1920s

1920s

1. Red Scare

   • Sacco and Vanzetti
     • Most controversial case against radical immigrants
     • charged with murder in Massachusetts
     • Political beliefs caused prejudice against them resulting in their conviction
   • Nativism
     • fear of and opposition to foreigners
     • resulted in stricter government regulation of immigration (quotas)
   • IWW
     • was controlled by the Socialist Party
     • organized strikes
     • US Attorney Palmer made federal agends arrest more than 150 leaders of the IWW

2. Great Migration and Racial Tensions

   • Racial Tensions
     • As African Americans moved North, many people feared they would take their jobs
     • Segregated housing and ghettos were common in Northern cities
     • African Americans were discriminated against in the North and South
   • Race Riots and Lynchings
     • Violence and arson broke out in Northern and Southern cities
     • Lynchings of African Americans were common
   • Ku Klux Klan
     • Racist organization with a surge in membership after WWI
     • Opposed African Americans, immigrants, Catholics, Jews

3. Popular Culture

   • Flappers
     • 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote
     • Young, modern woman who rejected old ways
     • Had open attitudes about life, fashion, and sex
   • Economy of the 20s
     • Many people had more money than before
     • growth of automobile industry
     • Mass consumption (consumerism), marketing, advertising, buying on credit
   • Popular Entertainment
     • Roaring Twenties
     • radio
     • silent movies
   • Harlem Renaissance
     • African American led cultural and artistic movement from New York City (Harlem)
     • writers, musicians, artists, scholars
     • Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston
   • Prohibition
     • 18th Amendment banned alcohol
     • bootleggers smuggled it in
     • crimes and illegal activity increased