red scare. jazz age. flapper. prohibition. speakeasies

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T " A In 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment prohibited the making or selling of alcohol. Alcohol, like this beer, was thrown into rivers or down drains. Looking at Key Terms .Red Scare. Jazz Age. flapper. Prohibition. speakeasies .suburb: an area around a city that people live in .prohibit: to outlaw Looking at Key Words .quota: a limit .prosperous: successful, especially in terms of wealth .tariff: a tax on imports

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In 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment prohibited the making or selling ofalcohol. Alcohol, like this beer, was thrown into rivers or down drains.

Looking at Key Terms.Red Scare. Jazz Age. flapper. Prohibition. speakeasies

.suburb:

an area around acity that people live in

.prohibit: to outlaw

Looking at Key Words.quota: a limit

.prosperous: successful,especially in terms ofwealth

.tariff: a tax on imports

In 1919, Giovanni Lagomarsino need-ed a job. The son of Italian immigrants,he spoke perfect English. He filled out ajob application at a railroad. The man-ager looked at his name on the form. AsLagomarsino left the office, he saw themanager tear up his application. Amonth later, he applied again. This timehe said his name was John Lagg. He gotthe job. This was an example of howprejudice against immigrants grew afterWorld War I.

25 percent. By the end of 1919, morethan 3,600 strikes had taken place.

Public opinion turned against strikes.Anti-union feelings spread. Ole Hanson,the Mayor of Seattle, crushed a generalstrike. Governor Calvin Coolidge ofMassachusetts allowed striking Bostonpolice officers to be fired. Both becamepopular for these actions.

Many Americans believed workerswere not acting on their own. Theyblamed "outsiders" for starting strikes.To them, these "outsiders" wereCommunists and immigrants.

Mter World War I, the U.S. economysuffered a depression. Returning sol-diers had trouble finding jobs. Factoriesclosed to change from making war sup-plies to making other goods. Europe nolonger needed to buy crops from U.S.farmers. Prices of goods shot up. Wagesstayed the same.

Red Scare In 1917, Communistshad seized control of the Russian gov-ernment. They called for the workers ofthe world to unite and rebel. ManyAmericans thought strikes in theUnited States were the work ofCommunists, or "Reds." They fearedthat these Reds were plotting to over-throw the U.S. government.

On January 2, 1920, AttorneyGeneral A. Mitchell Palmer began aseries of raids. Suspected Reds wererounded up. Thousands of immigrantswere arrested. Newspapers said these"Red Raids" were a great success.However, no plot against the govern-ment was discovered. Palmer deported550 people. Some people criticizedPalmer. They said he had violated peo-ple's civil rights.

Strikes and reactions Underthese conditions, workers began to orga-nize. They formed unions. Theydemanded better wages and shorterhours. Business owners refused. Soworkers went on strike.

In September 1919, the biggest strikein U.S. history stopped the steel indus-try. More than 365,000 workers walkedoff the job. Steel companies hired armedstrike breakers. Strike breakers beatworkers with clubs. Twenty people werekilled in the fight. In early 1920, thesteelworkers' union ended the strike.None of its demands had been met. Thesteel companies had won.

Other strikes were more successful.Coal miners increased their wages over

Sacco and Vanzetti Debate waseven greater about a murder case. InApril 1920, three robbers stole a factorypayroll in South Braintree, Massa-chusetts. During the robbery, the pay-master and a guard were killed. TwoItalian immigrants, Nicola Sacco andBartolomeo Vanzetti, were accused ofthe crime.

Sacco and Vanzetti were opposed toorganized government. So they were

How did events after World War I lead tofear and predzidice?

began immigrating again to the UnitedStates. They came from southern andeastern Europe. They were notProtestants, like most Americans atthat time. Most immigrants wereCatholics or Jews. These differencesfueled prejudice.

assumed to be guilty. They were arrest-ed for murder. In 1921, Sacco andVanzetti were tried and convicted. Theywere sentenced to death.

Many people felt the trial was unjust.They said Sacco and Vanzetti were con-victed because of their beliefs andbecause they were immigrants. Too littleevidence was presented against them.Also, before the trial, the judge said hewanted to convict them. He thought theywere Reds. The case was appealed. Butthe Massachusetts Supreme Courtrefused to retry Sacco and Vanzetti. Theywere executed in 1927.

