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The Roaring Life of the 1920s

The Roaring Life of the 1920s. Changing Ways of Life. Rural and Urban Differences. The 1920 census showed that for the first time, more people lived in cities than in rural areas. Rural and Urban Differences. Cities were places of change and excitement

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The Roaring Life of the 1920s

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  1. The Roaring Life of the 1920s Changing Ways of Life

  2. Rural and Urban Differences • The 1920 census showed that for the first time, more people lived in cities than in rural areas

  3. Rural and Urban Differences • Cities were places of change and excitement • Rural areas remained conservative and traditional • Urban culture was based on popular tastes, morals and habits of mass consumption that were increasingly at odds with the strict religious and moral codes of rural America

  4. Rural and Urban Differences • City dwellers drank, read about new scientific discoveries and debated social ideas • Small town dwellers were shocked by the behavior in the cities and frightened of so many people who were strangers

  5. Prohibition • The prohibitionists had been fighting to end liquor since the early 1800s • In Jan 1920, the 18th Amendment outlawed the buying, selling, making and using alcohol

  6. Prohibition • This did not mean that Americans stopped drinking • Speakeasies, bars who served patrons who knew the secret code, opened • Other made homemade liquor, bathtub gin. • Some were deadly concoctions

  7. Bootleggers • Others found that they could make a lot of money by providing illegal liquor to speakeasies • Al Capone was one of many gangsters who smuggled liquor from Canada to Chicago • He was arrested only for tax evasion

  8. Prohibition • A secret knock or word allowed entrance into liquor clubs • If police arrived, they would leave through a secret exit Twenty-three skidoo

  9. Prohibition • Different mobs fought over territory • Gun battles ensued • Ironically, 81% of America opposed Prohibition

  10. Science and Religion • Dominant social and political issues of the 1920s expressed sharp divisions in US society between young and old; urban modernists and rural fundamentalists; prohibitionists and anti-prohibitionists; nativists and foreign born

  11. Science and Religion • The Protestant movement in rural areas was fundamentalism • Fundamentalists believe in the literal meaning of every word in the Bible • Numerous preachers took to the road and radio to preach the “good book”

  12. Religion • While there were always rifts between the individual religions, the 1920s saw rifts between Protestants • Modernism • Fundamentalism • Revivalists on the radio

  13. Religion - Modernism • Large numbers of Protestants changed their views of religion because of the changing roles of women, the Social Gospel, and scientific knowledge • They took an historical and critical view of the Bible • They believed evolution did not conflict with creationism

  14. Religion – Fundamentalism • Preachers in rural areas taught every word of the Bible as literal fact • Fundamentalists believed that God created the universe in 7 days and Genesis explained the origin of life • They believed that liberals caused the moral decay of society

  15. Religion – Revivalists • Revivalists in the past traveled the region to spread their word • Now they used the radio • Billy Sunday – attacked drinking, gambling and dancing • Aimee Semple McPherson – condemned communism and jazz

  16. Religion – Revivalists • Sunday was a professional baseball player until he found religion • He gave up the sport and spend the rest of his life opposing alcohol

  17. Religion – Revivalists • McPherson – using the automobile and radio, her flock totaled 2 million • She is remembered more for the scandal, than her religious convictions • She disappeared in 1926 and then claimed she was kidnapped

  18. Religion – Revivalists • Her radio producer disappeared at the same time and she was sighted at a resort in Mexico • When she returned, she was more popular than ever • She was widowed once and divorced twice

  19. Science - Evolution • Charles Darwin’s book, Origin of the Species” taught people about evolution among plants and animals • That idea carried over to human evolution

  20. Science - Evolution • Some states, like TN, made it illegal to teach evolution because it was anti-religious teachings • High school biology teacher, John Scopes, was arrested before he could teach his planned lesson on evolution

  21. Scopes Trial • Scopes was defended by Clarence Darrow, a famous trial lawyer from Chicago • The prosecutor was William Jennings Bryan, a devout fundamentalist John Scopes

  22. Scopes Trial • Darrow put the Bible on trial and called Bryan as an expert on the Bible • Bryan looked old- fashioned, feeble and naïve • Darrow was sophisticated and smooth • Darrow Bryan

  23. Scopes Trial • Darrow asked about the age of earth • Bryan replied that he was more interested in the rock of ages than the age of rocks • He believed that creation occurred in 4004 BC

  24. Scopes Trial • When asked if the world was created in 7 24-hour days, Bryan admitted that there may be some flexibility in the actual 24 hour time period • Scopes was found guilty and fined $100

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