The 1920s Textbook

@@Vocab in orange@@

^^People and their accomplishments in blue^^

%%Cultural Significance in green%%

Questions to think about:

What was the basis for the economic expansion of the 1920s?

What weaknesses existed within the economy?

What groups most challenged traditional social patterns during the 1920s?

What role did technology play in social change during the 1920s?

by 1920, the economy was controlled by large corporations
%%the growth of the automobile industry lead the way for consumer goods%%

The Economics of Prosperity

by the end of the war in 1918, the government cancelled most orders for war supplies. This led many discharged military to be jobless.
%%wartime shortages and overtime pay left Americans with more money than they could spend%%
the economy quickly rebounded between 1921 and 1922

Target Consumers

by the 1920s, businesses understood that advertising was crucial to make money
as an example, Listerine began as an antiseptic but began marketing to solve the @@"bad breath” (halitosis)@@ problem, which was not an insecurity before.
Wheaties was marketed as “breakfast of champions”. The 1920s began the rise of athletics.
Lucky Strike cigarettes told women to “Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet”. They encouraged women to smoke to become skinny.
%%the world became consumer-oriented%%
in 1920, one-third of Americans had electricity. By the end of the decade, over 90% had electricity.
“Buy now, pay later”
]]Installment plan: A way of paying for a purchase over time, so that the price of the product is spread over several payments, typically due monthly]]
]]Finance Companies: Business that makes loans to clients based on some form of collateral, such as a new car, thus allowing a form of installment buying when sellers do not extend credit]]

The Automobile: Driving the Economy

]]Henry Ford: inventor and manufacturer, founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903 and pioneered mass production of autos]]
]]Model T: Lightweight automobile that Ford produced from 1908 to 1927 and sold at the lowest possible price on the theory that an affordable and durable car would be more profitable than an expensive one. “Tin Lizzies”]]
at the time, America wanted to reduce labor costs by improving efficiency. This led to the assembly line becoming dehumanizing.
- workers were prohibited to: talk, sit, sing, or whistle.
Ford’s assembly line was not the first moving assembly line, but it was a popular model.
^^Frederick W. Taylor was the industrial engineer^^ who built national reputation on his ability to break complex operations into small components. Wrote “Principals of Scientific Management” in 1911.
Ford paid their workers well and this pushed other automakers to increase pay. %%This led to the lower working class being able to enjoy consumer buying%%
^^General Motors was founded by William Durant^^
^^Chrysler was founded by Walter Chrysler^^
The Ford Model T stopped being produced in 1927 when Chevrolet passed them in sales. The next year, Ford introduced the Model A.
%%Advertising made the automobile a symbol of technology, progress, and freedom%%
By the late 1920s, 80% of the worlds registered automobiles were in the United States. There was 1 automobile for every 5 people.
The automobile led the way in new sales techniques. By 1927, 2/3 of all automobiles were sold on credit.
The Big Three: Chrysler, Ford, General Motors
%%the industry became an oligopoly%%

Changes in Banking and Business

^^A. P. Giannini made banking accessible to Americans.^^
Giannini founded the ^^Bank of Italy^^ in 1904 as a bank for shopkeepers and workers in San Francisco’s Italian neighborhood. Giannini brought his bank to ordinary people by opening branches near people’s homes and workplaces.
^^Bruce Barton wrote The Man Nobody Knows^^
- the book said that Jesus would be best understood as a business executive who “had picked up twelve men from the bottom ranks of business and forged them into an organization that conquered the world”. Jesus’s parables were “the most powerful advertisements of all time”
Corporate mergers (monopolies) earned 85% of net corporate income, despite only being 5% of the market. Companies like Ford and Giannini’s bank survived, despite being family owned brands.
- %%people began to see stock-ownership as a quick way to make money rather than a long term investment.%%

“Get Rich Quick”

by 1929, 10% of American households owned stock.
- some people even bought stock on credit or “on margin” (paying part, then owing the rest to the stock broker). Some people took out loans to buy stock.
]]Bullish: optimistic or confident; regarding stocks, stock prices go up in a bull market and down in a bear market]]
]]Operating Company: a company that directly sells goods or services, as opposed to a holding company that exists to own other companies.]]
a land boom led people to Miami (and other warm areas). People often bought land on credit since they expected it to grow in worth. A hurricane hit in 1926, and by 1927 most Florida land speculators were facing bankruptcy.

Agriculture: Depression in the Midst of Prosperity

Prosperity never reached most famers, which made up 30% of the population.
During the war, many farmers expended operations in demands for food abroad. Exports of farm products nearly quadrupled.
%%After the war, farmers produced too much, which lowered prices.%%
much food was wasted

A People on Wheels: The Automobile and American Life

highways shortened travel time from rural areas to cities. The rise in farming technology led to more farmers being let off, which meant %%people migrated to the cities%%.
in the 1920 census, for the first time ever, urban areas had more residents than rural ones
suburbs boomed
new home construction rivaled the automobile company as a major driving force behind economic growth
- %%car-related innovations such as drive-in movies, drive-in restaurants, highway motels, and shopping strips were created.%%
rise in cars led to traffic lights and road regulations, but traffic still congested cities.

