The Roaring 20’s

The Results of WWI

• Red Scare – fear of radicals, Communists, and Socialism

• Immigration restricted• Post-war labor strikes

– due to demobilization – peace time after war

• KKK grew– hated blacks, Jews,

Catholics, & Darwinists

Immigration• nativism – opposition to immigration; distinguishes

between Americans who were born here and immigrants• 1921 Emergency Quota Act – fed. law that limited annual

# of immigrants• 1924 National Origins Act (a.k.a. Immigration Act) – more

strict fed. law that limited # of immigrants who could be admitted from any country

• GOAL restrict Southern and Eastern Europeans & Asians & reduce immigration!

• Chinese Exclusion Act – 1st nationality to be excluded by immigration restrictions

The Red Scare• feared communism

& socialism would spread from Russia to U.S.

• will arise again during post-WWII & the Cold War

Sacco & Vanzetti

• Italian born Americans but “foreign” anarchists• tried, convicted, & executed for “armed robbery &

murder”; evidence didn’t match up, but didn’t matter

• Xenophobia – fear of what is foreign (especially people)

KKK• the rise of xenophobia & nativism led to

increased membership• opposed immigration• by mid-1920’s, there were 5 million members• influenced politics & elections

Post War Labor Strikes

• 4.5 million returning soldiers needed jobs• War materials no longer needed, neither

their employees UNEMPLOYMENT!• Labor strikes:– shorter hours & more pay

A Changing Society

• women• urban life

(industrial life)• prohibition• music & art

Women– 19th amendment –

gave women the right to vote• women got the right

to vote because of the war (they worked the jobs for the boys why they were away)

– education (college attendance)

– flappers

Prohibition• 18th amendment – made it illegal to produce or

sell alcohol• enforcement very hard• illegal alcohol made from perfume & paint• speakeasies – secret, illegal clubs serving

alcohol• bootleggers – people who smuggled it into the

U.S.• making alcohol:– Legal business CRIMINAL work– Al Capone

• 21st amendment – ended prohibition

Scopes Trial• John T. Scopes – teacher who taught Darwinism &

evolution– “survival of the fittest” determines the success of people in

society

• William Jennings Bryan – “Bible expert” for prosecution & presidential candidate; did not succeed

• Charles Darrow – famous criminal attorney– ACLU defends Scopes

• Evolution vs. Creation – divided public opinion• fundamentalism vs. modernism

– fundamentalism – strict following of the Bible

– modernism – idea of the power of the human being

Clarence Darrow & William Jennings Bryan

Music – Jazz Age

• developed in the south (New Orleans)• expressed the difficulties that blacks faced

during slavery• as blacks moved north, they took this with them• W.C. Handy – the father of the blues• Bessie Smith – Empress of the Blues• Louis Armstrong – innovative jazz musician

(solos); most famous

Great Migration

• 90% of black Americans lived in the South before WWI

• Moved to the North (Chicago & New York) for jobs & to escape KKK!!!

• 53% of black Americans lived in South in 1970

The Harlem Renaissance

• Harlem, NY – the largest black community• the renaissance – a period of black artistic

accomplishment – Langston Hughes – author– Zora Hurston – author – James Weldon Johnson – poet

• Blacks were free but segregated

Industry• Henry Ford & Model T

– lowered the price of the automobile

– by using the assembly line

• assembly line – a system of machines that moved products “down the line”– cut time of assembly

A Consumer Culture

• Business Booms!• new products to enjoy (ex. car, washing

machine, vacuums, refrigerators)• bought through installment plans – “Ride Now, Pay Later”

• advertising increase (radio, magazines, newspapers)

Farmers• war led to increase in

demand & prices– had to feed the

troops• peace time led to

overproduction & low prices (competition) not prosperous

World News

• European Union being developed• Hong Kong – dependent territory of UK from 1842 -

1997• Africa – Britain, France, Germany all colonized

Africa (took over native’s lands)