Topic 12

Chapter 25 Section 1

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Topic 12

World War I and the 1920s


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Section 1

America Enters World War I


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• Identify the causes of World War I.

• Describe the course and character of the war.

• Explain why the United States entered the conflict on the side of the Allies.

Objectives


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Terms and People

• Alsace-Lorraine – French region lost to German states in 1871

• militarism – a glorification of the military• Francis Ferdinand – archduke of Austria-Hungary

who was assassinated in 1914• William II – the German emperor• Western Front − trenches that stretched from the

Belgian coast to the Swiss border with France, forming the battlefield between the Allies and the Central Powers in Western Europe


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Terms and People (continued)

• casualty – killed, wounded, or missing soldier• contraband – weapons and other war supplies• U-boat – a German submarine• Lusitania – English passenger ship sunk by a

German U-boat, killing American civilians• Zimmermann note – a telegram in which the

German foreign minister proposed an alliance with Mexico against the U.S.


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What caused World War I, and why did the United States enter the war?

In 1914, nationalism, militarism, imperialism, and entangling alliances combined to drag Europe into a world war.

The United States attempted to remain neutral but abandoned its long tradition of staying out of European conflicts.


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In 1914, five factors made Europe a powder keg ready to explode.

Nationalism

Militarism

Economic rivalries

Imperial ambitions

Regional tensions


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• Among the powers of Europe, nationalism caused a desire to avenge perceived insults and past losses.

• Some felt national identity centered around a single ethnic group and questioned the loyalty of ethnic minorities.

• Social Darwinists applied the idea of “survival of the fittest” to nations.

Nationalism, or devotion to one’s country, caused tensions to rise.


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Economic competition caused a demand for colonies and military bases in Africa, the Pacific islands, and China.

Economic competition for trade and colonies increased nationalistic feelings.

Alliances provided a promise of assistance that made some leaders reckless or overly aggressive.


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Militarism, combined with nationalism, led to an arms race.

Nations stockpiled new technology, including machine guns, mobile artillery, tanks, submarines, and airplanes.


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The assassination triggered a chain of events that drew two sets of allies into a bloody conflict.

On June 28, 1914, Serb nationalists assassinated the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Archduke, Francis Ferdinand.


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Europe’s alliance system caused the conflict to spread quickly, creating two main combatants.

Central Powers included Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Allied Powers included Britain, France, Russia, and Serbia.


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Germany invaded Belgium, a neutral country, to attack France.

The German advance was stopped about 30 miles from Paris.

The war bogged down as both sides dug a long series of trenches, creating the Western Front.


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Neither side could overcome the other’s defenses, and a stalemate quickly developed.

The era’s deadly defensive weapons made attacks difficult and dangerous.


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Many Americans favored one side or the other.

As the war dragged on in Europe, President Wilson urged Americans to remain neutral.

• The United States had a long tradition of staying out of European conflicts.

• Yet one-third of Americans had been born in a foreign country and still identified with their homelands.


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Isolationists Favored staying out of the war

Interventionists Favored fighting on the Allies’ side

Internationalists Wanted the U.S. to play a role for peace but not fight

U.S. public opinion fell into three main groups.


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Early in the war, the British navy had set up a blockade of Germany.

• Britain’s goal was to intercept contraband goods.

• In defiance of international law, Britain also prevented non-contraband goods, such as food and gasoline, from reaching Germany.

Germany responded by trying to blockade Britain.


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German U-boats torpedoed ships bound for Britain.

On May 7, 1915, a U-boat sank the British passenger ship Lusitania off the coast of Ireland, killing many Americans.


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Americans were angry about the Lusitania. Germany failed to keep its promise to not sink any more passenger ships.

• President Wilson still wanted peace, but he began to prepare for the possibility of war.

• In 1916, Congress expanded the army and authorized more warships.


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• The Zimmermann Note was intercepted. In this telegram, Germany tried to forge an alliance with Mexico against the United States.

• Germany returned to a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, sinking any ship headed for Britain.

Two events in 1917 led President Wilson o ask Congress to declare war on the Central Powers.


