THE ROARING 20’S

UNIT THREE| April 2019

OUTCOME

9.3.1 Analyse the impact of changing technology and socio-

economic conditions on differing prosperities and lifestyles in

Canada in the 1920’s and 1930’s.

• identify the factors leading to prosperity in the 1920s

• examine the impact of new technology on lifestyle in the 1920s

WWI

• Canada: The Story of Us, ep. 6 “Service & Sacrifice” (44:29)| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-sTWJkmqpM

• Exit Ticket: as you watch the episode, write down 3 things you learned.

WWI

• World War 1 (The Great War) was a war fought on an unprecedented scale.

• New machinery and weaponry made battles more deadly.

• Soldiers experienced terrible hardship.

WWI

• War was fought in trenches.

• Trenches were dangerous and miserable.

• Trenchfoot

• Snipers

WWI

• Poisonous mustard gas killed many soldiers instantly.

• Those who survived were disfigured or disabled.

WWI

• Tanks, grenades, mortars, artillery, and other explosives maimed young men in ways the world had not seen.

RETURNING FROM THE WAR

• They returned home shattered in body, mind, and soul.

• Many suffered ‘shellshock’, which was the name for PTSD before doctors understood what PTSD was.

• There was no treatment for it – men were supposed to simply toughen up and go on.

RETURNING FROM THE WAR

• People did not know how to accept returning veterans who were terribly disfigured.

• Many could not work, or were rejected by the people around them.

RETURNING FROM THE WAR

• The desire of doctors to help veterans live normally led to advances in plastic surgery and prosthetics.

RETURNING FROM THE WAR

RETURNING FROM THE WAR

RETURNING FROM THE WAR

RETURNING FROM THE WAR

• During the war, women had gone to work in jobs traditionally reserved for men.

• They earned an income, controlled their own decisions, and had more freedom than before.

• But when the men returned, women were forced to give up their jobs and return to the home.

RETURNING FROM THE WAR

• Though they had kept countries running while the men were away, women only gained the right to vote in 1918 (if they were ‘citizens’, i.e. not Indigenous women).

• In the 1920s women still could not:

• Have their own passport – they had to share a joint passport with their husband.

• Wear whatever they liked – many places had laws dictating how long skirts had to be, and a woman could be arrested for wearing pants.

• Work while pregnant or married.

RETURNING FROM THE WAR

• Open a bank account.

• Get a divorce without being able to prove her husband cheated on or abandoned her.

• Get birth control without her husband’s permission.

• Serve on jury duty.

RETURNING FROM THE WAR

• In North America and Britain: soldiers returned home.

• In Europe: soldiers returned to new work, specifically “cleaning up”.

• Because Europe was destroyed, many who lost their homes moved overseas.

• Countries like Canada and the US opened their doors to millions.

THE 1920S

• Celebration

• Immigration

• War Bonds and $$$

• Prosperity and economic boom

• Entertainment and “let all cares

be washed away!”

• Heroes

• Prohibition

• Gangsters and the Mafia

• Racism and the Ku Klux Klan

• Feminism, Flappers, and

Suffragettes.

• Religion vs. Evolution

THE 1920S

• When the war ended, the economy hit a temporary slump: the war had created a big demand for Canadian products like wheat.

• The end of the war meant these products were less needed.

• Luxury products had become rare (were not made during the war) and expensive.

THE 1920S

• This meant things cost twice as much after the war as they had before.

• Not all soldiers could find work.

THE 1920S

• The end of WWI gave people reason to celebrate.

• People partied.

• In some places, the economy boomed and people spent money on things to make them feel good.

THE 1920S

• When soldiers returned home, they had lots of money.

• While fighting, they had no need to spend their money.

• People began cashing in their War Bonds.

THE 1920S

• War Bonds: issued by government for the purpose of financing military operations.

• Generated capital for governments and made civilians feel involved in their nation’s military.

THE 1920S

• People could buy things they could not afford before.

• Many bought land and built new buildings to usher in the 20th Century’s modernism architecture design.

• “The business of North America is business.”

• Skyscrapers were erected in major metropolitan centers (New York, Toronto, Chicago).

THE 1920S

THE 1920S

• By the end of the 1920s, over a million automobiles were registered in Canada.

• People had more mobility than ever before.

• Mobility: the ability to move freely.

READING

• The 1920s were not the same for everyone.

• Textbook p. 86-88.

• Read the textbook to compare how the 1920s affected Eastern vs. Western Canada.

