S. citizens during World War I.
 The Espionage Act of 1917 imposed strict sanctions on
anyone opposing the war or spying and passing sensitive
information to foreign governments.
 The Sedition Act of 1918 forbade U.S. citizens from speaking
out against the war in public.
Espionage and Sedition Acts

These laws were challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Charles Schenck was arrested for mailing pamphlets to draftees telling
them to protest the war.

He was arrested and convicted for sedition. He appealed citing his 1st
Amendment Free Speech rights his case was known as Schenk vs.
United States.

The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and the Sedition Act
citing national security interests during war time.
 Eugene V. Debs was also jailed on similar charges of protesting against
the U.S. government. Debs was the rowdy and vocal socialist labor
union leader and agitator.
Power and Paranoia of the Federal Government
 After the Great War the United States had
increased powers based on the Espionage and
Sedition Acts.
 To uncover threats against the United States the
U.S. Attorney General Mitchell Palmer ordered
raids on suspected communists and anarchists.
 The Palmer raids were conducted by federal
agents to uncover domestic threats to the U.S.
SOCIAL & CULTURAL CONFLICTS:
Xenophobia and Racial Unrest
National Origin
Act of 1924
Percentage of Population Foreign Born, 1850-1990
Number of
Immigrants and
Countries of
Origin, 1891-1920
and 1921-1940
SOCIAL & CULTURAL CONFLICTS:
Xenophobia and Racial Unrest
Birth of a Nation - D.W. Griffith
“new” Ku Klux Klan
Leo Frank
Ku Klux Klan initiation, 1923. The Klan opposed all who were not “true Americans”.
(c) 2000 IRC
(Picture Research Consultants & Archives)
Immigration, 1921-1960
New Immigrants vs. Old Immigrants
Old immigrants-From the 1600s to early 1800s most of the people who arrived
as immigrants to the United States were from English speaking countries such as
England, Scotland and Ireland. Many Germans and French came to the U.S. as
well. The dominant religion was Protestantism.
New immigrants from the mid-1800s to early 1900s did not speak English and
were mostly Catholic and Jewish.
The differences between the two groups caused resentment and conflict.
The Old immigrants wanted to preserve their language and culture and
preached nativism [favoring and maintaining original America].
The Tragedy of Sacco and Vanzetti

Two Italian immigrants who lived on Massachusetts were arrested for the armed
robbery and murder of two men.

Bartolomeo Venzetti and Nicola Sacco were the suspects arrested. Both men were
admitted anarchists.

Local police had long investigated anarchists and their anti-government activities and
arrested Sacco and Venzetti on May 5, 1920 both were armed with pistols.

Tremendous doubts existed about the evidence against the 2 men but they were
convicted of all charges. All subsequent appeals went against the men [they lost].

Sacco and Venzetti were executed on August 23, 1927 despite popular protests.

Many, many people believed these men were persecuted solely for their beliefs and
because they were Italian immigrants not because of their actual guilt.
Controversial Religious
Figures
Former Major League Baseball
player Billy Sunday was the most
popular evangelist [someone who
travels and preaches] during the
1910s and 1920s.
He preached Hellfire and
Damnation to crowds of thousands
of people throughout the nation.
He earned millions of dollars
preaching at a time when most
Americans were flat broke.
The expansion of radio and its
programs decreased his popularity.
The John T. Scopes “Monkey” Trial
In 1925 a high school biology teacher in Tennessee was encouraged to teach a
lesson on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution based on a chapter in the science
text book.
He was arrested for breaking the Butler Act which prohibited teaching evolution.
The law was an example of legislation based on religious fundamentalism.
Scopes took the charges to trial and he was “prosecuted” by former U.S. Senator
William Jennings Bryan. His defense attorney was famous lawyer Clarence Darrow.
After lots of court room theatrics Scopes was convicted and fined $100.
This trial exposed many people’s religious and academic prejudices as well as
brought criticism and ridicule of the religious fundamentalism.
Harlem Renaissance
 During the 1920s and 1930s Harlem, New York City became a majority black
neighborhood.
 Several artists [musicians and writers] became well known such as Langston Hughes,
Zora Neale Hurston and Duke Ellington.
 Ellington was Jazz pianist and composer who gained world fame and acceptance from
whites.
 Hurston had been a house maid and janitor but was later recognized for her famous
novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.
 Hughes an openly gay man became a well known poet and transcend many of the
stereotypes of his day.
 The popularity and skill of these artists brought great attention and praise to the
Harlem, NYC community.
Race and Racial Conflicts

An immigrant form Jamaica named Marcus
Garvey was trained as a printer in his homeland
and later traveled throughout Latin America
and worked for different newspapers.

