The Roaring
Twenties
Social and Economic Changes
Power point created by Robert L. Martinez
Primary Content Material: Mastering the Grade 11
Taks Social Studies Assessment (Killoran, Zimmer, Jarrett).
Photos and illustrations as cited.
http://www.theelliottgallery.co.uk/images/sm-charleston.jpg
http://www.cinemastrikesback.com/news/daily/00617_F_01_1000.jpg
Vintage San Antonio
Joske’s Department Store:
Downtown San Antonio
Pearl Brewery
San Antonio, Texas
Majestic Theatre
San Antonio, Texas
The Roaring Twenties
• The “Roaring Twenties” were good times for
many Americans. Beneath an appearance of
calm and posterity, American was
experiencing fundamental economic and
social change.
http://www.thecostumer.com/upload/roaring1.jpg
• Disillusioned by the outcome of WWI,
Americans returned to a policy of
isolationism in foreign affairs.
• Isolationism is refusing to become involved
in other nations’ disputes or problems.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thephotoholic/173378841/
Economic Decline: Post WWI
• On the domestic front, the government
stopped its wartime spending and soldiers
returned home looking for jobs.
U.S Troops returning home from France, 1919
http://www.flickr.com/photos/j3net/85054378/
Fear of Communist Russia
• Communists seized power in Russia in
1917 and threatened to spread their
revolution to other countries.
Lenin addressing Soviet workers
http://www.gpc.edu/~proseman/imageANU.JPG
The Red Scare
• The 1920s witnessed attacks on American civil
liberties – fear of Communism.
• In 1919, anti-Communist hysteria led the U.S.
government to conduct raids against radicals
accused of plotting to overthrow the
government.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7578012@N02/456964557/
Communist Witch hunt
• Thousands of suspected Communists
were arrested, and several hundred
immigrant radicals were deported.
http://conelrad.com/books/images/redscared_400.gif
Sacco and Vanzetti
• The hysteria affected immigrants as well.
• Two Italian immigrants, Sacco and Vanzetti,
were convicted of committing murder during
a robbery to obtain funds for an anarchist
revolution.
• Although the evidence was sketchy, they
were found guilty and were executed in 1927.
http://thijscoppus.sp.nl/images/SaccoVenzetti4.jpg
http://thijscoppus.sp.nl/images/SaccoVenzetti3.jpg
Rise of Nativism
• The Red Scare and the Sacco & Vanzetti trial
contributed to a rise in nativism.
• Nativism is a dislike of foreigners that led to
immigration restrictions in the early 1920s.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/immigration/italian-nativism.jpg
Great Migration
• The migration of African Americans
from the South to Northern cities (The
Great Migration) during WWI led to
increased racial tensions after the war.
http://www.multied.com/AfiricanAmerican/GreatMigration.jpg
Ku Klux Klan
• The Ku Klux Klan, dormant for decades,
revived in the 1920s.
• The Klan was particularly hostile to African
American, immigrants, Catholics, and Jews.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/immigration/italian-nativism.jpg
Economic Prosperity - 1920s
• Wages and employment opportunities
increased for many Americans, while
business profits and production soared.
• There were many reasons for this prosperity,
ranging from government policies to the rise
of the new automobile.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/gatsby.jpg
Laissez-Faire
• In 1921, Republican presidents, Harding,
Coolidge, and Hoover followed policies
favorable to American business.
• They supported laissez-faire policies, which
called for minimal government interference
in business activities.
President
Herbert Hoover
President
Calvin Coolidge
President
Warren Harding
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bureaucrash/274082019/
Automobile Industry
• Probably the single greatest factor behind
the prosperity of the 1920s was the growth in
the use of automobiles.
• Automobile production required vast
amounts of steel, glass, and rubber –
stimulating these industries.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/delina/31875554/
Henry Ford
• Henry Ford’s goal was to build a car so
inexpensively that anyone could afford one.
• He introduced the assembly line, increasing
the efficiency of production.
• By 1924, Ford was producing 1.6 million cars
a year at a price of under $300 per car.
Henry Ford &
his Model “T”
http://www.samsgarage.com/images/Ford%20Henry%20Ford%20Model%20T.jpg
Assembly Line
• Henry Ford introduced the assembly line to
automobile production, moving cars along a
conveyor belt while workers completed their
assigned tasks.
• The assembly line, use of standardized parts,
and other labor-saving devices made American
industry more efficient and productive.
http://www.h-net.org/~hst203/images/assembly2.jpg
• Cars gave people greater mobility, making
possible the growth of suburbs.
• School buses allowed students in remote
areas to attend school regularly.
• Farmers replaced farm animals with tractors.
http://www.lafayettelinc.net/pict/coc2000/B282_School_Bus_1920s.jpg
Electricity
• Electric appliances, like vacuum cleaners
and refrigerators, were introduced.
• Radio and motion pictures became common
– creating jobs and changing the ways
Americans lived.
http://www.opticaltoys.com/whirl03.JPG
http://www.trailend.org/dw-refrigerator.jpg
Speculation & The Stock Market
• The rise of new industries, improved
production techniques, and mass markets
helped fuel a speculative boom on the stock
market, where millions of people invested in
the hope of striking it rich.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/857766599/
Prohibition
• Protestant reformers saw liquor as the cause
of poverty, crime, and the breakdown of
family.
