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First model T is produced by Henry Ford using the assembly line method
cars, once only a toy of the rich, became “the carriage of the common citizen” in the 1920’s -the textbook
shifted character of American economy from production to consumption. Manufacturers needed to find new market for their cars.
Advertising- 1925 Bruce Barton’s The Man Nobody Knows -
Marcus Garvey
August 17, 1887 – June 10, 1940
Founded the United Negro Improvement Association to promote the resettlement of blacks in their own “African Homeland.”
"Back to African Movement" in the 1920s -
18th amendment
This Amendment marked the start of Prohibition and accounted for a rise in organized crime.
could not be regulated -
Sherwood Anderson publishes Winesburg, Ohio
Explores fictional personalities of characters living in a small town and finds them all someway warped by their cramped psychological surroundings.
shows the caustic probing of of writers in American small town life. -
Debt on the rise
Consumer debt more than doubled between 1920 and 1930
Buying on credit was another feature of the 1920’s postwar economy. “Possess today and pay tomorrow” became the mentality directed at buyers.
fell victim to overhanging cloud of debt and economy became increasingly vulnerable to disruptions of the credit structure. -
Census
The census of 1920 shows for the first time that most Americans live in urban areas rather than the countryside.
women continue to find job opportunities in the cities
This causes a cultural shift in America.
African Americans also moved north to cities. -
Esch- Cummins Transportation Act
This act helps to save the railroads for the people instead of saving the people from the railroads.
Encouraged private ownership of railroads
pledged Interstate Commerce Commision to ensure profitability
Squashed Progressive hopes of more government control over big business. -
Flappers appear
Once modest women were proclaiming their freedom as flappers.
shows the culture progression in the strive for women’s rights -
ratification of the 19th amendment
By granting women the right to vote, this amendment reflects the political progression in the movement for women's rights. -
F. Scott Fitzgerald publishes This Side of Paradise
Becomes popular among youth and was devoured by aspiring flappers and their wooers, many of whom affected on a air of bewildered abandon towards life.
followed by The Great Gatsby in 1925 -
Sinclair Lewis published Main Street
Tells a story of one woman’s story of her unsuccessful fight against provincialism.
followed by Babbitt in 1922 -
farm bloc
Midwestern and Southern legislators in Congress in 1921 interested in strengthening agriculture
Helped to pass through helpful laws
February 18, 1922- Capper- Volstead Act
made farmers marketing cooperatives exempt from antitrust prosecution. -
Emergency Quota Act of 1921
Restricted the amount of newcomers from Europe in any given year to a definite quota set at 3 percent of people of their nationality that had been living in the United States in 1910. -
boom in real estate estate speculation in Florida.
World War 1 reveres the international financial position of the United States.
made America the financial giant of the world -
Adkins v. Children’s Hospital
Reversed the decision of Muller v. Oregon declaring women should receive special treatment because they now have the right to vote and are considered legal equals to men.
also sets minimum wage law for women framing gender differences -
Margaret Sanger
September 14, 1879- September 6, 1966
Contributed to the abandoning of the traditional family by providing the opportunity to longer to have kids.
Sanger began an organized birth control movement in 1923. Alice Paul’s National Women’s party began to campaign for an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. -
Bessie Smith records her first jazz album
The Jazz era created a huge sense of racial pride in the African American communities. -
First Winter Olympics
This shows the increasing importance of sports in the lives and culture of Americans. -
Dawes Plan
rescheduled German reparations payments and opened the way for further American private loans to Germany
While Germany paid reparations to Britain and France American bankers loaned money to Germany and the Allies paid money to the US
American credit flow until the stock market crashes defaulting all debts -
Immigration Act of 1924
National origin base had been shifted from census of 1910 to census of 1890 causing quotas for foreigners to be cut from 3 percent to 2 percent. Completely shut the door on Japanese immigrants sparking mass “Hate America” rallies in Japan. -
boom in real estate estate speculation in Florida.
