Chapter 13: The Roaring Life of the 1920s

1. To understand such issues as Prohibition, the changing role of women, and the influence of the Harlem Renaissance Chapter 13: The Roaring Life of the 1920s

2. Section 1: Changing Ways of Life

3. Journal • What differences exist today between urban and rural lifestyles?

4. Rural and Urban Differences • 1922-1929 – 2 million people left the farm for the city every year • Big cities: New York City (5.6 million), Chicago (3 million), Philadelphia (2 million)

5. Rural and Urban Differences • Cities • Competition • Change • More reading • Discussions about science and social ideas • Various backgrounds • Drinking, causal dating, gambling • Farms • Slow paced • Lived close to family and friends • Strict morals

6. Prohibition • 18th Amendment – manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol is illegal • Rural South and West, Protestants, Women’s Christian Temperance Union • After WWI Americans were tired of making sacrifices • Volstead Act established a Prohibition Bureau to enforce the law -> underfunded -> difficult to monitor all the roads and coastline

7. Speakeasies Underground/hidden saloons

8. Bootleggers • People who smuggled alcohol into the U.S.

9. Organized Crime • Chicago’s Al Capone was in control of 10,000 speakeasies • $60 million a year • 1933 – 21st Amendment repeals Prohibition

10. Video Clips • http://www.history.com/topics/al-capone/videos#st-valentines-day-massacre • The Untouchables

11. Journal • Should America continue to promote fascination with Capone through museums, memorabilia, and tours of gangland sites?

12. Science and Religion Clash • Fundamentalism – Protestant movement based on a literal interpretation of the Bible • All stories in the Bible are true • Reject theory of evolution = Charles Darwin’s theory that plant and animal species have changed over millions of years • Evolution from apes vs. Bible creationism Wanted laws to prohibit the teaching of evolution

13. The Scopes Trial • March 1925 Tennessee passes law outlawing the teaching of evolution • American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) defends John T. Scopes, a young biology public school teacher who tells students humans have evolved • Clarence Darrow defends Scopes • William Jennings Bryan prosecutes • Scopes is found guilty and law stays in effect

14. Now and Then • 1999 – Kansas State School Board votes to eliminate the teaching of evolution • Supreme Court says evolution must only be taught as scientific fact + creationism may not be taught as scientific fact (in public schools)

15. Assignment • 1. Issue -> Legislation -> Outcome • Issue = prohibition (illegal to sell or manufacture) • Issue = teaching evolution • 2. Explain how urbanization created a new way of life that often clashed with the values of traditional rural society. • 3. Describe the controversy over the role of science and religion in American education and society in the 1920s.

16. Section 2: The Twenties Woman

17. Young Women Change the Rules • A rebellious, pleasure-loving atmosphere of the 1920s • Many young woman began to show their desire for independence • 19th Amendment – women suffrage • Challenge tradition • Flapper = a free young woman who embraced the new fashions and current urban attitudes • Shorter dresses, smoked cigarettes, talked about sex, danced • Marriage = equal partnership with women taking care of the house

18. Dancing • Fox trot, camel walk, tango, Charleston, shimmy, dance marathon, • Shimmy video clip

19. Journal • How were flappers like and unlike women of today? • How do your fashions and leisure activities set you apart from your parent’s generation or an older generation?

20. Young Woman Change the Rules • The flapper was more of an image of rebellious young women • Many young women were still influenced by tradition and their church • Causal dating after WWI became more accepted • The Double Standard = a set of principles granting greater sexual freedom to men than to women • Stricter standards for women

21. Women Shed Old Roles at Home and at Work • How were women freed from some household chores?

22. Women Shed Old Roles at Home and at Work • Big business and industry produced time saving appliances and business growth also created jobs for millions of women

23. Women Shed Old Roles at Home and at Work • Women worked successfully during the war but were replaced by men when it ended • They took “women’s professions” = teachers, nurses, librarians • Big business needed typists, clerics, filing, assembly line workers • Few became managers • Earned less than men • Men felt women should stay at home (job competition)

