1910–1919
Lesson 2
LESSON 2
The Decade of 1910–1919
LESSON ASSIGNMENTS
You are encouraged to be very attentive while viewing the video program. Review
the video objectives and be prepared to record possible answers, in abbreviated
form, as you view the video. The topics and time periods may differ from the
chapters of the textbook your school system is using. Each video program
chronicles a wide array of events and personalities during a specific decade of the
20th century. Keep in mind that one of the overarching goals of each lesson is to
help you understand how past historical events and actions by historical
personalities did not occur in a vacuum, and that they are inextricably interwoven
in your society today.
Video:
“The Decade of 1910–1919” from the series, The Remarkable 20th Century.
Activities:
Your teacher may assign one or more activities for each lesson.
OVERVIEW
The decade of 1910 was a period of unrest and reform. It began with America’s
efforts to reform itself (Progressive movement) and ended with its efforts to
reform the world (14 Points). Social problems flourished in the U.S. as women
continued their fight for equality. The first suffrage parade was held in the 1910s,
and the nineteenth Amendment was finally ratified in 1919.
The world was convulsed with revolutions in Mexico and Russia, the horrors of
World War I, and the influenza epidemic of 1918.Yet, the world community also
enjoyed the avant-garde movement in art (Picasso and abstract art) and in the
movie making business (expressionism in Germany and Impressionism in France).
Highlights for the decade include: Ford’s introduction of the assembly line, Jim
Thorpe’s accomplishments in track at the Olympics, the introduction of daylight
savings time, Einstein’s announcement of his theory of relativity, and musician
William C. Handy’s composition of the “St. Louis Blues.”
Teacher’s Guide
LESSON GOAL
To be able to evaluate the impact social movements such as the women’s fight for
equal rights and political/military events such as World War I and the Russian
revolutions have on contemporary society.
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Lesson 2
1910–1919
VIDEO OBJECTIVES
The following objectives are designed to assist the viewer in identifying the most
significant aspects of the video segment of this lesson.You should take succinct
notes while viewing the video.
Video: “The Decade of 1910–1919”
1. Analyze the revolutions in Mexico and Russia with reference to key
personalities and their impact on relations with the United States.
2. Trace the progress of the women’s movement for equality and give emphasis
to the following: Margaret Sanger, Emmeline Pankhurst, and the role women
played in World War I.
3. Evaluate the significance of the following cultural and social movements and
personalities in the 1910s: Picasso, development of the motion picture
business, Monet, and music.
4. Analyze the elections of Taft and Wilson and their impact on the Progressive
movement.
5. Assess the significance of the following economic and scientific issues: 16th
Amendment, the sinking of the Titanic, influenza epidemic, mass production,
Einstein’s theory of relativity, and the completion of the Panama Canal.
6. Evaluate the importance of World War I through a discussion of the
following: entangling alliances, Zimmerman Note, patriotic songs and
recruitment practices in the U.S., major battles, key personalities, and the
Treaty of Versailles.
TIME CODES
Time Code Year
00:00
00:30
1910
Teacher’s Guide
02:10
02:13
02:48
1910
1910
04:19
05:19
05:30
06:17
06:36
06:54
07:29
1910
1910
1910
1910
1910
1911
1911
08:01
09:01
1912
1912
10:08
12:16
1912
1912
16
Topic
Opening
Overview
Description
Opening
Howard K. Smith intros the
decade
Title
Episode II: 1910s
Overview
Optimism going into this decade
World Politics
King Edward VII dies; George V
reign
World Politics
European rivalries
US Politics
Taft & neutrality
World Politics
Mexican Revolution
Natural Phenomena
Halley’s Comet
Entertainment
Race car record
Discoveries & Technology Race to South Pole
Entertainment
Music – Irving Berlin, Mississippi
Delta Blues
Natural Phenomena
Titanic
US Politics
Roosevelt joins Progressive Party;
Woodrow Wilson wins election
Social Issues
Women’s Suffrage Movement
Entertainment
Sports – Jim Thorpe, Ty Cobb
1910–1919
Time Code Year
12:41
1913
13:17
1913
13:27
13:51
14:33
1913
1913
1913
18:37
19:00
1913
1914
27:20
1914
27:56
29:01
29:37
31:00
1915
1915
1916
1916
34:14
34:41
34:58
1916
1916
1916
35:53
1916 /
1917
37:36
1917
38:08
1917
39:08
1917
41:51
1917
42:29
1918
46:06
47:02
47:32
1918
1919
1919
50:05
1919
52:38
1919
54:16
Lesson 2
Topic
Transportation
Economy
Description
Ford assembly line
16th Amendment – Federal
Income Tax
Transportation
Panama Canal
World Politics
Mexico Civil War
Entertainment
Art – Avant-Garde; Music –
Stravinsky, Movies – Griffith,
Chaplin, Pickford
Social Issues
Margaret Sanger & birth control
World Politics
Assassination of Arch Duke
Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary;
The Great War starts; Trench
warfare
Overview
Howard K. Smith segues between
1st and 2nd half of 1910 decade –
The Great War brought
technological innovations
World Politics
U-Boats; Sinking of the Lusitania
US Politics
Immigrants – anti-war
World Politics
Mexico, Villa & Zapata
World Politics
Attack on Verdun; Modern tanks;
Dirigibles, Planes & Air Aces
Entertainment
Art – Monet
Discoveries & Technology Einstein – Theory of Relativity
World Politics
Russian Last Stand on the Eastern
Front
US Politics/ World
Wilson re-elected; German
Politics
Alliance with Mexico; US
Declaration of War; US training
camps
Entertainment
Music – Cohan & "Over There";
Actors support war effort
Social Issues
Women working for war effort;
Suffrage; Congresswoman Rankin
World Politics
Russian Revolution; War ends on
Eastern Front
World Politics
British in Egypt; Lawrence of
Arabia
World Politics
Ludendorff advances toward
Paris; Pershing pushes back;
Armistice
Social Issues
Influenza
US Politics
Roosevelt dies
Entertainment
Sports – "Black" Sox Scandal;
Movies – United Artists Corp.,
German Expressionism, French
Impressionism; Bauhaus Modern
Architecture School
World Politics
Paris Peace Conference; League of
Nations
Overview
Howard K. Smith talks about
Wilson
Closing
Closing Credits
17
Teacher’s Guide
Lesson 2
1910–1919
WEB ACTIVITIES
These activities are not required unless your teacher assigns them. They are
offered as suggestions to help you learn more about the material presented in
this lesson.