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On April 2, 1917, Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying “The world must be made safe for democracy.”

Congress responded with a declaration of war on April 6, and the United States entered World War I.


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Section 2

The Home Front During World War I


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• Analyze how the American government mobilized the public to support the war effort.

• Describe opposition to the war.• Outline significant social changes that occurred

during the war.

Objectives


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Terms and People

• Selective Service Act – law that established a military draft in 1917

• Bernard Baruch – head of the War Industries Board, which regulated businesses related to the war effort

• CPI – Committee on Public Information, which worked to convince the public that the war was just

• George Creel – director of the CPI


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• conscientious objector – a person whose moral or religious views forbid participation in war

• Espionage Act – 1917 law that gave postal authorities power to ban treasonable or seditious materials from the mail

• Great Migration – the movement of more than 1.2 million African Americans from the South to northern cities between 1910 and 1920


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How did the war affect Americans at home?

For the first time, the government played a major role in Americans’ daily lives, taking on new powers to regulate industry, draft soldiers, and shape public opinion.

The war required sacrifice, but it also brought new opportunities.


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In 1917, the United States needed to increase the size of its army.

• President Wilson called for volunteers.

• Congress passed the Selective Service Act.

• More than 4 million U.S. soldiers were sent to Europe.


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The federal government took control of the wartime economy.

The Council of National Defense created federal agencies to oversee food production, fuel distribution, and railroads.

Bernard Baruch headed the War Industries Board (WIB), which regulated war-related businesses.

The Food Administration, led by Herbert Hoover, set prices for agricultural products.

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The War Industries Board encouraged factories to increase output.

Similarly, the Food Administration encouraged farmers to produce more food.

Women entered the workforce to help the war effort.


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The Committee on Public information (CPI) encouraged public support for the war.

• Headed by George Creel, the CSI distributed millions of pamphlets and sent out thousands of press releases and speakers.

• CPI materials outlined U.S. and Allied goals and stressed the enemy’s cruelty.


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Conscientious objectors were supposed to be exempt from the draft.

In practice, however, this exemption was widely ignored by local draft boards.

Not all Americans supported the war.

The draft was controversial, and some men refused to register for it.


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Jeannette Rankin, a pacifist and the only woman in Congress, voted against the war.

Jane Addams formed the Women’s Peace Party and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

Some women also opposed the war.


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The government passed laws to discourage dissent.

• The 1917 Espionage Act gave postal authorities power to ban newspapers or other printed materials that could incite treason.

• In 1918, the Sedition Act outlawed speech that went against the government or the military.

• Congress enacted laws that imposed heavy fines and prison terms on anyone who interfered with the war effort.


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Support of the Allies and anger at Germany caused a backlash against German Americans.

• Some schools stopped teaching the German language.

• People stopped listening to music by German composers.

• They called hamburgers “liberty steaks” and Dachshunds “liberty pups.”

Occasionally, hatred of the German enemy boiled over into violence against German Americans.


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The war presented new opportunities to African Americans.

• 367,000 African Americans served in the military.

• In the Great Migration, more than a million African Americans moved north, hoping to escape poverty and Jim Crow laws and find better jobs.


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Section 3

The End of World War I


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• Understand how the United States military contributed to the Allied victory in the war.

• Describe the aims of the Fourteen Points.• Analyze the decisions made at the Paris Peace

Conference.• Explain why the United States Senate refused

to ratify the treaty ending World War I.

Objectives


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Terms and People • convoy – group of ships that traveled together for

protection against German U-boats• Vladimir Lenin – radical communist leader who

took over Russia in March 1917 • John J. Pershing – General who led American

forces in Europe• Fourteen Points – Wilson’s plan for lasting peace

through international openness and cooperation• self-determination – the right of people to

choose their own form of government• League of Nations – world organization to

promote peaceful cooperation between countries


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• Henry Cabot Lodge – Republican Senator who opposed ratification of the Treaty of Versailles

• reparations – payments for war damages • “irreconcilables” – Senate isolationists who

opposed any treaty that included a League of Nations

• “reservationists” – Senators who opposed the Treaty of Versailles as written but were open to compromise

• influenza – the flu virus, which caused a deadly epidemic in 1918


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How did Americans affect the end of World War I and its peace settlements?

