The Jazz Age
1920’s America
The Jazz Age (TEKS)
71. Analyze causes and effects of significant issues such as immigration (quotas), the
Red Scare (Sacco and Vanzetti), Prohibition (the 18th Amendment and the
Volstead Act), and the changing role of women (flappers). (TEKS US 5A) (TAKS 1)
72. Analyze the impact of significant individuals such as Clarence Darrow, William
Jennings Bryan, Henry Ford, and Charles A. Lindbergh (John Scopes). (TEKS US 5B)
(TAKS 1)
73. Analyze the effects of changing demographic patterns resulting from migration
within the United States (the First Great Migration). (TEKS US 10A) (TAKS 2)
74. Identify and analyze methods of expanding the right to participate in the
democratic process, including lobbying, protesting, court decisions, and
amendments to the United States Constitution (Scottsboro case). (TEKS US 18A)
75. Evaluate various means of achieving equality of political rights, including the 19th
Amendment (protest marches and rallies). (TEKS US 18B) (TAKS 4)
76. Evaluate the effects of political incidents such as the Teapot Dome on the views
of U.S. citizens concerning the role of the federal government. (TEKS US 15C)
The Jazz Age (TEKS)
77. Describe qualities of effective leadership (Calvin Coolidge, Warren G. Harding,
and Herbert Hoover). (TEKS US 19A)
78. Analyze causes of economic growth and prosperity in the 1920s. (automobile
industry, mass productionof consumer goods, advertising, and installment plans).
(TEKS US 13A) (TAKS 3)
79. Describe how the characteristics and issues of various eras in U.S. history have
been reflected in works of art, music, and literature such as the paintings of
Georgia O'Keefe. (TEKS US 20A)
80. Describe the impact of significant examples of cultural movements in art, music,
and literature on American society, including the Harlem Renaissance (Langston
Hughes, Jazz Age, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington). (TEKS US 20B)
81. Identify examples of American art, music, and literature that transcend American
culture and convey universal themes (F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and
William Faulkner). (TEKS US 20C)
82. Analyze the relationship between culture and economy and identify examples such
as the impact of the entertainment industry on the U.S. economy (talking movies,
sports, and advertising). (TEKS US 20D)
Key Terms: The Roaring 20’s
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Anarchist: Person who oppose all forms of government—or believe there
should be no government
Eugenics: a pseudo-science (false science) that deals with improving
hereditary traits; emphasized that human inequalities were inherited and
warned against breeding the “unfit” or “inferior”; reinvigorated the nativist
arguments for strict immigration control
Ku Klux Klan: the new KKK targeted Catholics, Jews, immigrants and other
groups believed to be “un-American”
Emergency Quota Act: passed in 1921, established a temporary quota system
limiting immigration; discriminated against people from southern and eastern
Europe
“Flapper”: a young, dramatic stylish and unconventional woman of the 1920s
(she smoked cigarettes, drank prohibited liquor, and dressed in attire
considered to be too revealing)
Fundamentalism: a conservative religious movement that believed the US was
losing its traditional values in the 1920s; the name was derived from
pamphlets published by oil millionaire Lyman Steward; rejected evolution,
believed in creationism
Key Terms: The Roaring 20’s
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Evolution: the belief that human beings “evolved” from lower forms of life over
the course of millions of years
Creationism: the belief that God created the world as described in the Bible;
“literal” interpretation
Police powers: a government’s power to control people and property in the
interest of public safety, health, welfare and values
Speakeasy: secret, illegal bars; a place where alcoholic beverages are sold illegally
Red Scare: a nationwide panic that Communists or “reds” might seize power
occurring at the end of WWI through the 1920’s; Palmer Raids; fueled antiimmigrant legislation in the 1920s
The 1920’s
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An era of rapid change, rising ethnic
tension and cultural conflict.
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Referred to by many terms. For
example:
– The “Roaring 20s”
– The Jazz Age
– The end of the 1920s marks the start of
the “Great Depression”
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The 1920s was a period when many
Americans believed American society
was losing its “traditional” values.
