Roaring 20’s and the Jazz Age

1. Roaring 20’s and the Jazz Age Unit 5

2. Notes #1 • Identify the majors eras in US History from 1877 to present (US2A) • Analyze causes and effects of events such as immigration, race relations, the Red Scare, and Prohibition (US6A) • Identify the effects of population growth and distribution on the physical environment (US14A)

3. America Responds to the End of WWI • America was not prepared for the end of WWI and the process of demobilization caused social and economic problems. • As 4.5 million soldiers returned home and tried to resume work, unemployment rates shot up to 12 percent in 1921. • In 1919 prices soared as returning soldiers created a demand for goods, but by 1920 canceled government contracts for food and supplies caused falling prices and a recession • Returning soldiers from WWI and effects of the Great Migration drastically changed the distribution of American population

4. Labor Problems • As the labor market was now flooded with workers, factory owners look to lower wages and increase working hours. • Labor unions often responded with strikes. • In 1919, 60,000 Seattle workers from 110 different unions joined the Seattle general strike • In Boston 75% of the police force went on strike and two weeks later 365,000 Pennsylvania steelworkers went on strike. • Public opinion often sided with the employers as many feared a workers revolution.

5. The Red Scare • Strikes in the United States caused many Americans to fear the Bolshevik Revolution of Russia would erupt in the US, and communist would take over. • Many socialist and labor activists were accused of wanting to overthrow the government. • The government and citizens alike were on the lookout for ‘red’ Communist spies and during the Palmer Raids of November 1919, thousands were arrested and many deported with little or no evidence against them. Although “The Blob” came out in 1958, it’s a great use of propaganda

6. President Warren G. Harding • In the election of 1920 the Rep. candidate Harding focused on restoring US businesses. • Harding won the election by the widest margin in American history and set out to provide “less government in business and more business in government”. • Harding lowered taxes for businesses and increased tariffs on foreign goods. • Although business profits increased 60%, workers incomes raised only 10% and union membership declined by over 1 million

7. Feminists and the ERA • Many men feared that with the passage of the 19th Amendment that women would join together politically to outvote men • Women’s rights activist would split over the issue of an Equal Rights Amendment • Alice Paul argued that women and men should be treated equally, but other women wanted labor laws specific to women • This split in ideals weakened the newly created suffrage for women

8. Influential Women • Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. These women represent how different images of women were in the 1920s. They had boyish bobs and smoked. But Earhart was a career woman and dressed like one of the guys • Clara Bow (The “It” Girl) was a sex symbol – drinking, smoking, and dancing. Sexual mores loosened in the 1920s due to the availability of birth control. • Margaret Sanger was one of 11 children in a Catholic family. Her mother died at 48 after 18 pregnancies. In 1914 Sanger was arrested just for sending birth control information through the mail. By 1921 she had organized the firth birth control conference in US. In same year she founded Planned Parenthood

9. Changing Role of Women • Analyze the causes and effects of the changing role of women (US6A) • Urbanization, the assembly line, and increased factory labor all provided women with the opportunity to work for a wage. • The effect was women who were more active socially and politically; more women worked outside of the home; women had a greater affect on the economy especially politics – Women’s Temperance MOvement

10. Notes #2 • Analyze causes of economic growth and prosperity in the 1920s (US16A)

11. Harding Scandals • In 1923 journalist and politicians began to uncover several scandals in the Harding camp. • Charles Forbes, Harding’s close friend and director of the Veterans Bureau had stolen millions of dollars through corrupt schemes. • Albert Fall, Harding’s Secretary of the Interior leased Teapot Dome Naval oil reserves to private companies and was convicted of accepting bribes. • This was later known as the Teapot Dome Scandal. • Harding would eventually say “I have no trouble with my enemies, it’s my friends that keep me walking the floor nights”. • http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/warrenharding

12. The Teapot Dome scandal was a bribery incident that took place in the United States from 1922–1923, during the administration of PresidentWarren G. Harding. Secretary of the InteriorAlbert B. Fall leased Navypetroleum reserves at Teapot Dome and two other locations to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. In 1922 and 1923, the leases became the subject of a sensational investigation by SenatorThomas J. Walsh. Fall was later convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies.

