Unit VIII – Boom Times and Challenges (1919-1945)

1. Unit VIII – Boom Times and Challenges (1919-1945) Chapter 24 Section 2 Life during the 1920’s

2. Main Idea 1:In the 1920s many young people found new independence in a changing society. • After the war, many young people moved to cities. • By 1920 more than half of the country’s population lived in urban areas. • Took advantage of 1920s economic boom to gain independence • New youth culture developed • Access to education grew. • High school attendance doubled in 1920s. • More attended colleges and universities. • Women also found new opportunities. • Number of women in workforce continued to grow. • New roles in politics • Some women, known as flappers, openly challenged traditional ideas of how women were supposed to behave.

3. Effects of Urbanization • Though the 1920s was a time of great economic opportunities for many, farmers did not share in the prosperity. • Farming took a hard hit after World War I, when demand for products went down and many workers moved to industrialized cities. • The 1920 census showed that for the first time ever, more Americans lived in cities than in rural areas, and three-fourths of all workers worked somewhere other than a farm. • The rise of the automobile helped bring the cities and the country together, and rural people were now likely to spend time in town and were less isolated. • Education also increased, and by the 1920s many states passed laws requiring children to attend school, helping force children out of workplaces. Compulsory School Attendance School attendance and enrollment increased as industry grew because more people could afford to send their children to school, not to work.

4. One popular image that reflects changes for women in the Roaring Twenties was the flapper, a young woman of the era who defied traditional ideas of proper dress and behavior. Other Women • In much of the U.S., women only read about flappers in magazines, and many disapproved of flappers or wouldn’t dare to be so reckless. • Some older women’s rights reformers thought flappers were only interested in fun. • Many did not take flappers seriously. Flappers • Flappers shocked society by cutting their hair, raising hemlines, wearing makeup, smoking, drinking, and dancing. • The dress style was popular among young, rebellious girls. • .The term flapper suggested an independent, free lifestyle. • Flappers mostly lived in cities, though rural people read about them in magazines. The flapper craze took hold mainly in American cities, but in many ways the flappers represented the rift between cities and rural areas. The Flapper

5. Flappers • The flapper was "modern." • Lively and full of energy, she was single but eligible. • With short hair and a short skirt, with turned-down hose and powdered knees - the flapper must have seemed to her mother (the gentle Gibson girl of an earlier generation) like a rebel. • No longer confined to home and tradition, the typical flapper was a young women who was often thought of as a little fast and maybe even a little brazen • These young women further blurred the boundaries between respectable and depraved by their public activities; swearing, smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, dancing, and dating were among her pastimes.

7. A Changing Society • Recall – What did many soldiers returning from the war in Europe hope to continue doing when they got home? • Identify – What historical change happened to the nation’s population for the first time? • Contrast – How was life different for young people before they married? • Evaluate – What do you think about women being elected to political office when others were excluded from professional fields?

8. Main Idea 2:Postwar tensions occasionally led to fear and violence. • Negative attitudes toward Communists grew in the 1920s. • After Communists took power in Russia in 1917, Americans worried that they would soon try to gain power in the United States. • Many Americans blamed Communists and radicals for labor strikes and other problems. • Attitudes led to a Red Scare, a time of fear of Communists, or Reds. • Communists were held responsible for bombings and killings. • Bombs were found in postal packages addressed to famous Americans and Communists were held responsible. • Political official’s home was bombed and police raids were organized to break up Communist and radical groups. • Italian anarchists, Sacco and Vanzetti, were convicted and executed for the robbery and murder of a factory paymaster and his guard.

9. Sacco and Vanzetti • In the late 1920s a court case in Massachusetts proved nativist and anti-radical feelings. • Two men named Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested for armed robbery and murder. • The two men were Italian immigrants and also proclaimed anarchists, or radicals who seek the destruction of government. • The evidence against the two men was weak, but it was apparent that the two were on trial for their beliefs as much as for the crimes. • Amid great publicity and protests in Europe and South America as well as in the U.S., the two men were convicted and sentenced to death. • Their 1927 executions were highly controversial, but by then the nation had largely recovered from the Red Scare and the turmoil of the postwar years.

10. Sacco and Vanzetti • Two Italian immigrants, who became unwilling martyrs for the struggle of equal justice for all. • Arrested for a hold up at a shoe factory in which one person was killed. • They had no criminal record but were anarchists. • Tried, found guilty and sentenced to die with real hard evidence. • Were they victims of fear and prejudice? • What happened to the $16,000? Who were the other three criminals? How can one explain the variety of bullets taken from the victims that do not match Sacco's gun? Why did the accused show no change in their behavior? Why were the members of the Morelli gang not questioned?

11. Restricting Immigration • Concerns about immigration • Some Americans believed there was a general fear of foreigners. • Many recent immigrants were poor and did not speak English. • Some Americans saw immigrants as a threat to jobs and culture. • Government responded to these concerns with new laws. • Emergency Quota Act of 1921 limited total number of immigrants allowed into the country. • National Origins Act of 1924 banned immigration from East Asia entirely and reduced the number of immigrants allowed into the country. • Drastic drop in immigration to the United States

12. Fear and Violence • Identify – What two types of people were treated with suspicion? • Recall – What were Sacco and Vanzetti accused of having done? • Evaluate – What are some possible reasons for Americans’ fear of foreigners at the time?

13. Jazz Age – 5:18 min.

14. Scopes Monkey Trial: Teaching Creationism or Evolution in School (02:56)

16. Prohibition and Gangsters-4:31 min.

17. The Rise of Prohibition -4:31

18. Changing the Shape of American Organized Crime: Al Capone and Prohibition   (04:52)

19. Capone Begins Long Jail Term (00:47)