Lecture 2

Part Two Social and Cultural Changes

Modernism vs. Fundamentalism Modernism –the old North-South division of the nation was replaced by a new urban-rural division –new emphasis on science and secular (non- religious) values –strongest in urban areas Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution The Lost Generation –writers from the 1920s who had become disillusioned by the romanticism of the late 1800s –they questioned tradition, religion, and society Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald

Modernism

Modernism vs. Fundamentalism Fundamentalism –emphasized Protestant teachings especially that the Bible is the literal word of God –many were skeptical of the modernists faith in science to solve society’s problems –strongest in rural areas Billy Sunday crusaded against alcohol, communism, gambling, dancing, promiscuity he believed that Prohibition would end all sin

Modernism vs. Fundamentalism School Enrollment Increases –rural schools focused on life skills –urban schools focused on job skills –more students finished high school and went on to college

Modernism vs. Fundamentalism Scopes Monkey Trial, 1925 –TN made it illegal to teach evolution which John Scopes did –the trial became a battle between modernism and fundamentalism Clarence Darrow of the ACLU defended Scopes William Jennings Bryan led the prosecution

Nativism Red Scare –Americans feared communism in US after 1917 revolution in Russia –many union leaders were socialists or anarchists Palmer Raids, –A. Mitchell Palmer, the Attorney General, created the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover to search for Reds mail bombs exploded in 8 cities in the same hour, one blew off the hands of a maid in Palmer’s home –4,000 to 10,000 were arrested, beaten or even deported –the government ignored the Bill of Rights in favor of getting rid of the “Reds”

Nativism American Civil Liberties Union, 1920 –formed to protect the rights of accused communists –today it uses law suits and Congress to protect people’s basic freedoms Anti-Defamation League, 1913 –formed to protect the rights of Jewish People in the US –more broadly it fights against bigotry and prejudice for all people

Nativism Quota System –a set number of people that are allowed to immigrate in one year the Emergency Quota Act, 1921 limited immigration to 3% of the nationality in the US in 1910 the National Origins Act, 1924 limited immigration to 2% of the nationality in the US in 1890 Italian immigration plummeted from 200,000 to 4,000 per year –banned all Asian immigrants but not Latin Americans

11/9 –Should the US ban muslim students from other nations from studying in the US (especially math and science)?

Nativism Ku Klux Klan, 1915 –claimed to be defenders of WASP values –blamed Jews, blacks, Catholics, immigrants for everything –had over 5 million members before the group collapsed in late 1920s

Nativism Sacco and Vanzetti Trial, 1921 –two Italians accused of murder –the evidence was thin but they were anarchists and had dodged the draft in WWI –judge declared their guilt before the trial began and they were electrocuted in 1927 anti-foreign sentiment made their trial a farce