Download The New Era

Chapter 24:
The New Era_
The AP instructional strategies discussed below for Chapter 24 of American
History: A Survey focus especially, but not exclusively, on the following themes
developed by the AP U.S. History Development Committee: American Diversity,
American Identity, Culture, Demographic Changes, Economic Transformations, and
Politics and Citizenship. This chapter, as well as the primary documents selected below,
follow the content guidelines suggested for the nineteenth topic in the AP Topic Outline
 The New Era: 1920s.
Top-Ten Analytical Journal.
Defining the chapter terms in their journals will help students better understand:
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The reasons for the industrial boom in the 1920s.
The nature and extent of labor's problems.
The plight of the American farmer.
The changes in the American way of life and American values in the 1920s.
The ways these changes were reflected in American literature and art.
The effects of prohibition on American politics and society.
The reasons for xenophobia and racial unrest in the 1920s.
The debacle of the Harding administration.
The pro-business tendencies of the Republican administration in the 1920s.
Each of the terms below contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the social,
political, and economic tensions in the 1920s. As your students define these terms,
encourage them to demonstrate why each person, event, concept, or issue is important to
a thorough understanding of this chapter.
Welfare capitalism
“Pink Collar” jobs
A. Philip Randolph
Open Shop
Parity
Mass consumption
Mass circulation magazines
Motion Picture Association
National Broadcasting Company
(NBC)
Companionate marriages
Margaret Sanger
Emma Goldman
Birth control
Flappers
Dance halls
Jitterbuggers
League of Women Voters
National Woman’s Party
Sheppard-Towner Act of 1921
Youth culture
Charles Lindbergh
The Lost Generation
H. L. Mencken
Sinclair Lewis
F. Scott Fitzgerald
John Dewey
Charles and Mary Beard
Harlem Renaissance
Langston Hughes
Alain Locke
Prohibition
Al Capone
Nativism
Ku Klux Klan
National Origins Act of 1924
The Birth of A Nation
Fundamentalism
Scopes Trial
Election of 1924
Election of 1928
Presidency of Warren G. Harding
Teapot Dome Scandal
Presidency of Calvin Coolidge
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Getting students started on their journals. Remind students that they must analyze
and synthesize their understanding of these terms in two ways:
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by creating “Top-Ten” lists of their own within their journals at the end of
each chapter; and
by justifying in their journal why their terms are essential to an understanding
of “The New Era.”
Journal entry example. Following is an example of how students might describe
“dance halls” and their importance to an overall understanding of “The New Era.”
Dance halls. A dance craze swept across America in the 1920s, bringing with it a
new phenomenon  dance halls. These were especially popular with young men
and women from working-class, immigrant communities where dancing offered
an escape from their neighborhood and a way to become Americanized.
Free-Response Questions.
1. Assess the accuracy of Dr. Brinkley’s statement, “In reality, the decade was a time of
significant, even dramatic, social, economic, and political change.” (p. 641)
Some things to look for in the student response.
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Possible thesis statement: The 1920s really was a “New Era.” For almost a
decade, Americans witnessed many social, economic, and political changes.
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Social change. Change within American society was especially dramatic, with
many Americans rejecting traditional social constraints and adopting a freer
way of life. Changes included new roles for women, the rise of the automobile
and its subsequent effects on suburban society, the creation of a mass
consumer culture, the influence of dance halls and the parallel growth of a
youth culture, and increases in high school and college enrollments. But not
all Americans embraced such changes. Backlash to changes in society values
existed among a growing fundamentalist Protestant Christian community,
advocates of Prohibition, and nativist groups like the Ku Klux Klan.
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Economic change. Change was both significant and dramatic as the American
economy experienced spectacular growth. Much of the growth was directly
related to spectacular changes in technology, especially in the automotive
industry. Not only did the industry grow almost exponentially, it also
stimulated growth in many industries related to producing automobiles. Radio
communication also accounted for much economic growth with the beginning
of commercial broadcasting and the popularity of radio shows. Commercial
aviation was another booming field, ranging from mail delivery to commercial
travel. Agriculture greatly profited from new technology in the forms of
engine powered tractors, hybrid crop research, chemical fertilizers, and
pesticides. Other technological advances led to growth of other industries 
home appliances, electronic equipment, plastics and synthetic fibers, oil, and
aluminum. Economic growth, in turn, encouraged the economic sector to
move toward national organization and consolidation. Thus, new forms of
corporation organization also arose, as well as new trade associations.
