(C. 23) The “Twenties” can be described as a decade in American History shaped by the forces of modernism and fundamentalism. Choose one of these ideologies and define it, as well as describing and discussing four examples (or more) of its expression in the decade.
About a page and a half
but the assignment is due by midnight
I. Postwar America – 1919-1923
International insecurity
Economic strife
II. The Transition to Modern America – 1923-1929
New Era Economy
The Second Industrial Revolution
From steam to electricity
Assembly-line mass production
The Automobile Industry; Henry Ford – Model T
Oil; roads; housing; multiple industries
Consumerism; Advertising
Radio: technology; economic; cultural and social
KDKA, Pittsburg, PA – 1st. radio broadcast on 11/2/1920
American homogenization
A New Era
III. Modernism and a New Urban Culture
“The Roaring Twenties”
The New Woman; flappers; birth control; “proto-feminists”
The New Negro; NAACP; Marcus Garvey
The Harlem Renaissance
Mass entertainment; Jazz; motion pictures; celebrity
“The Lost Generation”; expatriates; The Sun Also Rises (1926)
IV. Fundamentalism and “The Rural Counterattack”
Traditional Americans
The Red Scare – 1919-1921
Immigration Restriction; Johnson Reed Act of 1924 / National Origins Act
Prohibition; 18th. Amendment; flaunted (modernism and fundamentalism; repeal
Ku Klux Klan; Old and New; broad appeal to 1925; decline to fringe
The Scopes Monkey Trial, 1925; Dayton TN; Creationism vs. Darwinism; radio
Significance
V. National Politics in the 1920’s
Republicans in Power
Harding, Coolidge and Hoover
Republican policies; “Normalcy” (Normality) – raised tariffs; cut taxes; cut spending
Cooperation with business
Prosperity and surplus
A New Politics
The Election of 1928 – urban and rural (small town)
Alfred E. Smith vs. Herbert Hoover
VI. “The Twenties” end with the Great Depression; foundations of modern America
These are key notes we focused on during lectures