Cultural Conflicts Section 9.3

Today’s Agenda 9.3 Slide Show KKK Presentation Homework –Read 9.3 –Unit Test on Roaring 20s this Thursday Based on all of chapter 8, 9.2 & 9.3

Today we will be able to identify the issues that created cultural conflicts in the 1920’s by analyzing the outcomes of: The Scopes Trial The KKK in the 1920’s Prohibition Laws Immigration Laws in the 1920’s

Is America morally bankrupt?

How much influence should religion have over our government, our laws?religion

Fibonacci sequence

Cultural Conflicts

What issues sparked the Scopes Trial? “The Monkey Trial” (1925) Trial over legality of teaching Evolution over Creationism in public schools Evolution –Charles Darwin’s theory that all species change over time –Suggested that the Bible was inaccurate Creationism –Belief that all humans came from Adam and Eve

Butler Act –Tennessee law that forbade teaching of any story that denied the story of creation (the Bible) ACLU –American Civil Liberties Union Sought a teacher willing to violate the law and test it in court John Scopes –Science Teacher in Dayton Tenn. –Agreed to challenge the law by teaching evolution What issues sparked the Scopes Trial?

Clarence Darrow- Famed Urban Liberal, hired by the ACLU to defend Scopes. William Jennings Bryan- Joined the Prosecution. –Three time presidential candidate –Champion of Rural America –Fundamentalist Christian Believed in literal interpretation of the Bible Circus-like atmosphere –Hundreds of reporters Describe the Scopes Trial.

What was the outcome of the Trial? Scopes found guilty Fined $100 Darrow exposed contradictions in Bible and Creationist argument Showed the cultural division within the country

Scopes Trial

Should the Government have the right to control what you do?

What is social engineering? Governmental policies meant to shape moral behavior of citizens Fundamentalist Christians –believed behavior should and could be controlled Encouraged passage of 18 th Amendment –Volstead Act- Act created to enforce prohibition

Did prohibition decreased the consumption of alcohol? Only lower classes Closed saloons –Speakeasies too expensive Most Americans ignored the law Hard to enforce

Why was Prohibition hard to enforce? 10, 000 miles of coastline Bootlegging was so profitable Alcohol legal at drug stores, on ships off the coast Distilling easy Corruption –Police force easily bribed Too few government agents to enforce it

How could one acquire alcohol? Speakeasy Neighborhood distillery –Took Prohibition agent 35 seconds to get a drink in New Orleans “prescription” from pharmacist

Who was Al Capone? Head of Chicago bootlegging gang Controlled network of organized crime –Owned distilleries, trucks, speakeasies, judges, police commissioners Used violence, bribery Even bribed public

Prohibition

Ku Klux Klan Presentation

Ku Klux Klan

Describe the KKK of the 1920s. Rapidly growing in Midwest and Northeast Originated during Reconstruction New Klan hated: –Blacks, Mexicans, Japanese, Jews, French Canadians Hooded robes, burning crosses Attracted uneducated poor whites Chapters in Detroit, Pittsburg, New Jersey, and Indianapolis –Reaction to Great Migration

Describe the Klan’s Creed. Racial purity Nordic racial superiority guardians of traditional American morals 5 million members Declined after 1925 –Klansman David Stephenson convicted of rape and murder

Effects of the KKK

How did immigration change during the 1920s? Foreigners viewed as corrupting force on traditional values Immigration Act (1921) –Quota –Limited number of all countries to 3% of that ethnic group (1910 census) Ex. 100, 000 Italian immigrants in US in 1910 Only 3 thousand allowed in 1921 National Origins Act (1924) –Reduced quota to 2% (1890 census) –Excluded Asians altogether

Speakeasy Simulation Presentations –Volstead Act –Capone –Flapper –Ness –Duke Ellington –Josephine Baker –Babe Ruth