How far did society change in the 20s

Question 1

Impact of car

Answer 1

-people could drive to work=suburbs appeared
-people could drive to restaurants and cinemas
-people could go visit friends, take holidays at beach resorts of go to sporting events
-Young Americans could go out without their parents, gave a sense of freedom of many.

Question 2

New entertainment

Answer 2

• by 1930, 40% of homes had a radio= could listen to sports, news, advertising ect…
• radios allowed jazz to grow
• jazz played in night clubs where new type of urban women who drank, smoked, went out with out chaperone= flappers, would go.
• new big money sports such as base ball- Babe Ruth house hold name bc home run record

Films:
-in Hollywood the film industry developed. Movie stars such as Clara Bow influenced peoples fashion, hairstyles ect…
- the first ‘talkies’ were introduced in 1927, by 1929 cinema had 100m viewers each week + 200,000,000 tickets sold each week.
- young Americans exposed to sex appeal for fist time= censorship legislation was introduced in some states with more traditionalist views

Question 3

immigration

Answer 3

• over 8m for 1901-10= introduction of National Origins Act 1924: reduced immigration to 150,000 + banned asian immigration and reduced immigrants for eastern and southern Europe
• many AA’s who moved to cities in the north to escape racism in the south were forced into ghettos.
• many feared immigrants woudl bring communism- RED SCARE
• strikes in 1919 involving 400,000 workers convinced many that communist were to blame
• John Plamer- drew up list of 60,000 suspected communists- only about 1000 were deemed to have any evidence behind it.
• Sacco and Vanzetti- executed with very minimal evidence, showed institutionalised racism-1927
• KKK, Jim Crow laws, Literacy tests, discrimination.
• KKK 5 mil members in 1925

Bible Belt:
-fundamentalists in deep south and mid west
- opposed to theory of evolution and new reforms in society
- Scopes trial

Question 4

why was prohibition introduced

Answer 4

• historical factors: ‘dries’ had banned saloons in 21 states buy 1916 and had introduced prohibition laws in 18 by 1818
• women: christian temperance union campaigned on moral and religious grounds and said that alcohol ruined families
• churches and politicians and industry: churches warned against the dangers of alcohol. prohibition was and election winner. industrial powers like Rockefeller said prohibition would help the economy and reduce absenteeism at work

WW1- drinkers were viewed as unpatriotic and many breweries were owned by german brewers. the grain could be used to feed the soilders

scientific advancements- could see the negative impact alcohol had on people health

Question 5

women

Answer 5

• got the vote in 1920
• more jobs: 24% more had jobs in 1929 vs 1920
• however still had less opportunities than men
  -little changed for rural women

changing attitudes meant marriages broke down more easily as women were less likely to stay in unhappy relationships. divorce rated doubled between 1914 and 1929

it was middle class women in cites who benefited most

women still earned less than men for doing the same job.

AA women still could not vote

Question 6

impact of prohibition

Answer 6

alcohol consumption fell by 30% in the early 1920s

prohibition agents arrested offenders and those smuggling in illegal liquor. they made 66,000 arrests in 1929 alone

illegal bars called ‘speakeasies’ flourished and by 1929, there were over 30,000 in New York alone.

it made perviously law abiding citizens become law-breakers and caused some to brew their own alcohol called moonshine which was dangerously high in alcohol

Question 7

why was prohibition repelled

Answer 7

• it was accepted in rural states but never in urban ones
• prohibition agents were under funded- payed $2500 a year to shut down and organisation that raked in $2billion dollars a year
• bribery was rife
• it was difficult to enforce- boats ect… + there were more speakeasies than their had been bars and they could located in minutes
• farmers weren’t able to sell grain and instead illegal alcohol consumption supported Canadian and Caribbean industries instead of US ones

it fuelled gangs and lead to them becoming very powerful: Al Capon had an army of 700 gangsters responsible for 300 murders in Chicago + St Valentines day massacre 7 ppl killed

it was eventually repelled in 1933