1920s The jazz Age

Chap 15

A Clash of values
1920s saw a clash between
traditional and modern values
Post WWI America was prosperous
and confident, consumerism was on
the rise
Americans returned to isolationism
and nativism

Resurgence of
nativism and racism
Who did we hate? In
WWI we hated the
Germans. After WWI we
hated and feared the
Communists and
immigrants.
Immigrants seen as
threats.
New quotas set to
restrict immigration.

The Red Scare

After WWI, people feared the
spread of communism, Workers
of the world, UNITE!!
(Bolshevik Revolution in Russia,
1917)
Economy in turmoil after war:
govt price controls removedled
to high prices, workers strikes
Americans feared a communist
conspiracy

The Palmer Raids 1919

Palmer Raids
After a series of bombings, US Attorney
General Robert Palmer conducts
sweeping raids, arresting thousands of
foreigners nation-wide. Many were jailed
and/or deported. Civil liberties were
ignored.
Beginning of the FBI and J. Edgar
Hoovers long career

Sacco-Vanzetti
Trial
Two immigrant
anarchist convicted of
burglary and murder
after a prejudiced trial
I am suffering because I
am a radical and indeed
I am a radical; I have
suffered because I am
an Italian and indeed I
am an Italian.

Eugenics:
the Pseudo-Science

Eugenics
Used by nativists to argue superiority of
whites.
Said human inequalities were inherited
Used to justify sterilization of mentally ill or
handicapped Americans
Studies will be used by Nazi Germany in
its push to create a master race and
exterminate undesirables

Return of The KKK

1915 Ku Klux Klan

Anti-black
Anti-Catholic
Anti-Jew
Anti-immigrant
wanted to:
preserve Americas white Protestant
civilization.
Not just a Southern organization, spread
all over the United States.

Keep America American

New laws restricted
immigration, set quotas
based on 1890 levels.
Mexican immigration
Mexico exempt from
quotas; take work in
agriculture.
Asian immigration:
stopped almost
completely

The Scopes Monkey Trial

Creationism v. Evolution
Old-fashioned v. Modern
William Jennings Bryan v. Clarence
Darrow
1925 Tennessee --- High school
teacher John Scopes found guilty of
teaching evolution.

prohibition

The Volstead act

The law that enforced Prohibition
Took authority from the state
governments and made the Treasury
Dept responsible for enforcing
Prohibition.
Increased the role of the federal
govt in law enforcement

The new American Hero

Sports: baseball,
boxing, football,
basketball

Mass Media
Radio, newspaper, motion pictures,
magazines help create a shared national
culture

African-American culture

The Great Migration

Hundreds of thousands of African Americans

left the South moving to industrial cities
looking for work and better lives.

African-American Politics
African-Americans have fewer voting
restrictions in Northern cities.
Voting Blocs: greater concentration of
blacks voting in the cities. More
success in influencing voting. Blacks
tended to vote Republican
NAACP: continues its fight against
segregation, discrimination, and
lynching.

Harlem Renaissance

Harlem
An area in NYC where many AfricanAmericans settled.
Created a community of racial pride
and success, political organization,
and artistic development.

HarlemHome of JAZZ
The Cotton Club, the Apollo, the
Savoy

JAZZ and BLUES

A style of music that grew out of
Dixieland, ragtime, and African
spiritual influences.
Syncopated, soulful, swinging
rhythms.
Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington,
Bessie Smith, Josephine Baker

Writers and Poets of the

Harlem Renaissance
Claude McKay
wrote against racism

Langston Hughes
focus on AfricanAmerican pride,
expectation of
equality

Black nationalism
Promoted black pride and unity
Led by Marcus Garvey.
Believed African-Americans could gain economic
and political power thru EDUCATION
Also pushed for separation and independence
from whites
Garvey estd the UNIAUnited Negro
Improvement Association
Proposed that blacks everywhere should return
to Africa Pan-African Movement

Marcus Garvey
Federal officials
believed Garvey to be
dangerous, afraid he
would incite rebellion
and violence.
Garvey was arrested
and deported to
Jamaica

Tulsa Race Riot

1921
Greenwood district of Tulsa destroyed Americas Black
Wall Street
Riot begins after Tulsa Tribune article publishes account
of black man attacking a white woman in an elevator
White mobs burn Greenwood, citizens blocked fire dept
from responding
Official death toll is 35, but is probably closer to 300.
No other arrests made
Dick Rowland released; Sarah Page did not press
charges.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/specialprojects/news/race-riot
/multimedia.aspx