Dancing With The Devil In The Pale Moonlight Ch 21 Sec 1 & 2 Notes

The 1920’s as a tug-of-war decade Competing elements fought for the nation’s attention throughout the decade Illustrated America’s split personality Puritan “City on a Hill” vs. recreation & consumer culture A world power mentality of trying to have everything at once The resistance against progressive technology and thinking

City vs. Country 1920’s—10 million people moved from rural areas to cities Sin City vs. Country morals The diversification of work force led to the rise of entertainment culture leading to a challenge of Victorian social norms (movies, Vaudeville, music, bars, etc.) Evangelicals Protestant ministers preaching to thousands to turn away from temptations the city offered (Billy Sunday) Offered a place and a voice for rural newcomers to publicly voice displeasure with urban society

Prohibition vs. Speakeasies 18th Amendment (1920)—banning possession & transportation of all alcoholic goods An effort to legislate morality (supported by Evangelicals & temperance movement and recent rural pop. in cities) & also to lower crime, poverty, etc. Initially tolerated by population, after WWI, city people wanted to party Speakeasies Secret nightclubs catering to upper and middle class customers wanting to drink

Bootlegging Organized crime Homemade production and distribution of liquor (ex. Moonshine) Smalltime smuggling of alcohol from Canada (whiskey), Mexico (Tequila) & West Indies (Rum) Organized crime Large scale illegal smuggling, distribution & production of alcohol Al Capone Ran bootlegging empire like corporation & stopped at nothing to protect investment (522 murders attributed to Capone’s empire)

21st Amendment (1933)—repealed prohibition 1930—19% of Americans favored Prohibition President FDR wanted to tax legal alcohol sales to bring country out of Depression

Science vs. Religion Evangelicals bring about rise of Christian fundamentalism Supporters of a strict or literal interpretation of the Bible Ex. Creationism—disregard Darwin’s Theory of Evolution & favored the Garden of Eden theory Led to rapid rise in religious revivals in the South & West warning against immoral modernization Scopes Trial (1925) Tennessee becomes 1st state to ban the teaching of evolution…leads to John Scopes test case William Jennings Bryan (Tenn.) vs. Clarence Darrow (Scopes) Scopes convicted and fined $100 (minimum sentence)

Girl vs. Girl Women torn between traditional values & struggling for equality Flappers An emancipated women asserting her sexuality Dresses above knee, short hair, smoking, dancing Challenged the “Double Standard” Sexually aggressive women resisted the notion that men could subscribe to different social freedoms

At Work Women began to enter into more professional careers (teaching, nursing, librarians, office workers) instead of sweatshops At Home Consumer culture continued trend that shopping was a “woman’s job” Women gained more power over household as primary purchasing agent Led to continuation of early women’s liberation movement More control over household led to equality in marriage 1920’s sparked the idea of marrying for romance