Activity 1—World War I and “Historic American Sheet Music:
1910–1920”
Access the Library of Congress’ American Memory Web site at http://
scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/dynaweb/sheetmusic/1910-1920/.
Read the words to the sheet music titled “For Your Country and My Country”
by Irving Berlin.
Answer the following questions:
1. Discuss a minimum of five reasons why Berlin suggests citizens should
volunteer to serve in the U.S. Army.
2. Indicate which reasons you agree with and which reasons you disagree with
and indicate why.
3. Would songs such as the one written by Berlin be effective in encouraging
Americans to volunteer today to serve in the military if a war should occur?
Access the sheet music titled “Don’t Take My Darling Boy Away” by Albert
VonTilzer at http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/dynaweb/sheetmusic/1910-1920/.
Read the words to the music.
Answer the following questions:
1. What person does Tilzer indicate is the real hero of war? Why do you think
he selected this person? Do you agree or disagree?
2. Should more than one child be drafted from one family? Why or why not?
Activity 2— “Guide for Writing a Reform Song”
Access the Library of Congress American Memory Fellows Program at the
following site: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lesson99/sing/guide.html.
Review the form titled “Stand Up and Sing Guide for Writing a Reform Song.”
Select one classmate to be your partner. Write your own reform song and
answer the questions listed on the “Guide for Writing a Reform Song.”
Teacher’s Guide
Activity 3— “Woman Suffrage”
Access “Woman Suffrage and the 19th Amendment” at the National Archives
and Records Administration at http://www.nara.gov/education/teaching/woman/
home.html.
Read the background information and view the photograph of the Kaiser Wilson
poster and answer the following questions:
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1910–1919
Lesson 2
1. What is the purpose of the poster?
2. What is the date of the photograph and why is it significant?
3. With what person is President Wilson being compared and why?
4. What does the photograph suggest has happened to the women’s suffrage
movement?
Read the introduction to Document #9 “Ratification of 19th Amendment,
Tennessee August 24, 1920” and the document itself. Answer the following
questions:
1. What is a quorum and what is its connection to the state of Tennessee?
2. Why was Tennessee’s ratification of the 19th Amendment so crucial?
3. What is the Tennessee General Assembly?
PRACTICE TEST
After watching the video and reviewing the objectives, you should be able to
complete the following Practice Test. When you have completed the Practice
Test, turn to the Answer Key to score your answers.
Multiple-choice
Select the single best answer. If more than one answer is required, it will be
so indicated.
1. The Sixteenth Amendment:
A. created The Federal Reserve Banking System.
B. provided for the Federal income tax.
C. declared the U.S. would not recognize the Bolshevik party in Russia.
D. recognized the exploits of Robert Scott and Roald Amendsen.
2. The Zimmermann Note involved a proposed secret agreement between:
A. Britain and France.
B. Russia and Germany.
C. Germany and Mexico.
Teacher’s Guide
D. Mexico and France.
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Lesson 2
1910–1919
3. Woodrow Wilson hoped which of the following Fourteen Points would
provide a system of collective security:
A. First.
B. Second.
C. Tenth.
D. Fourteenth.
4. As a result of their work supporting the war effort, women:
A. were allowed to serve as air force pilots in WW I.
B. received equal pay for equal work.
C. gained the right to vote.
D. were allowed to enter medical school.
5. Which of the following artists is associated with abstract art and cubism:
A. Irving Berlin.
B. Pablo Picasso.
C. Claude Monet.
D. Charles Chaplin.
6. What major medical catastrophe occurred in 1918–1919:
A. Black Death.
B. Typhoid Mary.
C. Bubonic Plague.
D. Influenza Epidemic.
7. Which of the following did not occur during World War I:
A. 1917 Russian revolutions.
B. sinking of the Lusitania.
C. submarine warfare.
Teacher’s Guide
D. Taft was elected President of the U.S.
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1910–1919
Lesson 2
Essay/Problem Questions:
8. Analyze the significance of the Russian revolutions in 1917 and the role
played by the following:
A. Lenin
B. Kerensky
C. Nicholas II
D. World War I
9. Assess the contributions made by the following to the cultural and social
movements of the 1910s:
A. Irving Berlin
B. Jeanette Rankin
C. Pablo Picasso
D. Emmeline Pankhurst
10. Evaluate the key causes and effects of World War I.
ANSWER KEY
The following provides the answers and references for the practice test
questions. Video objectives are referenced using the following abbreviation:
V=Video Objective.
Multiple Choice:
Essay/Problem Questions
1. B Ref.V 5
8. Ref.V 1
2. C Ref.V 6
9. Ref.V 2; 3
3. D Ref.V 6
10. Ref.V 6
4. C Ref.V 2
5. B Ref. V 3
6. D Ref.V 5
7. D Ref.V 1; 4; 6
Teacher’s Guide
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Lesson 2
Teacher’s Guide
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1910–1919