Post-War Social Change(1920-1929)

Society in the 1920’s During the 1920s the US grew rapidly, but many young people

disillusioned by the war questioned the ideas and attitudes that had led to war and challenged traditional values. A symbol of this challenge was the new behavior of many young women. A rebellious, fun-loving, bold young woman who wore short dresses and cut her hair was a flapper. Not every woman was a flapper, and not everyone challenged tradition, but those who did helped create modern American society. Women were working, voting, and attaining political offices. They were laying a foundation for further participation in government. American demographics, statistics that describe a population, were also changing. Millions of people moved from rural to urban areas. Suburbs also grew and cars became more affordable. The Great Migration of the African Americans from the South to northern cities increased in the 1920s as blacks were drawn by urban jobs. Masses of refugees from Asia and southern and eastern Europe also swelled urban areas. Migrants from Mexico settled in cities and created barrios, their own Spanish-speaking neighborhoods. The rapid changes of the 1920s caused many Americans to turn to heroes who seemed to embody values of an earlier and simpler time. Aviation heroes like Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart and sports stars like baseball player Babe Ruth fascinated Americans. With more leisure time and money, many Americans also indulged in recreational activities.

Women’s Changing RolesThe 1920s are a time of rapid social change,

when people adopt new lifestyles and attitudes.More women than ever before are now working

outside the home.Women can also vote for the first time,

although many do not exercise this right at first.

Women began to move into the government, however. By 1928 there are 145 women in 38 state legislatures.

Americans on the Move Along with social changes, America undergoes a

major demographic change.More and more people are leaving the countryside

for the city, and the 1920 census shows that for the first time in American History, more Americans live in urban areas then rural ones.

Similar to the economically stressed farmers who move from cities for work, more and more African Americans move from the rural South to northern cities where factories are eager for labor.

But African Americans often face anger and hatred from white co-workers.

ImmigrationImmigration into the United States also causes

populationgrowth.Although Congress limits immigration from

China, Japan, and parts of Europe, immigrants from Mexico and Canada continue to come across the borders.

They work in the farms and ranches of the West and in the factories of the East.

American HeroesMany Americans in the 1920’s become fascinated

with heroes doing unusual deeds.The flights of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia

Earhart and the talents of Jim Thorpe, Babe Ruth, and Gertrude Ederle all stir great public interest.

More Americans also take up amateur sports, such as golf.

Mass Media and the Jazz Age Before 1920, different regions of the United States held different cultures,

attitudes, and interests. This began to change in the 1920s when for the first time, people around the nation saw the same films, heard the same radio broadcasts, and read the same news sources. Mass media, the use of print and broadcast methods to communicate to large numbers of people, produced a national culture. Radio became a popular way to hear music and listen to news, sports, and comedy shows. Radio contributed to the craze for jazz music, a new music that had its roots in the South and features improvisation and syncopation. Americans saw this free music as a symbol of the times, and the 1920s adopted the title of the Jazz Age. American artists and writers continued to show American life realistically, recording the culture. Some writers rejected the spirit of the Jazz Age and became known as the Lost Generation. These writers and artists rejected materialistic values and scorned popular American culture. Most of them settled in Paris. For African Americans, New York City’s Harlem became their cultural center as African American writers and poets entered the literary scene in the movement know as the Harlem Renaissance. Writers like Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Alian Locke wrote about the African American experience. Their writings inspired young blacks and contributed to the overall American culture.

Mass Media When Americans want to follow the

adventures of their heroes, they can turn to Hollywood movies, newspapers, magazines, and radio.

These increasingly shared experiences give Americans the beginning of a national culture.

The Jazz AgeOne of the most influential of these shared

experiences in the growing availability and popularity of jazz music.

Jazz develops from the African American ragtime and blues, and when played in clubs and radio, it becomes the nation’s most popular music.

Jazz influences dance styles, classical music, poetry, literature, and painting.

The Jazz Age is a time of experiment and creativity.Painters such as Edward Hopper depict images of the

rough side of America, while Georgia O’Keeffe paints natural objects of simple and great beauty.

The playwright Eugene O’Neil uses materials from everyday life to create poetic tragedies.

The Harlem RenaissanceNew York City’s Harlem is the center of the jazz

world.It is also the cultural center for African

Americans and the location of a literary awakening known as the Harlem Renaissance.The writer James Weldon Johnson leads the

NAACP and inspires younger writers.Other African American writers follow: Alain

Locke, Zora Neale , Hurston, Dorothy West, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, and Langston Hughes.

Cultural Conflicts When the Eighteenth Amendment prohibited the manufacture and sale of

alcohol, rural areas tended to obey the law. In urban areas, however, the law was largely ignored and demand for alcohol remained strong. This demand created a new kind of criminal, a bootlegger, who sold alcohol illegally. Illegal bars called speakeasies abounded in the cities. Producing, transporting, and selling alcohol in the urban areas created organized crime, and gangsters like Al Capone of Chicago built huge profitable crime organizations using violence and power for illegal profit. Religion was also an issue as fundamentalism, which supported traditional Christian views, clashed with scientific theories such as evolution. A major battle between the two forces took place during the Scopes trial in Tennessee when a young science teacher challenged a state law prohibiting the teaching of evolution. Racial tensions rose in the 1920s. Race riots erupted in several northern cities as tensions increased between whites and African Americans. Violence against African Americans returned, as the Ku Klux Klan was revived and intimidated, tortured, and even lynched many blacks. The new KKK not only targeted blacks, but also Catholics, Jews, and immigrants. The NAACP fought discrimination throughout the 1920s, but not always successfully. Some African Americans supported a movement begun by Marcus Garvey to establish a homeland in Africa. Garvey encouraged black-owned business and inspired racial pride, but the movement failed when Garvey was jailed for mail fraud and later deported. However, Garvey’s ideas would provide the inspiration for later “black pride” movements.

ProhibitionAlong with creativity and growth, rapid social change

can also lead to conflicts.Prohibition, for example, is enacted in the 1920’s.Yet many Americans, especially in cities, continue to

drink in violation of the law.Bootlegging becomes a big business, and hundreds of

speakeasies, or illegal bars, appear in cites.The complexity and profits of bootlegging lead to

organized crime gangs. Organized crime groups fight in the streets,

terrifying citizens.The FBI works for many years to bring the worst of

the gang leaders, Al Capone, to justice.

Issues of ReligionAnother conflict arises between religious

fundamentalist groups and the teaching of evolution.

In 1925 a science teacher, John T. Scopes, is arrested for teaching the theory of evolution in public schools. The scopes trial brings the issue to the attention of the entire nation.

Racial TensionsThe 1920’s are also a time of racial conflict.Race riots erupt in about 25 cities in the summer of 1919,

which becomes known as the “Red Summer.”The Ku Klux Klan, eliminated during the Reconstruction,

is revived and attacks African Americans, Catholics, Jews, immigrants and others.

The NAACP works to pass the anti-lynching laws and to protect African American voting rights, but has only limited success.

Some frustrated African Americans join Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association.

Garvey’s message of pride and independence attracts large numbers and although his financial schemes eventually fail, his ideas will inspire later African American movements.