Limiting immigration The eco-nomic depression also caused anti-immigrant feelings. Jobs were scarce.Americans worried that immigrantswould take away jobs. Many argued forlimits on immigration.

In the early 1920s, Congress passedtwo laws slashing immigration. A 1921law set temporary quotas on immigra-tion. A quota (KWOH-tah) is a limit.The Immigration Act of 1924 wastougher. It lowered those limits and

"Different" immigrants As theSacco- Vanzetti case shows, the RedScare was inspired by a fear of immi-grants. After World War I, Europeans

Fear or prejudice against immigrants grew during the 1920s. The Ku Klux Klan wasa group who attacked not only Mrican Americans, but immigrants, Catholics, andothers. Here, the Ku Klux Klan holds a parade in Washington, D.C. in 1925.

corruption of Klan leaders was exposed.Klan membership began to decline.

made them permanent. The laws put anend to the immigration of Asians.

Newspapers allover the country cele-brated an amazing event. On November2, 1920, 500 people heard a person readthe news over a squawky box. WarrenG. Harding was pronounced winner ofthe 1920 presidential election. Thisnews came from a new invention-the

The Ku Klux Klan Several groupsraised fears about immigrants andother groups. The worst was the KuKlux Klan. The Klan was formed afterthe Civil War. It had almost died out.But, in 1915, the Klan started growing.Now it targeted not only AfricanAmericans, but immigrants, Catholics,Jews, and labor unions as well.

The Klan used violence. As strikebreakers, they beat up union members.The Klan attacked immigrants. Theyterrorized Catholics and Jews. Klanmembers murdered African Americans.Often, the Klan lynched their victims.

In 1923, the Klan was at the height ofits power. It claimed over 4 millionmembers in both the North and theSouth. In 1925, scandals broke out. The

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Why did the US. economy improve inthe 1920s?

radio. New products like the radiochanged the U.S. economy in the 1920s.

Pro-business Presidents Hardingpromised a return to prosperoustimes. Prosperous means successful,especially in terms of wealth. He triedto help U.S. businesses grow.

Harding cut taxes for wealthy people.He argued that if the wealthy had moremoney, they would invest it in business-es. Then businesses could expand andhire more workers. Workers would havemore income. Some Americans dis-agreed with these tax cuts.

Under Harding, Congress passed anact raising tariffs. A tariff is a tax onimports. This act tried to protect U.S.businesses from foreign competition.Harding also cut federal spending.

Many people Harding put in powerwere corrupt. Several scandals brokeout. In 1923, Harding died of a heartattack. Vice-President Calvin Coolidgetook over. Coolidge continued Harding'spro-business plans. He was reelectedin 1924. The Roaring Twenties were a time when busi-

nesses in the United States boomed. The auto-mobile industry led the way. Cars jammed thisNew York City street.

late 1920s, 70 percent of U.S. homes hadelectricity. Americans wanted productsthat ran on electricity. They boughtradios and refrigerators.

They also bought machines that savedlabor, such as washing machines andvacuum cleaners. Time spent washingclothes could now be spent in otherways. All of these new products changedthe daily life of Americans.

Roaring Twenties Between 1923and 1929, U.S. businesses boomed. Thistime was called the "Roaring Twenties."American industries grew. Businessesmade huge profits. To many, the 1920swere even better than times beforeWorld War I. Manufactured goods hadbeen scarce during the war. Customershad saved their money for years. Nowthey spent it.

There were many jobs. Wagesimproved. By 1929, workers' incomeshad risen by almost one third from1900. More people could afford the prod-ucts that poured from U.S. factories. Effects of the car The product

that made the greatest changes inAmerican life was the car. Henry Ford'sassembly line made cars that peoplecould afford. (See page 8.) The auto

Revolution in new productsProducts were very different than thosemade just a few years before. By the

..,EaJ IIEIF

rants were built on major roads. Newcompanies produced the materials need-ed to build cars. Glass and rubber com-panies grew. Steel companies increasedproduction. These new businesses addedto the prosperity of the 1920s.

