The Roaring 20

1
The Roaring 20s

• An era of prosperity,
• Republican power,
• and conflict

2

• 1920's collectively known as the "Roaring 20's",
  or the "Jazz Age"
• in sum, a period of great change in American
  Society - modern America is born at this time
• for first time the census reflected an urban
  society - people had moved into cities to enjoy a
  higher standard of living

3
Age of Prosperity

• Economic expansion
• Mass Production
• Assembly Line
• Age of the Automobile
• Ailing Agriculture

4

• an agri. depression in early 1920's contributed
  to this urban migration
• U.S. farmers lost agri. markets in postwar Europe
• at same time agri. efficiency increased so more
  food produced (more food lower prices) and
  fewer labourers needed
• so farming was no longer as prosperous, and
  bankers called in their loans (farms repossessed)
• so American farmers enter the Depression in
  advance of the rest of society

5

• Black Americans in this period continued to live
  in poverty
• sharecropping kept them in de facto slavery
• 1915 - boll weevil wiped out the cotton crop
• white landowners went bankrupt forced blacks
  off their land

6

• Blacks moved north to take advantage of booming
  wartime industry ( Great Migration) - Black
  ghettoes began to form, i.e. Harlem
• within these ghettoes a distinct Black culture
  flourished
• But both blacks and whites wanted cultural
  interchange restricted

7

• Marcus Garvey (Jamaican born immigrant)
  established the Universal Negro Improvement
  Association
• believed in Black pride
• advocated racial segregation b/c of Black
  superiority
• Garvey believed Blacks should return to Africa
• he purchased a ship to start the Black Star line
• attracted many investments gov't charged him
  with w/fraud
• he was found guilty and eventually deported to
  Jamaica, but his organization continued to exist

8
Republican Power

• President Harding
• Elected 1920
• Legacy of Scandals
• Teapot Dome
• Died in office

9
President Coolidge The business of America is
business.

• Fordney-McCumber Tariff
• Smoot-Hawley Tariff
• No help for farmers
• Foreign Policy

10
Consumer Economy
11
Culture of the Roaring 20s
Radio KDKA Pittsburgh GE, Westinghouse, RCA form
NBC
Silent Movies Charlie Chaplin Talkies The Jazz
Singer Starring Al Jolson Mary
Pickford Americas Sweetheart
12
Celebrities
Babe Ruth Ty Cobb
Charles Lindbergh The Spirit of St. Louis
Jack Dempsey
13
The 20s is The Jazz Age
The Flappers make up cigarettes short skirts
Musicians Louis Armstrong Duke Ellington
Writers F. Scott Fitzgerald Ernest Hemingway
14

• 1920's also brought about great changes for
  women...
• 1920 - 19th Amendment gave them the federal vote
• after 1920, social circumstances changed too as
  more women worked outside the home
• and more women went to college and clamoured to
  join the professions
• women didn't want to sacrifice wartime gains -
  amounted to a social revolt
• characterized by the FLAPPER/ "new woman"
• (bobbed hair, short dresses, smoked in public...)

15
A Society in Conflict

• Anti-immigrant
• National Origins Act
• Discrimination
• Sacco-Vanzetti Trial
• Italian immigrants
• Unfair trial

16

• for immigrants the point of origin had shifted
  to S E Europe and new religions appeared
  Jewish, Orthodox, Catholic
• N. European immigrants of early 19c. feared this
  shift and felt it would undermine Protestant
  values
• this fear was known as NATIVISM
• many wanted Congress to restrict immigration,
  leading to a quota system that favoured n. areas
  of Europe
• fear of immigrants (from SE Europe) led to a
  sentiment known as the Red Scare (fear of comm.
  post-Bolshevik Rev.)
• basic comm. advocates a int'l revolution by the
  proletariat/workers - fears that this ideology
  could find its way into the U.S.

17

• at this time, W. Wilson was gravely ill following
  a stroke
• his Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer, wanted
  to take a shot at the presidency - he used fears
  of both immigrants and communism to his advantage
• he had J. Edgar Hoover round up suspected
  radicals, many of which were deported (Palmer
  Raids)

18
The Ku Klux Klan
Great increase In power
Anti-black
Anti-immigrant
Anti-Semitic
Anti-Catholic
Anti-womens suffrage
Anti-bootleggers
19
Scopes Monkey Trial
Evolution vs. Creationism
Science vs. Religion
Dayton, Tennessee
Famous Lawyers
John Scopes High School Biology teacher
20
Prohibition
18th Amendment
Volstead Act
Gangsters
untouchables
Al Capone
21

• PROHIBITION - on manuf. and sale of alcohol
• adopted in 1919 - 18th AMENDMENT
• an outgrowth of the longtime temperance movement
• in WWI, temperance became a patriotic mvmt. -
  drunkenness caused low productivity
  inefficiency, and alcohol needed to treat the
  wounded
• a difficult law to enforce... organized crime,
  speakeasies, bootleggers were on the rise
• Al Capone virtually controlled Chicago in this
  period - capitalism at its zenith
• Prohibition finally ended in 1933 w/ the 21st
  Amendment
• forced organized crime to pursue other interests