1920s Culture (1920-32) Flashcards
1
Q
2
Describe the Emergency Quota Act 1921
A
- limited numbers of imms to 357k per year
- permitted only 3% of population of overseas group to immigrate annually (based on 1910 pop sizes)
2
Q
6
Describe the Immigration Act (Johnson-Reed Act) 1924
A
- Extension of 1921 Emergency Quota Act
- Authorised creation of first formal border patrol service (US Border Force)
- Prevented immigration from Asia entirely
- infuriated Japanese by volating ‘Gentlemen’s Agreement’ 1907
- Set quotas on imm from Southern/Eastern Europe
- 2% per group on 1890 census levels
3
Q
4
List the factors that explain the change for women in the 1920s
A
- War
- Progressive movement
- Prohibition
- Economic needs/new tech
overall little change
4
Q
3
Describe progress for the employment of women
A
- 1930, 2m more women were employed than there had been 10 years earlier
- ⅓ of university degrees awarded to women in 1930
- Wider career opportunities
5
Q
6
Describe limitations in women’s employment
A
- These tended to be unskilled low-paid jobs
- Medical schools only allocated 5% of places to women
- The number of female doctors in the 1920’s actually decreased
- Still massive pay inequality
- Supreme court banned all attempts to set minimum wage for women
- 1927, women’s textile workers in Tennessee went on strike for better wages but were arrested by the local police
6
Q
3
Describe progress for women in politics
A
- Women were given the vote in 1920
- Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming became the first woman to be elected governor of a state in 1924
- Bertha Knight Landes became the first female mayor of a city, Seattle in 1926
7
Q
3
Describe limitations in women in politics
A
- Only a handful of female politicians
- The women’s movement failed to get the Equal Rights Amendment Act passed
- Disenfranchisement of Native American and African American women
8
Q
3
Describe women’s birth control
A
- Back street abortions killed up to 50k women per year
- Margaret Sanger
- Supporters of eugenics often also supported birth control as a method of maintaining racial purity
9
Q
5
Describe Margaret Sanger
A
- Wrote articles on contraception
- The Comstock Act of 1873 - banned the distribution of articles on contraception and items through the US mail
- She was arrested in 1916 for opening the first contraception clinic in the US
- 1921, she founded the American Birth Control League
- She began to promote sterilisation for mentally handicapped people
10
Q
4
Describe ‘flappers’
A
- Women who challenged traditional attitudes to appearance
- Characterised by short hair, short skirt
- Went to speakeasies and cinema unchaperoned
- Generally from mc and uc in Northern states
11
Q
2
Describe criticisms of flappers
A
- They were often seen as too extreme and disapproved of by religious groups
- In reality, there was little change for women during this period
12
Q
2
Describe the anti-flirt club
A
- Formed 1923 in NY
- protected women/girls from intrusive male behaviour
13
Q
7
List the causes of prohibition
A
- Progressive politics (anti-Saloon league)
- Women’s movements
- Big business
- Patriotism
- Tensions between brewers and distillers
- Religion
- Financial reasons
14
Q
4
Describe how progressive politics was a cause of prohibition
A
- The Anti-Saloon League campaigned against the devastating effects of excessive drinking.
