CHAPTER 21 POP CULTURE PERSONALITIES

AND EVENTS OF THE EARLY 1900’S

Finally, some leisure time…

Sacco and Vanzetti and the Red Scare

Following the Russian Revolution in 1917, the United States became concerned that Communism might spread to our country. Communism is the form over government whereby the businesses are controlled by the government and the government has control over a large aspect of the people’s lives. The United States was struck with a Red Scare, or a fear of communism and a relative witch-hunt ensued to find accused Communists, led by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer.

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Sacco and Vanzetti and the Red Scare

Nicola Sacco and Bartholomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants that were caught with weapons on their person after the shoe factory that they worked at was robbed and a guard was killed. After trial after trial, Sacco and Vanzetti were executed for murder of the guard. People claimed that the government was simply pinpointing immigrants with Communist or Socialist ties and prosecuting them. The men were killed in 1927 and the event shed light on the unjust nature of our government treating immigrants in an unfair manner.

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The Wright Brothers Orville and Wilbur

WrightThe brothers were two

bicycle shop owners that were the first in flight and achieved this in North Carolina on December 17, 1903. The flights of the day in the glider only lasted 12 and 59 seconds, but they revolutionized travel, as only 11 years later, planes would be used in World War I.

The Titanic and the White Star Line

The Titanic was created by Thomas Andrews and was primarily owned by majority stock holder of the White Star Line Company, J.P. Morgan. The ship went down near Newfoundland on April 15, 1912 after an iceberg impacted 5 of her watertight compartments. If only 4 compartments were struck, the water could be pumped out, but not if 5 compartments were struck. The Carpathia arrived to assist survivors but, by that time, 1,514 of the ship’s passengers were dead.

Duke EllingtonMusic was forever changed as a new genre was created of Jazz. Duke Ellington, originally from Washington, D.C., released famous songs like “It Don’t Mean a Thing if It Ain’t Got That Swing” and “Take the A Train,” as he and Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald became part of mainstream society. These individuals were part of the Harlem Renaissance as African American song artists topped the charts.

Links to Duke Ellington Songs on YouTubehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDQpZT3GhDghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb2w2m1JmCY&feature=related

Al Capone During the Prohibition

Era, Alcohol was made illegal, but Capone capitalized on this by running a bootleg alcohol ring in Chicaco. Capone was never caught for the numerous murders that his gang was involved in or the sale of illegal alcohol, but eventually he was put in prison for tax evasion and passed away in jail.

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

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The Rival Gang of Capone’s South Siders was Bugs Moran’s Gang. Bugs competed with Capone’s gang for control of the alcohol trade in Chicago. On February 14, 1929, Capone’s men ambushed Bugs Moran’s men after arranging with them a fake deal to sell them alcohol.

This event showed our country that the Prohibition Era was not effective and organized crime was starting to control city after city.

The Flappers With the passage of the

19th Amendment in 1920, women received the right to vote. Some females decided to see how far they could take their rights by attempting to test the double standards that they were facing. These Flappers would smoke, drink, go to clubs, and dress scandalously in order to test the societal boundaries.

Charles Lindbergh Lucky Lindy was the first person

to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, accomplishing this feat in 1927. His celebrity grew but another event led his name to be remembered in a less wonderful way- his child was kidnapped and killed in 1932.

Lindbergh also accomplished one other great feat during his lifetime- he was highly awarded for his time volunteering for service in the United States Air Force during World War II

Amelia Earhart Earhart became the first

woman to achieve the same feat as Lindbergh, flying solo across the Atlantic.

She passed away as her plane went down perhaps around Guam in the Pacific Ocean as she attempted to become the first person to fly around the world.

Jack Dempsey Dempsey was the first

extraordinarily popular boxer and he had fought in the first million dollar purse fight. Still today, Dempsey is considered one of the best fighters in history. Dempsey put professional boxing on the map during his time in the 1910’s and 1920’s.

Dempsey had fought in 83 fights, which dwarfs today’s boxers that commonly retire after 30 to 40 bouts.

Jack Johnson Jack Johnson fought during the

1920’s and was also a very successful boxer. He was the first successful black boxer, but this came at a cost, as he was discriminated against in many of his fights as judges would rule in favor of his opponent on the scorecards. As well, he was arrested and faced jail time for transporting his white wife across state lines.

The Great White Hope is a classic movie that tells the tale of Jack Johnson.

James Braddock, the Cinderella Man

Braddock’s story is one of tragedy but yet hope as he had to send his children away since he could not pay for heat. In the early 1930’s, Braddock broke his hand was decommissioned by the boxing federation. After receiving a one-fight chance to take on Corn Griffin, he won match after match until he defeated Max Baer to become champion.

He became the Cinderella Man as his is a Cinderella story.

He fought and lost the championship to Joe Louis in 1937

Babe Ruth The Sultan of Swat, the

Great Bambino was originally from Baltimore and learned baseball when he was at an orphan school for boys. He went on in life to play for the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees, and the Boston Braves, slamming a grand total of 714 home runs and leading the Yankees to multiple championships.

The Curse of the Bambino was put on the Red Sox after they traded him away as they could not win a championship in the rest of the century.

Red Grange Grange saved the NFL by

playing for the Chicago Bears. The NFL was going to be a failing organization until Grange started to bring in income for the league. Grange was already previously well-known for his accomplishments with the University of Illinois as running back. While there, he scored 6 touchdowns in a game versus Michigan and 31 touchdowns in his college career.

Langston Hughes Hughes was a part

of the Harlem Renaissance as his poetry became very popular in the 1920’s. His poem “A Dream Deferred” is commonly known as “A Raisin in the Sun” and still is read and enjoyed today.

A Dream Deferred by Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over--

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Earnest Hemingway

Fitzgerald and Hemingway Both men were

influential writers of the early 1900’s, Fitzgerald writing The Great Gatsby and Hemingway writing The Old Man and the Sea.

Both men also fled the United States and went to Paris in the 1920’s as they felt that America was losing its culture. The fled to express their intellectual freedom and are, for this, called a part of the “Lost Generation”.

Scope Monkey Trial John T. Scopes was a

Tennessee teacher who wanted to teach Darwin’s theory of Evolution. For teaching this, he was put on trial. The courts decided that it was not legal to teach evolution but later reversed their decision and allowed evolution to be taught in schools.

Marcus Garvey Garvey was a

Jamaican who felt that Africans could not receive full equality in the Americas and attempted to get African Americans and other Africans to flee the Americas and board his ship called the Black Star Line in order to move back to Africa.

The Hindenburg The Hindenburg

was a Nazi blimp that exploded in New Jersey on May 6, 1937. A static may have caused this hydrogen powered blimp to ignite, killing 36 people.

Seabiscuit The Story of the horse

Seabiscuit is the story of an underdog horse, owner, and jockey that rose up and won gallantly the biggest horse races in America. Seabiscuit won the Santa Anita Derby, the Pimlico Stakes as well as many other high stakes races.

Jesse Owens and the 1936 Olympics

Owens proved that Hitler’s Aryan Race was not the ultimate as he won the Long Jump, the 100, the 4x100 relay, and the 200 at the 1936 Olympics.

Hitler refused to shake his hand even after his dominant performance.