ROARING 20SAn America Divided

MORALITY VS IMMORALITY The 1920s was schizophrenic…a time when

Americans became more moral and conservative (rural areas) – attended church, held Christian revivals, rejected science explaining creation, and returned to traditional American values (era of segregation ala KKK.) Yet they also became more immoral and liberal – openly breaking the law, promoting free sexuality and the lack of inhibitions, and opening their minds to creativity and multi-culturalism…

ConservativeDry

Money

Xenophobia

Marcus Garvey

Red Scare

Politics (Scandals)

KKK

Creationism

ModernRadicals

Sacco & Vanzetti

Strikes

KKK

Actors

Women

Evolution

Jazz

Sports

Prohibition

Gangsters

Harlem Renaissance

HARLEM RENAISSANCE African-Americans, after

WWI, migrated north and started creating a culture of their own that was accepted by all of American society…sort of.

The music of jazz, poetry and literature, and art expressed the black experience…

Read the two examples

PROHIBITION The passing of the Volstead Act, which

becomes the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, was the great American experiment.

Though it officially did cut down on drinking (for many average workers couldn’t afford the bootleg prices), it also led Americans into opening going against the law.

William H. Anderson, State Superintendent of the Anti-SaloonLeague, announced in a statement yesterday that the organization would sponsor a measure at the upcoming State Legislature. The measure would be known as the “Hooch Murder” bill. It says a person can be tried for murder, and punished accordingly, if they are suspected of selling alcohol that resulted in the death of the person drinking it. Commenting on the measure, Mr. Anderson said: “This bill is intended for whoever it may hit, but it is especially directed at the immoral foreigner, usually an alien, who had largely stopped killing with a knife from hate or with a gun for hire, and has gone intothe preparation and thoughtless selling of poison for profit.”

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/prohibition-nationwide/#

IMMIGRATION AND THE RED SCARE The American “Melting Pot” came under fire

as new ideologies threatened the ideas of democracy and capitalism.

To protect jobs and values, the government started instituting quotas on immigration

The Red Scare, led by A. Mitchell Palmer, helped identify those who were bringing communism and anarchy to America, and sending them back to their homelands.