- led by Wayne Wheeler
- ‘Wheelerism’ became important political lobby and endorsement
- Introduction of Income tax made up for the lost revenue from alcohol →alcohol had accounted for 30-40% of government revenue from alcohol tax
15
Q
2
Give examples of wheelerism
A
- Pressure from Anti-Saloon League helped defeat Myron Herrick in 1906, the incumbent ‘wet’ Governor of Ohio
- by 1917, ⅔ ‘dry’ majority in House and Senate
16
Q
3
Describe how women’s movement were a cause of prohibition
A
- Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) campaigned hard for prohibition
- Female reformers argued → clear links between the consumption of alcohol and wife beating and child abuse
- Carrie Nation would become national figure by smashing up saloons
17
Q
2
Describe how big business was a cause of prohibition
A
- Big business such as Henry Ford told that alcohol was causing their workers to massively decrease in productivity
- Workers were told that alcohol was being used to suppress them
18
Q
3
Describe how patriotism was a cause of prohibition
A
- American entry into WW1 - anti-German feeling
- many brewers were of German origin - prohibition seen as patriotic
- beer given nickname ‘Kaiser’s brew’
19
Q
2
Describe how tensions between brewers and distillers was a cause of prohibition
A
- German brewers’ attempts to paint beer as healthy and spirits as harmful backfired
- therefore lack of united opposition to prohibition
20
Q
5
Describe how religion was a cause of prohibition
A
- Many religious groups saw alcohol as the root of the sin and evil values of American people
- Some religious groups, such as the Methodists and Baptists, joined the crusade
- Fundamentalist preachers, such as Billy Sunday, persuaded many conservatives that alcohol was evil
- Sectarian divides between ‘dry’ rural areas and ‘wet’ cities
- Assimilate Catholic Southern/Central Europeans - alcohol consumption central to culture
21
Q
3
Describe how financial reasons were a cause of prohibition
A
- felt prohibition would enhance common people to be hard-working
- taxation on alcohol (alcohol duties) amounted to 40% of revenue
- permitted tariff (Wilson) income tax (Republican) reductions
22
Q
4
Describe the rise of speakeasies
A
- Illegal bars
- In 1929, NYC had 32k - more than there had ever been bars
- rise of Jazz and subsequent impact on civil rights
- social mixing e.g. men and women
23
Q
2
Describe ‘moonshine’
A
- Home-made liquor
- It was easier to produce illegal spirits than beer so people were drinking stronger alcohol
24
Q
5
Describe the rise in organised crime
A
- Linked to prohibition
- Sought to create monopolies over industry via violence
- involved in rackets such as prostitution, protection and ‘numbers’ (illegal lottery)
- 1926-27, 227 gangland murders in Chicago - many of which linked to Al Capone - only 2 killers ever convicted
- St Valentine’s day massacre 1929
25
Q
5
Describe Al ‘Scarface’ Capone
A
- nationwide popularity - juries would determine not guilty in courts
- became face of enforcement opposition
- set up soup kitchens after 1929 Wall St Crash
- ‘Big Bill’ Thompson formed open alliance with Al Capone in Chicago
- by time he was sentenced in 1931, his gang had made an estimated $70m in illegal business
26
Q
1
Describe the Saint Valentine’s Day massacre
A
- 7 members of Chicago’s North Side Gang shot dead in what was meant to be friendly meeting
27
Q
1
Describe ‘bootlegging’
A
illegal manufacture, transport, distribution and sale of alcoholic beverages
28
Q
5
Describe how prohibition led to a rise in corruption
A
- Bootleggers able to easily bribe the police
- Policemen didn’t believe in the law they were policing and often from same background as gangstas
- even Harding WH advisors involved
- ‘Big Bill’ Thompson (Mayor of Chicago) did practically nothing to control gangsters running city
- Between 1920-30, only 10% of Prohibition agents fined for corruption
29
Q
4
Describe the ‘untouchables’
A
- incorrupt prohibition special agents who worked to take Al Capone down
- led by Eliot Ness
- Al Capone taken down in 1929 and received 11 year sentence in 1931
- not for organised crime, but tax evasion (though had been arrested for shorter sentences before)
30
Q
5
Describe how prohibition affected the economy
A
- Brewing industry suffered badly. St Louis had 22 breweries before but only 9 re-opened after 1933
- Breweries, distilleries and saloons closed which led to a loss of thousands of jobs and lead to some dereliction of property
- In New York, almost 75% of the state’s revenue was from liquor lax - this was lost
- Prohibition cost the government $11 billion in loss of tax revenue
- Prohibition cost the government $300 million to enforce
31
Q
7
