The 1920s
Mr. McMinn
American History
Grants High School
Society in the 1920s
• How were women’s roles changing
during the 1920s?
• How were the nation’s cities and
suburbs affected by Americans on
the move from rural areas?
• Who were some American heroes of
the 1920s? What made them popular
with the American public?
Women’s Changing
Roles
The Flapper Image
• The flapper, a type of
bold, fun-loving young
woman, came to
symbolize a revolution in
manners and morals that
took place in the 1920s.
• Flappers challenged
conventions of dress,
hairstyle, and behavior.
• Many Americans
disapproved of flappers’
free manners as well as
the departure from
traditional morals that
they represented.
Women Working and Voting
• Although many women
held jobs in the 1920s,
businesses remained
prejudiced against
women seeking
professional positions.
• The Nineteenth
Amendment gave women
the right to vote in all
elections beginning in
1920. At first, many
women did not exercise
their right to vote. It took
time for women’s votes to
make an impact.
Americans on the Move
Rural-Urban Split
• Although the economy in
the cities expanded in the
1920s, many farmers
found themselves
economically stressed.
This resulted in a
migration from rural to
urban areas.
• Rural and urban
Americans were also split
over cultural issues.
While many in the
cities were abandoning
some traditional values,
rural populations
generally wanted to
preserve these values.
Growth of the Suburbs
• While cities continued to
grow, many Americans
moved from cities to
suburbs.
• Improvements in
transportation made
travel between the cities
and suburbs increasingly
easy.
• This shift in population
was one example of
changing demographics,
or statistics that describe
a group of people, during
the 1920s.
Waves of Migration
• During the Great Migration, which lasted through
World War I, many African Americans had moved from
the rural South to take jobs in northern cities.
Industrial expansion during the 1920s also encouraged
African American migration to the North. However,
they often faced discrimination in both the North and
the South.
• After World War I, masses of refugees applied for
entry into the United States. Immigration from China,
Japan, and southern and eastern Europe was limited;
however, many immigrants from Mexico and Canada
filled low-paying jobs in the United States.
• Certain areas became magnets for immigrants. A
barrio, or Spanish-speaking neighborhood, developed
in Los Angeles, California; New York also attracted
numerous Spanish-speaking immigrants.
American Heroes
American Heroes in the 1920s
Charles
As the first to fly nonstop from New York to Paris,
Lindbergh aviator Charles Lindbergh was hailed as an American
hero and a champion of traditional values.
Amelia
Earhart
Sports
Heroes
Amelia Earhart set records as the first woman to fly
solo across the Atlantic and the first person to fly solo
from Hawaii to California. She and her navigator
mysteriously disappeared while attempting to fly
around the world in 1937.
Champions in wrestling, football, baseball, and
swimming became American heroes. Perhaps the
most famous sports figure was baseball’s George
Herman “Babe” Ruth, whose record number of home
runs remained unbroken for 40 years.
Society in the 1920s—
Assessment
Why were some Americans opposed to flappers?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Flappers opposed the Nineteenth Amendment.
Flappers challenged traditional values.
Americans preferred sports heroes.
Americans thought that flappers encouraged
immigration.
Which of the following was a migration pattern in
the 1920s?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
From
From
From
From
cities to suburbs
suburbs to cities
suburbs to rural areas
the United States to Canada and Mexico
Society in the 1920s—
Assessment
Why were some Americans opposed to flappers?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Flappers opposed the Nineteenth Amendment.
Flappers challenged traditional values.
Americans preferred sports heroes.
Americans thought that flappers encouraged
immigration.
Which of the following was a migration pattern in
the 1920s?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
From
From
From
From
cities to suburbs
suburbs to cities
suburbs to rural areas
the United States to Canada and Mexico
Mass Media and the
Jazz Age
• How did the mass media help create
common cultural experiences?
• Why are the 1920s called the Jazz
Age, and how did the jazz spirit
affect the arts?
• How did the writers of the Lost
Generation respond to the popular
culture?
• What subjects did the Harlem
Renaissance writers explore?
The Mass Media
• Growth of the mass media, instruments for
communicating with large numbers of people, helped
form a common American popular culture during the
1920s.
• The popularity of motion pictures grew throughout the
1920s; “talkies,” or movies with sound, were
introduced in 1927.
• Newspapers grew in both size and circulation.
Tabloids, compact papers which replaced serious
news with entertainment, became popular. Magazines
also became widely read.
