America in the 1920’s
Racial Tensions in the 1920’s By: Chris Low Racial tensions were quite severe in the 1920’s. African Americans were one of the biggest racial groups who were discriminated against. Other races including, Jews, Catholics, Semitics, and immigrants were also discriminated against.
The Klu Klux Klan, a.k.a. KKK, had died down for a long time before a revival of the KKK in the 1920’s. The rebirth of the KKK was enormous, racking up 4.5 million members in the early part of the 1920’s. This time, the KKK included Women, and discriminated against African Americans, Jews, Catholics, Semitics, immigrants, and even whites who didn’t practice the “social norm”. The leader of the KKK was a dentist named Hiram Wesley Evens, who was nicknamed the “Imperial Wizard”. His organization was violent and cruel violating many rights of minorities. They burnt churches, murdered, raped, and castrated minorities. Politics were corrupted with KKK members. Indiana and Tennessee were practically controlled by the KKK. Law enforcement’s highest ranked officials were often part of the KKK. The KKK activity died down in 1925. David C. Stephenson, a “Grand Dragon” of the KKK, was convicted of the brutal rape and killing of an Indiana School teacher. Despite of the KKKK’s political influence, the governor rejected him mercy. Stephenson then revealed all the public officials associating with the KKK resulting in a huge decrease in the KK’s influence and membership.
Racial tensions were extremely high during the 1920’s, and many conflicts were appearing. Many opinions about minorities sprouted during this era. Many of these, turned violent. Not much was done by the officials to prevent discrimination either, as many of the officials were corrupted. The 1920’s were not good times for minorities. Other movements about racial tensions include an organization called the “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People”. As the name states, this organization was pushing for racial equality and advancement in the social community. W.E.B. Du Bois was a leader in the organization. However, other methods of racial equality were being presented to the public. Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican political journalist, started the “back to Africa” movement. He rounded up around 4 million supporters by the start of the 1920’s. He thought that social equality could only be achieved by getting African Americans to return to their origins. This movement died down quickly as Garvey was arrested for fraud and sent to prison.
19th Amendment By: Ethan Upchurch
On August 26, 1920, the 19th amendment was finally ratified. This guarantees all women the right to vote. Women now have rights and responsibilities of citizenship. The women that helped achieve this right to vote were called activists. Activists are people that attempt to achieve some sort of social or political goal. Women’s right to vote is called women’s suffrage.
Activists have been pushing towards the ratification of the 19th amendment for the past 100years. Susan B. Anthony was one of the more popular activists pushing towards women’s suffrage. Campaigning women’s suffrage started as early as 1820. Another popular activist was Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was the first president of NAWSA, or the National American Women Suffrage Association.
WW1 also played a role in women’s suffrage. Although it slowed the campaign for women’s suffrage, it proved the women’s worthiness as patriots and citizens. While the men were out fighting the war, women stayed back and took over most of America. This proves that there are no reasons we should restrict women from voting because they can run America just as well as the men which means they could also vote.
Economic Boom By: Hirsche Henstrom
The beginning of the 1930s was the start of the worst depression that would ever strike America. But what about what happened ten years before? Ten years before America had an economic boom. Right after the war America was in great shape due to many different reasons.
America may have spent a lot of money on the war, but unlike a lot of the countries in Europe we didn’t have to recover from physical loss due to the fighting happening over the sea. Another bonus was the money we were receiving from the countries that were in debt to us.
After the war people were celebrating and with different laws prohibiting too much work people had time to go to the movies, go on vacation and spend money. Also, electric utility companies were spreading, and automobiles were popping up everywhere.
Consumerism By: Ethan Upchurch
During WW1, American industry expanded due to need for goods in Europe. By the end of the war, an economic boom increased demand for everyday items called consumer goods. Consumer goods, such as washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and cookers, made life easier for citizens, especially women, who did most of the cooking, cleaning, and other housework.
