1920s

Question 1

What was the economic boom?

Answer 1

A period in the 1920s when America saw an increase in production, sales and wages. It was a period of prosperity

Question 2

What was the cycle of prosperity?

Answer 2

Increased demand for consumer goods > Increased production > Increased employment > More money available to spend on consumer goods

Question 3

What were the causes of the boom?

Answer 3

Industrial strength > USA was rich in natural resources. (Steel, coal, textiles) Leading oil producer. Developed new technologies. Agriculture became efficient.
First World War > America sold weapons to war countries, gained a lot by selling and didn’t lose much
Market for consumer goods and stocks and shares > Introduced hire purchase. Mail order. Thousands bought stocks and shares in US businesses. Stock exchanged enjoyed a rise in all prices.
!Republican policies

Republican Policies

Question 4

What were republican policies?

Answer 4

Laissez faire: Government do little to interfere with people therefore leaving businessmen to do as they please and make profits however
Tariffs: Taxes on imports made foreign goods more expensive for Americans to buy therefore Americans bought inside America which helped American industry
Low taxation: Lower taxes so people had more money to spend which helped industrial growth

Question 5

Henry Fords model T key facts

Answer 5

• Went by mass production process
• 1 in 5 people in the USA owned a car
• By end of the 1920s motor industry was the USAs biggest industry and road construction was the biggest employer in 1920s
• 1900 only 4,000 cars were made and they were very expensive > 1908 to 1925 they produced 15 million > 1927 they came off the production line 1 in 10 seconds > 1927 4.8 million cars were made

Question 6

Who didn’t benefit from the economic boom?

Answer 6

Farmers - Total income dropped from 22 billion dollars to 13 from 1919 to 1928.
African Americans and Immigrants.

Question 7

Why was the 1920’s called the roaring 20’s?

Answer 7

Aloe of Americans had more time and money (working hours decreased from 47 to 44)
Wages increased (Avg by 11%)
Growing prosperity
Entertainment industry blossomed and people had more leisure time

Question 8

Entertainment: Key facts on Radio’s

Answer 8

1921- One radio station > 1922 508 radio stations
By 1929 Nbc station was making $150 million a year
Most households had a radio

Question 9

Entertainment: Key facts on Jazz

Answer 9

Older gen saw jazz as a corrupting influence on the young
Popular with young people
Brought from countries to cities by Africian Americans. Blues = African Americans
Jazz = Young white & African Americans

Question 10

Entertainment: Key facts on Sport

Answer 10

Important figures like Al Capone were baseball fans, this influenced the public
Baseball became a big money sport with teams like New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox
Boxing was popular

Question 11

Entertainment: Key facts on Cinema

Answer 11

Hollywood developed
1927- First talkie
1920s movies became a multi billion dollar business & sold a hundred million cinema tickets
New stars: Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton (Comedy), Douglas Fairbanks (Action)

Question 12

Entertainment: Key facts on the Car

Answer 12

Helped cities grow as people could drive from suburbs to central
Helped carry owners to different events

Question 13

Women’s lives before the 1920s?

Answer 13

Controlled relationships, weren’t allowed out with boyfriends without a chaperone
Didn’t work
Had to wear restrictive clothes
Couldn’t vote

Question 14

Women’s lives after 1920s?

Answer 14

Changed for mainly middle class and urban women
Women got jobs in 1st world war in 1917
1920 - They could vote in all states
1920s - Domestic work was made easier eg washing machines
1929 - 10 million women had jobs BUT they got paid less and they weren’t equal in politics

Question 15

What was the flapper girl?

Answer 15

Described as ‘Expensive and about 19’
Older gens disapproved
Wore short clothes, wore makeup, smoked, drunk and kissed in public
Film makers included sexier and heroic women in movies

Question 16

When was prohibition?

Answer 16

1920-1933

Question 17

What was prohibition?

Answer 17

The ban of alcohol.
Alcohol levels fell by 30%
By 1916, 21 states banned saloons (bars)
Government had agents (Most famous: Isadore Einstein and Moe Smith) to arrest anyone serving alcohol. 4,392 arrests.

Question 18

What did Al Capone do?

Answer 18

Supplied illegal alcohol, built speakeasies(illegal underground bars) > made around $60 million a year
Built a huge network of corrupt officials
Was well known to public, regular baseball and football match goer
Had a ruthless gang. By 1929 he had killed over 300 people and had destroyed all other Chicago gangs

Question 19

What were the effects of Prohibition?

Answer 19

Moonshine was made which was a dangerous homemade alcohol which could blind.
Led to corruption - Big brewies (illegal alcohol sellers) bribed local government officials and police to leave them alone. If people were arrested they rarely got convicted because judges were also often bribed.
Organised crime increased - gangsters fought for control of liquor trade, speakeasies, prostitution.
Al Capone was a well known gangsta

Question 20

Why did prohibition end?

Answer 20

USA was lawless, police were corrupt and gangsters were rich and powerful.
Wall Street crash happened so they thought legalising alcohol would create jobs, raise tax and free resources.
Roosevelt was elected in 1932 and prohibition was cancelled in December 1933

Question 21

What was the KKK and what did they do?

Answer 21

Was a white supremacy movement
By 1924 it had 4.5 million members
Between 1919 and 1925 over 300 African Americans were murdered by lynching

Question 22

How were African Americans discriminated against in the 1920s?

Answer 22

Slavery was abolished in 1863 but many AA’a in south still worked as servants on plantations
Weren’t given the right to vote or access to good education in the south
In North AA lived in poverty with poor education and health services
and all suffered from prejudice

Question 23

How were immigrants discriminated against in the 1920s?

Answer 23

Immigration was at a high between 1901 to 1910 mainly Eastern Europeans and Russians, fleeing persecution. Also came from Italy and Mexico.
Immigration was limited to 150,000 per year in 1924
America was known as the melting point

Question 24

How did America control immigration?

Answer 24

Literacy Test, 1917 - Immigrants had to pass writing and reading tests
The Emergency Quota Act, 1921 - Restricted number of immigrants to 375,000
The National Origins Act, 1924 - Restricted number of immigrants a year to 150,000

Question 25

What was a justice example of Immigrants being discriminated against?

Answer 25

The Sacco and Vanzetti case
1920 - Accused of murder and an armed robbery
There was little evidence against them
They were executed and protests were held around the world seeing how unfair the case was

Question 26

What was the red scare?

Answer 26

In the 1920s racism worsened because of the fear of communism
Immigrants who held radical beliefs wanted to overthrow the American government, they planted bombs around the USA, governments reaction was quick and harsh > 10,000 people got deported > Only 556 out of them had solid facts