APUSH Period 7: 1920-1939

Period 8: 1920–1939 (Interwar Years, Great Depression, New Deal)

1. Causes and Effects of International and Internal Migration (1920–1939)

Causes

  • World War I

    • War disrupted European economies and migration patterns

    • Labor shortages in U.S. industry encouraged internal migration

  • Great Migration

    • African Americans moved from the rural South to Northern and Western cities

    • Driven by Jim Crow laws, lynching, lack of economic opportunity

  • Economic Opportunity

    • Industrial jobs in cities (factories, meatpacking, steel)

  • Racial Violence & Oppression

    • Persistent racism and segregation in the South

  • Political Instability Abroad

    • Russian Revolution, persecution in Eastern Europe

  • Immigration Restrictions

    • Fear of radicalism, communism, and cultural change

Effects

  • Urban Growth

    • Cities like Chicago, Detroit, Harlem expanded rapidly

  • Harlem Renaissance

    • Flourishing of Black art, literature, and music

  • Racial Tensions

    • Tulsa Race Massacre (1921)

    • Increased violence and segregation in Northern cities

  • Nativism

    • Hostility toward immigrants and minorities

    • Anti-German, anti-Mexican, anti-Asian, anti-Eastern European sentiment

  • Ku Klux Klan Expansion

    • Second KKK targeted Catholics, Jews, immigrants, and Black Americans

  • Immigration Restriction

    • Emergency Quota Act (1921)

    • Immigration Act of 1924 (National Origins Act) favored Northern Europeans and banned Asian immigration

  • Religious Fundamentalism

    • Reaction against cultural pluralism, immigration, and modern science

2. Innovations in Communication and Technology

Causes

  • Assembly Line & Fordism

    • Increased efficiency and lowered production costs

  • Mass Production

    • Consumer goods produced quickly and cheaply

  • Corporate Expansion

    • U.S. businesses expanded domestically and internationally

  • Electricity & Household Technology

    • Radios, refrigerators, washing machines

Effects

  • Mass Consumerism

    • Growth of advertising and installment buying (credit)

  • Rising Standard of Living

    • Middle-class expansion (unevenly distributed)

  • Women’s Roles Changed

    • Household technology freed time; more women entered workforce

  • Entertainment Boom

    • Radio, movies, sports heroes

  • Urbanization

    • Cities became cultural and economic centers

  • National Culture

    • Shared music, news, and values across regions

3. Migration, Nationalism, and Cultural Conflict

Causes

  • World War I

  • Economic Growth in the North

  • Racial Oppression in the South

  • Industrial Labor Demand

Effects

  • Harlem Renaissance

    • Writers like Langston Hughes, artists, jazz musicians

  • Cultural Nationalism

    • Pride movements among African Americans

  • Heightened Nativism

    • Fear of immigrants and foreign ideologies

  • Immigration Closure

    • Asian immigration banned

    • Strict quotas on Southern and Eastern Europeans

  • Economic Exclusion

    • Discrimination in housing, jobs, and labor unions

  • Fundamentalism

    • Reaction against secularism and immigration

  • KKK Influence

    • Political power in state and local governments

4. Popular Culture Developments

Causes

  • World War I

  • New Technologies

  • Urbanization

  • Mass Production of Consumer Goods

  • Women’s Suffrage Movement

  • Prohibition Era

Effects

  • 18th Amendment (Prohibition)

    • Banned alcohol; led to speakeasies and organized crime

  • 19th Amendment

    • Women gained the right to vote

  • Flappers

    • Challenged traditional gender norms

  • Consumer Culture

    • Advertising, credit buying

  • Harlem Renaissance

    • Black identity and cultural expression

  • Lost Generation

    • Writers criticized materialism and war (Hemingway, Fitzgerald)

  • More Women Working

    • Especially in clerical and service jobs

5. Causes and Effects of the Great Depression

Causes

  • Weak European Economies

    • Reduced demand for U.S. exports

  • War Debt & Reparations

    • European nations couldn’t repay U.S. loans

  • Stock Market Speculation

    • Buying on margin inflated stock prices

  • 1929 Stock Market Crash

  • Bank Failures

    • No federal insurance; loss of savings

  • Overproduction

    • Too many goods, not enough buyers

  • High Tariffs

    • Smoot-Hawley Tariff reduced global trade

  • Hoover’s Limited Response

    • Reconstruction Finance Corporation came too late

Effects

  • Mass Unemployment

    • Up to 25% by 1933

  • Poverty and Starvation

    • Breadlines, Hoovervilles

  • Lower Birth Rates

  • Farm Foreclosures

  • Psychological Impact

    • Loss of faith in capitalism

6. Impact of the Great Depression and the New Deal

Political Effects

  • Shift Toward Government Intervention

  • Democratic Party Dominance

  • Repeal of Prohibition (21st Amendment)

  • Court-Packing Controversy

  • Expansion of Federal Power

Economic Effects

  • Emergency Banking Act

    • Stabilized banking system

  • New Deal Programs

    • CCC: conservation jobs

    • PWA/WPA: infrastructure and employment

    • NRA/NIRA: labor standards (later ruled unconstitutional)

    • AAA: reduced farm production

    • FHA: home ownership

    • Wagner Act: protected labor unions

    • Social Security Act: pensions and unemployment insurance

Social Effects

  • Growth of Welfare State

  • More Acceptance of Women in Politics

  • Limited Gains for African Americans

    • Some New Deal jobs, but discrimination remained

  • Expanded Civil Liberties

  • Stronger Labor Unions