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Political change. Change was less significant in the political arena. The era
was characterized by the close relationship that already had been forged
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between the private sector and the federal government during World War I.
Congress passed tax reductions on corporate profits, personal incomes, and
inheritances. It also trimmed the federal budget. President Hoover created
trade associations through which private entrepreneurs could work together to
stabilize their industries and promote corporate efficiency in production and
marketing. As the era progressed, the federal government experimented with
new approaches to public policy. One of the first examples was passage of
the McNary-Haugen Bill that created high tariffs on foreign agricultural goods
and required a government commitment to buy surplus domestic crops at
parity and then sell them abroad at whatever the market could bear. Another
was the Sheppard-Towner Act of 1921 that provided federal funds to states to
establish prenatal and child health care programs.
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Possible conclusion: Changes did occur throughout the 1920s, but some were
more dramatic than others. Most prominent were the changes in American
society and the nation’s economy. Politics, however, were more consistent
with the American past. The presidencies of Hoover and Coolidge continued
the strong relationship between the federal government and business, and
made only those legislative changes that helped rather than hindered industry.
The exception was the Sheppard-Towner Act. While it was passed in 1921 to
provide federal aid to states for prenatal and child health care programs, it was
repealed in 1929 after intense lobbying from the American Medical
Association, which argued that the act would introduce untrained outsiders
into the health care field.
2. Support the following belief among many historians: While the U.S. experienced this
new era of almost uninterrupted prosperity, it was also experiencing serious social,
economic, and political inequities.
Some things to look for in the student response.
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Possible thesis statement: While the image of the Roaring Twenties was alive
in affluent and middle class homes, the fact remains that by 1929, more than
two-thirds of all Americans lived at what a major study described as the
“minimum comfort level.” Half of those lived at or below the poverty line.
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Political inequities. The vast majority of the American workforce had no
political recourse to the poor wages, working conditions, and open shop
policies of corporate America. Naturalization laws made it impossible for
many people who had been living in America for years to become citizens and
to vote.
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Economic inequities. Most working-class laborers received minimal wage
increases that were proportionately below increases in both profits and
production, worked without any real power over their jobs and their lives, and
had access to no real effective, independent union movement. The situation
was even worse for African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics who were
largely excluded from skilled labor jobs as well as union membership.
Farmers also suffered during the era as the demand for agricultural goods did
not rise as fast as the production. Many lost their farms and moved to the city,
while others began to demand price support relief from the government. Most
women, contrary to the image of the liberated flapper, remained largely
dependent upon men both in the home and the workplace and had very little
power over their social, political, and economic lives.
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Social inequities. The “self-made man” image  always more myth than
reality  became even less a possibility in the 1920s. Increasingly, men
needed education more than sweat equity to get to the top. Immigrants
suffered greatly during the era  not only at the hands of the first widespread
federal exclusionary legislation and through their exclusion from all major
union organizations, but also at the hands of a reborn Ku Klux Klan that
focused its hate and violence largely on immigrant communities. Asian
immigrants suffered especially, with federal and state legislation designed to
keep them from becoming citizens, living safely in their communities, owning
land, and competing with other laborers.
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Possible conclusion: The 1920s was a “new era” for those Americans at the
top of the social, economic, and political hierarchy. However, for laboring
men and women, farmers and their families, people of color, labor union
organizers, and the poor, the 1920s were a time of great hardships. Thus, the
“Roaring Twenties” is an inappropriate description of the way that most
Americans experienced this era of American history.
Historians, Historical Detection, and DBQs.
The following DBQ and its supportive primary documents will help students gain a better
understanding of immigration and immigration policy during the 1920s. Remind your
students that when scoring the AP exams, the readers will expect to see a coherent essay
that includes two required components: key pieces of evidence from all or most of the
documents and a well-organized narrative drawing on knowledge from textbook readings
and classroom discussion.
DBQ: Immigration restriction has a long history in the United States. Using the documents
below and your knowledge of immigration history, compare and contrast the political and
social goals of the various federal laws that restricted immigration between 1790 and 1924.
How was the passage of such laws supported as well as opposed by the American public?
