The Roaring Twenties America during the Jazz Age

The Roaring Twenties America during the “Jazz Age. ”

The Postwar Economic Downturn 1919 -the U. S. economy suffered a serious downturn. National Income dropped there was high unemployment and laborers were unable to buy the new technology of the time.

African-Americans • African-Americans had undergone a Great Migration north during the war. The North was seen as the land of hope but the end of the war limited their employment opportunities. • 369 th Regiment, 1919, shows the African American fighting unit of World War I. (van der zee)

Competition for Jobs • Severe downsizing developed into class and racial tensions and burgeoning intolerance. • Workers Unions were met with violence, government arrested members of left-leaning political parties and instituted anti-immigration legislation • Groups like the KKK persecuted members of minority groups and the U. S. government jailed black leaders advocating black power, like Marcus Garvey. • Fundamentalists battled scientists over evolution • Government plagued with scandal and corruption.

Political Scandals • President Harding failed to diffuse the tensions that permeated postwar society • His Cabinet was corrupt • Attorney General Daugherty and other presidential favorites allowed political allies to break the law, accept bribes and graft. • Teapot Dome Scandal • A. Fall leased the Navy’s gas reserve to private interests

Teapot Dome

Labor Unrest • 1919= 3, 600 strikes protesting wage cuts and long hours with no overtime pay. • Most laborers faced rigid and violent opposition • Major strikes included United Mine workers and the Boston Police Strike among others. • Union Membership dropped

American Radicalism • Labor linked to Anti-Communist Fears • Small portion of Radicals in the US did seek to destroy the existing political order and promote anarchy. • From 1919 to 1920 anarchists delivered a series of bombs to political officials’ homes and offices nationwide • 1919 -Attorney General’s A. Mitchell Palmers house was bombed leading Palmer to declare • “that organized crime directed against organized government in the country shall be stopped”

The Red Scare • The Government organized attacks on Radicals and foreigners • Attorney General Palmer mobilized officials to arrest communists, these were know as the Palmer raids

Anti-Immigration Laws • The National Origins Act set an Immigration quota of 2% of each nationality living in the U. S. in 1890. • Large decline in Immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe. • Restrictive Legislation on Asian immigrants • American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), worked to represent “the rights of both individuals and minorities [which were being] violated. ”

The Sacco and Vanzetti Trial • Happened in 1920 and was the culmination of various postwar societal tensions. • The prosecutions case lacked sound evidence but neither man could secure a written alibi and both had loaded weapons when arrested. • Both were executed, in 1927.

Rising Intolerance • Organized racial discrimination • Asians in California • African Americans in Midwest • Anti-Semitism in the business community • Mexicans in the Southwest • The new KKK-restarted in 1915, claimed to be patriotic, benevolent organization that supported education, morality, and charity opposed to • Catholics, blacks, Jews, immigrants, homosexuals, Asians, drug dealers, “wild women, ” the pope, F. D. R. • Conducted swift justice on people they believed deserved punishment • Began declining in 1925

From Intolerance to Violence • Racial Riots • St. Louis 1917 • 1919 -Red Summer, over 20 Major Racial riots killed or injured hundreds of people • Lynching-dramatic illustrations of racist violence

Marcus Garvey and Black Pride • African Americans looked for new leaders in the movement who had alternative solutions • Millions turned to Marcus Garvey who promoted • Black Pride • Separatism • The Universal Negro Improvement Society (UNIA) • Sought to empower African Americans toward • Economic, religious, psychological, & cultural independence • Also promoted a separatist vision of African Americans returning to Africa.

Marcus Garvey and Other African American Leaders • Booker T. Washington • Famous for prioritizing black economic gains as a route to social equality. Differed with Garvey’s separatism • W. E. B. Du. Bois • Famous for pushing African American Political Influence • James Weldon Johnson • Led the NAACP, and fought for legislation to protect African American Rights and outlaw lynching.

The Science and Religion Debate • Science, Fundamentalism and Modernism • The Scopes Trial (AKA The Monkey Trial) • Famous People at the Trial • Clarence Darrow- Famous Defense Attorney • William Jennings Bryan-Prosecution Witness, former Presidential Candidate • John Scopes-science Teacher backed by the ACLU • The Case became a two-sided argument between science and religion