American People + ‘Boom’ Flashcards
What is the stock market?
But shares of companies and be given some of the profits
What is hire purchase?
Buy goods now and pay later through loans in banks which were poorly regulated
What is rugged individualism?
Hoover’s belief that Americans should work hard and not rely on gov help
What were tariff’s?
Taxes on foreign goods so only American goods were bought
How much did Ford pay his workers?
Nearly 3 times the wages paid to others (skilled workers)
By the end of the 1920s how many were employed in the US motor industry?
500,000
How many owned cars + bought with loans?
-1 in 5 owned a car, with 1 in 2 owning a ford
-6 out of 10 cars bought with loans
Why were Ford’s model T’s built so fast?
•assembly line (£850 to £300)
•1 made in 1h and 10 mins
•all black: no time wasted changing colours
•standardisation: all same engine, design and colour
What were the negatives to the car industry? (Ford)
•traffic jams
•road accidents
•pollution
•Ford employed hard men to threaten workers from joining trade union and going on strikes
What were sharecroppers?
Farmer rented small land and gave crops in return to landowner
What problems were farmers dealing with?
•overproduction
•combine harvest or did job of 10 men so lost jobs
•tariffs on goods from foreign countries
•couldn’t pay back loans
What problems were African Americans dealing with in 1920s?
•1 mill lost jobs
•given lowest paid jobs with segregation
•mostly sharecroppers
What inequality in wealth was there?
5% wealthy owned 33% of economy while 42% lived in poverty
Sports like I’m the roaring 20s?
•many travelled to stadiums e.g Ohio stadium with capacity of 60,000 and low priced
•golden age for American sport
Cinema like in roaring 20s?
-In 1919 35 million visitors a week and by 1930 100 million
-warners theatre in California opened in 1924 showing 1st talkie
Hollywood in the roaring 20s?
•by 1929 making over 500 films a year
•’star system’ e.g sex symbols through photo shoots, radio interviews, adverts
What were changes for women in 1920s?
•by 1929 10.5 mill worked, 25% more than 1920= divorce rate x2
•ww1:replace men in labouring work
•right to vote
•flappers
•inventions: free time
What stayed the same for women in the 1920s?
•didn’t get involved in politics
•rural lifestyle of farming and home
What is the anti flirt league?
Protest behaviours of flappers
Why was prohibition passed on?
•anti saloon league campaigned for ban
•religious groups= alcohol caused violence, poverty and debt
•Rural saw towns as places where alcohol fuelled violence was commonplace
How did government impose prohibition?
Initially 1500 prohibition agents which doubled to 3000 in 1930: locate and then confiscate alcohol, arresting sellers/ stop smuggling
Why prohibition failed?
•speakeasies sold bootleg alcohol: hidden/ passwords to enter
•moonshine- can cause illness
•criminal gangs made money + bribed, intimidated legal forces
How many speakeasies by 1930s?
200,000
How much money did Al Capone make from racketeering?
10 million a year
Why was Capone sentenced to jail?
St Valentine’s Day massacre (no witness, so charged him with tax evasion)
How many people immigrated to America in 19th and 20th century?
10% of population of Europe
What did immigrants expect from America?
•lots of cheap farmland + free ‘homesteads’
•jobs (better pay)
•American Dream
•freedom
Why was there a racial tension between Americans and immigrants?
•willing to work for low wages= accused of ‘stealing’ work
•blamed for bad wages and conditions
•increased rent
•language barrier
•religions
•more than 1/2 went back to own countries= lack of desire to be ‘American’
What was the impact of immigration on society?
•formed own communities e.g little Italy (made it hard for integration into American society)
•by 1920 more than 40% of ppl in NYC, Chicago and SF had been born abroad= foreigners taking over
What was the government’s response to immigration?
•literacy test= ban those who couldn’t read sentence of 40 words
•immigration quota law: limit of 350,000 a year
•national origin act reduced it to 150,000 a year
What was the experience for the African Americans?
•Jim crow laws=segregation
•states banned interracial marriage
•difficult literacy test t stop voting
•rent houses in bad neighbourhoods
•schools segregated
•public spaces segregated
What was lynching?
•61 ppl lynched in 1921
•victims had done nothing wrong, police turned blind eye
•show ‘white supremacy’
What improved for African Americans?
•about 2 mill moved north (better than south)
-doubled population between 1900-20 in NYC and Chicago
•NAACP set up to campaign for better rights, housing, votes and fair laws
•’black renaissance’= creativity and black pride
What was the KKK and why did people join?
•white supremacist group that targeted AA’s, Jews, Catholics and immigrants
(By 1925= 5 million members)
• south angry as no prosperity unlike north
•less jobs
•defenders of Protestant religion
•claimed it wanted to improve moral standards
•’birth of a nation’ portrayed KKK as saviours against black thugs
Why was there a decline in the KKK?
•1924: Klan leader Stephenson, convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering
•sentenced to life and during trial revealed many KKK secrets
•Alabama: wave of violence on AA’s and white
•by 1930 membership fell from 5 million to 30,000
What was the impact of the KKK?
•kkk’s secrecy meant anyone= installed fear for AA’s
•activities to intimidate e.g marches, cross burnings, lynchings
•law forces could be members so kkk rarely punished
What were anarchists?
People who believe countries shouldn’t be ruled by organised gov, system where everyone rules themselves
Why did many fear communism and anarchism?
•un-American: attack on capitalist ideologies
•blamed for strikes
•bomber had communist publications on him, later bomber killed 30 = sus communist
•anarchist shot dead president
What was the response to the red scare?
•palmer raids: police head arrested 6000 sus + deported/ predicted terror attacks never came
•trade union membership feel from 6 mill to 3.6 mill
•sacco + Vanzetti= unfair trial/ immigrants were treated as suspected communists
Why were Sacco and Vanzetti executed? (Against them)
•61 eye witnesses
•both had guns: same bullets
•’acted guilty’/ couldn’t speak
•Vanzetti had previous robbery conviction
•doubts about evidence but seen as guilty for being anarchists not for alleged actions
Why were Sacco and Vanzetti unfairly executed?
•107 ppl said they were elsewhere
•witnesses disagreed on what was worn
•several others confessed
•holding gun= no crime
•hostility + prejudice against immigrants= scapegoats for all problems
Why was there a boom?
•11% wage rise
•republican policies= tariffs, low taxes
•mass production= cheaper
•hire purchase
•isolationism= loaned £, more jobs (no debt + less casualties)