Documents:
1. Excerpts from the Naturalization Act of 1790. (1 Stat. 103, 104. U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services Website at
http://uscis.gov/graphics/aboutus/history/1790Act.htm .)
“That any alien, being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits
and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be
admitted to become a citizen thereof, on application to any common law court of
record, in any one of the States wherein he shall have resided for the term of one
year at least, and making proof to the satisfaction of such court, that he is a person
of good character, and taking the oath or affirmation prescribed by law, to support
the Constitution of the United States, which oath or affirmation such court shall
administer; and the clerk of such court shall record such application, and the
proceedings thereon; and thereupon such person shall be considered as a citizen of
the United States. And the children of such persons so naturalized, dwelling within
the United States, being under the age of twenty-one years at the time of such
naturalization, shall also be considered as citizens of the United States. And the
children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the
limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens: Provided,
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that the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never
been resident in the United States: .”
2. Excerpts from the Alien Act, 1797. (PSI document. The Alien Act, July 6, 1798;
Fifth Congress; Enrolled Acts and Resolutions; General Records of the United States
Government; Record Group 11; National Archives.)
“Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be lawful for the President
of the United States at any time during the continuance of this act, to order all
such aliens as he shall judge dangerous to the peace and safety of the United
States, or shall have reasonable grounds to suspect are concerned in any
treasonable or secret machinations against the government thereof, to depart out
of the territory of the United Slates, within such time as shall be expressed in such
order, which order shall be served on such alien by delivering him a copy thereof,
or leaving the same at his usual abode, and returned to the office of the Secretary
of State, by the marshal or other person to whom the same shall be directed. And
in case any alien, so ordered to depart, shall be found at large within the United
States after the time limited in such order for his departure, and not having
obtained a license from the President to reside therein, or having obtained such
license shall not have conformed thereto, every such alien shall, on conviction
thereof, be imprisoned for a term not exceeding three years, and shall never after
be admitted to become a citizen of the United States. . .”
3. Excerpts from D.L. Phillips, Letters from California, 1877. (D.L. Phillips, Letters
from California: its mountains, valleys, plains, lakes, rivers, climate and productions.
Also its railroads, cities, towns and people, as seen in 1876. Springfield, Illinois State
Journal Co. Library of Congress, American Memory Website at
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/timeline/riseind/chinimms/phill
ips.html )
“Among the Chinamen there are many educated and wealthy merchants - men
shrewd, honest and capable. They are here and will remain. Gradually they are
bringing their families. Under the laws of the United States, their children, born
here, are American citizens, and the males, when reaching their majority, will
vote. There are some Chinamen here now over 21, and they vote. Chinamen born
in China, under our naturalization laws, it has been assumed, can not become
citizens. Take them to-morrow, were such a thing possible, and allow them all to
become naturalized, not one of them would vote the Democratic ticket. That may
explain why Democrats are opposed to Chinamen coming here . . . The
Chinaman's only sin is, he will work. If he cannot get a high price, he will take a
low one, but work he will. And then, he is neat, clean, sober and patient, always
submissive, peaceable and quiet. . . .
Take the 70,000 Chinamen out of California, its industries would be ruined, and
the lands, now so productive, would be cultivated without remunerative results.
They supply, by their toil, nearly all the vegetables and much of the poultry. They
are doing a large share of the farm-work, and build all the railroads and irrigating
canals and ditches. They do much of the cooking, and nearly all the washing and
ironing . . . Were they protected as citizens are, they would soon own lands, town
lots and houses. As it is now, the low, the vile, the idle, brutal hoodlum, in San
Francisco, and all other large towns in this State, may attack the Chinaman's
house, smash his windows, and break up his furniture and beat him, and he is 
only a Chinaman…”
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4. Excerpts from the Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882. (PSI document. "An act to
execute certain treaty stipulations relating to the Chinese, May 6, 1882; Enrolled Acts
and Resolutions of Congress, 1789-1996;" General Records of the United States
Government; Record Group 11; National Archives.)