Unequal wealth Not everyoneshared in this prosperity, however. Evenin boom times, 10 percent of the workforce was out of a job.

This percent was even greater for peo-ple of color. A 1926 report said that mostNative Americans were "extremelypoor." Some African Americans hadfound wartime jobs in the factories ofthe North and Midwest. But they oftenlost these jobs to returning white sol-diers. In the early 1920s, discriminationagainst Mexican Americans increased.Some people argued that all Mexicanimmigrants should be deported.

American culture changed in the 1920s. TheJazz Age came alive with singers like BesseSmith, making this music famous around thecountry and the world.

industry took off. By the end of the1920s, one out of five Americans owneda car.

Once people owned cars, theydemanded better roads. The FederalHighway Act of 1921 encouraged road-building in the United States. Roadsconnected distant places as neverbefore. People could travel much moreeasily. Many began moving from citiesto suburbs. A suburb is an area inwhich people live around a city.

Cars also created new business oppor-tunities. Trucks replaced shipping bytrain. Gasoline stations sprang up allover the country. Motels and restau-

Alvin "Shipwreck" Kelly started thefad. He sat on top of a flagpole as amovie stunt. Then a theater owner hadhim do it again to advertise the movie.Soon people allover the country weresitting on flagpoles. All the changes inthe "Roaring Twenties" made people abit dizzy. Fads were just part of thenational mood.

~I ~ ~ .-..il~napt~r 11

How did American culture change in the1920s?

Hero worship The greatest hero ofthe age was Charles Lindbergh (LIND-berg). In 1927, Lindbergh flew alonefrom New York to Paris. He was thefirst person to cross the Atlantic aloneby air.

Lindbergh was welcomed back with aparade in New York City; Congress award-ed him the Congressional Medal of Honor.Babies were named after him. Songs werewritten about him. A new dance, "TheLindy," was created in his honor.

The Jazz Age American culturechanged in the 1920s. This was theJazz Age. Jazz is a kind of music thatwas very popular then.

Jazz was created by AfricanAmericans in New Orleans in the 1880s.It blended West African rhythms andAfrican American blues. AfricanAmerican musicians such as Jelly RollMorton and Billie Holiday made jazzfamous. Soon people allover the countrydanced to this music in hotels, clubs,and dance halls.

Jazz caused great debate. Peopleeither loved it or hated it. It capturedthe hearts of young people. They sawthemselves as different from their par-ents. To them, jazz represented free-spirited, fun-loving youth. Jazz becamea symbol of the new American culture inthe 1920s.

Changes for women For manyyoung women, the 1920s brought newfreedoms. Long skirts and long hair

The 1920s brought new freedoms to women.Here, three flappers in Harlem are dressed inshort skirts and bobbed hair, the new style ofthe 20s.

Fun and games Mter World War I,many Americans just wanted to havefun. Play was very important to them.Movies, sports, and other entertainmentoccupied people's minds.

In the 1920s, movies became part oflife. Actors like Rudolph Valentino,Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickfordbecame stars. They had millions of fans.In 1927, The Jazz Singer became thefirst movie with sound. In 1920, 50 mil-lion Americans went to the moviesevery week. By 1930, the number haddoubled to 100 million.

Attendance at sports events alsosoared. Baseball became important.Great athletes like Babe Ruth drewhuge crowds. In 1927, Ruth set a base-ball record. He hit 60 home runs in asingle season. Millions of peoplewatched college football throughout theFall. Track-and-field events were alsopopular. Women athletes becamefamous. In 1926, Americans celebratedwhen Gertrude Ederle became the firstwoman to swim the English Channel.

~~apter 11 ~1

were out. These young women werecalled flappers. They wore short skirtsand silk stockings. They bobbed, or cutshort, their hair. They wore makeup.They even smoked. Many people foundthis shocking.

But there were deeper changes aswell. Women in the 1920s had newroles. During World War I, many womentook over factory jobs. They lost most ofthese jobs when soldiers returned. Still,after the war, more women worked out-side the home. They became typists,salespeople, and secretaries. Somewomen opened their own shops. College-educated women became teachers andsocial workers.

