to understand such issues as prohibition, the changing role of women, and the influence of the...
TRANSCRIPT
To understand such issues as Prohibition, the changing role of women, and the influence of the Harlem Renaissance
Section 1: Changing Ways of Life
Journal
What differences exist today between urban and rural lifestyles?
Rural and Urban Differences 1922-1929 – 2 million people left the
farm for the city every year Big cities: New York City (5.6 million),
Chicago (3 million), Philadelphia (2 million)
Rural and Urban Differences Cities Competition Change More reading Discussions about
science and social ideas
Various backgrounds Drinking, causal
dating, gambling
Farms Slow paced Lived close to
family and friends Strict morals
Prohibition
18th Amendment – manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol is illegal
Rural South and West, Protestants, Women’s Christian Temperance Union
After WWI Americans were tired of making sacrifices
Volstead Act established a Prohibition Bureau to enforce the law -> underfunded -> difficult to monitor all the roads and coastline
Speakeasies
Underground/hidden saloons
Bootleggers
People who smuggled alcohol into the U.S.
Organized Crime
Chicago’s Al Capone was in control of 10,000 speakeasies
$60 million a year 1933 – 21st Amendment repeals
Prohibition
Video Clips
http://www.history.com/topics/al-capone/videos#st-valentines-day-massacre
The Untouchables
Journal
Should America continue to promote fascination with Capone through museums, memorabilia, and tours of gangland sites?
Science and Religion Clash
Fundamentalism – Protestant movement based on a literal interpretation of the Bible
All stories in the Bible are true
Reject theory of evolution = Charles Darwin’s theory that plant and animal species have changed over millions of years
Evolution from apes vs. Bible creationism
Wanted laws to prohibit the teaching of evolution
The Scopes Trial
March 1925 Tennessee passes law outlawing the teaching of evolution
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) defends John T. Scopes, a young biology public school teacher who tells students humans have evolved
Clarence Darrow defends Scopes William Jennings Bryan prosecutes Scopes is found guilty and law stays in
effect
Now and Then
1999 – Kansas State School Board votes to eliminate the teaching of evolution
Supreme Court says evolution must only be taught as scientific fact + creationism may not be taught as scientific fact (in public schools)
Assignment
1. Issue -> Legislation -> Outcome Issue = prohibition (illegal to sell or
manufacture) Issue = teaching evolution
2. Explain how urbanization created a new way of life that often clashed with the values of traditional rural society.
3. Describe the controversy over the role of science and religion in American education and society in the 1920s.
Section 2: The Twenties Woman
Young Women Change the Rules A rebellious, pleasure-loving
atmosphere of the 1920s Many young woman began to show
their desire for independence 19th Amendment – women suffrage Challenge tradition Flapper = a free young woman who embraced the
new fashions and current urban attitudes Shorter dresses, smoked cigarettes, talked about
sex, danced Marriage = equal partnership with women taking
care of the house
Dancing
Fox trot, camel walk, tango, Charleston, shimmy, dance marathon,
Shimmy video clip
Journal
How were flappers like and unlike women of today?
How do your fashions and leisure activities set you apart from your parent’s generation or an older generation?
Young Woman Change the Rules The flapper was more of an image of
rebellious young women Many young women were still influenced by
tradition and their church Causal dating after WWI became more
accepted The Double Standard = a set of principles
granting greater sexual freedom to men than to women Stricter standards for women
Women Shed Old Roles at Home and at Work How were women freed from some
household chores?
Women Shed Old Roles at Home and at Work Big business and industry produced
time saving appliances and business growth also created jobs for millions of women
Women Shed Old Roles at Home and at Work Women worked successfully during the war
but were replaced by men when it ended They took “women’s professions” =
teachers, nurses, librarians Big business needed typists, clerics, filing,
assembly line workers Few became managers Earned less than men Men felt women should stay at home (job
competition)
The Changing Family Birthrate declined Margaret Sanger opens birth control
clinic (1916) Women had more time for children and
reading Marriages were based more on romance Children were in school and participating
in more activities More social time, peer pressure,
rebellious children
Assignment
1. How do you think women’s lives changed most dramatically in the 1920s? Think about families and jobs.
2. Do you think that some women of this decade made real progress towards equality? Think about double standard, the
flapper’s style and image, changing views of marriage
Section 3: Education and Popular Culture
Schools and the Mass Media Shape Culture 1914 = 1 million American students
in high school -> college-bound 1926 = 4 million -> college-bound
and vocational training Before WWI – a million immigrants a
year come to America
Expanding News Coverage
Literacy increased Newspapers printed sensational
stories
Radio
By 1930 – 40 percent of American households had radios
News and sporting events
America Chases New Heroes More money + more leisure time =
money for entertainment
Sports Heroes
Charles Lindberg
First non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic
Entertainment and the Arts
“Talkies” doubled the movie attendance
The Jazz Singer 1927
Disney’s Steamboat Willie 1928 Video clip
Georgia O’Keeffe
Writers of the 1920s
Sinclair Lewis F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby “Jazz Age”
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Ernest Hemmingway The Sun Also Rises A Farewell to Arms
Many denounced war
Addressed political and social topics
Negative side of the freedom of the 1920s
Section 4: The Harlem Renaissance
African American ideas, politics, art, literature, and music flourished in Harlem and other black neighborhoods
African American Voices in the 1920s Great Migration – African Americans from
the South migrate to northern cities 25 urban race riots in 1919 National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) leads protests in NYC against racial violence Led by W.E.B. Dubois James Weldon Johnson fights for anti-
lynching laws
Marcus Garvey
Even with the NAACP, many African Americans faced daily threats and discrimination
Marcus Garvey, Jamaican immigrant, believed African Americans should build a separate society
Spreads a radical message of black pride
1914 – Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)
Marcus Garvey
1918 – moves the UNIA to NYC and opens offices in Harlem
Marcus Garvey
Promotes African American businesses Encouraged his followers to return to Africa,
help native people throw out white colonial oppressors, and build a mighty nation
Massive support initially from blacks in the U.S., Caribbean, and Africa
Support declined in the mid 1920s when he was convicted of mail fraud
Powerful legacy of black pride, economic independence, and admiration for Africa
Questions
1. Who was Marcus Garvey? 2. What were the strengths of his
movement? 3. What happened to Garvey and the
UNIA? 4. What questions do you have about
Garvey and the UNIA?
Documents
Source When was it written? Whose
perspective? Is it trustworthy? Contextualize
What was happening for African Americans in 1919/1920? Why was Garvey so popular?
Guiding Question
Why was Marcus Garvey a controversial figure?
The Harlem Renaissance
A literary and artistic movement celebrating African American culture
Harlem was the capital of black America in the 1920s
African American Writers
Resist prejudice/discrimination The struggle of living in the black
ghetto Take pride in surviving slavery
through creativity
African American Performers
Paul Robeson performedIn front of large white audiences in NYC
African Americans and Jazz
Jazz was born in the early 20th century in New Orleans -> musicians blended instrumental ragtime with vocal blues
Spread to large cities Most popular music for
dancing Played at exotic
nightclubs like the Cotton Club
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKwu165KS5Y
The Cotton Club
1. Describe the atmosphere of the Cotton Club.
2. Who owned the club? 3. Where was it located? 4. What did people do at the Cotton
Club? 5. Describe how black and white
people interacted there.