• These reformers saw Prohibition as a chance
to eliminate many undesirable features of
modern urban life.
http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/images/ProhibitionTile.jpg
http://www.lancefuhrer.com/images/prohibition.jpg
Eighteenth Amendment
• In 1919, the 18th amendment was
ratified, banning the sale of alcoholic
drinks.
http://www.albany.edu/~wm731882/newspaper1.jpg
Rejection of Prohibition
• By 1933, many saw this “experiment”
of Prohibition as a failure because
many Americans refused to accept the
ban on alcoholic beverages.
http://www.beertutor.com/articles/images/repeal.jpg
http://www.umich.edu/~eng217/student_projects/nkazmers/prohibition%20failed.jpg
Organized Crime
• Instead of reducing crime by banning
alcohol, the demand for illegal liquor helped
stimulate the growth of organized crime in
the 1920’s.
http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/images/prohibition_era_cartoons/prohibition_pals.jpg
http://www.juegomania.org/Gangsters:+Organized+Crime/fotos/pc/1/1181_c/Caratula+Gangsters:+Organized+Crime.jpg
Twenty-first Amendment
• The great social experiment, Prohibition,
was finally repealed by the 21st
amendment – demonstrating that
unpopular laws are often difficult or
impossible to enforce.
http://teachers.sduhsd.net/jetheridge/U.S.%20History/1920/Prohibition-2.jpg
Scopes “Monkey” Trial
• In 1923-24, twelve states, including
Tennessee, passed laws that forbid teaching
Darwin’s theory of evolution because it
contradicted the Bible’s account of creation.
http://images.salon.com/news/feature/2005/01/10/evolution/cover.jpg
http://msu.edu/course/mc/112/1920s/Scopes/bestminds.jpg
Theory of Evolution
• Darwin’s theory of evolution taught that
humans and other species had developed
over millions of years from lower forms of
life.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimberlyb/1340293562/
http://www.borndigital.com/cg/smonk.jpg
The Trial
• In 1925, John Scopes, a biology teacher, was
tried and convicted for teaching evolution.
• William Jennings Bryan, the former Democratic
and Populist presidential candidate, assisted
the prosecution.
• Scopes was defended by Attorney Clarence
Darrow.
• The trial illustrated the clash between new
scientific theories and older fundamental
religious beliefs.
http://www.bitsofnews.com/images/graphics/scopes_monkey_trial.jpeg
http://www.realestateparrsboro.com/Nov29Scopes.jpg
• William Jennings Bryan was a Populist and
Democratic presidential candidate, lost in 3
elections.
• Successful reforms include the direct election of
Senators, income tax, and women’s suffrage.
• A believer in the literal interpretation of the
Bible, Bryan assisted in the prosecution of the
Scopes “Monkey” Trial.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/monkeytrial/peopleevents/images/p_bryan2.jpg
• Clarence Darrow, a celebrated attorney who
defended labor leaders accused of murder in
the Haymarket Affair, labor leaders involved in
the Pullman Strike of 1894, and war protestors
during WWI.
• Darrow supported the theory of evolution and
the separation of church and state, thereby
defending John Scopes during his trial.
http://www.getnet.com/~ksup/img/darrow2a.jpg
Immigration Restriction
• After WWI, nativist feeling against immigrants
led Congress to limit immigration for Southern
and Eastern Europe.
• The Immigration Acts of 1921, 1924, and 1929
established quotas for each nationality based
on America’s existing ethnic composition.
http://si.unm.edu/bern_2003/virginia/vir_tl/ellis-1.jpg
Lost Generation
• During the 1920s, young people displayed
growing freedom in their dealings with each
other.
• They dated without taking along a chaperone.
• Flappers wore short skirts and danced the
Charleston.
http://cas.umkc.edu/ams/Cheesecake/jpgs/193.jpg
“The Great Gatsby”
Book & Movie Recommendation
• The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott
Fitzgerald, hinted that the search for
purely material success often led to
tragedy.
http://bioinfo.mbb.yale.edu/~mbg/a/fun2-images/great-gatsby.jpg
http://www.progressive.gr/dvd/largephotos/GreatGatsby.jpg
Women in the Twenties
• New household appliances reduced
housework.
• Greater numbers of women went to college
and worked outside the home.
• Women demonstrated a new economic
independence and became more assertive.
http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/Groups/Collhist/girlsbask.gif
• The Harlem Renaissance is often
referred to as the Jazz Age, reflecting
the greater importance of African
American music.
http://www.arikah.net/encyclopedia/images/thumb/d/d8/180px-Stamp-ctc-jazz-club.jpg
• Marcus Garvey stressed racial unity through
self-help and encouraged African Americans
to set up their own shops and businesses.
• Garvey supported a plan in which African
Americans would migrate to Africa.
http://www.africamaat.com/IMG/jpg/MARCUS-GARVEY_0.jpg
Leisure Time
• More leisure time gave people greater
opportunity for entertainment.
• They turned to spectator sports, the
radio, movies, and magazines.
BABE RUTH
http://www.msu.edu/~jeakleke/AMERIBOY.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/billburris/451811954/
JACK DEMPSEY
http://www.fighttoys.com/Dempsey,Jack%20(to%20Sylvia)b.JPG
• Charles Lindbergh became the 1st
person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean
(New York to Paris) in 33 hours. This
trip made him a national hero.
http://www.originaldo.com/charles%20lindbergh-postcard.jpg
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/assets/jb/jazz/jb_jazz_lindbergh_1_e.jpg