To understand such issues as Prohibition, the changing role of women, and the influence of the Harlem Renaissance

Section 1: Changing Ways of Life

Journal

What differences exist today between urban and rural lifestyles?

Rural and Urban Differences 1922-1929 – 2 million people left the

farm for the city every year Big cities: New York City (5.6 million),

Chicago (3 million), Philadelphia (2 million)

Rural and Urban Differences Cities Competition Change More reading Discussions about

science and social ideas

Various backgrounds Drinking, causal

dating, gambling

Farms Slow paced Lived close to

family and friends Strict morals

Prohibition

18th Amendment – manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol is illegal

Rural South and West, Protestants, Women’s Christian Temperance Union

After WWI Americans were tired of making sacrifices

Volstead Act established a Prohibition Bureau to enforce the law -> underfunded -> difficult to monitor all the roads and coastline

Speakeasies

Underground/hidden saloons

Bootleggers

People who smuggled alcohol into the U.S.

Organized Crime

Chicago’s Al Capone was in control of 10,000 speakeasies

$60 million a year 1933 – 21st Amendment repeals

Prohibition

Video Clips

http://www.history.com/topics/al-capone/videos#st-valentines-day-massacre

The Untouchables

Journal

Should America continue to promote fascination with Capone through museums, memorabilia, and tours of gangland sites?

Science and Religion Clash

Fundamentalism – Protestant movement based on a literal interpretation of the Bible

All stories in the Bible are true

Reject theory of evolution = Charles Darwin’s theory that plant and animal species have changed over millions of years

Evolution from apes vs. Bible creationism

Wanted laws to prohibit the teaching of evolution

The Scopes Trial

March 1925 Tennessee passes law outlawing the teaching of evolution

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) defends John T. Scopes, a young biology public school teacher who tells students humans have evolved

Clarence Darrow defends Scopes William Jennings Bryan prosecutes Scopes is found guilty and law stays in

effect

Now and Then

1999 – Kansas State School Board votes to eliminate the teaching of evolution

Supreme Court says evolution must only be taught as scientific fact + creationism may not be taught as scientific fact (in public schools)

Assignment

1. Issue -> Legislation -> Outcome Issue = prohibition (illegal to sell or

manufacture) Issue = teaching evolution

2. Explain how urbanization created a new way of life that often clashed with the values of traditional rural society.

3. Describe the controversy over the role of science and religion in American education and society in the 1920s.

Section 2: The Twenties Woman

Young Women Change the Rules A rebellious, pleasure-loving

atmosphere of the 1920s Many young woman began to show

their desire for independence 19th Amendment – women suffrage Challenge tradition Flapper = a free young woman who embraced the

new fashions and current urban attitudes Shorter dresses, smoked cigarettes, talked about

sex, danced Marriage = equal partnership with women taking

care of the house

Dancing

Fox trot, camel walk, tango, Charleston, shimmy, dance marathon,

Shimmy video clip

Journal

How were flappers like and unlike women of today?

How do your fashions and leisure activities set you apart from your parent’s generation or an older generation?

Young Woman Change the Rules The flapper was more of an image of

rebellious young women Many young women were still influenced by

tradition and their church Causal dating after WWI became more

accepted The Double Standard = a set of principles

granting greater sexual freedom to men than to women Stricter standards for women

Women Shed Old Roles at Home and at Work How were women freed from some

household chores?

Women Shed Old Roles at Home and at Work Big business and industry produced

time saving appliances and business growth also created jobs for millions of women

Women Shed Old Roles at Home and at Work Women worked successfully during the war

but were replaced by men when it ended They took “women’s professions” =

teachers, nurses, librarians Big business needed typists, clerics, filing,

assembly line workers Few became managers Earned less than men Men felt women should stay at home (job

competition)

The Changing Family Birthrate declined Margaret Sanger opens birth control

clinic (1916) Women had more time for children and

reading Marriages were based more on romance Children were in school and participating

in more activities More social time, peer pressure,

rebellious children

Assignment

1. How do you think women’s lives changed most dramatically in the 1920s? Think about families and jobs.

2. Do you think that some women of this decade made real progress towards equality? Think about double standard, the

flapper’s style and image, changing views of marriage

Section 3: Education and Popular Culture

Schools and the Mass Media Shape Culture 1914 = 1 million American students

in high school -> college-bound 1926 = 4 million -> college-bound

and vocational training Before WWI – a million immigrants a

year come to America

Expanding News Coverage

Literacy increased Newspapers printed sensational

stories

Radio

By 1930 – 40 percent of American households had radios

News and sporting events

America Chases New Heroes More money + more leisure time =

money for entertainment

Sports Heroes

Charles Lindberg

First non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic

Entertainment and the Arts

“Talkies” doubled the movie attendance

The Jazz Singer 1927

Disney’s Steamboat Willie 1928 Video clip

Georgia O’Keeffe

Writers of the 1920s

Sinclair Lewis F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby “Jazz Age”

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Ernest Hemmingway The Sun Also Rises A Farewell to Arms

Many denounced war

Addressed political and social topics

Negative side of the freedom of the 1920s

Section 4: The Harlem Renaissance

African American ideas, politics, art, literature, and music flourished in Harlem and other black neighborhoods

African American Voices in the 1920s Great Migration – African Americans from

the South migrate to northern cities 25 urban race riots in 1919 National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) leads protests in NYC against racial violence Led by W.E.B. Dubois James Weldon Johnson fights for anti-

lynching laws

Marcus Garvey

Even with the NAACP, many African Americans faced daily threats and discrimination

Marcus Garvey, Jamaican immigrant, believed African Americans should build a separate society

Spreads a radical message of black pride

1914 – Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)

Marcus Garvey

1918 – moves the UNIA to NYC and opens offices in Harlem

Marcus Garvey

Promotes African American businesses Encouraged his followers to return to Africa,

help native people throw out white colonial oppressors, and build a mighty nation

Massive support initially from blacks in the U.S., Caribbean, and Africa

Support declined in the mid 1920s when he was convicted of mail fraud

Powerful legacy of black pride, economic independence, and admiration for Africa

Questions

1. Who was Marcus Garvey? 2. What were the strengths of his

movement? 3. What happened to Garvey and the

UNIA? 4. What questions do you have about

Garvey and the UNIA?

Documents

Source When was it written? Whose

perspective? Is it trustworthy? Contextualize

What was happening for African Americans in 1919/1920? Why was Garvey so popular?

Guiding Question

Why was Marcus Garvey a controversial figure?

The Harlem Renaissance

A literary and artistic movement celebrating African American culture

Harlem was the capital of black America in the 1920s

African American Writers

Resist prejudice/discrimination The struggle of living in the black

ghetto Take pride in surviving slavery

through creativity

African American Performers

Paul Robeson performedIn front of large white audiences in NYC

African Americans and Jazz

Jazz was born in the early 20th century in New Orleans -> musicians blended instrumental ragtime with vocal blues

Spread to large cities Most popular music for

dancing Played at exotic

nightclubs like the Cotton Club

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKwu165KS5Y

The Cotton Club

1. Describe the atmosphere of the Cotton Club.

2. Who owned the club? 3. Where was it located? 4. What did people do at the Cotton

Club? 5. Describe how black and white

people interacted there.