“Whereas in the opinion of the Government of the United States the coming of
Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities
within the territory thereof: Therefore,
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled, That from and after the expiration of ninety days
next after the passage of this act, and until the expiration of ten years next after
the passage of this act, the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be,
and the same is hereby, suspended; and during such suspension it shall not be
lawful for any Chinese laborer to come, or having so come after the expiration of
said ninety days to remain within the United States…
SEC.13. That this act shall not apply to diplomatic and other officers of the
Chinese Government traveling upon the business of that government, whose
credentials shall be taken as equivalent to the certificate in this act mentioned, and
shall exempt them and their body and house- hold servants from the provisions of
this act as to other Chinese persons.
SEC. 14. That hereafter no State court or court of the United States shall admit
Chinese to citizenship; and all laws in conflict with this act are hereby repealed.
SEC.15. That the words "Chinese laborers", wherever used in this act shall be
construed to mean both skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in
mining.”
5. Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus,” 1883.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
6. Political Cartoon, “The Mortar of Assimilation,” 1889. (PSI document. "The
Mortar of Assimilation -- And the One Element That Won't Mix," Puck, July 3 1889.)
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7. Excerpt from Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives, 1890. (PSI document. Jacob
A. Riis. How the Other Half Lives; studies among the tenements of New York. New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1939. 7-10.)
Chapter 1: Genesis of the Tenement.”
“… It was the stir and bustle of trade, together with the tremendous immigration
that followed upon the war of 1812 that dislodged them. In thirty-five years the
city of less than a hundred thousand came to harbor half a million souls, for whom
homes had to be found . . . and here, says the report to the Legislature of 1857,
when the evils engendered had excited just alarm, ‘in its beginning, the tenanthouse became a real blessing to that class of industrious poor whose small
earnings limited their expenses, and whose employment in workshops, stores, or
about the warehouses and thoroughfares, render a near residence of much
importance.’ Not for long, however. As business increased, and the city grew with
rapid strides, the necessities of the poor became the opportunity of their wealthier
neighbors, and the stamp was set upon the old houses, suddenly become valuable,
which the best thought and effort of a later age have vainly struggled to efface.
Their large rooms were partitioned into several smaller ones, without regard to
light or ventilation, the rate of rent being lower in proportion to space or height
from the street; and they soon became filled from cellar to garret with a class of
tenantry living from hand to mouth, loose in morals, improvident in habits,
degraded, and squalid as beggary itself . . . Rents were fixed high enough to
cover damage and abuse from this class, from whom nothing was expected, and
the most was made of them while they lasted. Neatness, order, cleanliness, were
never dreamed of in connection with the tenant house system, as it spread its
localities from year to year; while reckless slovenliness, discontent, privation, and
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ignorance were left to work out their invariable results, until the entire premises
reached the level of tenant-house dilapidation, containing, but sheltering not, the
miserable hordes that crowded beneath mouldering, water-rotted roofs or
burrowed among the rats of clammy cellars. . . .
8. Political Cartoon, “Americanese Wall,” 1920. Located on the Primary Source
Investigator CD-ROM.
9. Excerpts from the Ku Klux Klan, Constitution and Laws of the Knights of the Ku
Klux Klan, 1921. (PSI document. Ku Klux Klan. Constitution and laws of the
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Atlanta: Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, 1921. 2-16.)
“Article II.
Section 1. The objects of this Order shall be to unite white male persons, nativeborn Gentile citizens of the United States of America, who owe no allegiance of
any nature or degree to any foreign government, nation, institution, sect, ruler,
person or people; whose morals are good; whose reputations and vocations are
respectable; whose habits are exemplary; who are of sound minds and eighteen
years or more of age, under a common oath into a brotherhood of strict
regulations; to cultivate and promote patriotism toward our Civil Government; to
practice an honorable clannishness toward each other; to exemplify a practical
benevolence; to shield the sanctity of the home and the chastity of womanhood; to
maintain forever white supremacy, to teach and faithfully inculcate a high
spiritual philosophy through an exalted ritualism, and by a practical devotion to
conserve, protect and maintain the distinctive institutions, rights, privileges,
principles, traditions and ideals of a pure Americanism. . .”
Possible evidence:
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As early as 1790, Congress passed a law limiting naturalization to “free
white” persons “of good character.” While the law said nothing about
immigration, it was clear that American policy sought to encourage only a
particular type of immigrant to be eligible for naturalized citizenship. Thus,
racist and nativist sentiments influenced the first federal laws dealing with
immigration.