13. Coolidge Takes Charge • In August 1923 President Harding died of an apparent heart attack. V.P. Calvin Coolidge took office and won re-election in 1924. • Nicknamed “Silent Cal” Coolidge continued Harding’s pro-business policies but fired many officials who were involved in scandals • He lowered taxes and government spending, and opposed laws that regulated businesses • Coolidge did not run for re-election in 1928 saying he found the job burdensome

14. American Racism • The Increase of immigrations caused native born people to worry that immigrants would take their jobs and impose aspects of their native culture - Nativism • By 1930 the number of African Americans in the North had doubled since 1910 • By late 1919 some 25 race riots erupted across the country, often characterized by white gangs attacking black citizens. • The KKK reorganized in 1915 and reached its peak of nearly 5 million members during the red scare of the mid 1920’s. Members carried out beatings and lynching of minorities.

15. African Americans Defend Themselves • The NAACP formed an Anti-Lynching Committee to bring awareness to lynching and pressure law enforcement to investigate cases • Led by A Philip Randolph black unions like the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters fought for the rights of Black workers. • Led by Marcus Garvey many Black workers began to support Black nationalism. Garvey wanted Black people to make and invest money with the goal of returning to Africa.

16. Mexican Americans and Native Americans • In 1924 Congress limited immigration of each race to no more than 2% of those already in the US but did not restrict Mexican people. • In the 1920’s 500,000 immigrants arrived from Mexico often working in the agricultural southwest or the factories of Northern cities • American Indians successfully organized to fight efforts to take tribal lands and in 1924 Native Americans were granted citizenshipwith the American Indian Citizenship Act of 1924

17. Notes #3 • Analyze how Scientific Discoveries, technological innovations, and the application of these by the free enterprise system, including those in transportation and communication, improve the standard of living in the United States (US28A)

18. Technology • Improvements in the American factory system allowed for increased production and improved quality of American products • Accomplishments and innovations by Americans such as Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford encouraged Americans toward continued advancements in transportation related industries.

19. Automobile Industry • Henry Ford revolutionized the assembly line process and produced more than 250,000 Model Ts a year by 1914. • In the 1920’s the automobile industry was the nation’s biggest business employing more than 1 million people by 1929 • Ford also was popular with workers for shortening the workday and raising wages • More than 400,000 miles of new roads were built in the 1920’s along with billboards, drive-ins, filling stations, and hotels.

20. Transportation in the 20’s • On May 21st 1927 Charles Lindbergh in his plane The Spirit of St. Louis completed the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight from New York to Paris. • Glenn Curtiss is considered “The Father of Naval Aviation” for his pioneering • The automobile allowed people to live further away from their jobs and American suburbs grew as inner-cities shrunk. • Critics of the Automobile cited the rising accident rates and argued that people spent less time with their families and neighbors . • The negative environmental impact of the auto was AIR POLLUTION.

21. American Marketing • In order to sell higher priced cars Alfred Sloan head of General Motors offered installment plans where consumers bought cars on credit. • Designers began to create goods that were beautiful as well as functional and making an item look modern was essential to its sale. • Advertising became big business as companies targeted women with magazines and newspaper ads, billboards and radio spots. • Chain style grocery stores replaced markets.

22. Social Darwinism • Social Darwinism is the belief that all social problems are a means of destroying social, political, and economic weakness • This was caused by a desire to maintain the economic and social divisions in society and pressure society not to save the problems of the minority • Effect: Increased the popularity of the eugenics movement • Eugenics is the study of human improvement by genetic means • Caused by an attempt to filter society to a mold of what is considered “better” • Resulted in discrimination towards those who display traits that are seen as undesirable

23. Prohibition • The 18th Amendment was ratified in 1919 and banned the manufacture or sale of alcohol. • Some areas strictly enforced the law, but in urban areas bootlegging (smuggling and selling alcohol) became a profitable business • The most famous bootlegger was Al Capone who controlled all of Chicago’s illegal liquor sales with a small army of violent mobsters. • Lawman Eliot Ness helped arrest Capone for tax evasion in 1931 and the 21st Amendment repealed prohibition in 1933. • Prohibition was caused by the theory that alcohol was a leading cause in the decline of society, including sever health problems, destitution, and crime • It resulted in the passage of the 18th amendment

24. Youth of the 1920’s • Some young women of the 1920’s defied traditional standards of female behavior, these ‘flappers’ wore short hair, drove cars, played sports and were generally more independent. • Between 1900 and 1930 the number of college students tripled and the college lifestyle drove fashion, movies and advertising. • Leisure activities also formed around youth culture, marathon dances and beauty pageants were among the popular fads.