24. The Changing Family • Birthrate declined • Margaret Sanger opens birth control clinic (1916) • Women had more time for children and reading • Marriages were based more on romance • Children were in school and participating in more activities • More social time, peer pressure, rebellious children

25. Assignment • 1. How do you think women’s lives changed most dramatically in the 1920s? • Think about families and jobs. • 2. Do you think that some women of this decade made real progress towards equality? • Think about double standard, the flapper’s style and image, changing views of marriage

26. Section 3: Education and Popular Culture

27. Schools and the Mass Media Shape Culture • 1914 = 1 million American students in high school -> college-bound • 1926 = 4 million -> college-bound and vocational training • Before WWI – a million immigrants a year come to America

28. Expanding News Coverage • Literacy increased • Newspapers printed sensational stories

29. Radio • By 1930 – 40 percent of American households had radios • News and sporting events

30. America Chases New Heroes • More money + more leisure time = money for entertainment

31. Sports Heroes

32. Charles Lindberg • First non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic

33. Entertainment and the Arts • “Talkies” doubled the movie attendance • The Jazz Singer 1927 • Disney’s Steamboat Willie 1928 • Video clip • Georgia O’Keeffe

34. Writers of the 1920s • Sinclair Lewis • F. Scott Fitzgerald • The Great Gatsby • “Jazz Age” • Edna St. Vincent Millay • Ernest Hemmingway • The Sun Also Rises • A Farewell to Arms • Many denounced war • Addressed political and social topics • Negative side of the freedom of the 1920s

35. Section 4: The Harlem Renaissance • African American ideas, politics, art, literature, and music flourished in Harlem and other black neighborhoods

36. African American Voices in the 1920s • Great Migration – African Americans from the South migrate to northern cities • 25 urban race riots in 1919 • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) leads protests in NYC against racial violence • Led by W.E.B. Dubois • James Weldon Johnson fights for anti-lynching laws

37. Marcus Garvey • Even with the NAACP, many African Americans faced daily threats and discrimination • Marcus Garvey, Jamaican immigrant, believed African Americans should build a separate society • Spreads a radical message of black pride • 1914 – Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)

38. Marcus Garvey • 1918 – moves the UNIA to NYC and opens offices in Harlem

39. Marcus Garvey • Promotes African American businesses • Encouraged his followers to return to Africa, help native people throw out white colonial oppressors, and build a mighty nation • Massive support initially from blacks in the U.S., Caribbean, and Africa • Support declined in the mid 1920s when he was convicted of mail fraud • Powerful legacy of black pride, economic independence, and admiration for Africa

40. Questions • 1. Who was Marcus Garvey? • 2. What were the strengths of his movement? • 3. What happened to Garvey and the UNIA? • 4. What questions do you have about Garvey and the UNIA?

41. Documents • Source • When was it written? Whose perspective? Is it trustworthy? • Contextualize • What was happening for African Americans in 1919/1920? Why was Garvey so popular?

42. Guiding Question • Why was Marcus Garvey a controversial figure?

43. The Harlem Renaissance • A literary and artistic movement celebrating African American culture • Harlem was the capital of black America in the 1920s

44. African American Writers • Resist prejudice/discrimination • The struggle of living in the black ghetto • Take pride in surviving slavery through creativity

45. African American Performers Paul Robeson performed In front of large white audiences in NYC

46. African Americans and Jazz • Jazz was born in the early 20th century in New Orleans -> musicians blended instrumental ragtime with vocal blues • Spread to large cities • Most popular music for dancing • Played at exotic nightclubs like the Cotton Club • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKwu165KS5Y

47. The Cotton Club • 1. Describe the atmosphere of the Cotton Club. • 2. Who owned the club? • 3. Where was it located? • 4. What did people do at the Cotton Club? • 5. Describe how black and white people interacted there.