Due to advertisements, radio sales boosted in the 1920s. Almost every American home had a radio, and if not, had radio access. With new technology helping people with labor, people have more free time to explore the world of entertainment. Radios being one of the main forms of entertainment, most people listened to music or caught up on the daily news. Not everything was good about the new consumer goods. As the sales of the radio increased, sales of the gramophone decreased, meaning that people had lost interest in the gramophone. The motor car industry also played a role in consumerism. Henry Ford advertised about his cars saying that “every family should have one”, and after that slogan stopped working he said “every family should have two. Not only did the people have the time for all these forms of entertainment, but they also had the money for it due to the consumer boom.
Henry Ford & Assembly Lines By: Chris Low
In the 1910’s-1920’s, Henry Ford’s innovation and morale was a great influence to the country. He found a way to provide relatively poor people to be able to purchase cars, and treated his workers well with good pay which even allowed workers to buy the cars. Ford’s innovation that caused his drastic success came from a rather bland source of inspiration. Henry Ford was first inspired by conveyer belts from meat packaging plants. He took his rather long and expensive car assembly process and split it apart. His original process was very time consuming and expensive. It took nearly 12 hours, and the car needed to be sold at around $825 to gain a decent profit. While that’s around $21k in today’s money, it was not extremely affordable to everyone. Ford had a goal to create an efficient and cheap system of assembling cars while creating sturdy, high quality models.
Ford’s process was quite simple. He hired Frederick Taylor, an expert in industrial efficiency to help him plan the process of assembly. Ford ended up using a 150 foot long line with 140 workers assigned to a certain part of assembly. Every single part of the car would be made before hand, and each individual part was the same. Workers were only trained to put their one part on the car. These way unskilled workers could be hired, and there would be a smaller margin for mistake. This process was faster and cheaper. Ford’s creation of mass production and assembly lines were an instant success. Ford was able to cut the price of the car too about 69% of the original car to $575. It was definitely a much more affordable price than before. Ford started using this process on December 1st, 1913, and by 1914, the prices of his car were dropped drastically, assembly time went down by 6 hours, and Ford could claim 48% of the share in the automobile industry. Ford was a big role model in America’s society. He treated his workers well and believed in productiveness as well as opportunity. He gave chances to the middle and lower classes to buy his cars, and made his workers very loyal. Ford was a great man whose innovation changed America.
Credit & Installment Buying By: Coy Blair
Credit or Installment buying is a type of use now, pay later mentality. People would put some money down to buy a product, and then pay back the rest of it over a period of time. This allowed middle class Americans to buy what only the wealthy could afford to pay in cash. So now, instead of saving for years to buy something then not having any money left over, you could buy a product right when you needed it and still have money to pay for other things.
Manufactures of these products everyone was buying, realized that they could grow their companies with installment selling. They targeted stay-at-home wives because they were the ones doing all the house work. They enticed them to buy products that would save time and allow them to have more leisure time. Credit and Installment buying would turn out to cause the Great Depression because people couldn’t pay back the installments they bought. In turn, the companies also suffered because they could not get the money owed to them.
Impact of New Communication By: Ethan Upchurch
The first impact is print. Newspapers and magazines were very important for the nation. They helped inform people of the most recent national news and events, such as sports games. Charles Lindbergh was one of the main celebrities of the press in the roaring 20s. He was also one of the most famous pilots of the roaring 20s. He became famous by flying a non-stop solo route from New York to Paris. Another impact of the roaring 20s was film. The first type of film didn’t have sound. Before the Charlie Chaplin was one of the first celebrity actors in the films without sound. Film was popular during WW1, but the introduction to “talkies”, which are films that have sound, changed the whole perspective of film. The Jazz Singer was the first talkie. Talkies brought out a new generation of entertainment that created more celebrities and attracted many citizens. The Last, but not least (actually the best), impact was radio. This was the most important impact of communication in the 1920s. Radio “changed the face of the nation”. KDKA was the very first radio broadcasting station. Radio broadcasted news and athletic events, but mainly music. Almost every citizen in America had a radio. One type of radio is called a crystal set, which could be listened to through earphones. Graham Mcnamee was one of the first broadcasters and celebrities on the air. Radio definitely made a huge impact on the nation.