When the United States entered World War I in the spring of 1917, the war was at a deadly, bloody stalemate along the Western Front.

The American entry into the war would play a key role in the Allied victory.


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When the United States entered the war in 1917, Germany increased U-boat attacks, hoping to win the war before American troops could make a difference.

Convoys of British and American ships, protected by warships, provided better safety at sea.


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Several factors gave the Central Powers an advantage on land.

• The Allies were exhausted from years of fighting.• Russia was torn apart by revolutions at home.• Communists gained control of Russia, and their

leader Vladimir Lenin signed a treaty with Germany in 1918, ending Russian involvement in the war.

• The closing of the Eastern Front allowed Germany to send more troops to the Western Front.


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In the spring of 1918, Germany began an all-out offensive on the Western Front.

The attacks threatened to break through Allied defenses and opena path to Paris.

More American soldiers began to arrive, and U.S. troops carried more of the burden of fighting.


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General John J. Pershing turned millions of untrained American men into soldiers, then led them in France.

• The arrival of American soldiers gave the Allies a military advantage.

• They fought bravely in many battles. • By the end of the war, 1.3 million

Americans had served at the front. More than 50,000 of them died.


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By the fall of 1918, the German front was collapsing.

On November 11, 1918, Germany surrendered to the Allies in Compiegne, France.

Many German and Austro-Hungarian soldiers deserted, mutinied, or refused to fight.


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The war took a huge toll on those involved.

• Nearly 5 million Allied soldiers and 8 million Central Powers soldiers were killed in the fighting.

• In addition, 6.5 million civilians died during the conflict.


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In early 1919, President Wilson traveled to Versailles, France for a peace conference.

• He met with European leaders and presented a plan for peace based on his Fourteen Points.

• Wilson’s vision of a postwar world was grounded in the idea of “peace without victory.”


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Wilson’s Fourteen Points made specific proposals to promote future peace.

• Practice open diplomacy.

• Allow freedom of the seas.

• Encourage free trade.• Reduce arms

stockpiles.

• Scale back colonialism.• Encourage

self-determination of nations.

• Establish a League of Nations.


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Allied leaders at Versailles wanted reparations.

• European leaders did not share Wilson’s vision of peace without victory.

• They wanted Germany to pay for war damages.• They also wanted to protect European colonialism

and expand their countries’ territories.


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One by one, Wilson’s Fourteen Points were rejected, leaving only the League of Nations.

• The League of Nations was an organization where countries could come together to resolve disputes peacefully.

• Wilson’s proposal to create a League of Nations was added to the Treaty of Versailles.


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The Treaty of Versailles redrew the map of Europe and broke up the Ottoman Empire.


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The transition to peace was made more difficult by a deadly influenza pandemic that began in 1918.

The flu killed 550,000 Americans and more than 50 million people around the world.


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Wilson returned to face a hostile Senate, where two groups opposed the treaty.

• The “irreconcilables” were isolationists who opposed the League of Nations.

• The “reservationists,” led by Henry Cabot Lodge, opposed the treaty as written but were willing to negotiate changes.


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Wilson was unwilling to compromise on the treaty.

• On a speaking tour to promote the League of Nations in September 1919, Wilson became ill and suffered a stroke.

• As he lay near death, the Senate voted, refusing to ratify the Treaty of Versailles.


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Section 4

The Post War Economy Booms


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• Explain the impact of Henry Ford and the automobile.

• Analyze the consumer revolution and the bull market of the 1920s.

• Compare the different effects of the economic boom on urban and rural America.

