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The 1920: A Bi Polar Decade Oseas Romero APUSH Stafford High School Stafford, Texas
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A Decade by Many Names The New Era Return to Normalcy Jazz Age Roaring 20’s Harlem Renaissance
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A New American Standard U.S. developed the highest standard of living in the world Europe would need time to recover from the devastation of World War I America would be the only viable economy left The 1920s and the second Industrial Revolution Electricity replaced steam Modern assembly introduced
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Automobile Industry Automakers stimulated sales through model changes, advertising Modern Administrative system GM and Alfred P Sloan Auto industry fostered other businesses Think vertical integration Autos encouraged suburban sprawl
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Business is here to stay New technologies meant new industries such as radio and motion pictures Structural change Professional managers replaced individual entrepreneurs Corporations became the dominant business form Marketing and national brands spread Big business weakened regionalism, brought uniformity to America
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Some Economic Weaknesses Railroads poorly managed Speculation would be rampant Coal displaced by petroleum Dirty, expensive, and extremely limited Farmers faced decline in exports, prices Plight of the Farmers: use previous notes for refresher Growing disparity between income of laborers, middle-class managers Middle class speculated with idle money People were not financially literate Buying on margins
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Women and the Family Ongoing crusade for equal rights “Flappers” sought individual freedom Much of the feminism we know today is heavily influenced by this time Women would no longer be afraid to try the new and unexpected Most women remained in domestic sphere Discovery of adolescence Teenage children no longer needed to work Indulged their craving for excitement Many religious figures will point to this time when America becomes worldly and sinful
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The Roaring Twenties Sports, like golf and baseball, became much bigger part of national popular culture Bobby Jones, Babe Ruth Decade was notable for obsessive interest in celebrities Charles Lindbergh Gertrude Ederle Sex became an all-consuming topic of interest in popular entertainment Sex, sex, and more sex
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Artists felt alienation from 1920s mass culture “Exiled” American writers put U.S. at forefront of world literature primarily in Paris T.S. Eliot Ernest Hemingway F. Scott Fitzgerald Black Writers- Harlem Renaissance Writers Zora Neale Hurston Claude McKay Langston Hughes WEB Du Bois
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The New Negro Movement This term was coined by Alaine Locke Writing and creating a new history of the American Black In 1915, Washington is going to die Du Bois is going to become the primary leader of the American Negro Talented Tenth NAACP
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A New Negro The American Negro has changed. During the 1900’s and 1910’s we see a migration of African Americans from the South to the North and North East Harlem is a neighborhood in New York Cultural explosion in music, literature, poetry, and arts Shuffle Along- Josephine Baker- 1 st all Black cast in Broadway Musical Cotton Club- popular New York nightclub. Prominent musicians would play at the club, but only white patrons were allowed Poetry- Langston Hughes, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” Claude McKay, “If We Must Die” Pan Africanism- Universal Negro Improvement Association Marcus Garvey and the Black Star Line Goal was to unite all Blacks in America and lead them back to the motherland, where they would live as a united people under one banner
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Country Folk think the city is whack Rural Americans identified urban culture with communism, crime, immorality Progressives attempted to force reform on the American people Upsurge of bigotry An era of repression 1919: “Red Scare” Illegal roundups of innocent people Forcible deportation of aliens Terrorism against “radicals,” immigrants 1927: Sacco and Vanzetti executed Supposed anarchist and communist
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The New Ku Klux Klan Many people indeed felt ostracized by the modernity of the 1920’s. Many needed to feel welcomed and so the new Ku Klux Klan was created 1925: Klan membership hit 5 million Attack on urban culture, inhabitants Defense of traditional rural values Klan sought to win U.S. by persuasion Violence, internal corruption resulted in Klan’s virtual disappearance by 1930
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More Fear 1924: National Origins Act 150,000 person quota on immigration Quotas favored northern Europeans Mexican immigrants exempted from quota They were needed as agriculture laborers in the American Southwest Sounds very familiar doesn’t it
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Religion what is it good for? Fundamentalism: Stress on traditional Protestant orthodoxy, biblical literalism Billy Sunday 1925: Scopes Trial discredited fundamentalism among intellectuals Creationism vs. evolution “Modernists” gained mainline churches Decrease in the power of the Revival type churches Fundamentalists strengthened grassroots appeal in new church Late 20 th century an increase of conservatism throughout the world
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Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover Republican party apparently dominant Urban wing of the Democratic party emerged as the most powerful force Republican presidents appealed to traditional American values Harding scandals broke after his death Teapot Dome Scandal Coolidge represented America in his austerity and rectitude Hoover represented the self-made man
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Return to “normalcy” Tariffs raised Corporate and income taxes cut Spending cut Coolidge blocked Congressional aid to farmers as unwarranted interference Government-business cooperation
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Democrats make a move 1924: Urban-rural split weakened Democrats Major shift in political loyalties Will start seeing AA moving towards Dems and White Southerners moving towards Reps Will become a permanent shift in Civil Rights Era Democrats gained more Congressional seats than Republicans after 1922
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Election of 1928 Democrat Al Smith carried urban vote Governor of New York Roman Catholic Republican Herbert Hoover won race Midwesterner Protestant Religion the campaign’s decisive issue
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The 1920’s The 1920’s is fondly remembered as a Golden Age for music, literature, movies, musicals, etc. 1920’s will lay the foundation for modern America Increased science and technology Political Scandals are still happening The Great Depression is going to end the decade of prosperity and plunge America into an economic black hole
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