CLASH OF CULTURES
The speakeasy. The flapper. Al Capone.
Boosterism. Prohibition. Cars and
consumer culture. The roaring twenties.
Through these popular images, the colorful
decade of the 1920s still resonates among
generations that never experienced it. Yet
the popular stereotype of this crucial
decade largely obscures its greater cultural
and historical significance. From a cultural
and historical perspective, the 1910s and
1920s were marked by a deep clash of
cultures.
The automobile was a principal symbol of the
new era.
During the previous half century, the
United States had undergone probably the
most dramatic metamorphosis of its short
history. It had transformed itself from a
fragmented, regional agrarian economy
into one of the most powerful industrial
and urban economies of the world. The
prospect of economic opportunity drew
millions of immigrants from abroad into
its factories and cities. The farmer, who
had occupied a favored place in American
mythology since the time of Thomas
Jefferson, rapidly gave way to the
industrialist, the capitalist, and the
entrepreneur. The town, the cultural center
of preindustrial America, rapidly gave way
to the city. The Victorian value system that
prioritized restraint and had dominated
mainstream American life in the
nineteenth century gave way (over a halfcentury of struggle) to the more relaxed
morals of the twentieth century. In an
increasingly consumer-based society,
leisure and pleasure were now prized over
hard work and self-denial.
The economic, political, and
"Old" Culture
"New" Culture
social changes of the past halfEmphasized Consumption
century manifested themselves Emphasized Production
Character
Personality
in a widespread clash of
cultures. As twentieth century
Scarcity
Abundunce
modernity
increasingly
Religion
Science
challenged Victorian traditions,
Idealized the Past
Looked to the Future
this provoked a defense of
older values. The watershed
Local Culture
Mass Culture
years for this fundamental
Substance
Image
transition in American culture
were the 1910s and 1920s. The above graph indicates in a general sense what
Although the various sides in historians mean when they refer to the "old" and the
the cultural debate cannot "new" cultures of the 1920s. This list is not meant to be
easily be defined, historians definitive and, as can be seen throughout the website,
have noted a general division some groups and debates encompassed aspects of both
between those who embraced cultures. Taken en passim from Warren Susman, Culture
the new changes and looked as History: The Transformation of American Society in
with hope to the future and the Twentieth Century (New York: Pantheon Books,
those who idealized the past 1984).
and resisted cultural change. At
the same time, the values of the new industrial economy as well as the lingering traditions
from Victorian America suffused all sides in this cultural debate and blurred the lines
between the various parties.
One such area of conflict centered on Prohibition. The temperance movement, the effort to
limit and/or ban alcohol consumption, began in the early nineteenth century, but it was not
until the eve of the 1920s that reformers succeeded in passing a constitutional amendment
that forbade the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. This passage
of national Prohibition precipitated a major cultural clash in the 1920s between those who
favored Prohibition and those who wished to repeal it. Ironically, industrialization
influenced both movements. Those in favor of Prohibition believed that alcohol
consumption limited one's ability to participate productively in the new industrial society.
Those who opposed the amendment believed that an outdated moralism was responsible for
Prohibition and argued that the changes of the past several decades, which they deemed to
be progressive and objective, had rendered the morality of preindustrial America obsolete.
Another area of conflict was the changing role of women in American society. The
transformation from an agrarian economy to an industrial one created new opportunities for
women, particularly single young women. Now enjoying the freedom that comes from
having an independent source of income, many women created a new culture for themselves
that centered on consumer culture and mass entertainment. Many, however, considered the
new woman to be a threat to social morality and opposed the flapper, the icon of the new
woman in the 1920s, and what she represented.
The 1920s were also marked by a high degree of racial and ethnic conflict. One of the least-
remembered facts regarding the 1920s is that it was the golden age of the Ku Klux Klan.
While the KKK purported to represent "old-fashioned values," it unabashedly adopted the
new methodologies of the industrial economy. Although the Klan continued to target
African Americans, it focused much of its attention on the rising immigrant population of
the cities. Indeed, the clash between immigrants and those who opposed virtually all
immigration to the United States, particularly from southern and eastern Europe, was very
prominent in the 1920s. Yet, at the same time, the workforce that the new immigrants
represented was crucial to the health of the industrial economy, which greatly complicated
this cultural debate.
One of the most prominent episodes of the
1920s, the Scopes trial, epitomizes the
complexity of this cultural clash. The trial of
John T. Scopes, a high school biology
teacher accused of teaching evolution in the
classroom, took on a life of its own when
prominent politician William Jennings Bryan
agreed to serve as prosecutor while famed
lawyer Clarence Darrow came to Scopes'
defense. The trial soon became an
international spectacle. Although caricatured
in such films/plays as Inherit the Wind as a
clash
between
ignorant,
backwoods
fundamentalists and enlightened moderns,
the reality of the Scopes trial was far more
complex. The people of Dayton were not
nearly so backward as they were portrayed in
the media. Taking advantage of the national
media, so-called Dayton boosters engineered
the trial to attract tourism and economic
opportunity to their town. Nonetheless, the
trial took on a life of its own and, to many,
brought into sharp focus some of the issues at
stake in the great cultural debates of the
decade; however, a close look at the positions of each side demonstrates that they were
much more complex than most people view them today.