Numerous underwater lots were sold at preposterous amounts.
collapsed after the devastation of Florida caused by a hurricane.
signal that the “economic joyride” would end in a crash -
Fundamentalism
Fundalmentalism is the religion that took place in the 20th centurya and upheld strict policies and scripture. -
The Scope Trial
John Scopes arrested because he was accused of violating the Butler Act, declaring it illegal to teach human evolution in schools and question man's origin. -
Theodore Dreiser published An American Tragedy
Explored the pitfalls of social striving while dealing with the murder of a pregnant working girl by her socially ambitious young lover. -
Langston Hughes The Weary Blues
Langston Hughes was from Harlem New York
Harlem New York became one of the largest black community in the world and sustained vibrant, and creative culture.
Harlem Renaissance -
Ernest Hemingway published The Sun Also Rises
Told of disillusioned, spiritually numb American expatriates in Europe.
Followed by A Farewell to Arms in 1929
Ernest Hemingway commits suicide in 1961. -
James Weldon Johnson publishes God’s Trombones
June 17, 1871- June 26, 1938
God’s Trombones is a book of poems patterned after traditional African-American literature.
Harlem Renaissance writer -
Sports became a big business in the consumer economy.
George H. (Babe) Ruth was better known than most statesmen. Fans bought so many tickets the hsi home stadium, Yankee Stadium, became known as “the house the Ruth built” -
automobile, steel, rubber, glass, and housing industries are in recession
The advent of gasoline directly and indirectly employed about 6 million people by 1930. By creating a number of supporting industries such as, rubber, glass, fabric, and not to mention the construction of highways and garages.
rose the American standard of living.
recession of these major industries signals future depression -
Zora Neale Hurston publishes How it Feels to be Colored Me
January 7, 1891- January 28, 1960
Reflects on her childhood experiences of growing up in an all black Florida town and her first accounts of feeling “different.” Focuses on the similarities we all share and her own self- respect and identity. -
Agricultural Marketing Act
designed to provide help to farmers and set up the Federal Farm Board with its revolving fund of half a billion dollars at its disposal. -
Black Tuesday
The stock market crashes causing a worldwide economic crisis and is the beginning of the Great Depression. -
Hawley- Smoot Tariff
Plunged America and other nations deeper into the depression that had already begun.
Started out as a reasonable measured designed to help farmers but turned out to be the highest protective tariff in the nation’s peacetime history.
declared economic warfare on the entire outside world
reversed promising worldwide trend toward reasonable taxes
widened trade gap -
severe drought hits the Midwestern and Southern plains.
Crops die out and dust from over plowed/ over grazed fields begin to blow.
“Black Blizzards” -
Norris-La Guardia Anti-Injunction Act
Outlawed "yellow-dog" (antiunion) contracts and forbade the federal courts to issue injunctions to restrain strikes. -
Emergency Banking Relief Act
Invested the president with power to regulate banking transactions and foreign exchange and to reopen solvent banks. -
Agricultural Adjustment Act
Protected farmers from price drops by providing crop subsidies to reduce production and provided educational programs to teach methods of preventing soil erosion. -
Federal Emergency Relief Act
Provided millions dollars of federal aid to unemployed workers. -
Tennessee Valley Authority Act
Federal government built a series of dams to prevent flooding and sell electricity.
First public competition with private power industries -
Civilian Conservation Corps
Sent 250,000 young men to work camps to perform reforestation and conservation tasks.
Helped to remove surplus of workers from cities providing healthy conditions for boys, provided money for families. -
National Industrial Recovery Act
Created NRA to enforce codes of fair competition, minimum wages, and to permit collective bargaining of workers. -
Glass-Steagall Act
Established Federally insured bank deposits to prevent future bank failures. -
Public Works Administration
Received $3.3 billion appropriation from Congress for public works projects. -
Civil Works Administration
Provided public works jobs at $15/week to four million workers in 1934. -
21st amendment
This amendment repeals the 18th amendment and marks the end of the Prohibition period. -
Securities and Exchange Commission
Regulated stock market and restricted margin buying. -
Works Progress Administration
Employed 8.5 million workers in construction and other jobs, and also provided work in arts, theater, and literary projects. -
Wagner Act
Allowed workers to join unions and outlawed union-busting tactics by management. -
Social Security Act
provided pensions, unemployment insurance, and aid to blind, deaf, disabled, and dependent children. -
Rain Finally comes
ends the drought
With the coming of World War II, the country is pulled out of the Depression and the plains once again become golden with wheat.