Objectives


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Terms and People

• Henry Ford – applied mass production techniques to manufacture automobiles; initiated changes that had a major impact on wages, working conditions, and daily life

• mass production – the rapid, large-scale manufacture of identical products

• Model T – automobile manufactured by Henry Ford to be affordable on the mass market

• scientific management – analysis of a manufacturing process to improve speed and efficiency


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Terms and People (continued)• assembly line – manufacturing technique in

which products move past workers, each of whom adds one small component

• consumer revolution – a flood of new, affordable goods

• installment buying – buying on credit by making an initial down payment and then paying the balance over time

• inflation – rising prices• creditor nation – a nation that lends more

money than it borrows


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• bull market – a period of rising prices in the stock market

• buying on margin – buying stock on credit by paying a percentage up front and borrowing the rest of its cost


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How did the booming economy of the 1920s lead to changes in American life?

During the 1920s, the American economy experienced tremendous growth. Using mass production techniques, workers produced more goods in less time than ever before. The boom changed how Americans lived and helped create the modern consumer economy.


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After the war, economic troubles caused problems in the United States. • A recession, or economic slowdown, occurred

after the war.• Many women and African Americans lost their

jobs to returning soldiers.• Tension over jobs and housing led to race riots

in some cities.• Scarcity of consumer goods and high demand

caused inflation, or rising prices.


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Because rising prices made it harder to make ends meet, inflation caused labor unrest.

• Many unions went on strike for higher pay and shorter workdays.

• In 1919, more than 4 million workers went on strike.• The workers succeeded in some strikes, but lost far

more. Some strikes turned violent.


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After World War I, a new world order emerged.

• The German and Russian monarchies were replaced by new forms of government.

• The Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires were broken up.

• The United States became the world’s economic center and largest creditor nation.


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Still, the 1920s were a time of rapid economic growth in the United States.

Much of this boom can be traced to the automobile.


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By applying innovative manufacturing techniques, Henry Ford changed that. His affordable Model T became a car for the people.

Before 1920, only wealthy people could afford cars.


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Ford made the Model T affordable by applying mass production techniques to making cars.

• A moving assembly line brought cars to workers, who each added one part.

• Ford consulted scientific management experts to make his manufacturing process more efficient.

• The time to assemble a Model T dropped from 12 hours to just 90 minutes.


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Ford also raised his workers’ pay and shortened their hours.

With more money and more leisure time, his employees would be potential customers.By 1927, 56% of American families owned a car.


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How the Automobile Changed America

• Road construction boomed, and new businesses opened along the routes.

• Other car-related industries included steel, glass, rubber, asphalt, gasoline, and insurance.

• Workers could live farther away from their jobs.• Families used cars for leisure trips and

vacations.• Fewer people traveled on trolleys or trains.


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The 1920s saw a consumer revolution.

Advertising created demand.

Using installment buying, people could buy more.

New products flooded the market.


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• Throughout the 1920s, a bull market meant stock prices kept going up.

• Investors bought on margin, purchasing stocks on credit.

Rising stock market prices also contributed to economic growth.

By 1929, around four million Americans owned stocks.


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During the 1920s, cities grew rapidly.

Immigrants, farmers, African Americans, and Mexican Americans were among those who settled in urban areas.


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• More and more people who worked in cities moved to the suburbs.

• Suburbs grew faster than inner cities.

Cities expanded outward, thanks to automobiles and mass transit systems.


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While cities and suburbs benefited from the economic boom, rural America struggled.

Farm incomes declined or remained flat through most of the 1920s.


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Section 5

Government in the 1920s


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• Analyze how the policies of Presidents Harding and Coolidge favored business growth.

• Discuss the most significant scandals during Harding’s presidency.

• Explain the role that the United States played in the world during the 1920s.

Objectives


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Terms and People

• Warren G. Harding – elected president in 1920 by promising Americans a “return to normalcy”

• Andrew Mellon – Secretary of the Treasury under President Harding; favored low taxes, a balanced budget, and less business regulation

• Herbert Hoover – Secretary of Commerce; favored voluntary cooperation between businesses and workers

• Teapot Dome scandal – Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall took bribes in return for leasing federal oil reserves to private companies.


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• Calvin Coolidge – quiet, frugal, and honest president who took office when Harding died

• Washington Naval Disarmament Conference –meeting in which nations agreed to limit construction of large warships

• Kellogg-Briand Pact – agreement to outlaw war as an instrument of national policy

• Dawes Plan – loan program to help Germany make reparations to England and France so that those countries could repay wartime loans to U.S.


