American Life in the “Roaring Twenties”

1919-1929

“America’s present need is not heroics but healing; not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution but

restoration;… not surgery but serenity.”-Warren G. Harding, 1920

Essential Questions

• Do you believe with what Horace Kallen or Randolph Bourne said about Immigration and how does that connect with cultural pluralists?

• How did Americans find ways to get around the prohibition laws? What were some of the effects from these laws?

• What effect did the culture of the twenties have on literature? How did it effect women’s roles?

• How did the “industrial revolution” of the twenties change industry and what new feats did mankind conquer?

Vocabulary

• General A. Mitchell Palmer

• Judicial lynching• Ku Klux Klan• Emergency Quota Act of

1921• Immigration Act of 1924• Horace Kallen• Randolph Bourne• Cultural Pluralists

• Eighteenth Amendment• Prohibitionists• Sawed off shotguns• “typewriters”• Al Capone (Scarface)• St. Valentines Day 1929• John Dewey• John T. Scopes• William Jennings Bryan• Andrew Mellon

• Henry Ford• Orville Wright• Wilbur Wright• Kitty Hawk, NC• Ransom E. Olds• Model T• Charles Lindbergh• “Amon ‘n’ andy”• “The Great Train Robbery”• “The Jazz Singer”• Flappers• Volstead Act of 1919

• “Petters” and “Neckers”• Marcus Garvey• UNIA• Ernest Hemingway• F. Scott Fitzgerald• Robert Frost• Langston Hughes• T. S. Elliot• E. E. Cummings• Frank Lloyd Wright• Empire State Building• Harlem Renaissance

Seeing RedI. Tiny Communist parties began to spawn in America after the

Bolshevik Revolution.II. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer was called the “Fighting

Quaker” because he rounded up about 6000 people that he thought were communist.

III. A shipload of 249 “alleged alien radicals” were deported to Russia.IV. September 1920: Bomb blast on Wall Street killed 38 people and

wounded hundreds. V. Laws were passed to keep Socialists from holding office. VI. Judicial lynching: the jury prosecuted Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo

Vanzetti of murder because they were prejudiced against their Italian heritage.

KKK

I. Ku Klux Klan rose up again in the 1920’s. II. Anti-foriegn, anti-Catholic, anti-black, anti-Jewish,

anti-pacifist, anti-communist, anti-bootlegger, anti-birth control, anti- internationalist.

III. Pro-Anglo-Saxon, pro- “native” American, pro- Protestant.

IV. Spread rapidly in the Midwest and South.V. At its peak it had 5 million members. VI. Most notorious thing was the burning cross.

Stemming the Foreign Flood

I. Had no need for immigrants that began to come to U.S. after war was over.

II. About 800,000 came between 1920-1921.III. Emergency Quota Act of 1921- only 3% of the people of their

nationality already living in the US in 1910 could come over. (ex. Of 10 Italians lived here in 1910, only 3 more were allowed to immigrate here.)

IV. Immigration Act of 1924 cut this from 3 percent to 2 percent. Natural origins number changed from 1910 to 1890.

V. Japan was not allowed over at all.VI. Mexico and Canada were exempt from the act.

Stemming the Foreign Floor, cont.

I. By 1931 more people left America then had arrived.II. Left ethnic groups near each other but still no way to

communicate.III. Horace Kallen: believed that immigrants had a right to

practice their customs, thought the US should protect their cultural differences.

IV. Randolph Bourne: thought immigrants should be stuffed together and cultures intermixed to create a multicultural country, “not a nationality but a trans-nationality.”

V. Cultural Pluralists: criticized the idea that a “melting pot” would eliminate personal cultures.

The Prohibition “Experiment”• Eighteenth Amendment: legal abolition of alcohol; Volstead Act

of 1919 authorized this.• Popular in South and West-southern whites wanted to keep

blacks subdued, in the west it challenged vices associated with the saloon.

• Prohibitionists overlooked the fact that lawmakers were crushing american rights.

• The law was disobeyed on a large scale and “dry agents” were trigger happy and killed innocent people.

• The law would have gone better if there would have been more manpower behind it.

• Americans began to make “home Brews” and “bathtub gin.”

The Golden Age of Gangsterism

• Profits from selling alcohol illegally led to police bribery• Gang wars broke out in immigrant neighborhoods.• Sawed-off shotguns and “typewriters” (machine guns)

became popular.• About 500 mobsters were murdered in the 1920’s. • Gangsters got involved in other illigl activities such a:

gambling, narcotics, and prostitution. • Merchants had to pay protection” to local gangs.• By 1930, 12 to 18 billion dollars was wrapped up in the

“underworld”.

Al Capone

• 1925, Chicago: Al Capone (Scarface) was a murderous bootlegger and started a 6 year war that gave him millions.

• Was “Public Enemy Number One”• St. Valentines Day 1929: He massacred 7

unarmed people from another gang.

Monkey Business in Tennessee

• States began to require people to stay in school until age 16.

• Professor John Dewey: Columbia University 1904-1930, believed in “learning by doing,”and that “education for life” is what teachers should strive for.

• Nutrition and healthcare raised the average life expectancy from 50 years in 1901 to 59 years in 1929.

Scopes Monkey Trials

• There were attempts to make laws prohibiting the teaching of evolution.

• Tennessee had a law like that and in 1925 John T. Scopes was indicted for teaching evolution in a biology class.

• Scopes was defended by nationally known attorneys and William Jennings Bryan joined the prosecution.

