Who benefitted from the boom during the 1920s?

1. Who benefitted from the boom during the 1920s? Continuum Exercise

2. Aims & Objectives • Theme: What was the dark side of the boom? • Topic: Why didn’t everyone benefit from the boom? • Must – be able to describe which groups did well or lost out during the boom • Should - be able to explain why certain groups didn’t do well • Could – make an overall judgement on how prosperous the USA was during the 1920s

3. Task 1: Continuum Exercise Review the character cards below and decide how successful they were during the economic boom by writing their names on the continuum

4. Poor Farmer • You’ve borrowed lots of money and invested in a new tractor and combine harvester and are producing more food than ever before. • Unfortunately, the republican tariffs mean that you can’t sell your surplus abroad so the price has crashed. • You can barely make enough money to feed your family let alone pay the mortgage.

5. Black Sharecropper • You make your income by getting a share of the crops that you help to produce which you can then sell • The introduction of mass production and tractors means that the farmer is producing a lot more, but the price of cotton has dropped so low that you can barely make enough money to feed your family. • Both you and your family have to suffer discrimination, segregation and terror due to unfair law and the KKK.

6. White Farmer Labourer • The introduction of mass production, tractors and combine harvesters has taken away many of the jobs you used to do. • Many farmers are employing cheaper black workers. • This makes you feel very angry. Some of your friends have joined the KKK.

7. Assembly Line Worker • You’ve got an unskilled job on a low wage in a Henry Ford factory. • You have money to spend but you are living close to the poverty line. • If you try to join a union and fight for your rights then you will be sacked by your employer and possibly beaten up!

8. New Immigrant From Eastern Europe • You’ve left your old life behind to start afresh in the USA. • You are looking forward to being able to vote, get a job and practice your religion free from discrimination. • However, you can only get low paid jobs and you face lots of discrimination from WASPs

9. Stockbroker • You’ve grown wealthy by buying and selling shares during the boom. • You can’t lose as share prices keep on going up! • The low taxes of the Republican government mean that you get to keep your new found wealth and grow richer everyday.

10. Al-Capone • Prohibition has turned you from a small time crook into a crime lord with an army of gangsters. • You use you money and power to control the city of Chicago and all its politicians, judges and half of its police force. • Every year you make £60 million from selling illegal alcohol and until the St Valentine Day’s massacre, everyone sees you as a Robin Hood character.

11. Henry Ford • You pioneered the assembly lines that led to the mass production of over 10 million cars by 1929. • You are a millionaire who has 100,000s of employees. • You are one of the most powerful men in the USA and you expect politicians to listen to your views on unions and prohibition.

12. Middle Class Woman • Mass production has filled your home with labour saving devices that has given you new opportunities for leisure and work. • You can use your new car to drive into town and watch a movie. • You can use your education to get yourself a job in an office as a secretary.

13. Which groups benefitted from the boom during the 1920s? Successful 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 Unsuccessful