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Rather than pursue Progressive reform, Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge favored conservative policies that aided business growth.

Foreign policy during this time was largely a response to the devastation of World War I.

How did domestic and foreign policy change direction under Harding and Coolidge?


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In the 1920 presidential election, Republican Warren G. Harding based his campaign on a call for “normalcy,” a return to a simpler time.

• Voters rejected President Wilson’s idealism.

• Harding won the election in a landslide.

• Republicans also won control of Congress.


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• Unlike Progressives, Harding favored business interests and reduced federal regulations.

• His Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon was for low taxes and efficiency in government.

• Mellon cut the federal budget from a wartime high of $18 billion to $3 billion.

In 1920 Warren G. Harding was elected President, promising a “return to normalcy.”


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Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover sought voluntary cooperation between labor and business.

Instead of relying on legislation to improve labor relations, Hoover got business and labor leaders to work together.


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Harding was a popular, fun-loving president who trusted others to make decisions for him.

• Some advisors, such as Mellon and Hoover, were honest, capable, and trustworthy.

• Others, including a group known as the “Ohio Gang,” were not so civic-minded.


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Some Scandals of Harding’s Administration

• Charles Forbes, head of the Veterans’ Administration, wasted millions of dollars on overpriced, unneeded supplies.

• Attorney General Harry Daugherty accepted money from criminals.

• Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall took bribes in return for federal oil reserve leases.


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The Teapot Dome scandal became public.

• In 1921, Fall took control of federal oil reserves intended for the navy.

• He then leased those reserves to private oil companies.

• Fall was sent to prison.• President Harding did

not live to hear all of the scandal’s details. He died in 1923.


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• Coolidge was a quiet, honest, frugal Vermonter.

• As President, he admired productive business leaders.

In August 1923, Vice President Calvin Coolidge became President.


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Coolidge believed that “the chief business of the American people is business.”

• Coolidge continued Mellon’s policies to reduce the national debt, trim the budget, and lower taxes.

• The country saw huge industrial profits and spectacular growth in the stock market.

• The middle and upper classes prospered, especially in cities.


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• Farmers struggled as agricultural prices fell. • Labor unions fought for higher pay and

better working conditions.• African Americans and Mexican Americans

faced severe discrimination.

Not everyone shared in the era’s prosperity.

Coolidge ignored such issues, believing it was not the federal government’s job to legislate social change.


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Under Harding and Coolidge, the United States assumed a new role as a world leader.

• The Washington Naval Disarmament Conference limited construction of large warships.

• The Kellogg-Briand Pact, signed by 62 countries, outlawed war.

Much of U.S. foreign policy was a response to World War I’s devastation.

But the U.S. refused to join the World Court.


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During this period the United States also became a world economic leader.

• To protect American businesses, Harding raised tariffs on imported goods by 25%.

• European nations retaliated, creating a tariff war.• The Dawes Plan loaned money to Germany so

that Germany could pay reparations to Britain and France; in turn, those countries could repay the U.S. for wartime loans.


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Section 6

An Unsettled Society


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Objectives

• Compare economic and cultural life in rural America to that in urban America.

• Discuss changes in U.S. immigration policy in the 1920s.

• Analyze the goals and motives of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s.

• Discuss the successes and failures of the Eighteenth Amendment.


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Terms and People

• modernism – trend that emphasized science and secular values over traditional religious ideas

• fundamentalism – belief that emphasizes the Bible as literal truth

• Scopes Trial – 1925 “Monkey Trial,” which challenged a law against teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution in Tennessee public schools

• Clarence Darrow – defense attorney in the Scopes Trial


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• quota system – a formula to determine how many immigrants could enter the U.S. annually from a given country

• Ku Klux Klan – a group violently opposed to immigrants, Catholics, Jews, and African Americans

• Prohibition – a ban on alcohol• Eighteenth Amendment – a 1919 Constitutional

amendment that established Prohibition


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Terms and People (continued)• Volstead Act – a law that gave the government

power to enforce the Eighteenth Amendment• bootlegger – someone who illegally sold alcohol

during Prohibition• Red Scare – widespread fear of radicals and

communists• Palmer Raids – a series of raids, arrests, and

deportations of suspected radicals, most of whom never received a trial

• Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti – Italian anarchists convicted and executed for murder despite scarce evidence against them


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How did Americans differ on major social and cultural issues?

