250 likes | 565 Views
The Roaring Life of the 1920s. U.S. History Chapter 13. Section 1 - Changing Ways of Life. Many people were living in cities. The New Urban Scene Jobs – day. Movies, vaudeville theaters at night. City life challenging, impersonal. The Prohibition Experience.
E N D
The Roaring Life of the 1920s U.S. History Chapter 13
Section 1 - Changing Ways of Life • Many people were living in cities. • The New Urban Scene • Jobs – day. Movies, vaudeville theaters at night. • City life challenging, impersonal.
The Prohibition Experience • 18th Amendment – banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol. Takes affect in January 1920. • Was unenforceable. • Volstead Act – set up to enforce Prohibition, underfunded.
Hidden saloons and nightclubs – speakeasies. Bootleggers – smugglers of alcohol.
Organized Crime • Al Capone – Chicago - 6 years of gang warfare – bootlegging - $60 million/year. • He killed off his competition while traveling around in his armor-plated car with bulletproof windows. • “Public Enemy Number One” • Went to jail for tax evasion • Crime’s led to prostitution, gambling, drugs. Harassed honest merchants in to paying them for protection from other gangs, or they would smash their stores. • By 1930, the annual “take” for the underworld was between $12 to $18 billion/year.
By mid 20’s only 19% support Prohibition. • 1933 – repealed with the 21st Amendment.
Science and Religion Clash • Fundamentalism – protestant movement grounded in a literal interpretation of the Bible. • Rejected Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution • In the South – lots of revivals, led by people like Billy Sunday and Aimee Semple McPherson
The Scopes Trial • TN -crime to teach evolution. • ACLU– promised to defend any teacher who wanted to protest it. • John Scopes • They hired Clarence Darrow as his lawyer. • William Jennings Bryan - prosecutor.
Scopes Trial – also called the Monkey Trial – role of science and religion in public schools and society. • Bryan called to the stand as an expert on the Bible. On the stand Bryan admitted the Bible could be interpreted different ways. • Scopes found guilty, fined $100. Later changed, but law teaching evolution remained in effect.
Section 2 The Twenties Woman • Women – independent, rejecting the values of the 19th century. • The Flapper – liberated young women embracing new fashions and urban attitudes. Hats, short dresses, beads, short dyed hair. Smoked, drank, danced. Saw marriage as an equal partnership. • Casual dating - more acceptable.
Women Shed Old roles at Home and at Work • New opportunities for women in the workplace • nurses, teachers, librarians, clerical work.
The Changing Family • Birthrate decreased. More birth control available. Margaret Sanger – founded American Birth Control League. • Household life easier thanks to things that could be bought in stores. • Working women juggling home and work.
Section 3 Education and Popular Culture • 1914 – 1 million attending high school • 1926 – 4 million attending high school • Why? High educational standards for industrial jobs, offering more courses. Also states were requiring young people to remain in school until age 16 or 18. • Literacy increased as education increased
Radio Comes of Age • November 1920 – Pittsburgh station KDKA broadcast the new of the Harding landslide. By late 1920s improvements had been made that allowed long-distance broadcasting possible. • Created the experience of hearing the news together as it happened, like hearing the President speak, or sporting events like boxing or the World Series. • Families gathered around the radio to listen to programming.
America Chases New Heroes and Old Dreams • 1929 - $4.5 billion spend on entertainment • Babe Ruth • Andrew “Rube” Foster – founded Negro National League • Helen Willis – tennis • Charles Lindbergh - “Spirit of St. Louis” • Amelia Earhart
Entertainment and the Arts • Movies popular – 1903 – first movie – The Great Train Robbery. • First full length movie – The Birth of a Nation (1915) • First “talkie” – The Jazz Singer (1927) • George Gershwin – concert musician • Painters – Edward Hoper and Georgia O’Keeffe
Writers of the 1920’s • 1920’s – one of the richest eras in literary history • Sinclair Lewis • F. Scott Fitzgerald • Ernest Hemingway • William Faulkner • Poetry – Ezra Pound and T.S. Elliot
Section Four – The Harlem Renaissance • Marcus Garvey – Founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) • Promote African American businesses • Encouraged followers to return to Africa • Convicted of mail fraud and jailed
The Harlem Renaissance • A literary and artistic movement celebrating African-American culture • Writers: • Claude McKay • Langston Hughes – poet • Performers: • Paul Robeson – actor • Louis Armstrong – jazz • Duke Ellington – jazz pianist and composer • Bessie Smith – blues singer