Guided Reading, pages 604-609













1. How did the Sacco-Vanzetti case show nativism in the 1920s?
2. How was the new KKK different from the old KKK?
3. What did the Emergency Quota Act and National Origins Act do to
immigration?
4. How did cars change the lives of young people?
5. Describe the “flapper”.
6. What was Fundamentalism?
7. How did Fundamentalism relate to the “new morality”?
8. How is evolution different from creationism?
9. What happened in the Scopes Trial?
10. What did the Volstead Act do?
11. What were speakeasies?
12 What is bootlegging?
13. What ended Prohibition?
Social Issues of the 1920s
Goal 9
Essential Ideas

The “Roaring Twenties” was a time of
competing cultural movements.
The Roaring Twenties





Time Period: The
“Roaring Twenties”
Why this name?
This time period was
full of economic growth
and prosperity, like a
party
Was everything really
good?
No, not for everyone
Immigration
Problem #1
Nativism
Why?
There was a surge of
immigration after
World War I ended
The Sacco-Vanzetti Trial


Example #1: Sacco-Vanzetti Trial
What happened: two men, Sacco and Vanzetti, were
accused of robbing and murdering two people
Consequences of Nativism






What turns public opinion against them?
The public learned that they were Italian
immigrants who were anarchists (did not
believe in government)
Their fate:
They were convicted and executed
Would this have happened if they were
American and pro-government?
Probably not
Return of the Klan






Example #2:
Return of the Ku Klux
Klan
The “Old KKK”
Formed during
Reconstruction (after
Civil War)
They formed to oppose
the reconstruction of
the South
They targeted blacks
and Republicans






New Klansmen
The “New” KKK:
They were founded
after World War I
They formed to oppose
waves of new
immigrants
They targeted blacks,
Jews, Catholics, and
anyone deemed “unAmerican”
The KKK in 1924:
Had grown to 4 million
members and had
spread out of the South
Problem #2: The Clash of
Modernism and Fundamentalism


The movement: Modernism
Women: women won suffrage with the passage of
the 19th Amendment
New Opportunities for Women

Women began to
challenge traditional
roles, go to college, and
work in medicine and
law
Flappers

The Flapper –
represented the
“new woman”:
smoked, drank,
and wore
revealing
clothing
Flappers
Cars



Cars made young people more independent
Young people used cars to escape parental
supervision and seek entertainment outside
the home
Moral behavior became more relaxed
Reaction to Modernism:
Fundamentalism






The movement:
Fundamentalism
Beliefs:
Challenged the “new
morality” of modernism
Favored traditional values
and believed in interpreting
the Bible literally
Opposed Darwin’s “survival
of the fittest” theory, which
said that humans evolved
from lower life forms
Fundamentalist Leaders




Billy Sunday
Made emotional
sermons that drew
huge crowds
Aimee McPherson
Used costumes and
theater to preach
Evolution vs. Creationism





The Conflict:
Modernism vs.
Fundamentalism
The Event: The ScopesMonkey Trial
What causes the trial:
A biology teacher, John
T. Scopes, breaks a
Tennessee law by
teaching evolution
The Scopes Trial


The Defense: Clarence Darrow
The Prosecution: William J. Bryan
The Scopes Trial









What happens:
Darrow has Bryan
witness as a Bible expert
During crossexamination, Darrow
makes Bryan look so
silly that the court
laughed
The Verdict:
Guilty
The “real” winner:
Modernism
Why?
Fundamentalist beliefs
were publically ridiculed
during the trial
The Scopes Monkey Trial
Prohibition



The Event: Prohibition
What was it? A total legal ban on alcohol
Why? Many fundamentalists believed alcohol was
the root of society’s problems
18th Amendment and Volstead Act




The Amendment:
18th Amendment
Volstead Act:
Gave the government power to
enforce Prohibition (expanded
federal power)
Getting Around Prohibition


1. Speakeasies
Secret bars, New York City alone had 32,000
Getting Around Prohibition


2. Bootlegging
Illegal manufacture and distribution of alcohol




What was the overall trend of arrests under the Volstead Act?
During which years did arrest go DOWN?
What year had the most arrests?
Judging from the statistics, was the Volstead Act a good law?
Organized Crime


Organized Crime:
Gangs began to grow in cities by selling illegal alcohol
Organized Crime

Al Capone – a
Chicago
mobster who
bribed police
and judges
(ruled the city?)
Ending Prohibition
End result for
Prohibition:
Prohibition failed, and
the 21st Amendment
repealed it
This was another
victory for Modernism
Prohibition
African American Life


The Great Migration: the movement of
blacks from the South to Northern factories
during World War I
Result #1: racism and discrimination of
whites against blacks
Harlem Renaissance

Result #2: Harlem Renaissance – an explosion of art, racial
pride, and political organization (based in Harlem, New
York City)
Harlem Renaissance
Cultural Leaders




Who: Zora Hurston
Why famous: she was a
writer who was a leading
voice for black women in
America
Who: Langston Hughes
Why famous: he was a poet
whose writings reflected the
lives of black Americans
Dream Differed
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over-like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?


What does this poem mean?
The NAACP and the UNIA




Organization: NAACP
Purpose: Improve the lives of
black Americans
Organization: Universal Negro
Improvement Association
(UNIA)
Leader: Marcus Garvey
Marcus Garvey



Beliefs:
1. Black Nationalism – black pride, the idea
that “black is beautiful”
2. Back to Africa Movement – blacks should
return to Africa for a better life (no chance in
America for good treatment)