The Roaring Twenties Ch. 20 & 21
Immigration Laws “Keep America American” 1921- Emergency Quota Act- limited immigration 1924- National Origins Act- made immigrant restriction a permanent policy Due to these acts, Mexican immigration was in record numbers
A Clash of Values Sacco-Vanzetti Case- two Italian immigrants accused of murder, claimed they were innocent (many said they were convicted just because they were immigrants). Both executed.
The KKK Ku Klux Klan Targeted African Americans, Catholics, Jews, immigrants, & groups sharing “un-American” values 2nd. Generation KKK 1915 by Wm. Simmons (a Methodist preacher!) Cross-burning, mob attacks, lynchings Declined in the 1920s (scandals & power struggles)
Women’s Issues More single women working More women attended college Birth control (Margaret Sanger) Fashion changes: “bobbed hair” Flesh-colored stockings Drank, smoke (in public!) Zelda Fitgerald Margaret Zelda
The “not so roaring” Twenties Prohibition- 18th. Amendment 1920 (outlawed alcohol- reduce unemployment, domestic violence, & poverty) Led to bootlegging (illegal production of alcohol) speakeasies (secret bars) & organized crime Al Capone- most successful & violent gangster of the era 1933- 21st. Amendment- repealed the 18th amendment
Culture Artists explored what it meant to be “modern” Greenwich Village & Chicago’s South Side- where artists, writers, intellectuals went Hopper- revived “realism”
Poets T.S. Eliot The Hollow Men (1925) contains some of Eliot's most famous lines, most notably its conclusion: This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper.
Writers F. Scott Fitzgerald Ernest Hemingway The Great Gatsby Although Nick Carraway idolized the riches and glamour of the age, he was uncomfortable with the unrestrained materialism and the lack of morality that went with it. Ernest Hemingway A Farewell to Arms Considered by some critics to be the greatest war novel of all time, the novel is told through the point of view of Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American serving as an ambulance driver in the Italian army during WWI.
Mass Entertainment- Radio & Movies 1920- one of the 1st. commercial radio broadcasts (station- KDKA) Radio- Amos ‘n’ Andy- stories of two African American characters (played by white actors) The Jazz Singer (1927)- 1st. “talkie” movie Mass media- helped unify the nation & spread the new ideas & attitudes of the time
Harlem Renaissance- rebirth of the African American arts Great Migration- movement of African Americans from the South to the North Writer- Langston Hughes One of the most original & versatile writers of the H. R. “I, Too” & “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”
Harlem Renaissance Jazz & Blues Louis Armstrong- played trumpet & cornet (jazz- influenced by ragtime) Duke Ellington- composer, pianist, bandleader (not your marching band!) (“Mood Indigo”) Got his start at the Cotton Club W.C. Handy- Blues composer & musician (the Father of the Blues)
Harlem Renaissance in pictures
Presidents Harding Coolidge Return to normalcy (return to a “normal” life after WWI Enjoyed spending time with his “Ohio Gang” (friends) Teapot Dome Scandal Harding’s Vice President “Silent Cal”- simple, frugal Prosperity rested on business leadership (govt. should interfere with business & industry as little as possible)
A Growing Economy Henry Ford Assembly line Model T Ford’s Assembly Line Modern Day Assembly Line
Consumer Goods Electric razors, “kleenex”, frozen foods, hair dye Electric irons, vacuums, washing machines, refrigerators, gas stoves Mouthwash, deodorants, cosmetics
Airline Industry 1927- Charles Lindbergh (transatlantic solo flight) Amelia Earhart 1932- attempted to fly solo across the Atlantic
Alabama in the 1920s In a study- was among the worst states in the country on nearly every measure of its citizens’ quality of life Education underfunded & ineffective Illiteracy rates were high Prison system mismanaged & corrupt Tax system unfair & inadequate Public health was widely ignored State Services improved, the economy improved, the KKK returned, Alabamian contributions towards the Jazz Age, migration of African Americans out of Alabama (loss of culture in Alabama with African Americans leaving)