• Although radio barely existed as a mass medium until
the 1920s, it soon enjoyed tremendous growth.
Networks linked many stations together, sending the
same music, news, and commercials to Americans
around the country.
The Jazz Age
• Jazz, a style of music that grew out of the
African American music of the South, became
highly popular during the 1920s. Characterized
by improvisation and syncopation, jazz became
so strongly linked to the culture of the 1920s
that the decade came to be known as the Jazz
Age.
• Harlem, a district in Manhattan, New York,
became a center of jazz music. Flappers and
others heard jazz in clubs and dance halls; the
Charleston, considered by some to be a wild
and reckless dance, embodied the Jazz Age.
• Jazz pioneers Duke Ellington and Louis
Armstrong made important contributions to
jazz music.
The Jazz Spirit
Other Art Inspired by Jazz
Painting
Like jazz musicians, painters in the 1920s took the pulse of
American life. Painters such as Edward Hopper and
Rockwell Kent showed the nation’s rougher side; Georgia
O’Keeffe’s paintings of natural objects suggested something
larger than themselves. Famous NM painter
Literature
Novelist Sinclair Lewis attacked American society with
savage irony; playwright Eugene O’Neill proved that
American plays could hold their own against those from
Europe.
The Lost
Generation
Gertrude Stein remarked to Ernest Hemingway that he and
other American writers were all a “Lost Generation,” a group
of people disconnected from their country and its values.
Soon, this term was taken up by the flappers as well.
The Harlem
Renaissance
• In addition to being a center of jazz,
Harlem emerged as an overall cultural
center for African Americans. A literary
awakening for African Americans took
place in Harlem in the 1920s that was
known as the Harlem Renaissance.
• Expressing the joys and challenges of
being African American, writers such as
James Weldon Johnson, Zora Neale
Hurston, and Langston Hughes enriched
African American culture as well as
American culture as a whole.
Mass Media and the
Jazz Age—Assessment
Which of these best describes how the growth of
mass media affected American culture?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
It allowed local cultural traditions to flourish.
It made learning the Charleston easier.
It spread the work of Lost Generation writers.
It helped create a common American popular
culture.
What was the Harlem Renaissance?
(A) A style of jazz music
(B) An African American literary awakening
(C) An increase in the popularity of newspapers and
magazines
(D) A type of jazz club found in Harlem
Mass Media and the
Jazz Age—Assessment
Which of these best describes how the growth of
mass media affected American culture?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
It allowed local cultural traditions to flourish.
It made learning the Charleston easier.
It spread the work of Lost Generation writers.
It helped create a common American popular
culture.
What was the Harlem Renaissance?
(A) A style of jazz music
(B) An African American literary awakening
(C) An increase in the popularity of newspapers and
magazines
(D) A type of jazz club found in Harlem
Cultural Conflicts
• What were the effects of
Prohibition on society?
• What issues of religion were at
the core of the Scopes trial?
• How did racial tensions change
after World War I?
Prohibition
• The Eighteenth Amendment to the
Constitution, which took effect on January 16,
1920, made the manufacture, sale, and
transport of liquor, beer, and wine illegal.
• As a result, many Americans turned to
bootleggers, or suppliers of illegal alcohol.
Bars that operated illegally, known as
speakeasies, were either disguised as
legitimate businesses or hidden in some way,
often behind heavy gates.
• Prohibition sharpened the contrast between
rural and urban areas, since urban areas were
more likely to ignore the law. Additionally, it
increased the number of liquor-serving
establishments in some major cities to far
above pre-Prohibition levels.
Organized Crime
• The tremendous profit resulting from the sale of
illegal liquor, as well as the complex organization
involved, helped lead to the development of
organized crime.
• Successful bootlegging organizations often moved
into other illegal activities as well, including
gambling, prostitution, and racketeering. As rival
groups fought for control in some American cities,
gang wars and murders became commonplace.
• One of the most notorious criminals of this time
was Al Capone, nicknamed “Scarface,” a gangster
who rose to the top of Chicago’s organized crime
network. Capone proved talented at avoiding jail
but was finally imprisoned in 1931.
Issues of Religion
Fundamentalism
• As science, technology, modern
social issues, and new Biblical
scholarship challenged
traditional religious beliefs, a
religious movement called
fundamentalism gained
popularity.
• Fundamentalism supported
traditional Christian ideas and
argued for a literal
interpretation of the Bible.