Los Angeles: Automobile Metropolis

%%Southern California had many booming industries: citrus farming, oil drilling, motion-picture industries%%
city officials diverted the Owens River to Los Angeles through a 233-mile-long aqueduct in 1913
culture in California pushed for single-family homes and a car for every family
@@Wilshire Boulevard was the first large shopping district designed for automobiles@@
by 1926, for every 1 car in Los Angeles there were 3 people.

A Homogenized Culture Searches for Heroes

Los Angeles was the capital of the movie industry
most towns had a movie theater, and theater attendance doubled from 40 million weekly to 80 million weekly from 1922 to 1929 (two-thirds of the population)
@@Homogenize means to make something uniform throughout@@
radio and film joined newspaper and magazine in creating trends and fashion
spectator sports became popularized (not just organized sports, things like hiking and swimming too)
the card game Bridge
crossword puzzles
invention of the Movie Star
^^Charles Lindberg was an American aviator who made the first solo transatlantic flight in 1927 and became an international hero^^
- he flew 3,500 miles nonstop between New York and Paris and was paid $25,000

Alienated Intellectuals

@@expatriates are people that live long-term in another country@@
^^Sinclair Lewis was a novelist who satirized middle-class America in works such as Babbitt; he was the first American to win the Nobel Prize for literature^^

Renaissance Among African Americans

@@the Harlem Renaissance was a literary and artistic movement in the 1920s, centered in Harlem, in which black writers and artists celebrated African American life@@
the rise of jazz
- Harlem was associated with night life and jazz clubs
^^Marcus Garvey advocated for black seperationism, where black people create their own separate institutions under the assumption that they’ll never be equal^^

“Flaming Youth”

prohibition led to the rise of the speakeasy
flappers became controversial but popular
- rise of “dating” and a concept, half of all young women had sex before marriage
the booming economy allowed middle class families to send their children to college
%%young people going to speakeasies led to the first “youth culture”,%% as older generations criticized and created a divide

Prohibition

%%Eighteenth Amendment forbid alcohol.%%
many wanted to repeal, but that didn’t happen until the 21st amendment
bootlegging (producing illegal drinks) became a big business
^^Al Capone’s gang had nearly 1000 members and took more than $100 million^^, 60% of which was from bootleg liquor
@@Racketeering: crimes such as extortion, loansharking, and bribery, sometimes the front of a seemingly legit business or union@@

Fundamentalism and the Campaign Against Evolution

@@Fundamentalism was originally an early twentieth-century Protestant Christian religious movement that emphasized the literal truth of the Bible and opposed efforts to reconcile the Bible with scientific knowledge; applied today to any religious movement based on uncompromising adherence to a set of principles@@
^^Clarence Darrow led the defense team^^ that the SCLU (The American Civil Liberties Union) sponsored that was %%arguing that evolution should not be taught in school.%%

Nativism, Immigration Restriction, and Eugenics

@@Restrictive Covenants are a provision in a property title that prohibits subsequent sale to specified groups, especially people of color or Jews.@@
@@National Origins Act limited immigration from southern and Eastern Europe and banned all immigration from Asia@@
eugenics said that southern and eastern European show undesirable genetic traits
in 1927, Virginia allowed the sterilization of those who are mentally retarded

The Ku Klux Klan

glorification of the KKK in %%The Birth of a Nation%% (movie) sparked a new wave of KKK
the klan was based of Protestant Christianity
the Harlem Renaissance and Klan nightriders represented %%polar extremes of racial relations%%

Ethnicity and Race: North, South, and West

East of the MS river, race relations were nearly just black and white. West of the river, race relations were very complex.
in the West, Asians fought for equal rights.
Mississippi required asian children to attend segregated schools for black children.

Beginning of Change in Federal Indian Policy

^^Interior Secretary Albert Fall^^ tried to lease native reservation land to white people.
@@American Indian Defense Association (AIDA) was an Organization founded in 1923 to defend the rights of American natives; it sought an end to land allotment and return to tribal government@@
^^AIDA was made by John Collier^^

Mexican Americans

by 1925, the Southwest was @@relying on irrigation to produce 40% of the nation’s fruits and veggies@@
Mexicans made up more than 80% of the laborers
the National Origins Act of 1924 allowed unlimited immigration from the West (mostly Mexico)

Labor on the Defensive

@@American Plan was a term used by some employers in the 1920s to describe their policy of refusing to negotiate with unions@@
@@Welfare capitalism was a program adopted by some employers to provide employee benefits such as lunchrooms, paid vacations, bonuses, and profit-sharing plans@@
@@the Communist Party of the United States was organized in 1919, devoted to replacing capitalism and private property@@
in 1929, the CP only has 9,300 members.

Changes in Women’s Lives

marriage became increasingly valued as companionship between two partners
women had the responsibility of maintaining a functioning family
in the 1920s, ^^more accessible birth control led to fewer births^^
@@the Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed constitutional amendment, first advocated by the National Woman’s Party in 1923 to give women in the US equal rights under the law.@@