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Suspicion and mistrust are reflected in the next law dealing with immigrants 
the Alien Act of 1797. In this Act, the President, judges and other officials of
the federal government have the power to immediately deport any natives,
citizens, or subjects of a hostile nation in times of war or conflict who are
believed to be “dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States, or shall
have reasonable grounds to suspect are concerned in any treasonable or secret
machinations against the government…” The Sedition Act targeted any
person(s) deemed a threat to the security of the United States to be
immediately deported. Both acts were supported by the Adams’
administration which attempted to control non-native populations residing
within the United States, arrested many suspicious people, and reacted to a
political battleground in which Federalists attempted to censor and restrict
immigrant supporters of the Jeffersonian-Republicans.
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In addition to nativism and political mistrust evidenced in early laws, the
Chinese Exclusion Act added another reason to eliminate immigrants 
economics. Under the first and only federal act to exclude a particular group
of immigrants, “Chinese laborers” who were both skilled and unskilled as well
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as “employed in mining” were excluded from admission to the U.S. The law
aimed to exclude a racial group whose presence “endangers the good order of
certain localities”  that is, many whites believed their jobs were in jeopardy
from cheap labor arriving from China. These fears are especially evident in
the words of D.L. Phillips who discusses the threat some Californians felt
from Chinese labor. These fears often translated into concerns over the
perceived racial inferiority of the Chinese. Additionally, Section 14 of the Act
forbade naturalized citizenship to the Chinese.
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Nativism, political exclusion, and economic competition were the primary
motivators of a law passed in 1920 that established an emergency quota
system cutting immigration from 800,000 to 300,000 annually. Three years
later the Immigration Act of 1924 created an even harsher system by banning
immigration from east Asia (a law aimed primarily at the Japanese since
Chinese immigration had been restricted from 1882 forward) and by reducing
the quota for European immigrants to two percent of those who had entered
the U.S. in the census of 1890. The goal was to exclude Asians as well as
southern and eastern Europeans in favor of the northwestern Europeans. The
quota system, then, echoed the goal set forth in the early Naturalization Act of
1790  entrance of and citizenship granted to free whites of good character.
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Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the American public largely
supported these nativist and racist exclusionary laws. We see this support in
the 1889 cartoon from Puck  where the Irish are portrayed as unstable,
swarthy rabble-rousers. Many Americans were not convinced that Irish
immigrants, who were arriving in massive numbers by 1889, could live
peaceably in the United States. In this cartoon, a pestle labeled "citizenship" is
used by a woman, representing America, to mix different races into one
mortar. One lone Irishman waves his own flag and a pointed stick in
"America's" face.
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Support and Opposition. It is difficult to discuss immigration restriction in
terms of support and opposition. Both existed. D.L. Phillips describes antiChinese sentiments in California  sentiments based on nativist and racist
attitudes that were heavily linked to the Chinese threat to politics and labor
issues. Nativist sentiments were the foundation for the rebirth of the Ku Klux
Klan. In its 1921 Constitution, the Klan demonstrates that its new focus is not
just African Americans, but foreigners. Indeed, their stated goal was to
“conserve, protect and maintain the distinctive institutions, rights, privileges,
principles, traditions and ideals of pure Americanism.” Its popularity was
clear in its membership roles  by 1924, the Klan reported to have 4 million
members across the nation. Opposition existed, but it was never strong enough
to change the course of federal law. We see opposition to discrimination and
exclusion of the Chinese from D. L. Phillips living in California in 1876. He
actually argues for naturalization of the Chinese because they are productive
and a great asset to the economy. But he is also realistic, noting that the
Democrats are opposed to naturalization as the Chinese would most likely not
vote the Democratic ticket if given the franchise. Emma Lazarus’ poem at the
base of the Statue of Liberty certainly indicates an opposing viewpoint. She
portrays the Lady Liberty as granting refuge to the “tired,” “poor,” “wretched
refuse.” Her welcome is not discriminating. In 1917, Congressman Burnett
sponsored a new bill requiring a literacy test for all those immigrating to the
U.S. In the cartoon the “Americanese Wall,” the artist shows Uncle Sam
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leaning on a wall constructed to keep undesirable immigrants out and saying,
“You’re welcome if you can climb it.”
Creative Extensions.
