Rapidly Changing Social Life of America The roaring Twenties Rapidly Changing Social Life of America

New roles for women During WWI many women entered the workforce to fill jobs vacated by men gone to war. With the conclusion of the war most women lost these jobs to the men returning from war. With the economic boom of the 1920s women rejoined the workforce in large numbers. While women worked a wider array of jobs than ever before, most were working in low pay jobs. The most common were nurses, teachers, and domestic servants.

New Roles for women In 1920 the Nineteenth Amendment is ratified granting women the right to vote. As a result the first woman governor, Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming, is elected in 1924. However, sweeping national change was not brought about by new women voters. Why? Most women tended to vote as their husbands, fathers or other men in their life voted.

New roles for women Women were also challenging the idea of traditional gender roles. Women were still seen as the primary caregiver to children and were largely dependent on men for financial support. However, many were beginning to challenge these views in the search for equality. The flapper emerges as the champion for this change. They shorten their hair and their hemlines. They wear make-up and smoke cigarettes. Flappers are a vast minority of women, but they become a symbol for challenging the traditional image of women.

Effects of urbanization For the first time in American history more people live in cities than in the countryside. The process of people moving from the country to cities is known as rural-to-urban shift. Why do people move? Most often it’s for economic opportunity. While industry is growing, agriculture shrinks. As urbanization grows so does education rates. Why do you think this is so? Many states began requiring a certain level of education to get students out of the workplace and to teach immigrants about American culture. Also, as families are more economically successful they can afford to allow, and pay for, their children to receive an education.

Values Change, values clash City life led to shifts in the values that people lived their lives. City life challenged the traditional lifestyle of rural America. One point of view that gained popularity in an attempt to battle the confusion of the time was fundamentalism. Fundamentalism is the belief that all events in the Bible are literally true, they happened exactly as the Bible describes. Part of fundamentalism is the view of the creation story as exactly how everything was created. This view is called Creationism.

The scopes trial The conflict between fundamentalism and modern science gain a very wide audience in the nationally publicized Scopes Trial. Sometimes referred to as the “monkey trial” it is the trial prosecuting a Tennessee science teacher for teaching evolution instead of creationism. The prosecution was led by fundamentalist William Jennings Bryan One of the highlights of the trial was when the defense attorney, Clarence Darrow, got Bryan to admit on the stand that he didn’t believe everything in the Bible literally. Scopes is found guilty, but the trial was more a statement on the freedom of speech.

prohibition The 18th Amendment passed in 1919 put in place a law prohibiting the sale and manufacture of alcohol. This was motivated in large part by the clash of values that people were navigating. Many groups felt that alcohol was damaging society. They felt that it damaged the family and promoted crime. Prohibition had some unexpected results.

prohibition People still wanted to drink and they would find a way. Bootleggers found large profits in the illegal manufacture and sale of liquor. People would go to illegal bars known as speakeasies for alcohol. Organized crime also flourishes controlling the illicit alcohol business. One of the most notorious crime boss was Al Capone of Chicago. While authorities wanted to prove Capone’s involvement in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, they settled for tax evasion.

Prohibition fails Prohibition is ultimately viewed as a failure. Crime has become an issue and the government needs funds. In an effort to raise revenue the 18th Amendment is repealed with the 20th Amendment in 1933. It is the first and only constitutional amendment to be repealed.