In the 1920s, many city dwellers enjoyed a rising standard of living, while most farmers suffered through hard times.

Conflicting visions for the nation’s future heightened tensions between cities and rural areas.


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In 1920, for the first time, more Americans lived in cities than in rural areas.

In cities, many people enjoyed prosperity and were open to social change and new ideas.

Times were harder in rural areas. Rural people generally preferred traditional views of science, religion, and culture.


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An example of this clash of values was the tension between modernism and Christian fundamentalism in the 1920s.

Modernism emphasized science and secular values.

Fundamentalism emphasized religious values and taught the literal truth of the Christian Bible.


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Attitudes toward education illustrate another difference between urban and rural perspectives.

• Urban people saw formal education as essential to getting a good job.

• In rural areas, “book learning” interfered with farm work and was less highly valued.


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Education became a battleground for fundamentalist and modernist values in the 1925 Scopes Trial.

• Tennessee made it illegal to teach evolution in public schools.

• Biology teacher John Scopes challenged the law.• Defense attorney Clarence Darrow tried to use

science to cast doubt on religious beliefs.


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• The conflict over teaching evolution in public schools continues today.

The Scopes Trial illustrated a major cultural and religious division, but it did not resolve the issue.

• Scopes was found guilty of teaching evolutionand fined.


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Immigrants were at the center of another cultural clash.

Many Americans recognized the importance of immigration to U.S. history.Many Mexicans settled in the sparsely populated

areas of the southwest.

Nativists feared that immigrants took jobs away from native-born workers and threatened American traditions.After World War I, the Red Scare increased distrust of immigrants.


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In 1924, the National Origins Act set up a quota system for immigrants.

For each nationality, the quota allowed up to 2% of 1890’s total population of that nationality living in the U.S.


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Trends such as urbanization, modernism, and increasing diversity made some people lash out against change.

• Beginning in 1915, there was a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan.

• The Klan promoted hatred of African Americans, Jews, Catholics, and immigrants.

• By 1925, the Klan had between 4 and 5 million members.


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Others embraced the idea of racial, ethnic, and religious diversity.

• Many valued the idea of the United States as a “melting pot.”

• Groups such as the NAACP and the Jewish Anti-Defamation League worked to counter the Klan and its values.

By the late 1920s, many Klan leaders had beenexposed as corrupt.


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Alcoholic beverages were another divisive issue.

In 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment, which banned the making, distributing, or selling of alcohol, became part of the Constitution.

The Volstead Act enabled the government to enforce the amendment.

Prohibition became law in the United States.


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“Drys” favored Prohibition, hailing the law as a “noble experiment.”Drys believed that Prohibition was good for society.

“Wets” opposed Prohibition, claiming that it did not stop drinking.Wets argued that Prohibition encouraged hypocrisy and illegal activity.


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Prohibition did not stop people from drinking alcoholic beverages.

• A large illegal network created, smuggled, distributed, and sold alcohol, benefiting gangsters such as Al Capone.

• People bought alcohol illegally from bootleggers and at speakeasies.

Prohibition contributed to the rise of organized crime.


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Several events combined to create the first Red Scare in the United States.

• Wave of widespread fear of communists and radicals

• Suspected to be plotting revolution

• Violent strikes• The emergence of the

Soviet Union as a communist country

• A series of mail bombs targeting industrialists and government officials


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One mail bomb was sent to Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, who launched the Palmer Raids in 1920.

• Police arrested thousands of people.• Some were radicals; others were simply immigrants.• Hundreds of people were deported without a trial.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) formed in 1920 to protect people’s rights and liberties.