Impact of New Celebrities By: Coy Blair
One impact of new celebrities was that they were role models for young people. Younger people were exposed to new fashions and hairstyles from watching celebrities in movies. They then realized that they could become more popular if they imitated these celebrities. So whatever the celebrities dressed in, everyone else dressed the same. Another impact of new celebrities was an advertisement boom. Radio broadcasters, newspapers, and promoters were making big time money off of promoting sporting events. They would put ads out that promoted an event, and viewers would skyrocket. The final impact of new celebrities was the new culture that had emerged. Everyone was going to the same movies no matter their state of being, poor or rich, having the same ambitions and dreams as everyone else.
Post-Isolationism of America in the 1920’s By: Chris Low
While in WWI, America played a young heroic role, it was not the case in the 1920’s. America was more like a turtle withdrawing into its shell. After WWI, America decided that it was fed up with Europe. They became isolationists by cutting off the majority of trade and immigration between all foreign countries.
America’s decisions to become isolationists originated from Washington’s farewell address which advised to stay out of European affairs. After the devastating WWI, America did not want to be exposed to any conflict with Europe and started to raise high tariffs against the Europeans. This put very high taxes on foreign goods making consumers prefer American goods. However, debts from Europe owed to the U.S. could not be paid back because tariffs prevented Europe from earning the money to pay. In turn, Europe also put high tariffs on U.S. goods. Another decision was to limit immigration. America did not want immigrants of foreign nations to influence America at all. In Russia, communism was spreading and caused America’s ”Red Scare”, was when the U.S. was afraid of Russian immigrants implementing communism into the U.S. They arrested 4,000 people who they suspected as communists. Enormous immigration quotas were also introduced. The quota act of 1921, limited immigration to 3% of what it was in 1910. By 1924, that number was at 2%.
Post-War Dawes Plan By: Sam Deyak
Charles Dawes was an American banker and was the leader of the international committee at the time. Asked by the allied reparations committee to solve the problem with Germany going into debt, Britain and France not being able to pay back the debt to America from supplies during the war. The Dawes plan consisted of the allied forces occupying the Ruhr in Germany to leave; reparations for the war would begin at 1 billion dollars per year and would eventually grow to 2.5 billion dollars per year. Also, the Reichsbank would be reorganized under allied supervision and the sources for the reparations would come from transportation, excise and custom taxes. The total loan was $800 million Dollars. The flaw in this plan was it made Germany rely on foreign markets to pay off its debt, this will cause great damage all over because of the American depression.
Transportation in the 1920’s By: Breyton McDole
Transportation in the 1920s especially became very advanced for the average person. Before the 20s only the very wealthy could travel the world or had very nice means of transportation. Before the 20s the average person traveled usually by horse, not to say that some people in the 20s didn’t travel by horse, because there were a lot of average classed people who still did travel by horse. But by the 1920s, getting better means of transportation became very easy for the average person especially.
In the 1920s a lot of average people could afford the new Model T car produced by Henry Ford in the United States. Most people during this time period did have a Model T as they were relatively cheap for how much production costly they were back then. Also, many people especially in the big cities would travel by public transportation such as the bus, or railway systems that ran through the heart of the city most often. Only the very wealthiest of people usually could afford to ride or even buy an airplane for themselves. Although there were many people who did ride on these airplanes to travel the world quite frequently because before this time period the only long distance means of travel was the boat which took a very long time to get from Point A to Point B. So, the 1920s was a very important time period in our history for new means of transportation in the United States.
Impact of Sports By: Tanner Rohweder
The 1920’s were a new era not ridden by constant war turmoil and hardships such as the previous decade. With this new era came strict working laws limiting the hours of labor you could perform, which led to people having more leisure time. This is where sports in America got its boost.
