1. Chapter 9 A Century of Change
Lesson 1: Protecting Our Country

2. Vocabulary
neutral
stock
depression
unemployment
erosion
inflation

3. Lesson 1A: World War I
In August 1914, the “Great War” or World War I began in Europe.
Britain, France, and Russia fought on the same side and were known as the Allied Powers.
The fought against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey.

4. At first the United States remained neutral, which means they did not take sides.
Germany began sinking United States ships, so the U.S. joined the war on the side of the Allied Powers in 1917.
The first American troops sent to Europe during World War I came from Alabama. They were known as the 42nd Division or the Rainbow Division.
Alabamians contributed to the war effort by serving in the military, sewing clothes and canning food for soldiers, and making products to meet wartime needs.

5. Industry boomed in Alabama during the war.
Steel production increased in Birmingham, and steel workers in Mobile built warships.
In World War I, women worked as secretaries.
World War I ended in 1918 with an Allied victory.

6. Lesson 1A: The Roaring Twenties
The 1920s, or the Roaring Twenties, was a time of economic prosperity for many Americans.
People found jobs that paid well and were spending their money.
They bought new items to make housework easier such as a washing machine and a vacuum cleaner.

7. In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was passed by Congress which allowed women to vote.
Pattie Ruffner Jacobs worked for women’s suffrage in Alabama.
Many Alabama families would gather at night to listen to their radios.
Jazz, a new kind of music, became very popular.

8. Lesson 1B: The Great Depression
The stock market crashed in 1929.
This brought on the Great Depression.
Most Alabamians became unemployed, lost their homes, and lost their life savings.
Banks and other businesses closed.

9. Lesson 1B: Hard Times for Alabama Farmers
Farmers in Alabama had many challenges during the Great Depression because the soil was worn out by overcropping and eroded by flooding.
Also, people did not have money to buy farm products, so the farmers could not make the money they needed.

10. Lesson 1B: The New Deal
In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created programs under the New Deal that helped put Alabamians to work and helped Alabama’s economy to recover.
Alabamians went to work planting trees, constructing state parks, dams, roads, bridges, and public buildings, and recording events during the Great Depression.

11. Lesson 1B: Another World War
In 1939, Germany, Japan, and Italy began attacking other countries which led to World War II.
The United States did not enter the war until 1941 when Japan attacked the U.S. naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
African American pilots trained in Tuskegee, Alabama.

12. The Tuskegee Airman formed the first unit of African American pilots in the United States military.
These airmen were the only air escort group in the war not to lose a bomber plane to the enemy.
They shot down or destroyed more than 260 enemy planes.
In World War II, women repaired and flew airplanes, built ships, and made ammunition.

13. Lesson 1B: Effects of the War
During World War II, people in Alabama built ships for the war effort.
They also planted victory gardens and rationed and recycled items.
Some items that were rationed were meat, butter, sugar, and gasoline.
Alabama’s economy improved as jobs and money came to the state during World War II.