Introduction and Assignment / Week 8
How Roaring Were the Twenties?
It's good to have you here.
Our chapter this week is Chapter 24 in our OpenStax textbook -- on the decade of the Twenties. Please read it before tackling the rest of the content items in this module. For each assignment in this module, note its deadline and read its instructions carefully.
I strongly recommend that, each week, you begin your journey into that week's module sequentially -- item by item. They are all assigned.
If you wish to get a "feel" for the work ahead in each module, nothing stops you, of course, from quickly clicking through the content items to note what lies ahead. When you are ready to begin the module in earnest, however, move through it in sequence and take in the content.
THE MIDTERM IS NOW VIEWABLE
To learn about it, please click on this link or go HERE.
Note the deadline for it: put it in your calendar.
If you have questions about the assignment AFTER reading it, let me know them.
Key Questions for This Week
- Who were the 'prosperous' ones in the 1920s and how did they show their prosperity?
- In what way were the Twenties a period of transformation and change, and in what way were they backward looking and conservative?
- What was the "new generation" that came to dominance in the Twenties? What were their values and aspirations?
- Who were the Republican presidents who dominated the Twenties and what were their policies?
Overview
In our last module the U.S. became a Great Power. It felt it necessary to enter into a great war (World War One) and to expend both treasure and life to assert its place in the world. The Zimmermann telegram and German U-Boasts quickly ended the U.S.'s isolationism and led to U.S. entry into the War. To fight this war, unprecedented in its global extent and destructiveness, the government adopted War Socialism -- the taking over of key industries by the government so as to better win the war. Women and African Americans both gained and lost from the conflict. At its end, a war (of sorts) continued at home as widespread industrial strikes, red scares, and race riots plagued the recovering nation.
In this module we see that it took some time for the U.S. to demobilize its army and to re-tool the economy for peacetime. Once it did, by 1923, the nation saw a period of almost unparalleled growth and prosperity. While mass production produced cars and vacuums and radios on a staggering scale, joblessness plunged, businesses grew, and many predicted the end of poverty itself. Jazz music and movies were consumed in the cities and new dances (the Charleston) came and went. But not all Americans prospered, and many -- especially outside the cities -- yearned for an earlier America based on the bible and white supremacy. The Ku Klux Klan revived itself and marched on Washington D.C., drawing thousands of spectators.
Much like our own day, the nation was polarized in the Twenties between those who embraced the new technologies and cultural forms, and those who wished to turn back the clock. Were the Twenties truly "roaring"? For all? Or only for some? Who won and who lost in this decade of contrasts?
Important Tip
Reading and dissecting primary sources are an important part in doing well in our class. Two documents will help you do your best. The first lays out the principal themes in our U.S. History course. The second document explains why Primary Sources are essential for accurate histories and offers two short videos on how they should be "dissected."