Changes in American Society

Guided Reading Activity Answers

CHANGES IN AMERICAN SOCIETY

PROHIBITION – A TOTAL BAN ON ALCOHOLIC DRINKS.

“Wheatless” Monday was just one way to save food for the soldiers and refugees of Europe during the war. Ending the brewing of beer was another. During World War I, Americans valued conservation of resources and work ethic above all else – giving up alcohol helped on both counts.

WORLD WAR I AND PROHIBITION

The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution prohibited the making, selling, or transporting of alcohol and began the specific time of federal enforcement known as Prohibition. The 18 th Amendment was reinforced by the passage of the Volstead Act by Congress – which laid down the law and established punishments for transgressions.

THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT

BOOTLEGGERS

SPEAKEASIES

GANGSTERS AND SMUGGLERS

THE 21ST AMENDMENT ENDED PROHIBITION

THE REPEAL OF THE 18TH AMENDMENT

College Admissions

Women were not allowed to attend many major colleges and universities until the 1960s.

Banned from Jury Duty

Women were not allowed to serve on juries in many states across the US – they were considered to emotional and too easily misled to serve in the justice system.

Financial Independence

Financial independence was even more diffi cult for women. Not only were women paid significantly less to do jobs than men were (this is still true today), but also, married women were required to hand over their wages to their husbands!

RESTRICTIONS ON WOMEN

Flappers rebelled against the traditions of an older generation of women – and the seriousness with which they sought equal rights. Flappers wore make-up, mini-skirts, and trendy new fashions. They went in public unaccompanied by men, smoked, drank in speakeasies, and generally defied all convention!

FLAPPERS

HENRY FORD’S ASSEMBLY LINE

As a result of automobile production, Americans became more independent. New businesses l ike gas stations, service stations, road construction, tourism, and parts stores sprang up. More importantly, suburbs evolved – you no longer had to l ive in the same place that you worked!

THE AUTOMOBILE CHANGED AMERICA DRAMATICALLY

The fi rst radio broadcast – capitalizing on the invention of Guglielmo Marconi, took place in 1920, when KDKA provided the results of the 1920 Presidential Election to an eager audience. Soon, they found that baseball, bands, comics, singers, and even soap opera style serials were better sellers of commercial spots!

KDKA – PITTSBURGH, PA – THE FIRST RADIO STATION

HOLLYWOOD

“The Jazz Singer” was the fi rst fi lm to ever combine motion pictures with sound. Previously, a pianist would play music to go along with the action of the fi lm, and words were scripted into the fi lm – if they were necessary at all. Charlie Chaplin movies, for example, were often mimed out. In “The Jazz Singer” part of Jolson’s role casts his character in “blackface” – an old and racist form of entertainment in which white acts painted their faces and mocked black performers.

“THE JAZZ SINGER” STARRING AL JOLSON

CHARLIE CHAPLIN

THE WALT DISNEY CORPORATION

JOHN SCOPES: TEACHER OF EVOLUTION, CRIMINAL

IN THE STATE OF TENNESSEE

Clarence Darrow, Counsel for the Defense of John

Scopes

William Jennings Bryan, Prosecutor

for State of Tennessee

THE SCOPES MONKEY TRIAL OF 1925

Thou Shalt Not Think!

Anti-Evolution Leagues

BRYAN WON HIS CASE, BUT DID NOT WIN IN THE EYES OF MOST

AMERICANS.

OTHERS FELT THAT SCIENTIFIC THEORY WOULD CAUSE AMERICANS TO ABANDON GOD AND CHRISTIAN

BELIEF.

When the trial came to an end, many Americans felt that Darrow had embarrassed William Jennings Bryan in the witness stand by asking him if he believed the stories of the Old Testament. Where had Cain found a wife? Did Jonah really survive in the belly of a great fish? Was the sun stopped in the sky by Joshua? What would have happened, according to the rules of physics, had this truly happened? Bryan answered that faith and the will of God made all things possible, but Darrow remained unconvinced – agnostic that he was. Many rural communities continued to forbid the teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution – although it is still the premise of most biology and natural science courses.

MRS. CATHY O’MALLEY: TEACHER OF EVOLUTION IN

VIRGINIA BEACH

THE GREAT MIGRATION

14. FILL IN THE BLANK. The 1920s saw large numbers of African Americans move north in what was called the Great Migration. Leaving the South, they headed for cities such as Chicago, Detroit, and New York. They crowded into the few neighborhoods that allowed black residents. (p. 744)

THE GREAT MIGRATION

THE UNIA: UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT

ASSOCIATION

The goals of the UNIA were largely to promote black pride and black unity – both socially and economically. Garvey believed that blacks should stopped thinking of themselves a minority group inside of the United States, and instead view themselves as part of the worldwide majority of “colored people.” Garvey even started a “Back to Africa” Movement during the 1920s. He was a Jamaican by birth, and when his political agitation began to stir up discontent among blacks in major cities – especially New York City – he was deported. He died in Jamaica.

MARCUS GARVEY AND THE UNIVERSAL NEGRO

IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION

The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan had over 4 million members in the 1920s, and spread from the South to the West and Midwest. Anti-Semitic, nativist, and racist behavior was common with the group – and they were responsible for countless assaults, threats, and the lynching of innocents victims. To the left, the Klan marches in Washington, D.C. in 1926.

THE KU KLUX KLAN

The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan on parade in Washington, D.C., in 1926. Membership peaked

at close to four million.