When he lived in New York City he became a
successful businessman and started the Black
Star Line in 1919 [black owned cruise ship
company] that lasted only 3 years because of
poor financial management and F.B.I. sabotage.

He was well known for starting the Back to
Africa Movement that encouraged blacks to
unite and return to a more free Africa in
countries like Liberia.
He also created a group called the U.N.I.A.
[United Negro Improvement Association] that
encouraged blacks to become better trained,
better educated so they could be self-sufficient.


Garvey was later convicted of mail fraud by the
federal government and deported to Jamaica in
1927 where he later died.
The Great Bambino
 A former juvenile delinquent from
Maryland named George Herman
Ruth captured the imagination of the
nation in the 1910s.
 Babe Ruth, as he became called, was
signed to a professional baseball
contract out of a reform school for
incorrigible kids.
 He was originally a pitcher for the
Boston Red Sox won multiple World
Series titles but showed so much
power as a hitter that he became a
full time hitter [outfielder].
 His towering home runs were
unusual because before him
homeruns were rare. He was adored
by American fans and won several
championships with the New York
Yankees.
Charles Lindbergh: Lucky Lindy
 On May 21, 1927 Charles Lindbergh
became the first person to successfully
fly across the Atlantic Ocean.
 Few people believed he could
accomplish the air voyage. The flight
took 33.5 hours.
 He left from Long Island, N.Y. and
landed in Paris, France.
 For the rest of his life he promoted
commercial aviation.
Famous American Writers
 Many American writers during the 1920s wrote about their frustration and
disillusionment with the Great War and its devastating effects.
 Some writers even left the United States for years and became known as members
of the Lost Generation [Ernest Hemingway was one of these he authored novels
such the Old Man and the Sea.
 F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of the Great Gatsby, wrote about the excesses of rich
New Yorkers.
 Sinclair Lewis criticized what he thought was the silliness of small town life.
Protective Tariffs
The Emergency Tariff of 1921
 This was an import tax placed on foreign crops
such as grain (corn and wheat) to protect the
prices of domestic crops against cheaper
European grain.
Fordney- McCumber Act of 1922
 This was an extension of previous tariffs but also
extended to manufactured goods. The law was
criticized by Congressmen and some businesses as
unnecessary because the economy boomed.
Life cover, July 1, 1926
Life cover,
July 1, 1926
"One Hundred and
Forty-three Years of
LIBERTY and Seven
Years of PROHIBITION."
(Private Collection)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
What aspects of life created the
reputation of the “Roaring 20s”?
In what ways and to what degree
were the 1920s a period of tension
between new and changing
attitudes on the one hand and
traditional values on the other.
(Consider Race relations, immigration/ nativism, role of women, consumerism)
BUSINESS
BOOM
BUSINESS PROSPERITY
ECONOMIC PROSPERITY:
productivity: up 50%
unemployment: 4-9-12%?
real income: up 25%
standard of living: (where?)
Gross National
Product, 1920-1930
Unemployment, 1920-1930
indoor plumbing
central heating
electricity (2/3 by 1930)
CAUSES OF BUSINESS PROSPERITY:
 Increased productivity (scientific management, machinery)
 Increased use of oil and electricity
 Favorable government policy (tax breaks, antitrust)
Automobiles &
Industrial Expansion
Henry Ford
‘fordism’
1913: car=2 yrs wages
1929: 3 mos. wages
1913: 14 hours to build a new car
1928: New Ford off assembly line every 10 seconds
Henry Ford (1835-1947)
Ford Highland Park assembly line, 1928
(From the Collections of Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village)
“Trying out the new assembly line“ Detroit, 1913
Auto Manufacturing
PROBLEMS FOR WORKERS
unions lose WWI gains:
open shops
company unions
injunctions
“welfare capitalism”
employment insecurity
PROBLEMS FOR WORKERS
Income Distribution, 1929
1%
