Roaring 20s Notes

The Roaring 1920’s
The Red Scare
Fear of radicals, socialists, anarchists
Threats to American way of life
Palmer Raids – deporting suspected radicals
Sacco and Vanzetti Trial (1921)
Italian immigrants accused of murder – a fair trial?
Return of the Klan – more anti-immigrant than before
Cultural Conflict
Religion
Scopes/Monkey Trial (1925) - Dayton, TN
Teaching of Evolution
Fundamentalism v. Modernism
Darrow v. Bryan
Prohibition
Leads to disregard for the law
Bootlegging, Speakeasies
Rise of organized crime to supply illegal liquor
Al Capone
Prohibition considered by most to be a failure
Overturned by 21st Amendment in 1933
The Jazz Age
A decade of changing roles and morals
Women more free – “Flappers”
Appearance and behavior changing
Women are working more
Migration/Urbanization
Move to the cities
African-Americans out of the South
Growth of suburbs
Growth of mass media
movies radio, newspapers and magazines
Cultural Heroes
Hollywood, Professional Sports, Adventurers
Babe Ruth
Amelia Earhart
Jazz
New form of music
Has its roots in African-American culture
Improvisational
Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong
Artistic accomplishment
Lost Generation – critical of society
Great Gatsby, Sun Also Rises
Harlem Renaissance – Black cultural movement
Marcus Garvey – UNIA, Back to Africa Movement
Langston Hughes
Ernest Hemingway
Cultural Conflict
Rural v. Urban
Traditional v. Progressive
Old v. Young
Americans v. Foreigners
Fundamentalists v. Modernists
The Fitzgeralds
The 1920’s Economy – Headed for a fall?
A Consumer Economy
Buying on credit
Change in advertising – image
Growth in GNP
Struggle of farmers – declining crop prices
Struggle of unskilled workers/low wages
Uneven distribution of wealth
Growth of the stock market
Speculation
Buying on margin
Rising personal debt
Overproduction
Consumer overconfidence
Presidents of the 20s
Warren G. Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Return to Normalcy – big business rules