• Handout| Eastern vs. Western Canada

• Use what you learn from the textbook to fill in your chart.

THE 1920S

• The Roaring 20s: Crash Course US History (13:11)|

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfOR1XCMf7A

THE 1920S

• New technology made

daily life easier.

• The vacuum cleaner, the

washing machine, and

the refrigerator meant

women had more

leisure time.

$570CAD $1600CAD

THE 1920S

• Wealth and leisure time allowed

people to take more interest in

sports, film, and music.

• Some call the 1920’s the Jazz Age.

SPORTS

• Hockey was added to

the 1920 Olympics.

• Babe Ruth was a

famous baseball

player.

JAZZ

• As African-Americans

moved from the south to

Harlem, New York.

• Their jazz music and

dancing influenced the

popular culture of the day.

JAZZ

• Louis Armstrong

• New Orleans, a foundational influence to

jazz in the 1920’s

• A popular recognizable, gravelly voice

skilled at scat singing (vocalizing using

sounds and syllables instead of actual

lyrics).

• Heebie Jeebies (2:37)|

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHjZQb-kGek

JAZZ

• Bessie Smith

• Along with Louis Armstrong, one of the

greatest jazz singers of the 20’s and

30’s.

• Highest paid black singer of her time,

married her body guard, but had lots of

lovers (known for her open lesbian

relationships).

JAZZ

• Bar room brawls

• Her career cut short; one reason was

the onset of the depression.

• Careless Love Blues (3:12)|

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W

GJv4cmmj3M

DANCE

• The Charleston was all the rage as a

dance.

• Originates in African-American dance,

and was popularized by dancers like

Josephine Baker.

• The Charleston Dance (4:08)|

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ7SNTS

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Baker acted as an Allied spy in WWII, using

her status as an entertainer to gather

intelligence from German audiences!

FILM

• Movie makers moved to

Hollywood, which soon

became the world’s central

movie producer.

• With money to spend, people

went to the movies.

• Charlie Chaplin – The Lion Cage

(3:38)|

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v

=_0a998z_G4g

CELEBRITIES

• Actors and musicians became famous celebrities.

Charlie Chaplin Duke Ellington Ella FitzgeraldAnna May Wong

SOCIAL CHANGE

• Women wanted to keep the

freedom they had gained during

the war.

• “Flappers” went against social

norms.

• Cut their hair short, wore skirts

almost to the knee, sought a slim

boyish figure.

• Smoked and drank in public,

wore heavy makeup, drove.

“Gibson Girl” Flappers

CREATION VS. EVOLUTION

• In 1925, highschool teacher John Scopes was

taken to trial by the State of Tennessee for

teaching evolution in school.

• He was found guilty and fined $100 ($1900).

• The case drew national publicity, but the law

banning teaching evolution in schools in

Tennessee stood until 1967.

PROHIBITION

• Prohibition: forbidding

the manufacture and sale

of alcoholic beverages.

• Alcohol was initially

banned to save grain for

the war effort in WWI.

• The ban held until 1933.

PROHIBITION

• Public demand for alcohol never

decreased.

• People went to secret clubs called

speakeasys where they could buy drinks.

• Many clubs were owned by gangsters.

• Illegal alcohol led directly to the rise of

organized crime.

• US Prohibition (2:44)|

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uU9GMJ8

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ORGANIZED CRIME

• Criminals became rich

from bootlegging.

• Bootlegging: selling

alcohol illegally.

• Gangsters rose to power

and made a fortune.

• They rarely got more than

a slap on the wrist for

their crimes.

RACISM

• The Ku Klux Klan was created as a

hate group against blacks after the

Civil War.

• Revived in the 1920s and expanded

to target Catholics, Jewish people,

and immigrants.

• As many as 8 million members in

the 1920s.

RACISM

• The US had laws against miscegenation (interracial marriage)

until 1967.

• Canada had no miscegenation laws, but did have the Indian Act.

• Any Indigenous woman who held Status would lose her Status

if she married a non-Indigenous man.

THE END OF THE ROARING ‘20s

• Black Tuesday: on 29 October 1929, the stock market crashed.

• As people spent more and more during the ‘20s, they had to

take out loans.

• Eventually banks had no more money to loan, and expected

people to pay them back.

• People had to sell their businesses, which made stocks crash.

THE END OF THE ROARING ‘20s

• Those who had money

panicked and withdrew

their money from banks.

• This made the banks fail.

• People lost everything

they had.

END