• Billy Sunday and other famous
fundamentalist preachers drew
large audiences.
Evolution and the Scopes Trail
• Fundamentalists worked to
pass laws against teaching
the theory of evolution in
public schools. A science
teacher named John T.
Scopes agreed to challenge
such a law in Tennessee.
His arrest led to what was
called the Scopes trial.
• The Scopes trial became the
first trial to be broadcast
over American radio.
• The case became a public
debate between
fundamentalists and
modernists.
Racial Tensions
Violence Against African
Americans
• Mob violence between white
and black Americans erupted
in about 25 cities during the
summer of 1919.
• The worst of these race riots
occurred in Chicago, where
the African American
population had doubled since
1910. A white man threw a
rock at a black teenager
swimming in Lake Michigan,
and the boy drowned. The
incident touched off riots
that lasted several days,
destroyed many homes,
killed several people and
wounded many more.
Revival of the Klan
• Although it had been largely
eliminated during
Reconstruction, the Ku Klux
Klan regained power during
the 1920s and greatly
increased its membership
outside the South.
• The Klan’s focus shifted to
include terrorizing not just
African Americans but also
Catholics, Jews, immigrants,
and others.
• After the arrest of a major
Klan leader in 1925, Klan
membership diminished once
again.
Fighting Discrimination
• During the 1920s, the NAACP fought for antilynching laws and worked to promote the voting
rights of African Americans. These efforts,
however, met with limited success.
• A movement led by Marcus Garvey, an immigrant
from Jamaica, became popular with many
African Americans. Garvey, who created the
Universal Negro Improvement Association
(UNIA), sought to build up African Americans’
self-respect and economic power, encouraging
them to buy shares in his Negro Factories
Corporation.
• Garvey also encouraged his followers to return
to Africa and create a self-governing nation
there. Although corruption and mismanagement
resulted in the collapse of the UNIA, Garvey’s
ideas of racial pride and independence would
affect future “black pride” movements.
Cultural Conflicts—
Assessment
How did Prohibition reinforce the division between
urban and rural areas?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Speakeasies only replaced legal saloons in urban areas.
Rural areas were more likely to obey Prohibition.
Urban areas were more likely to obey Prohibition.
Bootleggers only worked in rural areas.
Which of the following best describes Marcus
Garvey’s goals for African Americans?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Religious fundamentalism and an end to teaching evolution
Equality with Catholics, Jews, and immigrants
Universal suffrage and an end to lynchings
Self-respect, economic power, and independence
Cultural Conflicts—
Assessment
How did Prohibition reinforce the division between
urban and rural areas?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Speakeasies only replaced legal saloons in urban areas.
Rural areas were more likely to obey Prohibition.
Urban areas were more likely to obey Prohibition.
Bootleggers only worked in rural areas.
Which of the following best describes Marcus
Garvey’s goals for African Americans?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Religious fundamentalism and an end to teaching evolution
Equality with Catholics, Jews, and immigrants
Universal suffrage and an end to lynchings
Self-respect, economic power, and independence
A Republican Decade
• What events fueled the Red
Scare of the early 1920s?
• What conflicts led to the major
labor strikes of 1919?
• How did Republican leadership
during the Harding and Coolidge
presidencies shape the 1920s?
• What issues influenced the
presidential election of 1928?
The Red Scare
• Issues of concern in the presidential election of 1920:
• Emerging from the shadow of World War I
• Putting the economy back on track
• Republican Warren G. Harding called for a return to
“normalcy.”
• Many Americans hoped that Harding’s “normalcy”
would protect them from the spread of Russia’s
communism, an ideology openly hostile to capitalism
and First Amendment freedoms.
• Some Americans were concerned that the European
immigrants entering the United States were
Communists or other radicals.
• Events at home and abroad brought about a Red
Scare, an intense fear of communism and other
radical ideas.
Red Scare Events
Chapter 21, Section 1
Schenck v. U.S.
Charles Schenck mailed letters urging men to avoid military service.
Schenck was convicted of breaking the Espionage Act. In his appeals, Schenck
said he was exercising his freedom of speech.
The Supreme Court said that the government is justified in silencing free
speech when there is a “clear and present danger.”
Gitlow v. New
York
Socialist Bernard Gitlow published calls for the violent overthrow of the
government. He was convicted of criminal anarchy. The Supreme Court upheld
his conviction, stating that he had urged people to engage in violent revolution.