Describe the loopholes people used to get around prohibition
A
- Alcohol for religious purposes was not illegal (‘Kosher wine’)
- Alcohol for medicinal purposes was not illegal
- Cocktails masked alcohol with fruit flavours
- Alcohol for industrial use was not illegal (Poison was put in this alcohol and lead to many deaths)
- grape boxes would display ‘warning’ signs about the potentiality of the produce to turn into alcohol
- Legal to drink in international waters (Booze cruises/rum runners)
- Disregarded by Harding WH
32
Q
3
Describe the significance of prohibition loopholes
A
- significant decline of respect for law
- ordinary patriotic Americans being forced to commit illegal acts did not settle well with general pop
- criminals made up a much larger percentage of population
33
Q
2
Describe the danger of moonshine
A
- Stills sometimes exploded
- The liquor produced was incredibly strong and unregulated so could be deadly
34
Q
Consumption of alcohol (…) from (…) gallons average per person in years before 1917, to (..) gallon average per person by 1930s
A
fell
2.6
1
35
Q
4
Describe alcohol death during prohibition
A
- Had fallen by 80% by 1921
- But then rose from 98 (1920) to 760 (1926)
- 5000 fatalities
- Though reduced road deaths and drink-related accidents at work
36
Q
3
Describe the political effects of prohibition
A
- Split democrats who tried to appeal to ‘dry’ South/West and increasingly appeal to urban ‘wets’
- Hoover set up Wickersham Committee concluded that prohibition was impossible to enforce (but recommended continuation)
- Election of FDR
37
Q
3
Describe reasons for the failure of prohibition
A
- Lack of compliance
- Geographical constraints - govt only able to intercept 5% of alcohol entering country illegally in 1925
- Internal Revenue service overstretched - never had more than 2.5k agents (many of which corrupt anyways)
38
Q
6
Describe the repeal of prohibition
A
- Wheeler had died 1927
- 1928, Al Smith (Democrat) advocated abolition
- Abolished via 21st amendment in 1933
- Delivered on FDR campaign pledge
- linked to Keynesian New Deal - boosting employment, more taxes paid, combat Depression
- Described by Hoover as a ‘noble experiment’
39
Q
Mississippi retained prohibition until (…)
A
1966
40
Q
7
Describe the causes of the KKK revival
A
- Race riots 1919
- concerns over moral decline and speakeasies
- Fears that mass immigration leads to unemployment, communism, alcohol abuse
- The Birth of a Nation film, released 1915, showed the Klan saving white families from violent African-Americans
- Increasing industrialisation and urbanisation brought people together
- Black migration to the North increased tensions
- Southern whites also resented the arming of African-Americans during the war
41
Q
5
Describe the revival of the KKK in the first half of the 1920’s
A
- 1921, 100k members
- 1925, claimed to have over 5m members
- Extended geographical base to cover whole nation, not just south
- Lynchings and racially motivated attacks increased (1932: 8, 1933: 28)
- March on Washington 1925: 25k people in full regalia
42
Q
4
Describe the decline of the KKK in the second half of the 1920’s
A
- 1925, one of its leaders, Grand Wizard David Stephenson, was convicted of a sexually motivated murder
- Stephenson produced evidence of the Klan’s illegal business in hope of a shorter sentence
- Discredited the Klan and led to a decline in membership
- Public opinion began to turn against the KKK
43
Q
4
Describe the methods of the KKK in the 1920s
A
- Use of professional promoters such as Elizabeth Tyler
- Modern media techniques to promote propaganda
- Congressional hearings into their activities gave them national publicity
- Henry Ford’s newspaper, the Dearborn Independent, initially encouraged anti-semitism
44
Q
1
Give an example of the political influence of the KKK in the 1920s
A
- KKK-allied Bibb Graves served as Governor of Alabama (1927-31)
45
Q
6
Describe the social advances of AAs in the 1920s
A
- by 1920, 12m AAs in America
- ‘Great Migration’
- Number of lynchings decreased when NAACP investigation into criminal activity caused public outcry
- Jazz culture grew in speakeasies (e..g Louis Armstrong)
- ‘Harlem Renaissance’
- The Messenger, a national AA newspaper founded by Philip Randolph, featured poetry and advertisements for black businesses
46
Q
4
Describe the social negatives of AAs in the 1920s
A
- KKK resurgence
- 75% AA population in South where they suffered from racially intolerant JC social customs
- many lived in dilapidated ghetto areas in Northern cities
- 1921, White mob destroyed Tulsa’s black Greenwood District and killed 26 AAs (in reality over 300)
47
Q
1
Give an example of racist Southern social customs