Many Americans took actions to
preserve these “traditional” values.
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Many Americans embraced new
American values. They wanted a freer
lifestyle and greater individualism.
Nativism in the 1920s
• In the 1920s, economic
recession, increased
immigration to the United
States from Europe, and
racial and cultural conflict
created an atmosphere of
fear and intolerance.
• These conditions led to a
resurgence of “nativism.”
– Nativism is a preference
for native-born people
and a desire to limit
immigration.
Nativism in the 1920s
• Large numbers of
immigrants migrated to the
United States in the 1920s
following the end of WWI
• The majority came from
southern and eastern
Europe.
– These immigrants were
considered to be racially
inferior and a threat to
political stability and order
– Many Americans feared losing
their jobs to these
newcomers.
Nativism in the 1920s
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The experience of two Italian
immigrants reflected the fears and
prejudices of 1920s society.
– Nicola Sacco ( a shoemaker)
– Bartolomeo Vanzetti (a fish
peddler),
Accused of robbing and killing two
employees of the Slater & Morril
Shoe Company in Braintree,
Massachusetts.
Sacco And Vanzetti did not get a fair
trial because they were immigrants
and anarchists
Anarchist: people who opposed all
forms of government
Sacco and Vanzetti:
“Trial of the Century”
• Both men proclaimed
their innocence
• Found guilty on July 14,
1921; later executed on
August 23, 1927.
Woody Guthrie: Two Good Men
(words and music by Woody Guthrie)
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Two good men a long time gone,
Two good men a long time gone
(Two good men a long time gone, oh, gone),
Sacco, Vanzetti a long time gone,
Left me here to sing this song.
Say, there, did you hear the news?
Sacco worked at trimming shoes;
Vanzetti was a peddling man,
Pushed his fish cart with his hands.
Sacco was born across the sea
Somewhere over in Italy;
Vanzetti was born of parents fine,
Drank the best Italian wine. Sacco sailed the sea one day,
Landed up in Boston Bay;
Vanzetti sailed the ocean blue,
Landed up in Boston, too.
Sacco's wife three children had,
Sacco was a family man;
Vanzetti was a dreaming man,
His book was always in his hand.
Sacco earned his bread and butter
Being the factory's best shoe cutter;
Vanzetti spoke both day and night,
Told the workers how to fight.
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I'll tell you if you ask me
'Bout this payroll robbery;
Two clerks was killed by the shoe factory
On the street in South Braintree.
Judge Thayer told his friends around
He would cut the radicals down;
Anarchist bastards was the name
Judge Thayer called these two good men.
I'll tell you the prosecutors' names,
Katsman, Adams, Williams, Kane;
The judge and lawyers strutted down,
They done more tricks than circus clowns.
Vanzetti docked here in 1908;
He slept along the dirty streets,
He told the workers “Organize”
And on the electric chair he dies.
All you people ought to be like me,
And work like Sacco and Vanzetti;
And every day find some ways to fight
On the union side for workers' rights.
I've got no time to tell this tale,
The dicks and bulls are on my trail;
But I'll remember these two good men
That died to show me how to live.
All you people in Suassos Lane
Sing this song and sing it plain.
All you folks that's coming along,
Jump in with me, and sing this song.
“Scientific” Racism
• Racist ideas from the
1920s were reinforced by
the beliefs put forth by
the eugenics movement.
• Eugenics is a false science
that deals with
“improving” hereditary
traits.
– Viewed human inequality
as inherited
– Warned against breeding
“unfit” or “inferior”
peoples
Return of the Ku Klux Klan
• The “new” Ku Klux Klan
flourished in the 1920s.
– The old KKK arose in the
South after the Civil War to
intimidate newly freed
African Americans.
• In the 1920’s, the KKK
targeted other
“undesireables”
including Catholics, Jews,
immigrants, and other
groups believed to be
“un-American.”