The Palmer Raids
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer ordered the arrest of thousands of
suspected “subversives” (people trying to overthrow the government) without
evidence. Many were innocent, yet more than 500 were deported.
Sacco and
Vanzetti
Two anarchists were accused of a robbery and murder. Many people believed
that they were singled out because they were both radicals and immigrants.
After a trial that many believed was unfair, the jury found them guilty and
sentenced them to death.
Labor Strikes
The Harding Presidency
Foreign Policy
Harding and many Americans wanted a policy of isolationism,
avoiding political or economic alliances with foreign countries.
Harding called for international disarmament, a program in which
nations voluntarily give up their weapons.
He promoted the expansion of trade and acted to protect business
at home.
Domestic Issues
As Americans became more isolationist during the Red Scare, they
also became more nativist. Nativism is a movement favoring nativeborn Americans over immigrants.
In 1921, Congress passed a law restricting immigration. The law
included a quota, or a numerical limit imposed on immigrants.
The Teapot
Dome Scandal
In 1923, corruption scandals rocked Harding’s administration.
The worst was the Teapot Dome Scandal. Harding’s Secretary of the
Interior secretly gave drilling rights on government land to two private oil
companies in return for illegal payments.
There was no evidence that Harding was involved in the scandals.
He died while still in office.
The Coolidge
Presidency
•
•
•
•
•
Coolidge assumed the presidency after Harding died.
He summed up a major theme of the Republican decade:
“The chief business of the American people is business.”
Coolidge supported a laissez-faire ( let events take their
corse) approach to business. His economic policies helped
fuel the economic boom of the 1920s.
Coolidge wanted peace and stability without without getting
the United States too deeply involved in other nations.
Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg worked with the French
foreign minister to create the Kellogg-Briand Pact. Under
this pact more than 60 nations agreed not to threaten each
other with war. Unfortunately, there were no provisions for
enforcement, and many of the countries that had signed the
pact would be at war with each other by 1941.
A Republican Decade Assessment
How did the Red Scare contribute to America’s
policy of isolationism in the 1920s?
(A) It made Americans more nativist.
(B) It caused a significant American military increase.
(C) It helped Americans form stronger relationships with
non-Communist countries.
(D) It decreased U.S. involvement in Latin America.
What was the Kellogg-Briand Pact?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
A
A
A
A
treaty
treaty
treaty
treaty
outlawing war
outlawing trade with Communist countries
supporting war against Communist countries
supporting international civil liberties
A Republican Decade Assessment
How did the Red Scare contribute to America’s
policy of isolationism in the 1920s?
(A) It made Americans more nativist.
(B) It caused a significant American military increase.
(C) It helped Americans form stronger relationships with
non-Communist countries.
(D) It decreased U.S. involvement in Latin America.
What was the Kellogg-Briand Pact?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
A
A
A
A
treaty
treaty
treaty
treaty
outlawing war
outlawing trade with Communist countries
supporting war against Communist countries
supporting international civil liberties
A Consumer Economy
•
•
•
•
•
•
The 1920s saw the development of a consumer economy,
one that depends on a large amount of spending by
consumers.
Until the 1920s, middle-class Americans generally paid
cash for everything. Manufacturers developed
installment plans and clever advertising to encourage
consumers to buy on credit.
Many new electric appliances created a surge in demand
for electricity. Between 1913 and 1927, the number of
electric power customers quadrupled.
By the 1920s, marketers developed a new approach to
advertising. Advertisers used psychology to appeal to
consumers’ emotions and insecurities to sell products.
As consumption rose so did productivity. A measure of
productivity is the Gross National Product (GNP). The
GNP is the total value of goods and services a country
produces annually.
Productivity rose to meet consumer demand, but it also
rose because the nation developed new resources, new
management methods, and new technologies.
Ford and the Automobile
• In 1896, Henry Ford perfected his first version of a
lightweight gas-powered car. He called it the
“quadricycle.” The improved version was the Model T.
• Ford wanted to produce a large number of cars and
sell them at prices ordinary people could afford.
• To sell less expensive cars, he adapted the assembly
line for his factories. An assembly line is a process in
which each worker does one specialized task in the
construction of a final product.
• Ford’s success came partly from vertical
consolidation—controlling the businesses that make
up the phases of production.
• Ford was a complex businessman. His pay rate was
very generous, but he used violence to fight unions.