Women also gained political rights. In1920, the Nineteenth Amendment gavewomen the right to vote. Women nolonger had to fight for suffrage. TheLeague of Women Voters was started toinform women about political issues. In1924, two women were elected gover-nors-Miriam Ferguson in Texas andNellie Taylor Ross in Wyoming.

prohibited making or selling alcohol.Prohibit means to outlaw. Alcohol com-panies closed. Bars shut down. TheUnited States went "dry."

Prohibition was greatly debated.Many Americans disagreed with it.Millions broke the law. Speakeasies, orillegal bars, opened. People made alco-hol in secret. Others smuggled it intothe country. They were called bootleg-gers. Gangs began to organize these ille-gal sales. Soon, gangsters controlledmost speakeasies. They made billions ofdollars. They paid off corrupt officials tokeep quiet. Prohibition actually encour-aged crime.

By 1933, it was clear that Prohibitiondid not work. The EighteenthAmendment was repealed. It was theend of an era.

Prohibition In 1919, the statesadopted the Eighteenth Amendment. It

~I

~I ~hapter 11~

The Silent March of 1917 down New York City's Fifth Avenue protestedlynching, discrimination, and segregation. One of the marchers wasDr. W.E.B. DuBois.

Looking at Key Terms.black nationalism. Harlem Renaissance

Looking at Key Words.casualty: someone who

has been injured or killed.renaissance: rebirth

.autobiography: the storyof one's own life written byoneself

The Klan The Ku Klux Klan wasagain threatening African Americans.(See page 94.) By day, its members heldparades in Northern as well asSouthern cities. The Klan put pressureon politicians to support Klan policies.

By night, Klan riders attackedAfrican Americans in their homes.Sometimes African Americans weretarred and feathered. The number oflynchings had fallen during World WarI. Now the number rose again.

On a steamy August day in 1920,50,000 African Americans marchedthrough Harlem. Thousands more linedthe sidewalks. They cheered loudly as aman in a gold-trimmed uniform rolledpast in an open car. The man wasMarcus Garvey. That night, Garveyaddressed 25,000 Mrican Americans inNew York City's Madison SquareGarden. His words stirred AfricanAmerican pride.

Mter World War I, Mrican Americansbegan to focus on discrimination. W.E.B.DuBois urged African Americans tofight it hard. This battle soon becamevery bitter.

A new life African Americans weretired of these attacks. Some fought backwith force. Others wanted to find politi-cal solutions. Members of the NAACPtried to change laws. However, onething was clear. Something must bedone about discrimination againstAfrican Americans.

W.E.B. DuBois fought to get AfricanAmericans to honor their African roots.These ideas were not new. In the early1800s, Paul Cuffe wanted AfricanAmericans to go back to Africa. DuBoisbelieved people of African descent hadcommon interests. They should jointogether to struggle for freedom. Thisstruggle would occur both in the UnitedStates and overseas.

Race Riots The Great Migrationhad left its mark. African American popu-lations of cities in the North and Midweststeadily increased. (See page 24.)

Some whites resented these newneighbors. Many whites worried AfricanAmericans would take their jobs. Otherwhites did not want African Americansin their neighborhoods. Bombsdestroyed the offices of Chicago realestate agents. They had sold homes inwhite neighborhoods to AfricanAmericans. Tensions grew between thetwo groups. Then, in 1919, race riotsbroke out across the nation.

During that summer, casualtiesmounted. A casualty is someone whohas been injured or killed. Six died and150 were injured in Washington, D.C.The toll in Chicago was 38 dead and 537injured. By year's end, race riots hadripped through 25 U.S. cities and towns.

Beginnings of a MovementAfrican roots inspired another AfricanAmerican leader-Marcus Garvey. Hewas one of the most important leadersof his time.

Garvey was born in Jamaica. As ayoung man, he traveled in Europe andthe Americas. He was struck by theinjustices people of African descenteverywhere faced. At age 25, Garveywent to London. There he met Africanscholars and thinkers. They taught himabout his rich African heritage.

Then in 1914, he founded theUniversal Negro Improvement Asso-ciation (UNIA) in Jamaica. Its goal was

Why were African Americans attracted toMarcus Garvey's program?