Restricting Immigration
• Fear of immigrants led to
the restrictive
immigration policies in
the 1920s.
• In 1921, President
Harding signed the
Emergency Quota Act,
which established a
temporary quota system,
limiting immigration.
– Discriminated against
people from southern and
eastern Europe
Restricting Immigration
The National Origins Act of 1924
• This act made immigrant
restriction a permanent policy.
• The law tightened the quota
system, setting quotas at 2%
of each national group residing
in the country in 1890,
favoring immigrants from
northwestern Europe.
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Amended in 1929:
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limit of 150,000 immigrants admitted
each year
resulting in 87% of the immigrants
admitted from northwestern Europe.
immigration from Italy fell more than
90%.
National Origins Act of 1924
• This act, passed in 1924, made immigrant restriction a
permanent policy. The law tightened the quota
system, setting quotas at 2% of each national group
residing in the country in 1890, favoring immigrants
from northwestern Europe.
– A second part of the act took effect in 1929. It replaced
the 1924 quotas with a limit of 150,000 immigrants
admitted each year; % allotted based on 1920 census,
resulting in 87% of the immigrants admitted from
northwestern Europe. The law's impact varied widely by
country. Immigration from Great Britain and Ireland fell
19%, while immigration from Italy fell more than 90%.
Sponge/Quiz
1. Flapper_______
2. Ku Klux Klan_____
3. Fundamentalism_____
4. Eugenics_____
5. Anarchist_____
A. Opposed all forms of
government
B. A pseudo-science that
studies hereditary traits
C. Targeted “anti-American
groups
D. A conservative religious
movement
E. An unconventional
women of the 1920’s
National Origins Act of 1924
President Coolidge signs the immigration act on the White House
South Lawn along with appropriation bills for the Veterans
Bureau. John J. Pershing is on the President's right.
Immigration inspectors via 1924
Prohibition
• The movement to ban
alcohol had been
increasing over the
1800s.
• Supports believed
Prohibition it would
– Reduce unemployment
– Reduce domestic
violence
– Reduce poverty
18th Amendment
• Passed in 1920, the 18th
Amendment banned the
manufacture, sale, and
transportation of alcohol.
• To enforce the
amendment, Congress
passed the Volstead Act.
– The act gave the U.S.
Treasury Department the
responsibility of enforcing
the 18th Amendment
– The act greatly expanded
federal police powers.
Speakeasies
• Many Americans
ignored the law.
• Flocked to secret bars
called speakeasies to
secretly purchase
alcohol.
– NY City had about
32,000 speakeasies.
• Led to the rise of
organized crime.
Prohibition and organized Crime
• Led to the rise of
organized crime.
• Organized crime
became big business
• Al Capone was one of
the most notorious
gangsters of the era.
– Ran bootlegging and
other criminal rackets
21ST Amendment
• The ratification of the
21st Amendment in
1933 ended federal
Probition.
Assignment
• Based on your
knowledge of the three
terms above, describe
and explain the
meaning of the cartoon
shown above.
Flappers and the New Morality
• In the 1920’s, a “new
morality” stressed and
celebrated the loving family
and marriage as an important
to personal success.
• Women began to enter the
workplace also influenced the
culture and morality of the
1920s.
• Work gave women more:
– Independence
• Cars and independence
– Wages to participate in an
expanding consumer culture
– A way to escape parental
authority
Flappers and the New Morality
• The flapper—a young,
dramatic, stylish and
unconventional women.
– Smoked cigarettes
– Drank prohibited alcohol
– Dressed in “revealing”
attire or clothing
• Stylish hats
• Shorter hemline
• Bold colors
Flappers and “The Charleston”
• Flappers danced the
“dance craze” of the
1920s, called “the
Charleston.”
– A form of dance that
rebelled against older,
more formal dancing
styles.