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Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian anarchists charged with murder committed during a robbery in Massachusetts.

• Witnesses claimed the robbers “looked Italian.”

• Despite little real evidence against them, Sacco and Vanzetti were convicted and executed.

Many scholars and politicians believed that the men died because of their nationality and political beliefs.


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Section 7

The Roaring Twenties


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Objectives

• Trace the reasons that leisure time increased during the 1920s.

• Analyze how the development of popular culture united Americans and created new activities and heroes.

• Discuss the advancements of women in the 1920s.

• Analyze the concept of modernism and its impact on writers and painters in the 1920s.


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Terms and People

• Charlie Chaplin – popular silent film star• The Jazz Singer – the first talking motion picture• Babe Ruth – baseball star known as the “Sultan

of Swat” and the “Bambino” • Charles Lindbergh – the first person to fly solo

and non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean• flapper – a young woman of the 1920s who

rejected traditional values and dress


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• Sigmund Freud – psychologist who suggested that people are driven by subconscious desires

• “Lost Generation” – writers who rejected Victorian values after World War I and searched for new truths

• F. Scott Fitzgerald – author of The Great Gatsby and other novels that questioned the idea of the American dream

• Ernest Hemingway – author of a Farewell to Arms who developed a new writing style


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How did the new mass culture reflect technological and social changes?

The automobile made it easier for people to travel. Other technological advances, such as radio and film, created a new mass culture. New styles also emerged in art and literature.

In many ways, the 1920s represented the first decade of our own modern era.


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In the 1920s, urban dwellers saw an increase in leisure time.

Farmers worked from dawn to dusk and had little time for recreation.

In cities and suburbs, people earned more money and had more time for fun. They looked for new kinds of entertainment.


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One of the new kinds of entertainment was the motion picture.

In the 1920s, 60 to 100 million people went to the movies each week.

Throughout most of the decade, movies were silent, so people could watch them no matter what language they spoke.


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Movies were affordable and available to everyone, everywhere.

In 1927, Al Jolson appeared in The Jazz Singer, the first “talkie,” ending the era of silent films.

Movies’ democratic, universal appeal created stars known the world over.

Charlie Chaplin became the most popular silent film star by playing “The Little Tramp.”


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The radio and the phonograph were powerful instruments of mass culture.

• The first commercial radio station, KDKA, began in 1920.

• Within three years, there were 600 radio stations.

• People all over the country could hear the same music, news, and shows.

• With phonographs, people could listen to music whenever they wanted.

• Improvements in recording technology made records popular.

• People listened to the same songs and learned the same dances.


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The world of sports produced some nationally famous heroes.

Baseball player Babe Ruth, nicknamed “The Sultan of Swat,” thrilled people with his home runs.

Thanks to newspapers and radio, millions of people could follow their favorite athletes.


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• In May 1927, Lindbergh flew his single-engine plane, Spirit of St. Louis, non-stop from New York to Paris.

• The flight took more than 33 hours.

Aviator Charles Lindbergh became a national hero when he made the first solo flight across the Atlantic.


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Women’s roles also changed in the 1920s.

• Women married later, had fewer children, and generally lived longer, healthier lives.

• Labor-saving appliances, such as electric irons and vacuum cleaners, allowed time for book clubs, charitable work, and new personal interests.

• Such changes benefited urban women more than rural women.


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• These young women rejected Victorian morality and values.

• They wore short skirts, cut their hair in a short style called the bob, and followed dance crazes such as the Charleston.

Flappers represented a “revolution in manners and morals.”


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The decade saw many “firsts” for women.

• More women entered the workforce.• They moved into new fields such as banking,

aviation, journalism, and medicine.• Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming became the first

female governor.• Other “firsts” included the first woman judge

and the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate.


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• The war’s devastation left many questioning the optimistic Victorian attitude of progress.

• Modernism expressed a skeptical, pessimistic view of the world.

• Writers and artists explored the ideas of psychologist Sigmund Freud, who suggested that human behavior was driven by unconscious desires.

World War I strongly affected the art and literature of the 1920s.