A
AAs expected to enter white Americans’ home through back door
48
Q
3
Describe the political advances of AA in the 1920s
A
- War for democracy accelerated civil rights movement
- Expansion of NAACP
- Oscar de Priest became first AA elected to Congress in 20th C when elected to House in 1928
49
Q
4
Describe the UNIA
A
- Led by black separatist Marcus Garvey
- over 1m members by 1921 (less soft supporters than NAACP though)
- more militant than NAACP and opposed Du Bois
- ‘black is beautiful’
50
Q
3
Describe the methods of the UNIA
A
- Encouraged boycott of shops with no black employees
- set up Black Star steamship company to facilitate AA return to Africa
- 1922, held secret meeting with KKK leader Edward Clarke
51
Q
2
Describe the fall of the UNIA
A
- Garvey arrest for fraud in 1923
- deported to Jamaica in 1927
52
Q
3
Describe the economic advances of AAs in the 1920s
A
- Black Wall St in Tulsa, Oklahoma became hub of black culture and business
- Many AAs escaped sharecropping through Great Migration
- National Urban League focussed on economic situation of urban AAs
53
Q
5
Describe the economic limitations of AAs in the 1920s
A
- Majority of AAs were sharecroppers and did not benefit from flourishing economy of 1920s
- Economic segregation, not legal, in North - wage disparity
- ‘color lines in employment’
- 60% of black women in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (had voted progressive in 1924) worked as domestic servants
- first to be laid off in GD - by 1933, ½ black Americans in North dependent on govt support
54
Q
2
Describe the positives of the Negro National Baseball League
A
- Played to mixed crowds
- Among biggest AA-owned business in USA
55
Q
3
Describe the negatives of the Negro National Baseball League
A
- testament to fact sport was still largely segregated
- AA players excluded from MLB teams
- players earned less than half of white counterparts
56
Q
4
Describe sport in this period
A
- ‘Golden Age of Sport’
- accelerated by development of radio
- 1924, 67k watched the football game between Illinois and Michigan that took place in Baltimore
- 1926, 145k saw the boxing match between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney
57
Q
4
Describe baseball
A
- Star players were Babe Ruth (who openly drank and smoke)
- Massive stadia developed such as West Side Grounds in Chicago
- The development of the cork-centred ball
- Negro National Baseball League
58
Q
5
Describe radio
A
- First commercial station (KDKA) founded in Pittsburgh, 1920
- There were 500 stations by 1922
- First national network (NBC), founded 1926
- Between 1923 and 1930, 60% of families bought a radio
- By 1929, sales were worth $842m
59
Q
2
Describe advertising and radio
A
- radio held attraction for advertising and sponsorship
- Aug 1929, popular toothpaste brand Pepsodent began to sponsor pop comedy series ‘Amos n’ Andy’ on NBC
60
Q
2
Why didn’t everyone have a radio in the 1920s?
A
- Cost $150
- Conspiracies that ‘insivisble energy’ in air must be harmful
61
Q
6
Describe cinema
A
- By the 1920s, it was the 4th largest industry in terms of capital investment
- Glamorous venues such as the Roxy in NYC which cost $7-10m to construct
- 10m people visited 20k cinemas everyday
- Starred actors like Clara Bow (the ‘it girl’)
- 1927, the first sound film, ‘The Jazz Singer’
- Expanded US cultural influence abroad
62
Q
4
Describe jazz
A
- ‘Jazz Age’
- Originated with black slaves
- previously known as ‘blues’; ‘boogie-woogie’ - changed to avoid use of black slang
- Became popular with white, middle-class youth in speakeasies
63
Q
3
Describe criticism of jazz
A
- 1921, Ladies Home Journal publishes ‘Does Jazz put the Sin in Syncopation?’
- Some cities, including NYC and Cleveland, prohibited public performances of jazz
- Yet only increased appeal among rebellious youth
64
Q
4
Describe the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti
A
- 2 anarchist italian immigrants put on trial and eventually executed for anarchy in 1927
- accussed of murdering paymaster during armed robbery in Massachusetts, 1920
- Symbolised anti-immigrant ideas
- Recieved formal pardon in 1970s
65
Q
2
Describe the background to the Monkey Trial 1925
A
- 6 ‘Bible belts’ states decided to ban the teaching of Darwinian evolution in their schools
- Tennessee biology teacher, John Scopes violated the ‘Butler Act 1925’ by deliberately teaching evolution and was put on trial
66
Q
3
Describe the Monkey Trial 1925
A
- William Bryan, a fundamentalist, served as counsel
- Scopes lost the trial and was convicted
- However, the trial was a disaster for Fundamentalist public image and they were mocked in the media
67
Q
When was the Negro Basketball League founded?
A
1920