Followers of Marcus Garvey, such as these Garveyite families, valued their Mricanheritage and believed in black nationalism. Garvey's goal was economic, political,and cultural independence for people of Mrican descent.

newspaper, the Negro World, publishedstories about African American leaders.Such stories were usually left out ofwhite newspapers.

The UNIA also worked for economicindependence. In 1919, Garvey founded asteamship company, the Black Star Line.He hoped it would develop business tiesbetween Africa and people of Africandescent allover the world. Garvey alsostarted the Negro Factories Corporation.It created grocery stores, laundries, arestaurant, and a publishing company.

economic, political, and cultural inde-pendence for people of Mrican descent.

In 1916, Garvey brought the UNIA tothe United States. He opened a branch inHarlem, the Mrican American section ofNew York City. Garvey decided to runthe UNIA from there. This began thefirst powerful black nationalist move-ment in the United States. Blacknationalism is the belief that people ofAfrican descent should rely on them-selves. They should also be proud of theirblackness and of their Mrican roots.

DuBois and the NAACP had attractedmostly a upper and middle class follow-ing. Garvey appealed to ordinaryMrican Americans. He offered pride anduplifting messages. The UNIA grewfast. By 1920, it claimed to have twomillion members.

A movement collapses Then dis-aster struck. Rumors began to spread.People said the Black Star Line was infinancial trouble. It was true. Garveywas a poor manager. He let others runthe business. They spent huge sums onleaky ships and poorly-trained crews.

The U.S. government investigated theBlack Star Line. In 1922, Garvey was

The work of the UNIA The UNIAsupported Mrican American culture. Its

Reading A Timeline How long after founding the UNIA did Garvey come Ito the U.S.? What happened the same year race riots broke out across the nation?

arrested for mail fraud. It was notproven that Garvey meant to commit acrime. Yet, he was found guilty. He wassentenced to five years in prison.President Coolidge freed Garvey in1927. He had served two years of hissentence.

Then Garvey was deportedfrom the United States.

ways. An explosion of Mrican Americanart and culture took place in Harlem.

Lasting effects Without Garvey,the UNIA fell apart. Yet, black national-ism did not disappear. It returned,stronger, in the 1960s. AfricanAmericans saw Garvey's great achieve-ment. He began a movement to makeMrican Americans a united people. "In aworld where black is despised [hated],"said New York's Amsterdam News, "hetaught them that black is beautiful."

During the 1920s, this AfricanAmerican pride was expressed in new

~frican imericans ~reate tbe Harlem

Renaissance.What were the contributions of the artiBts ofthe Harlem Renaissance?

It was Saturday night in New YorkCity. Taxis and limousines headeduptown. Hundreds of white people hur-ried to the hottest spot in town-

.,I~3 IEIF

1. What is black nationalism?2. Name two ways the UNIA tried

meet its goals.

W.E.B. DuBois is standing to the right in the editorial office of The Crisis. DuBois wasone of the most influential leaders of the early civil rights movement. He was one ofthe founders of the NAACP and was a longtime editor of The Crisis magazine.

lived there. The NAACP and theNational Urban League had their head-quarters in New York. Being part of theHarlem community gave AfricanAmericans a sense of power and pride.

Harlem. It was the place to be. Whitecrowds cheered Mrican American per-formers at the Cotton Club. They lis-tened to jazz at the Catagonia Club.They danced the Charleston at theSavoy. Harlem in the 1920s was burst-ing with excitement. Culture reborn Harlem was also

the heart of a new creative movement.This was the Harlem Renaissance. Arenaissance is a rebirth. In Europeanhistory, it was a time when the ideas ofthe past were rediscovered. The HarlemRenaissance was the rebirth of MricanAmerican culture. For the first time,whites appreciated African Americanart and literature.

Mrican American writers, artists, andmusicians were lured to Harlem in the1920s. The Crisis, the NAACP magazine,offered cash prizes for excellent writing.So did the Urban League's Opportunity.The Harmon Foundation gave awards to

African American capital of theworld The Great Migration hadchanged New York City above 110thStreet. Harlem was once an all-whiteneighborhood. It was now home to morethan 100,000 Mrican Americans. By the1920s, it was the nation's largestMrican American community.