With the pre-1920’s resulting in a downsize in popular sports, such as the cancellation of the 1916 Olympics, left the activities relatively non-existent until this new era came along. As sports teams and publicity grew, so did the sports media. Radio, newspapers, and stadiums brought the game to the public. Not only did it bring the game to the public, but also the stars. The heroes of this era were the sports stars. Many of these athletes are still recognized today as one of the all-time greats. Baseball, football, tennis, swimming, boxing, and golf were among the most popular. Sports were also seen as an opportunity for money not only for the sports stars themselves, but also for businesses and cities. Advertising rose to all-time highs using common sports figures to endorse their products and to increase tourism. Sports gave America a boost, just as the end of the war did. It added to public moral, entertainment, and profit. Not only did it benefit the athletes, but also the spectators and economy as a whole. These sports in the 1920 are part of what ensured this era as a timeless period of leisure and prosperity.
Impact of Music in the 1920’s By: Breyton McDole
The 1920s was a very fun and exciting time because of the recent victory of World War I. All of the soldiers were returning from the war grounds and there were many celebrations. So with these celebrations people found fun and playful music more appropriate than the sad or classical piano. This is where Jazz music came into play.
Jazz is a mixture of old time blues and ragtime that united many people to come to the nightclubs in the Southern part of the United States. But unfortunately there were still many racial problems amongst the United States so many of the famous African American musicians such as Louis Armstrong were not allowed to play at the same nightclubs as some of the White musicians. Louis Armstrong is arguably the most famous jazz musician to ever live. He had many songs that are still known today as iconic jazz songs. Exciting songs such as these created the dance known as the Charleston. The Charleston was a fast paced dance originating in the South that involves many swinging and swaying movements of the hips and the arms. The Charleston became world famous and although it is not performed anymore, it is still talking about as an iconic dance that occurred during the iconic 1920s.
Dating During the 1920’s
By: Sam Deyak
During the 1920s, dating changed the way people found their spouse than the way it had been done for years. Colleges had the biggest impact on the new dating. College students who wanted to have fun would throw petting parties, parties for girls and boys who would basically make out with each other, but far from sexual intercourse. One more thing that greatly affected the dating stage was the car; it allowed privacy and freedom at the same time. The saying “date� came from men picking up prostitutes in the early 1920s. Before dating became a source of actual fun and joy, marriage was based on how much money the other family had.
Immigration Tensions By: Coy Blair
There was lots of tension between the U.S., and other countries during the 1920’s. They existed for lots of reasons. One main reason was the Immigration Act of 1924. This act lowered quotas, from which had previously been set, from 3% of the country’s population to 2%. So the total number of visas available to immigrants greatly decreased making them harder to get. People that were planning on immigrating were unhappy because of this, making their home country unhappy with them. A final reason for tension with immigrants was their resisting to join into American culture. Since they came from different countries, immigrant’s cultures and beliefs differed from most American’s. These people wanted immigrants to change and become an American. Immigrants did not want to do this, so Americans were upset with them.
Another reason for immigration tensions were American citizen’s resentment. Americans resented immigrants because they would take the jobs no one else wanted, working for poor wages and under poor conditions. In American’s opinion, these jobs should have gone to Americans.
Unions and Strikes By: Tanner Rohweder
Labor unions and Strikes played an enormous role in big businesses and the economy as a whole. A labor union is an organized group of workers who typically share similar, if not the same lines of work and “team up” to ensure their safety and fair compensation. The 1920’s is known for the birth and fall of early labor unions.
As the 1920’s approached, unions became more and more prevalent with numbers rising over 5 million members. This threatened the powerful industrial leaders of the time period. It jeopardized their profits and strict working reigns as well as the economy. After the war, unions decided that their annual pay wasn’t quite up to par and stated that the inflation left their usual pay meaningless. When big business leaders turned down their requests for a greater pay even though they had already received fewer working hours after the labor laws, the unions took actions into their own hands and used strikes to fight. A strike is a complete abandonment in their job, resulting in a halt in product production. Industry leaders fought back, resulting in union numbers to fall by the millions and their eventual defeat. This was another factor that lead up to The Great Depression. The 1920’s had been a time of trial and error, and can be proved so by the stories of the rise and fall of unions and strikes. Effective or not, it impacts our role in the economy today, and as well as back then. The birth of labor unions greatly changed the industrial world and the working conditions we know today.