Industrial Growth and
Bypassed by the Boom
Industrial Growth
• Automobile making
became the nation’s
largest industry.
• Thousands of new
businesses arose to serve
automobile travel.
• Other non-automobilerelated industries grew
as well.
• Limited government
regulation (laissez-faire
policies) helped the value
of businesses to soar.
• Rapid business expansion
opened up opportunities
for small companies.
Bypassed by the Boom
• Some Americans struggled
to survive during the 1920s.
• Many unskilled laborers
remained poor, and their
wages and working
conditions did not improve
with the boom.
• Agricultural industries had
expanded to meet wartime
needs but later failed to
uncover new markets.
• Railroads suffered from
shrinking demand,
mismanagement,
competition from trucking
firms, and labor unions that
fought against layoffs and
wage cuts.
A Business Boom—
Assessment
What was the new approach to advertising in the 1920s?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
It
It
It
It
informed the consumer about the quality of the product.
showed the product’s superiority over the competition.
appealed to the emotions and insecurities of the consumer.
helped the consumer to identify the manufacturer.
In the United States which group suffered economically in
the 1920s?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Unskilled laborers
Agricultural workers
Railroad companies
All of the above
A Business Boom—
Assessment
What was the new approach to advertising in the 1920s?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
It
It
It
It
informed the consumer about the quality of the product.
showed the product’s superiority over the competition.
appealed to the emotions and insecurities of the consumer.
helped the consumer to identify the manufacturer.
In the United States which group suffered economically in
the 1920s?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Unskilled laborers
Agricultural workers
Railroad companies
All of the above
The Economy in the
Late 1920s
• Why did the economy of the late
1920s appear healthy to most
Americans?
• What danger signs were present
in the economy of the late
1920s?
Economy Appears
Healthy
•
•
•
•
•
Herbert Hoover won the 1928 election, benefiting from the
years of prosperity under previous Republican presidents.
Americans had unusually high confidence in the economy in
the 1920s. People made risky investments based on the
popular notion that everyone ought to be rich.
Many employers believed that they could prevent strikes and
keep their productivity high with benefits that would meet
and exceed the demands of workers. This approach to labor
relations is called welfare capitalism.
Under welfare capitalism employers raised wages, provided
paid vacations, health plans, recreation programs, and
English classes for recent immigrants. They even set up
“company unions” to hear the concerns of their workers.
As a result of welfare capitalism, organized labor lost
members during the 1920s.
Economic Danger Signs
Uneven
Prosperity
Personal Debt
• The rich got richer
• Huge corporations rather than small business dominated industry.
• Many Americans believed that they could count on future income to cover
debt. They bought on installment plans boasting “easy terms.”
Playing the Stock
Market
• The rapid increase of stock prices encouraged:
• Speculation, the practice of making high-risk investments in hopes of
getting a huge return, and
• Buying on margin, the practice of allowing investors to purchase a stock
for only a fraction of its price and borrow the rest at high interest rates.
Too Many Goods,
Too Little
Demand
• Rising productivity had brought prosperity, but it also created a surplus of
goods. Manufacturers had more product than consumers could buy.
Trouble for
Farmers and
Workers
• Farmers unable to pay their debts defaulted on bank loans, which caused
rural banks to fail. Coolidge vetoed a farm relief bill.
• While companies grew wealthy, many factory workers remained poor,
especially in distressed industries.
Personal Debt and Income
Distribution
in the 1920s
The Economy in the
Late 1920s– Assessment
Why did employers practice welfare capitalism?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
To
To
To
To
create false demand for goods
prevent strikes and keep productivity high
encourage stock market investment
raise tariffs
What is buying on margin?
(A) Making high risk investments in hopes of getting a
huge return
(B) Causing a decrease in the price of a stock by
spreading rumors about a company
(C) Allowing certain investors to buy stock at a lower
price
(D) Allowing investors to purchase a stock for a fraction
of its price and borrow the rest
The Economy in the
Late 1920s– Assessment
Why did employers practice welfare capitalism?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
To
To
To
To
create false demand for goods
prevent strikes and keep productivity high
encourage stock market investment
raise tariffs
What is buying on margin?
(A) Making high risk investments in hopes of getting a
huge return
(B) Causing a decrease in the price of a stock by
spreading rumors about a company
(C) Allowing certain investors to buy stock at a lower
price
(D) Allowing investors to purchase a stock for a fraction
of its price and borrow the rest