25. Notes #4 Identify the impact of popular American culture on the rest of the world over time (US25C) Analyze the global diffusion of American culture through the entertainment industry via various media including: marketing, radio stations, movies, and sports (US 25D) Describe how the characteristics and issues in U.S. history have been reflected in various genres of art, music, film, and literature (US25A) Analyze the impact of significant individuals (US6B)

26. Radio and Movies of the 20’s • Radio stations first went on the air in 1920 in Detroit and Pittsburgh, by 1929 more than 800 stations reached 10 million homes. • Radio programs of news, music and sports drew advertisers to sponsor radio programs. • Movie theaters also became popular in the 1920’s and in 1927 the first films with sound replaced early silent movies. • In 1929 an estimated 80 million Americans flocked to the movies each week.

27. Sports and Athletes of the 1920’s • Professional and college sports continued to gain popularity as the attendance at college football games more than doubled in the 20’s • Baseball stars like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig helped the sport overcome a 1919 scandal where the Chicago White Sox were accused of accepting money to lose the world series. • Jim Thorpe was the first Olympian to win both the pentathlon and the decathlon. Later he played both professional baseball and football • Professional and college sports particularly baseball, boxing and basketball continues to gain popularity providing an excellent diversion to Americans living in this period

28. Global Diffusion • Marketing during the 1920s targeted young people and women with magazine and newspaper ads, billboards, and radio spots • Radio stations offered programs of news, music, and sports and were able to draw sponsors to the radio programs • Movies with sounds became a popular innovation

29. Revivalism and Fundamentalism • As many Americans worried about a decline in morals, revivalist preachers used dramatic services with elaborate stage sets to denounce the evils of popular entertainment and alcohol • Fundamentalism also gained popularity in the 1920’s, they believed that the Bible should be regarded as literally true. • It was the contention that Christian “liberals” accepting modern scientific theory was weakening Christianity.

30. THE SCOPES ‘MONKEY’ TRIAL • Fundamentalism had won a victory in Tennessee in 1925 with the outlawing of the teaching of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. • John Scopes, a teacher in Tennessee, went on trial for doing just that. (THE SCOPES MONKEY TRIAL) • Clarence Darrow, Scopes attorney, argued the law was threat to free expression. • William Jennings Bryan argued for the state that this teaching contradicted religious beliefs.

31. SCOPES/MONKEY TRIAL John Scopes (left ) Clarence Darrow (center) William Jennings Bryan (right) Scopes lost the trial and was fined $100, but many people lowered their opinion of Fundamentalists who were now seen as narrow-minded. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_DQUAuNUvw Final Speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5Kdc0LLSW8&feature=fvwrel Fool

32. Jazz Movement • Jazz music was first played in New Orleans as a fusion of ragtime music and African American slave spirituals called blues. • As the great migration moved African Americans north, blues music became popular in Chicago and New York – Tin Pan Alley • Harlem, New York became a flourishing center of Black music, art, and literature. • Langston Hughes was a distinguished author and poet during the Harlem Renaissance • Jazz music also became popular in Paris when black soldiers--who had experienced more equality in Europe--moved to France in the 20’s

33. The Lost Generation • American culture has a great impact of societies all over the world – globalization/interdependence of economies • The youth of the 1920’s earned the name ‘the lost generation’ both for the horrors of WWI and the superficiality of the 20’s. • Authors like Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald focused on the disillusionment and emptiness of middle class life. • American painter and artist focused on the impact of growing cities and the increasing use of machinery on American life

34. Effects of 1920s • Herbert Hoover would become president at the end of the roaring 20s (1929) • Culture changes like buying on credit, overproduction, and governmental policies would all cause the great depression in US and world history – The Great Depression