Growth and Prosperity
in the 1920’s
• Mass production: the production of large quantities of
goods using machinery and often an assembly line
process
• Assembly line: a production system with machines and
workers arranged so that each person performs an
assigned task again and again as the item passes before
him or her
• Welfare capitalism: system in which companies enable
employees to buy stock, participate in profit sharing,
and receive benefits such as medical care
• Open shop: a workplace where workers are not
required to join a union
Key Terms
• Stock Market: a system for buying and selling shares of
companies
• Bull Market: a long period of rising stock prices
• Margin: buyers of stocks make only a small cash down
payment, sometimes as low as 10 percent of the price
• Margin Call: to protect a loan, a broker can issue a margin
call, a demand the investor repay the loan at once
• Speculation: instead of investing in the future of
companies, investors buy stocks to make money quickly
• Installment plan: buying an item on credit with a monthly
plan to pay of the value of the good
Causes of Economic Growth
and Prosperity in the 1920’s
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Stock market (buying on margin) creates quick wealth
Boom in speculation
uneven prosperity
mass consumption - advertising, installment purchases
Warren Harding's "Return to Normalcy" - "America First" campaign
encouraged industrialization and a strong economy independent of
foreign influence.
• reduced taxes - tax burden of middle Americans decrease while
most lower income Americans were relieved of their tax burden
altogether
• increased production efficiencies - such as assembly line production
• new/improved industries - auto, aviation
Causes of Economic Growth
and Prosperity
• Stock market (buying on
margin) creates quick
wealth
– The stock market was
established as a system for
buying and selling shares
of companies.
– Bull Market: A long period
of rising stock prices
– A long “bull market”
convinced many Americans
to invest in stocks
• By 1929, 10% of American
households owned stocks
Causes of Economic Growth
and Prosperity
• Boom in speculation
– As the stock market
continued to rise, many
investors began buying stocks
on margin
• They pained only a small cash
down payment
• Margin call: when a broker
demanded the investor repay
the loan at once
– Speculation:
• Buyers seeking to make a
quick buck bought and sold
shares of companies, betting
shares of the company would
continue to rise
Causes of Economic Growth
and Prosperity
• Uneven prosperity
– Uneven distribution of
income
• Overproduction
• More efficient machinery
• Most Americans did not
earn enough to purchase
all of the goods produced
– In 1929, top 5 percent
of all American
households earned 30%
of the nations income.
– 2/3rds earned less than
$2,500 per year
Causes of Economic Growth
and Prosperity
• Mass consumption advertising, installment
purchases
– Advertisers created
appealing, persuasive
messages that linked their
clients’ products with
qualities associated with
the modern era, such as
progress, convenience,
leisure, success, fashion,
and style.
Causes of Economic Growth
and Prosperity
• Warren Harding's
"Return to Normalcy" "America First"
campaign (1921-1923)
– Encouraged
industrialization and a
strong economy
independent of foreign
influence.
Causes of Economic Growth
and Prosperity
• reduced taxes - tax
burden of middle
Americans decreased
while most lower
income Americans were
relieved of their tax
burden altogether
• Andew Mellon, Secretary of
the Treasury
Causes of Economic Growth
and Prosperity
• Increased production
efficiencies - such as
assembly line
production
– First adopted by Henry
Ford
– The assembly line
divided operations into
simple tasks that
unskilled workers could
do and cut unnecessary
motion to a minimum.
Causes of Economic Growth
and Prosperity
• New/improved industries,
such as auto and aviation
– Henry Ford’s assembly-line
product was the Model-T
(also called “Tin Lizzie” or
Flivver.”)
– Ford’s assembly line process
made the automobile
available to millions of
American consumers.
– Auto industry spurred
growth in other industries,
such as rubber, plate glass,
nickel and lead.
Causes of Economic Growth
and Prosperity
• New/improved industries,
such as auto and aviation
(cont’d)
– Airline industry begins to take
off in the 1920s.
– Post Office expanded air mail
service
– Air Commerce Act: provided
federal aid for building
airports
– Charles Lindbergh (1927)
– Amelia Earhart (1937)
– By end of 1928, 48 airlines
were serving 355 American
cities.