1. Before reading Chapter 24, have students watch the short narrative film on the Primary
Source Investigator, “Age of Immigration 18701910,” PSI document 290. Then, open
a discussion on the following: What kinds of events or forces pushed and pulled
immigrants to the United States? How did the immigrant experience in America
compare and contrast among different groups of immigrants? How and why was
treatment of some immigrant groups better than others? How and why did U.S.
immigration policy change over time? How do the immigration problems and issues
that arose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries compare and contrast with
immigration issues in the late 20th and early 21st centuries?
2. After reading Chapter 24, begin a discussion about the sharp contrasts in the social,
political, and economic lives of Americans living in the 1920s. Given these contrasts,
why do they think that the 1920s continues to be called the “Roaring Twenties?” Can
they think of a better phrase to describe this “New Era?”
3. Stage a classroom debate on any one of the following:
Resolved:
Resolved:
Resolved:
Resolved:
Resolved:
The arts should be censored.
The 1920s is appropriately labeled “The Roaring Twenties”
The automobile is the greatest invention of the 20th Century.
The consequences of Prohibition lend legitimacy to the argument for
legalizing drugs in the United States.
The Immigration Act of 1924 was necessary to the political, social,
and economic growth of America.
4. Give students a homework assignment in which they review articles, advertisements,
and audience appeal in a magazine published sometime in the 1920s. Then, have
them compare and contrast the purpose and language of the articles, the goal of
advertisements, and the types of audience appeal with a contemporary magazine.
5. Read aloud excerpts from the historical classic, Only Yesterday by Frederick Lewis
Allen. Published in 1931 at the end of the 1920s era, Allen’s nonfiction account
continues to be one of the most important studies of the “Roaring Twenties.” Of
particular interest is Chapter 5, “The Revolution in Manners and Morals.” Ask
students to compare changes in morality in the 1920s with changes in morality in the
early 21st Century. Engage them in a discussion about a quote from Lewis about the
American public  “It had an altogether normal desire to get rich quick…”
(Frederick Lewis Allen, Only Yesterday. New York: HarperCollins Publisher, 2000:
p. 257.)
6. Hold a town meeting that might have occurred in the late 1920s in which the citizens
are concerned about the proper role of women in society. Invite some women
professionals, flappers, urban housewives and mothers, domestic servants, farm wives
and mothers, members from the League of Women Voters, and followers of Alice
Paul, Emma Goldman, and Margaret Sanger. Have students assume the roles of each,
making a statement about their beliefs about the proper role of women in American
society. Members of the audience will be expected to ask questions and challenge the
statements of the speakers.
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7. Assign a literature teach-in at the beginning of this unit of study. Have students read
a novel from one of the many great authors of this period  Ernest Hemingway, F.
Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, Zora Neale
Hurston, Richard Wright, Eugene O’Neill, Edna Ferber, Willa Cather, Katherine
Anne Porter. As they read the book, ask them to keep a journal in which they discuss
how the author is contributing to their understanding of the 1920s and 1930s. On the
day their journal is due, have the students work in groups of five to teach their book
to their classmates by telling them how the book contributed to their knowledge of the
era.
8. Conduct a radio program as it might have sounded in the 1920s. Assign students to
work in groups of 34 to research the following eight topics: the Harlem Renaissance,
the new roles and rights of women, the Japanese in California, Mexican immigrants,
the plight of the American farmer, the role of the automobile in changing American
society, the importance of motion pictures, and the rise of evangelical Christianity.
Each group should create a script and then be responsible for a 510 minute radio
broadcast.
9. Require a research assignment about Prohibition. Who supported it and why? Who
opposed it and why? Why did it take over 70 years to pass? Why did Prohibition
finally pass when it did? Why was it repealed? What were the short- and long-term
consequences of Prohibition? Do the lessons of Prohibition have any relation to the
current arguments for and against the legalization of drugs? How and why?
10. Invite students to watch any of the following movies at home either with their family
or with a group of friends from class: Inherit the Wind, The Great Gatsby, The
Untouchables, Ragtime, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Spirit of St. Louis, The Jazz
Singer.
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What does this production tell you about the 1920s?
Do you think this film was a realistic portrayal of the historical era? Why or why
not? Be specific.
In your opinion, is this movie of any real use to understanding this period in
American history? Be specific about how and why  or why not.
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