3.8 Social Change

Question 1

Who were Sacco and Vanzetti?

Answer 1

Two Italian anarchists sentenced to death for murder in 1921

Their case was marked by significant controversy and claims of anti-immigrant prejudice.

Question 2

What was the basis of the conviction in the Sacco and Vanzetti case?

Answer 2

Guilty before innocent basis

This principle raised concerns about the fairness of the trial.

Question 3

When were Sacco and Vanzetti executed?

Answer 3

August 1927

Their execution highlighted the intolerance within US society.

Question 4

What was the Monkey Trial?

Answer 4

A trial that showcased the conflict between rural and urban beliefs regarding evolution

It took place in Tennessee in 1925.

Question 5

What was the Butler Act?

Answer 5

A law that outlawed the teaching of evolution in Tennessee

It was challenged by John Scopes, a science teacher.

Question 6

Who led the defense in the Monkey Trial?

Answer 6

Clarence Darrow

Darrow was a liberal lawyer and a member of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Question 7

Who was the chief witness for the prosecution in the Monkey Trial?

Answer 7

William Jennings Bryan

Bryan was a religious fundamentalist and a pacifist.

Question 8

What was the outcome of the Monkey Trial?

Answer 8

Scopes was convicted

The Butler Act remained in force for another 40 years.

Question 9

What was the significance of the 1917 Immigration Act?

Answer 9

It was the first widely restrictive immigration law

It paved the way for stricter regulations in the 1924 act.

Question 10

What did the 1917 Immigration Act introduce?

Answer 10

Literacy tests for immigrants over 16 years old

Required basic reading comprehension in any language.

Question 11

What were the quotas introduced in immigration policy under the Immigration Quota Act of 1921?

Answer 11

3% of the total population of each nationality in the US as recorded in the 1910 census

This aimed to limit immigration based on national origins.

Question 12

What did the 1924 Immigration Act do?

Answer 12

Limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the US to 2% of the 1890 census.

It established a national origins quota.

Question 13

What was the main aim of the 1924 Immigration Act?

Answer 13

To preserve the ideal of US homogeneity

It completely excluded immigrants from Asia.

Question 14

What was the impact of the 1924 Immigration Act?

Answer 14

Reducing diversity and making America more inward facing

It also reduced the market and workforce.

Question 15

True or False: The 1924 Immigration Act allowed for no quotas for the Western hemisphere.

Answer 15

True

This was a significant distinction in the immigration policies.

Question 16

Why had Sacco and Vanzetti been accused of murder?

Answer 16

The victim described the attackers as slim foreigners with olive skin before dying

Question 17

What verdict was found in 1970 regarding the Sacco and Vanzetti Trial?

Answer 17

Governor of Massachusetts granted them a formal pardon and agreed that a mistrial had taken place.

Question 18

What was the reaction to the Monkey Trial 1925?

Answer 18

Bryan was shown to be confused and ignorant while the media mocked the beliefs of those who opposed the theory of evolution.

Question 19

What is the Bible belt?

Answer 19

An area of southern USA where strict fundamentalist Protestant Christianity is strong, included Tennessee.

Question 20

Why did attitudes towards immigrant grow in hostility?

Answer 20

• Provided competition for jobs
• WW1 fuelled anti-German feelings
• America didn’t want to be dragged into another major war

Question 21

How many men had been drafted into the armed forces by the end of the war?

Answer 21

2.8 million

Question 22

What positions did the army permit women to fill?

Answer 22

Clerks, fingerprint experts, journalists, and translators

Women also worked in jobs traditionally done by men such as heavy industry, engineering works, and transport

Question 23

How did the consumer boom progress women’s lives?

Answer 23

Labour saving devices, such as vacuum clearners and washing machines, provided extra time which enabled some women to go into employment or for recreational activities

Question 24

How did women’s employment in 1930 compare to 10 years earlier?

Answer 24

There were 2 million more women employed

However, these tended to be in unskilled, low paid jobs

Question 24

How did the Supreme Court oppose women’s rights?

Answer 24

Banned all attempts to set minimum wages for women

Question 25

How did women’s role in politics evolve?

Answer 25

• 19th Amendment in 1920 gave women the vote
• Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming became the first woman to be elected governor of a state in 1924

This was the exception and it was rare for women to be involved in politics

Question 26

How many women were killed in back street abortions each year?

Answer 26

50,000

Question 27

What did the Comstock Act of 1873 do?

Answer 27

Banned the distribution of both written articles on contraception and items through the US mail.

Sanger was arrested in 1916 for opening the first contraception clinic

Question 28

What problems were there with the support for birth control?

Answer 28

Often led to eugenics as supporters felt the poor should be discouraged from ‘breeding’ because to do so would threaten race degeneration

Question 29

What were features of the flapper?

Answer 29

• Middle and upper class Northerners
• Short hair, wore make up, short skirts, and bright clothes
• Smoked and drank in public
• Attended speakeasies
• Danced with men in public
• Listened to jazz

Tried to show a greater independence and freedom in their appreance and social life

Question 30

How did people respond to the flappers?

Answer 30

• Seen as too extreme by many traditional groups
• Strong disapproval from religious societies
• Simply pleasure seeking women with few other attributes

Question 31

When was the first national nework (for radios) set up?

Answer 31

NBC was set up in 1926

Question 32

What proportion of American families purchased a radio?

Answer 32

60% between 1923 and 1930

Question 33

How did radios encourage consumerism?

Answer 33

They held huge attraction for advertising and sponsorship, which often paid for programmes

Question 34

How big was the cinema industry in the 1920s?

Answer 34

The cinema industry was the fourth largest in terms of capital investment in the 1920s

It employed more people than either Ford or General Motors

Question 35

How many people visited the cinema a day?

Answer 35

10 milion in 20,000 cinema

Question 36

Where did Jazz music originate from?

Answer 36

From black slaves who were encouraged to sing inorder to increase production.

Question 37

What groups was jazz popular with?

Answer 37

The white middle class youth, especially the flappers

Question 38

How did Jazz feature in the 1920s?

Answer 38

It became the great attraction of the night clubs and speakeasies and brought into homes through radio broadcasts

Some cities, including New York, prohibited the public performance of jazz in dance halls, however this only made it more exciting to the young and increased appeal.