Just as the icons of the 1920s, such as the speakeasy and the flapper, are still with us today,
so too are the legacies of these cultural clashes. The issues at stake were never fully
resolved. The debate over prohibition continues today in the debate over cigarettes and the
legalization of marijuana and other controlled substances. The place of women in American
society continues to be a subject of much discussion. Many recent events show that race
continues to be a compelling issue in American politics and society. Indeed, even the issues
at stake in the Scopes trial continue to be debated on public school boards around the
country, most recently in Kansas. A look at the cultural clash of the 1920s provides an
important historical backdrop to issues that continue to resonate in American culture.
Between Reconstruction and the First World War, newlycreated, large-scale manufacturing and mass production
industries materially transformed the United States and
reconfigured the way Americans worked and lived. Industrial
growth required huge supplies of labor, a need met in large
part by the 20 million immigrants who, between 1870 and
1915, arrived in the United States in search of work and
opportunity. This great wave of immigrants stimulated an
anti-immigrant backlash. Nativism, a term used to denote
anti-immigrant sentiment, became widespread during the
early twentieth century. Many Americans blamed the
problems caused by rapid modernization on the foreign-born.
In addition, political, economic, and social changes led to the
rise of the New Woman, the changing face of American's
cities, and an increasing role for African Americans. The
anxiety created by the threat to "traditional American values"
peaked after World War One. In response, some Americans
during the 1920's sought to restrict certain kinds of
immigrants while others resurrected the Ku Klux Klan and
similar "protective" organizations.
Immigration restriction became a favored method for nativists and special interests in the "clash
of cultures" at the turn of the century. While few restrictions prevented immigration to the U.S.
before 1900, interest groups did succeed in pressuring the federal government to exclude
unwelcome immigrants - prostitutes (originally Asian women), convicts, contract laborers, the
mentally ill, and the diseased - and in some cases the government imposed a head tax on new
arrivals. As a result of pressure from western states and nativist organizations, the federal
government enacted laws that specifically targeted Asian immigrants, such as the Chinese
Exclusion Act in 1882 and the "Gentlemen's Agreement" with Japan in 1907.
By the early twentieth century, organized labor, nationalist and nativist organizations,
temperance organizations and, at various times, farmers and manufacturers, lobbied Congress to
regulate the flow of "new" immigrants by imposing literacy requirements. Twenty years after it
was first proposed, Congress finally passed (over President Wilson's veto) a law in 1917 that
required literacy tests for new immigrants . The First World War slowed immigration to the U.S.
but, after the armistice, mass immigration resumed, reaching 805,000 in 1921.
Various events after World War I, such as the
recession of 1920 to 1921, the First Red Scare, the
resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan, the furor
surrounding the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti, and
organized opposition to immigration intensified the
"clash of cultures." The Emergency Quota Act of
1921 limited immigration to three percent of the
number of immigrants of any particular country that
had been living in the United States in 1910, which
only partially stemmed the flow. Three years later,
Congress passed a more stringent law, the
Immigration Act of 1924, by an overwhelming
majority. This law restricted new arrivals to just two
percent of foreign-born residents according to the
Census of 1890, when the number of "new"
immigrants was relatively small. As a result,
immigration law all but eliminated the flow of
immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, and
it effectively excluded all immigration from most of
Asia until World War Two. By 1928 immigration had
declined to about 300,000, and just over a half
million new arrivals entered the U.S. during the
entire decade of the 1930s. It was a victory of sorts
for those who thought they could protect American culture and institutions by keeping out new and
different peoples.
Nativists not only objected to the numbers of immigrants, but also to the potential impact
newcomers would have on “traditional American values”. During the late nineteenth and early
twentieth century, nativist groups such as the American Protective Association, the Immigration
Restriction League, and the Ku Klux Klan buttressed their demands for restriction with
"scientific" arguments. They often employed eugenics to prove the "inferiority" of Asians and
"new" immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, mostly Catholics and Jews. Even
academics, clerics, and intellectuals feared the mixing of old stock Europeans and Americans
with the so-called "backward races" of southern and eastern Europe -- a condition, they believed,
that could only lead to "race suicide" and "reversion" to a more primitive state.
Cultural assimilation, also known as Americanization, was a less drastic means of dealing with
the numerous ethnic enclaves in American cities. While restrictionists rejected immigrants
entirely, assimilationists believed that immigrants could adapt to the American way of life. The
Immigration Protective Association, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, the
Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, and representatives of the settlement house
movement aimed at helping immigrants shed or at least diminish their Old World cultural roots
and become "Americans."
"Introduction." Introduction. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.
<http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/clash/Introduction/Intro.htm>.
"Anti-Immigration and the KKK." Anti-Immigration and the KKK. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.
<http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/clash/Imm_KKK/anti-immigrationKKK-page1.htm>.