In the 1920s, Harlem was the culturalcenter for all people of Mrican descent.It was known as the Mrican American"Capital of the World." The greatestAfrican American leaders, such asW.E.B. DuBois and Marcus Garvey,

--{[3~3 }=

focus. They explored how it felt to beAfrican American. African Americanculture inspired their work.

African American writers and artists. Itset up exhibits of African Americanpainters and sculptors.

Harlem's location also was an attrac-tion. The major publishers were in NewYork City. Broadway theaters offerednational fame for writers and perform-ers. New York City was the center of themusic business.

Most important, in Harlem, AfricanAmerican artists could meet andexchange ideas. This created a sense ofexcitement and hope. Many new talentsbloomed. Some worked with commonthemes such as love, childhood, andgrief. However, many dealt with a new

Langston Hughes was one of the greatestHarlem Renaissance writers and poets. Hispoetry expressed the desire for AfricanAmerican equality.

Writers Mrican Americans writersburst on to the 1920s scene. They creat-ed a great body of literature. Many dis-cussed racism and prejudice. Theyshared the pain of discrimination withtheir readers. They also shared theirvision of African American pride.Novels, short stories, plays, and poetrypoured out of Harlem writers.

Writers such as James WeldonJohnson, Jean Toomer, Jessie R.. Fauset,and Claude McKay excelled. Zora NealeHurston collected African Americanfolktales. She wrote her own short sto-ries, novels, and an autobiography,Dust Tracks on a Road. An autobiogra-phy is the story of one's own life writtenby oneself. Her writing celebrated beingMrican American. Poet Countee Cullenalso wrote about the Mrican Americanexperience. His poem "Heritage" dealtwith his Mrican roots.

Langston Hughes was one of thegreatest Harlem Renaissance writers.He captured the spirit of AfricanAmerican music, especially jazz and thebl ues, in his work. He wrote fiction,autobiographies, plays, and moviescripts. But he was best known for hispoetry. One famous Hughes poem was"I, Too, Sing America." In it, he demand-ed equality for Mrican Americans.

Artists Painters and sculptors alsotook part in the Harlem Renaissance.Many drew inspiration from Mrica andfrom Mrican American history.

Artist Aaron Douglas created murals.He also illustrated the books of suchwriters as Hughes 'and Cullen. He usedideas from African sculpture. HaleWoodruff was another great muralpainter. Other artists were AugustaSavage, Sargent Johnson, and Horace

Pippin. Traveling exhibitions broughttheir work to national attention.

Chocolates became smash hits. Starssuch as Florence Mills and JosephineBaker gained worldwide fame.

Paul Robeson was one of the greatestsingers of his time. He also was a famousactor. Robeson thrilled audiences asShakespeare's Othello. Robeson spokeout for African American civil rights.This made him powerful enemies. Peopleaccused him of being a Communist. TheU.S. State Department called him "one ofthe most dangerous men in the world."They took back Robeson's passport. Hewas forced to live abroad. Even the starsof the Harlem Renaissance could notescape discrimination.

Musicians In the 1920s, AfricanAmerican music became very popular.In 1922, Louis Armstrong brought hiscornet from New Orleans to Chicago.His brilliant playing changed the soundof U.S. music. Some people mark this asthe beginning of the Jazz Age.

Soon, clubs, ballrooms, and theatersdotted Harlem. In each, AfricanAmerican musicians played jazz andblues. Jazz greats such as Fats Wallerand Duke Ellington drew huge crowds.They became world famous.

Many African American musiciansbecame successes. Composer WilliamGrant Still wrote operas, ballets, andmovie soundtracks. Bessie Smith wascalled the Empress of the Blues. Her1923 recording "Down Hearted Blues"sold more than 2 million copies. Anotherblues singer, Ethel Waters, won millionsof fans.

End of an era African Americanartists worked after the 1920s. But theHarlem Renaissance did not survive thedecade. The economic boom of the 1920sended. In 1929, the nation plunged. intopoverty. African Americans sufferedwith the rest of the country.

Performers Mrican American per-formers also got the spotlight. In the1920s, jazz came to the stage. Broadwaymusicals began featuring AfricanAmerican actors, singers, and dancers.Shows such as Shuffle Along and Hot