Advertisements in the 1920’s By: Sam Deyak
Advertising in the 1920s changed consumerism in the world, major corporations and companies began to hire sports stars, famous singers, actors to endorse products like Coca cola Wrigley gum, etc. Many ways the advertisements were used were to make you look like a ripped athlete or beautiful actress. Advertisements were getting creative, they would make the consumer fell like he/she is left out or not pretty or not physically fit.
Scopes Trial By: Hirsche Henstrom
The Scopes Trial occurred in Tennessee on July 21, 1925. It was nicknamed the Scopes Monkey Trial. Want to guess why? It was about a very controversial topic at the time; evolution. Mr. Scopes was a high school science teacher, and one day he was teaching about evolution, which in Tennessee is illegal according to the Butler Act. I’m writing about this trial for one reason only. The public blew up this trial. It became national news because the public made it such a bigger deal then it should have been. Scopes later even confessed that he wasn’t even sure if he had actually taught evolution in the first place. In the end Scopes was charged 100 dollars, which was a lot of money back then, especially for a teacher. That was some monkey business!
18th Amendment By: Breyton McDole
The 18th Amendment to the United States constitution prohibited the transportation, manufacture, and sale of alcoholic products. The banning of alcohol had an enormous toll on the people of the United States. The beer and alcohol industry was on the up rise and was a very huge market during that time period but the women who protested it were right, it did tear families apart because of the abuse it had when the men would drink it. Alcohol in the 20s was big because of the rise of music and other exciting new things. Alcohol usually went along with the many parties people would have and because there were cars, the teenagers had more freedom and therefore potentially bought alcohol and sometimes worked at the factories that processed it. But after the 18th amendment was passed, many people were out of jobs at the factories that had to close down. Of course along with any law that was made in earlier times, people found a loophole. The 18th amendment prohibited the sale, manufacture, and transportation of the alcohol but it didn’t prohibit the consumption of it. So naturally, people could legally drink it if they could get their hands on it, although they could not make or sell it legally.
Impact of Movies in the 1920’s By: Hirsche Henstrom
Silent films were a huge part of the booming 1920’s. Lots of films celebrated the recent victory of World War 1. Millions of people were going to the movies. There were a ton of films that were starting to be produced. At one point 800 films were being produced in one year. Hollywood became a hug part of the film making industry in 1927. 85 percent of movies were being made Hollywood. Hollywood was popular for many reasons including: weather, zoos available, good spots for movies that were being made at the time. MGM and Warner brothers were some of the companies that started around this time. Walt Disney also started to produce the Mickey Mouse cartoons which became widely popular. Some popular figures in 1920s that we would consider the same to Brad Pitt, Leonardo Dicaprio, and Jennifer Anniston etc. included Rudolph Valentin, Charlie Chaplin and Clara Bow. They were huge silent film idols.
Post-War Disarmament By: Tanner Rohweder
After the First World War was declared to be over, it really wasn’t over. Disarmament was one of the biggest proposals made. Disarmament is the restrictions and/or ban on certain weapons, military forces, and numbers of soldiers. There were new rules and regulations that needed to be put in place, such as disarmament of Germany and their allies. The League of Nations was a league of countries for peace among the world’s people, first thought up by USA’s president, Woodrow Wilson. The United States turned away from the idea of actually joining it though, but not without Wilson giving his two cents in how Germany should be dealt with. Wilson proposed the disarmament of Germany mainly, which consisted of a military containing no more than 100,000 men and tight restrictions on naval forces. Weaponry was also tightly banned and restricted with a worldwide debt to tack on to the rest of the proposition. These actions hit the central powers hard, with Germany being hit the hardest. It sent them spiraling down economically with the thought of revenge lingering in their minds. These restrictions didn’t last for long, however, and would eventually be forgotten come World War 2. The 1920’s had been a time of peace for the United States and would for the great majority remain that way throughout the entire decade.
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