The Roaring 20’sChapter 24, Section 4

Charles Lindbergh

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh became the first person to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean.

He flew on the mighty Spirit of St. Louis

Changes for women

In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified and women were given the right to vote.

Women also started running in elections to hold political offices.

More women started receiving college degrees and started working outside the home.

FLAPPERS

These were carefree, young “liberated” women of the 1920’s.

They wore heavy makeup, short skirts, and shortened, or “bobbed”, their hair.

The flappers did symbolize the changing post-war times and represented a challenge to traditional values.

Movies

In the 1920’s, the motion picture industry became one of the country’s leading businesses.

The first movies were black and white and were silent (no sound). The dialog was printed on the screen for viewers to read.

In 1927, Hollywood began introducing movies with sound – “The Jazz Singer”.

Radio

600 radio stations joined the airwaves in the 1920’s.

You would hear everything on the radio such as:

-News-Concerts-Sporting events -Comedies-MusicPopular radio shows were Amos ‘n’ Andy and the

Grand Ole Opry

Sports

Sports became huge in the 1920’s.

Babe Ruth was the famous sports hero.

Babe Ruth hit 60 homeruns in 1927, a record that would stand for 34 years.

Fads

Games to play: mah-jongg, crossword puzzles The Miss America pageant became popular and

was first introduced in 1921. Dance marathon contests were also very

popular.

Prohibition

Cultures were clashing during the 1920’s and values were being questioned.

This also included the use of alcoholic beverages.

The Eighteenth Amendment banning the sale of alcohol was ratified in 1919 and was followed in the south, but NOT in the big cities up north.

Problems with Prohibition

Illegal bars and clubs were created. speakeasies Contributed to the rise of organized crime, and mafia

started bootlegging alcohol. Al “Scarface” Capone was the most infamous crime boss

and was eventually sentenced to prison at Alcatraz.

A speakeasy of the 1920’s.

21st Amendment

Due to the excessive problems during the 20’s with people rebelling against prohibition, the law was repealed in 1933.

Most Americans had realized that the Prohibition law had failed and the law was not enforced nearly 90% of the time.

Nativism

The belief that native-born Americans are superior to foreigners.

KKK – along with nativism came a revival of the KKK.

The KKK lynched and whipped African-Americans all throughout the North and South.

Nativist Laws

Emergency Quota Act – set up a quota system where a limit was placed on the number of immigrants allowed to come into our country.

National Origins Act – reduced the annual country quota from 3 to 2 percent. The problem was that it excluded all Japanese and Chinese immigrants.

The Scopes Trial

The role of religion in our society became a huge problem in the 1920’s.

In 1925, the state of Tennessee made it illegal to teach evolution in schools.

A teacher named John Scopes taught evolution just to test the legalities of the Tennessee law.

He went to court with the help of the ACLU. He was fined $100 but the court looked as though they

were trying to impose religious beliefs on the whole nation.

The Scopes Trial dealt a huge blow to Christian fundamentalists in America.

Presidential Election of 1928 Herbert Hoover

-Republican candidate-Former head of Food

Administration-Won the election by a very

huge margin.

Alfred E. Smith

-Democratic candidate-Governor of New York-Son of immigrants-Catholic-Lost the election due to

prejudices in America.

Everything you’d ever want to know about the Roaring 20’s. Check out this website:

http://www.1920-30.com/