 40% of all U.S. families
lived on >$1,500 per year
– in poverty range
5%
29%
65%
$10,000+
$5,000-$9999
$2000-$4999
Under $2000
Source: Historical Statistics of the United
States, Colonial Times to 1970
PROBLEMS FOR FARMERS
Mechanization
Farm income down 66%
TILLING ONE ACRE OF LAND
1900: 90 mins. using 5 horses
1929: 30 mins. using a 27-hp tractor
2000: 5 mins. using a 154-hp tractor
“parity”
McNary-Haugen Bill
Agricultural Marketing
Act (1929)
PRODUCING 100 BUSHELS OF WHEAT
ON 5 ACRES
1890s: 40-50 labor hours
1930: 15-20 labor hours
SOCIETY,
CULTURE
& VALUES
Farm vs. Nonfarm Population, 1880-1980
1920 CENSUS:
First time majority
of U.S. population in
urban areas (towns
2500 or greater)
1920: More workers
in factories than on
farms
1930: Still 44% live
in rural areas
CONSUMERISM
(electric) appliances
automobiles
advertising (image vs. utility)
buying on credit
chain stores
Consumer
Debt,
1920–1931
General Electric ad
(Picture Research Consultants & Archives)
CONSUMERISM:
Impact of the Automobile
Increase in sales:
1913 - 1.2 million registered;
1929 - 26.5 million registered
Passenger Car
Sales, 1920-1929
(=almost one per family)
Replaced the railroad as
the key promoter of
economic growth (steel,
glass, rubber, gasoline, highways)
Daily life:
commuting,
shopping, traveling, “courting”
Filling Station, Maryland in 1921
Impact of the Automobile:
Trains and Automobiles, 1900-1980
Jones, Created Equal
Automobiles & Consumerism
Dodge advertisement photo, 1933
< Ford ad: “Every family -- with even the most
modest income, can now afford a car of their own."
“Every family should have their own car. . .You live
but once and the years roll by quickly. Why wait for
tomorrow for things that you rightfully should enjoy
today?"
(Library of Congress)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved
Ford Motor Company
showroom 1925
Chevrolet
Advertisement
1925
CONSUMERISM
& Automobiles
July 4, Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts, early 1920s
MASS CULTURE:
Radio
New mass medium
1920: First
commercial radio
station
By 1930: over 800
stations & 10
million radios
Networks: NBC
(1924), CBS (1927)
The Spread of
Radio, to 1939
MASS CULTURE:
Movies
Movie “palaces”
“talkies” (1927)
Will Hays
(Billy Rose Theatre Collection, The New York Public Library)
80 million tickets sold per week by
1930 (population: 100 million)
MASS CULTURE: Popular Heroes
“success ethic”
“self-made man”
Bruce Barton- The Man Nobody Knows
Thomas Edison
Charles Lindburgh
Charles Lindbergh (National Archives)
(Private Collection)
SOCIAL &
CULTURAL
CONFLICTS
SOCIAL & CULTURAL CONFLICTS:
Prohibition
Prohibition
The noble experiment
“wets and dries”
Al Capone
Government agents breaking up an illegal bar during Prohibition
Alphonse “Scarface” Capone
Black Population, 1920
Ku
Klux
Klan
(mid-1920s)
(Private
Collection)
Copyright
1997 State
Historical
Society of
Wisconsin
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan parade in
Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 1926
BUSINESS –
FRIENDLY
GOVERNMENT
BUSINESS – FRIENDLY
GOVERNMENT
Warren G. Harding
“Return to normalcy”
Herbert Hoover
Andrew Mellon
The “Ohio Gang”
Teapot Dome Scandal
Harding with Laddie, June 13, 1922
Albert B. Fall (left)
BUSINESS – FRIENDLY
GOVERNMENT
Calvin Coolidge
“The business of
America is business”
President Calvin Coolidge
Coolidge throwing out first pitch 1924
BUSINESS – FRIENDLY
GOVERNMENT
Herbert Hoover
Al Smith
Election
of 1928
Herbert Hoover
Hoover,
Ford, Edison,
and Firestone
Feb 11, 1929
The Great Crash
New York
Times,
Friday,
October 25,
1929
Stock Market Prices, 1921–1932
Stock Market crash: October 24, 1929
(Corbis-Bettmann)
SOURCES
http://www.wadsworth.com/history_d/special_features/image_b
ank_US/1920_1930.html
Brinkley, American History: A Survey
Kennedy, American Pageant 13e (History Companion)
Faragher, Out of Many, 3rd Ed.;
http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_faragher_outofmany_ap/
Jones, et al., Created Equal
Nash
America: Pathways to the Present
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ameli
aEarnhardHoover.jpg