Life in the 1920s Unit 7

Henry Ford and the Automobile Henry Ford, the automobile, and mass production changed American society. Henry Ford created the first assembly line. He produced the Model T. He was the first to mass produce the automobile. Mass Production-the production of goods in large quantities, made possible by the use of machinery and the division of labor. Mass production made goods cheaper and allowed more people to have access to them. Workers trained for one particular job along an assembly line Americans were able to travel more and women and children became more independent. The resulting economic boom and the changing lifestyle became known as the Roaring Twenties.

Why were the 1920s called the Roaring Twenties? A. Americans wanted to intervene in European politics. B. Many immigrants entered the U.S. eager to find jobs. C. Congress passed many pro- immigration bills. D. There was much lifestyle change. [Default] [MC Any] [MC All]

Route 66 emerged from the 1920s as the most famous road. It allowed families to travel west from Chicago to California.

Mass Media With mass production, came mass media. The growing mass media shaped the culture of the 1920s. Mass-circulation of magazines summarized the domestic and foreign news. More people were now buying magazines and newspapers Readers’ Digest-1922, Time-1923

Radios The most powerful medium to emerge in the 1920s was the radio. Prior to the 20s, radios were only used to transmit important messages. Eventually the radio became used for news, entertainment, and advertisement. People added the words “radio audience,” “airwaves,” and “tune in” to their every day vocabulary. At the end of the decade, the radio networks created something new-the shared national experience of hearing the news as it happened.

In 1938, War of the Worlds was aired on the radio. Many listeners did not realize that it was a story, instead they believed that aliens were attacking the Earth. The KDKA Pittsburgh was the first commercial radio station to hit the waves in the 1920s

The Movies Even before sound was introduced, movies became a way for the modern family to escape from their daily lives. Movies with sound were called “talkies.” The first major movie with sound was The Jazz Singer. Steamboat Willie was the first animated film with sound. By the 1930s, millions of Americans were attending the movies weekly. Both rich and poor families attended movies, allowing them to have interaction with each other.

The movie industry became a leading industry in the 1920s. Though the first movies were silent, in 1927 theater-goers enjoyed the first “talkie.” What does the growth of the movie industry indicate about this era? A. A conservative movement B. A growing sense of nationalism C. A disinterest in radio D. A time of prosperity. [Default] [MC Any] [MC All]

African Americans in the 20s The Great Migration-hundreds of the thousands African Americans moved from the South to the big cities of the North. By the end of the decade, 40% of African Americans lived in cities. Harlem Renaissance-a literary and artistic movement celebrating African American culture. Started in Harlem, New York, which suffered from overcrowding, poverty, and unemployment. Harlem became the world’s largest black urban community with residents from the South, the West Indies, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Haiti.

Writers of the Harlem Renaissance Claude McKay was a Jamaican immigrant who urged African American to resist prejudice and discrimination. His book Cane was the first the book publication during the Harlem Renaissance Langston Hughes- was the movements best known poet. His poems described the lives of the working-class African Americans. Some of his poems had the tempo to match Jazz and the blues.

Jazz Jazz was born in New Orleans. Musicians blended instrumental ragtime with vocal blues. King Oliver and his Creole Jazz band traveled north to Chicago. In 1922, a young trumpet player named Louis Armstrong joined his group. Armstrong made personal experience a key part of jazz. Armstrong went on to become the most important and influential musician in the history of Jazz.

New Music and Movies Jazz music was brought into movies. Movies brought the sights and sounds of Jazz to a wider audience. Music composer Irving Berlin combined music from different genres-from Jazz to Broadway musicals. With the new music came a new type of dance, like the Charleston and Lindy Hop. “Flappers,” free spirited women wore shorter skirts, short bobbed hair, and heavy make-up. Tin Pan Alley- was a new type of music that involved the piano. It began on 28 th Street in New York City.

Which BEST defines the Harlem Renaissance? A. A time of great racial tension exemplified by race riots in New York B. A time of high interest in southern African American culture C. A concentrated time of African American achievement in literature and music D. The renovation of turn of the century buildings in Harlem

Politics in the 1920s After WWI, Americans became fearful of outsiders, and a wave nativism swept the nation. Americans returned to the idea of isolationism-policy of pulling away from involvement in world affairs.

Communism and Socialism Communism- an economic and political system based on a single-party government ruled by dictatorship. Communists wanted to put an end to private property, substituting government ownership of factories, railroads, and other business. ◦ Americans feared the spread of Communism in the U.S. Socialism-a system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution of capital and land in community as a whole.

The Red Scare Americans began to panic in 1919 after revolutionaries in Russia overthrew the czarist regime. Lenin and his followers created a new Communist state in Russia. The Communists cried our for a worldwide revolution. A Communist party was formed in the U.S. Several bombs were mailed to the government and business leaders. Americans feared that Communism was taking over. This fear led to the Red Scare. Attorney General Palmer and J. Edgar Hoover began to hunt down any who was seen a communist, or who opposed the government. Foreign radicals were deported without trials.

Limiting Immigration “Keep America for Americans” became the attitude of many during and after the Red Scare. Americans believed that immigrants from Eastern Europe carried radical ideas. After WWI, there was no longer a need for immigrants to fill unskilled labor jobs. This led to many Americans believing that the U.S. should limit the number of immigrants allowed into the country. The U.S. created the quota system when they passed the National Origins of Act of It established the maximum number of immigrants allowed to enter the U.S. ◦ The number was based on the amount of immigrants in ◦ This discriminated against people from eastern and southern Europe.

The National Origins act was in a response to.. A. The Scopes Trial B. The Roaring Twenties C. The Red Scare D. Hoovervilles