• Scopes was found guilty and fined $100.

The Mass-Consumption Economy• The recent war and Secretary of Treasury Andrew Mellon’s tax

policies created a prospering economy.• New machinery that increased productivity and newly tapped oil

fields added to this.• Henry Ford perfected the assembly line.• New industries emerged: electrical power was a major business.• Cars became more common and by 1930 almost 30 million cars

were circulating.• Advertising really began: persuasion and seduction.• Sports became big as Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey filled entire

stadiums.

Putting America on Rubber Tires

• A new industrial revolution started.• The automobile was the biggest invention of the

1920’s. • Henry Ford and Ransom E.Olds (Oldsmobile)

were the first Americans to try out the industry. • The Model T was the most successful car but

each was hand made to it was hard to fix. Ford then perfected the assembly line so every car was the same

The Advent of the Gasoline Age

• Oil industry employed more then 6 million people by 1930.

• Cars created fabric, rubber and glass industries.• Railroads went out and trucks, cars and buses

came in.• Cars were no longer a luxury, but a necessity. • 1 million deaths were caused by automobiles by

1951.• Cars helped the gangsters and the prostitutes out.

Humans Develop Wings

• Orville and Wilbur Wright: the Miracle at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

• On December 17, 1903 Orville Wright stayed airborne in a crudely built plane for12 seconds and 120 feet.

• First airmail route from NY to CA established in 1920.

• Charles Lindbergh was the first person to fly across the Atlantic in “The Spirit of St. Louis.”

The Radio Revolution

• Guglielmo Marconi invented the wireless telegraphy in the 1890’s.

• Early Radio programs only reached local audiences: November 20, 1920:a Pittsburgh station broadcasted the Harding landslide.

• By late 1920’s long distance broadcasting was possible and commericals started.

• Radio drew Americans in to the home to listen to shows like “Amos ‘n’ Andy.”

• Eventually music began to be broadcasted.

Hollywood’s Filmland Fantasies

• Movies first came in 1903 with “The Great Train Robbery” then in 1915 the classic “Birth of a Nation.”

• The early industry had a lot of nudity and female vampires and the public cried for censorship.

• Hollywood was used in WWI to spread propaganda against the Kaiser.

• The first talking film was in1927, called “The Jazz Singer.” Color films were beginning to be produced at this time.

• Actors and Actresses were more well known than the president.

• Helped to over come ethnic differences.

The Dynamic Decade

• Sex erupted in America.• Advertisers used sex to sell all of their products.• Modesty gave way to the flapper movement with short

dresses and hair. Clothes got shorter and smaller, makeup was applied in an excess amount and ciggarettes were popular.

• The Flapper symbolized a completely independent woman.• Kisses no longer meant the same thing and “neckers” and

“petters” began to explore each others bodies. • Jazz was the music of the age.

Race

• Black communities got larger and had more pride, such as Harlem in NYC had its own culture and “nourished poets such as Langston Hughes.”

• Marcus Garvey tried to start the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) to place african-americans back to Africa. Garvey was convicted for fraud in 1927.

• Garvey inspired millions of black to move to the north and gain self-confidence.

Cultural Liberation• A new generation of writers came with the 1920’s.• H.L. Mencken- “Bad Boy of Baltimore”, he had a monthly

magazine called “American Mercury” where he attacked marriage, democracy and more.

• F. Scott Fitzgerald- “This side of Paradise” was published in 1920 and made him famous. He then wrote “The Great Gatsby.” These books were avidly read by flappers and young men.

• Ernest Hemingway- killed himself in 1961 but first wrote “The Sun Also Rises” and many other novels.

• The new authors wrote about things that crossed old moral bounds and questioned society during that time peroid. It rebeled against morals.

Cultural Liberation cont.

• Robert Frost- wrote about New England.• T. S. Elliot- “The Waste Land” – one of the most influential

poems of the century.• E.E. Cummings- one of the most daringly innovative of all poets.• Eugene O’Neill- playwright: wrote about sex, “Strange

Interlude.” Got a Nobel Peace Prize.• Harlem Renaissance- writers and jazz artists poured out of

Harlem and fought for more negro rights.• Frank Lloyd Wright- architect. Thought buildings should not

imitate Roman ones. • Empire State Building- 102 stories.

REVIEW!Match each person to what they accomplished

1. F. Scott Fitzgerald2. Marcus Garvey3. John T. Scopes4. Charles Lindbergh5. Wright Brothers6. Al Capone7. Horace Kallen8. Henry Ford9. Frank Lloyd Wright

a) Flew the first planeb) Tried to start the UNIAc) Indicted for teaching

evolutiond) Perfected the assembly linee) Believed that roman

architecture was overratedf) Wrote “The Great Gatsby”g) Flew across the atlantic oceanh) St. Valentines Day Massacrei) Believed immigrants a right to

practice their customs

Answer!

1. F. Scott Fitzgerald2. Marcus Garvey3. John T. Scopes4. Charles Lindbergh5. Wright Brothers6. Al Capone7. Horace Kallen8. Henry Ford9. Frank Lloyd Wright

a) Flew the first planeb) Tried to start the UNIAc) Indicted for teaching

evolutiond) Perfected the assembly linee) Believed that roman

architecture was overratedf) Wrote “The Great Gatsby”g) Flew across the atlantic oceanh) St. Valentines Day Massacrei) Believed immigrants a right to

practice their customs