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Artists such as Edward Hopper, Joseph Stella, and Georgia O’Keefe challenged tradition and experimented with new subjects and abstract styles.


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Writers of the 1920s were called the Lost Generation because they’d lost faith in Victorian cultural values.

• F. Scott Fitgerald explored the idea of the American dream, writing that his generation had found“all faiths in man shaken.”

• Ernest Hemingway questioned concepts of personal sacrifice, glory, honor, and war and created a new style of writing.

• Playwright Eugene O’Neill explored the subconscious mind in his plays.


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Section 8

The Harlem Renaissance


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Objectives

• Analyze the racial and economic philosophies of Marcus Garvey.

• Trace the development and impact of jazz.• Discuss the themes explored by writers of the

Harlem Renaissance.


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Terms and People

• Marcus Garvey – founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the “Back to Africa” movement who promoted black pride

• jazz – American musical art form based on improvisation that came to represent the Roaring Twenties

• Louis Armstrong – trumpet player who influenced the development of jazz

• Bessie Smith – jazz singer known as the “Empress of the Blues”


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• Harlem Renaissance – the flowering of African American arts and literature in 1920s New York

• Claude McKay – Harlem Renaissance writer who showed the struggles of ordinary African Americans

• Langston Hughes – prolific writer who celebrated African American culture and life

• Zora Neale Hurston – folklorist and author of Their Eyes Were Watching God


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How did African Americans express a new sense of hope and pride?

As a result of World War I and the Great Migration, millions of African Americans relocated from the rural South to the urban North. This migration contributed to a flowering of music and literature.

Jazz and the Harlem Renaissance had a lasting impact on American culture.


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• They hoped to escape the poverty and racism of the South.

• The North offered higher wages and a middle class of African American ministers, physicians, and teachers.

• Discrimination did exist in the North, however, and African Americans faced low pay, poor housing, and the threat of race riots.

Many African Americans were attracted to northern cities by dreams of a better life.


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Harlem, in New York City, was the cultural focal point of the northern migration.

In Harlem, 200,000 African Americans mixed with immigrants from Caribbean islands such as Jamaica.


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• Garvey promoted universal black nationalism and support of black-owned businesses.

• He founded a “Back to Africa” movement and the Universal Negro Improvement Association.

• Eventually, Garvey was convicted of mail fraud and deported.

Jamaican immigrant Marcus Garvey encouraged black pride.


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• Jazz was a kind of music based on improvisation that grew out of African American blues and ragtime.

• It began in southern and southwestern cities such as New Orleans.

• Jazz crossed racial lines to become a uniquely American art form.

The 1920s was known as the “Jazz Age.”


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New Orleans trumpet player Louis Armstrong was the unofficial ambassador of jazz.

• Armstrong played in New Orleans, Chicago, and New York.

• His expert playing made him a legend and influenced the development of jazz.


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• Duke Ellington was a popular band leader who wrote or arranged more than 2,000 pieces of music and earned international honors.

• Jazz bands featured solo vocalists such as Bessie Smith, the “Empress of the Blues.”

• White composers such as Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and George Gershwin found inspiration in jazz.

Spread by radio and phonograph records, jazz gained worldwide popularity.


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Jazz and the blues were part of the Harlem Renaissance, a flowering of African American arts and literature.

Novelists, poets, and artists celebrated their culture and explored questions of race in America.

Jean Toomer’s Cane showed the richness of African American life and folk culture.

The writings of Claude McKay emphasized the dignity of African Americans and called for social and political change.


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Langston Hughes, the most celebrated Harlem Renaissance writer, captured the diversity of everyday African American life in his poetry, journalism, and criticism.

Zora Neale Hurston published folk tales from her native Florida. Her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God speaks of women’s longing for independence.


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Yet this artistic movement had a lasting effect on the self-image of African Americans.

It created a sense of group identity and soldarity among African Americans. It later became the cultural bedrock upon which the Civil Rights movement would be built.

As the Great Depression began, the Harlem Renaissance came to an end.

Topic 12

Education

Transcript of Topic 12