Unit Four - The Roaring Twenties and Great Depression

The Roaring Twenties

The 1920s were also known as the “Roaring Twenties” - a decade of economic prosperity and culture dynamism between WWI and the Great Depression - significant social, economic, and technological changes

Political Landscape of the 1920s

Era of Republican Presidents who promised a “return to normalcy” - Harding (1921-1923), Coolidge (1923-1929), Hoover (1929-1933) - pursued an isolationist foreign policy (opposition to political, economic, and military entanglements with other countries) - followed a laissez-faire policy where “the chief business of the American people is business” - partnership between government and business (protective tariffs that are protect American business but increases prices)

The Red Scare of 1919-1920

Fueled by the Russian Revolution, isolationism, labor unrest (long hours from WWI don’t decrease), “radical” foreign ideas viewed as “unAmerican” - persecution of eastern Europeans, labor unions, and the restriction of immigrants

Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer

Investigations, raids, and deportations of suspected subversives and communists (Palmer Raids) - restrictions on free speech (Espionage and Sedition Acts)

Sacco and Vanzetti Case

Accused of robbing a bank car - they were Italians, atheists, anarchists, draft dodgers, and Vanzetti was a labor union leader, making them easy targets - Anti-foreignism was high at the time due to propaganda and isolationism - liberals, radicals, and Italian-Americans rallied around the two men - the ACLU tried to defend them - still, they suffered death by electric chair on August 23, 1927 (causes protests)

American Civil Liberties Union

The ACLU was founded in 1920 - the Sacco and Vanzetti case was one of their first cases (they defended them)

Immigration and Nativism

• Immigration Quota Act of 1921 and National Origins Act of 1924

  • Restrictions of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, Asia

• Rise of nativism and xenophobia (fear of foreigners, support of “native” Americans)

• Resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan

“Hooded Hoodlums” of the KKK

Membership swelled bc of the Red Scare, Xenophobia, isolationism, and the cultural clash of modernism vs. fundamentalism - five million members, mostly from the South - 100% Americanism (white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant) - lynching - active recruiting into “official” positions (police, judges, politicians) - The Klan was stopped not by the exposure of its horrible intolerance but by its money laundering

Immigration Quota Act of 1921

Limited the number of immigrants allowed entry to 3% of each nationality present in the 1910 US Census - favored Northern and Western European immigrants - first use of a quota system in US immigration policy

National Origins Act of 1924

Further restricted immigration to 2% of each nationality present in 1890 US Census - effectively banned Asian immigration - created Border Patrol to enforce immigration laws

Impact of Immigration Quota Act and National Origins Act

Dramatically reduced immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe - reflected growing nativist sentiment and xenophobia - shaped US demographics for decades to come

Emma Goldman

Lithuanian anarchist who moved to America from Russia - experienced harsh labor conditions - began intense activism for worker rights, womens rights, etc. - promoted violence, plotted an assassination but never convicted - she was eventually deported to Russia for her activism

Mexican Repatriation

Approximately 2 million people of Mexican descent were forcibly deported from the US - 60% were American citizens - Occurred during the Great Depression (1929-1939) - driven by economic fears and racial prejudice - many were coerced/tricked into leaving - families torn apart, lives uprooted

The Scottsboro Defense

Nine black teens were wrongfully accused of rape (no proof) - they were initially all sentenced to death or life in prison - eventually they were all freed but the court process took decades - afterwards, the Supreme Court gives the right to competent counsel, and a jury of true peers

Jurisprudence: the study that deals with the fundamental principles and various concepts of the law

The Great Migration

Large-scale movement of African Americans from Southern to Northern cities - driven by job opportunities and escape from Jim Crow laws - led to demographic shifts and urban cultural changes - contributed to the Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance flourished in the 1920s-30s, centered in Harlem NY - cultural revival of African American art, literature, and music - key themes of racial pride, cultural heritage, and social equality - coined terms like “Black is Beautiful” and “Uncle Tom”

Key Figures of the Ha