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THE ROARING TWENTIES. Decade notable for obsessive interest in celebrities Sex becomes an all-consuming topic of interest in popular entertainment Eat, drink & be merry, for tomorrow we die! US turns inward--- isolationism Jazz Age / Harlem Renaissance F irst modern era in the U.S.
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Decade notable for obsessive interest in celebrities Sex becomes an all-consuming topic of interest in popular entertainment Eat, drink & be merry, for tomorrow we die! US turns inward---isolationism Jazz Age / Harlem Renaissance First modern era in the U.S.
The Second Industrial Revolution • U.S. develops the highest standard of living in the world • The twenties and the second revolution • Electricity replaces steam • Henry Ford’s modern assembly line introduced • Rise of the airline industry • Modern appliances and conveniences begin to change American society
"Sometimes I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can anyone deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me." - Zora Neale Hurston The Great Migration brings a renewal of culture for African Americans – centered in Harlem, NY Harlem was the gathering place of Intellectuals, Artists, Performers, Writers, Political Activists, and the new Roaring Twenties social scene
Josephine Baker Duke Ellington
Flappers! • Flappers sought individual freedom & independence • Ongoing crusade for equal rights • However, most women remain in the “cult of domesticity”sphere of patriarchy • Discovery of adolescence • Teenaged children no longer needed to work and indulged their craving for excitement • Women had access to higher education
I want [my daughter] to be a flapper, because flappers are brave and happy and beautiful.” -- Author Zelda Fitzgerald.
The New Modern Celebrities Charles Lindberg Amelia Earhart George Gershwin Ty Cobb F. Scott Fitzgerald Rudolph Valentino Jack Dempsey Babe Ruth Mary PIckford Ernest Hemingway
The Dark Side of the 1920’s IKAImperial Klans of America 1925: Membership is 5 million 1926: March on Washington Against immigrants from Southern Europe, European Jews, Catholics and American Blacks
Immigrant Restrictions & Discrimination • 6,000 immigrants the government suspected of being Communists were arrested (Palmer Raids) and 600 were deported or expelled from the U.S. • The U.S. Government began to restrict certain “undesirable”immigrants from entering the U.S. • Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and Immigration Act of 1924 • Kept out immigrants from southeastern Europe.
Emergency Quota Act of 1921 -newcomers from Europe were restricted at any year to a quota, which was set at 3% of the people of their nationality who lived in the U.S. in 1910. • Immigration Act of 1924 -the quota was pushed down to 2% and the origins base was shifted to that of 1890, when few southeastern Europeans lived in America.
Sacco and Vanzetti • Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants charged with murderinga guard and robbing a shoe factory in Braintree, MA. • The trial lasted 1920-1927. • They were convicted on circumstantial evidence, many believed they had been framed for the crime because of their anarchistand pro-union activities. • In this time period, anti-foreigner and anti-immigrant feelings wererampant. • Liberals and radicals rallied around the two men, but they were executed in 1927.
The Rise of Fundamentalism: The Scopes Trial 1925 The first conflict between religion vs.science being taught in school was in 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee…
Dayton, TN Small town in the south became protective against the encroachment of modern times and secular teachings. William J. Bryan Sec. of State for President Wilson, ran for president three times, turned evangelical leader. Represented the prosecution. John T. Scopes Respected high school biology teacher arrested in Dayton, Tennessee for teaching Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Clarence Darrow Famous trial lawyer who represented Scopes
Trial Issues In popular culture, science won the day. However, Scopes lost the trial and was found guilty of violating the ban on evolution. At Issue: The right to teach and protect Biblical teachings in public schools. The Butler law outlawed the teaching of evolution. The trial was conducted in a carnival-like atmosphere. The people of Dayton were seen as ‘backward’ by the country.
RADIO • Westinghouse Radio Station KDKA: world pioneer of commercial radio broadcasting. • KDKA first broadcast was the Harding election returns on Nov. 2, 1920. • 220 stations 18 months after KDKA took the plunge. • $50 to $150 for first radios • 3,000,000 homes had them by 1922.
The 1920 Election Wilson’s idealism and Treaty of Versailles led many Americans to vote for the Republican, Warren Harding… US turned inward and feared anything that was European…
Harding and Coolidge • Republican presidents appeal to traditional American values • Harding dies in office after 2 years. • Scandals break after his death • Teapot Dome Scandal • Calvin Coolidge becomes President after Harding’s death in 1923.
Republican Policies • Return to "normalcy" • tariffs raised • corporate, income taxes cut • spending cuts • Government-business cooperation • “The business of government, is business” • Return to “isolation” Calvin Coolidge served as President from 1923 to 1929. Known as “Silent Cal” because he didn’t converse well Believed strongly in Laissez Faire Capitalism
REPUBLICAN ECONOMY SUPPORTED LAISSEZ FAIRE AND BIG BUSINESS………. $ + = + Lower Taxes Less Federal Higher Strong Spending Tariff National Economy Fordney-McCumber Tariff---1923Hawley-Smoot Tariff ---1930 (raised the tariff to 60% & caused retaliation from other countries)
