The 1920s is a complex, fascinating decade. It is commonly referred to as the roaring twenties because of the clash and intermingling of old and new. It was during the 1920s that the modern world, which was born in the trenches of WWI, experienced its growing pains. Many welcomed the new, more liberal ideas, the frankness, the liberation, the swift social change that occurred during this time period, while others (such as the KKK) were repelled by the new permissiveness and reacted by trying to restore society to the simpler values of earlier eras, where people knew their place and deviants were not tolerated. Therefore, during the 1920s the new and modern ideas that represented the more liberal, open-minded outlook of urban, industrial America clashed with the older, conservative, provincial views of rural America. One way to examine this period is to divide the two sides of the debate into old vs. new America.
Small town, rural, proud of its “simplicity” & “hominess”
Protestant Religion
Conservative or reactionary politically
Old-fashioned tastes and morals
Rejected looser sex practices & drinking was a sin that had to be restricted or prohibited; was dry (supported Prohibition)
Urban
Modernist and free thinking in religion
Liberal or radical politically
Culturally liberal, fun-loving hedonism, avant-garde or modernist taste in art
Freer sex standards and was wet (opposed Prohibition)

Your Task: Read through Ch. 20 in your text and research your topics using the internet. You will categorize whether each of the items below is an example of New America or Old America and identify its sub-category.
For example, you will be reading about the KKK, the Red Scare and also about particular individuals such as
William Jennings Bryan and Marcus Garvey.
1.
Description- Describe the ideas/values of the topic. Did you find evidence that supports the topic? How do you know?
2.
Position- Do you think this source is representative of old or new America? Why?
3.
The topics:
Strikes of 1919
Red Scare
Palmer Raids
Execution of Sacco and Vanzetti
The Great Migration
Ku Klux Klan
NAACP
Black Nationalism
Immigration Acts
Prohibition & the Volstead Act
Bootlegging
Flappers
Fundamentalism
Scopes trial
Jazz
Harlem Renaissance
Lost Generation
5. Influential People: explain how each of the following legends had a lasting impact on this era
Charlie Chaplin
Rudolph Valentino
Mary Pickford
Babe Ruth
Jim Thorpe
Charles Lindbergh
Amelia Earhart
Scott Joplin
Bessie Smith
Louis Armstrong
Paul Robeson
Ernest Hemingway