1920’s: An Era of Prosperity and Problems

Unit Outline

Themes/Concepts

A New Social Way of Life

 Culture and Entertainment

(Jazz Age (Famous People (Babe Ruth, W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Marcus Garvey, etc.) (Mass Media (radio, television, news) (Define flappers

Political Way of Life

(Prohibition (Volstead Act, 18^th and 21^st Amendments)

(Define bootleggers, speakeasies, racketeering

(3 R’s: Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover

(Teapot Dome Scandal

(Define isolationism, laissez-faire

(McCumber Tariff

(McNary-Haugen Bill

Booming Economy

(Define assembly line, mass production, consumerism, free enterprise

(Henry Ford

(New Products/technology

(Charles Lindbergh

Conflict in the 1920’s

(Define communism

(KKK

(Immigration restriction (quota system)

(Sacco and Vanzetti

(Scopes trial: define fundamentalism

(Gangland Violence (St. Valentine’s Day Massacre)

An End to Prosperity

(Define stock market, Dow Jones Industrial Average

(Causes of Depression

1920’s Daily Overview

Day 1:Film "The Roaring Twenties"

Students will answer questions from worksheet about the movie and discuss.

Handout Famous Person Presentation

Day 2:Library Research Day

Day 3:Discuss postwar adjustments regarding period of economic growth; define mass production consumerism, assembly line, free enterprise; technological change; Presentation on Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh Day 4:Discuss political developments; women’s suffrage and the 19^th Amendment, Prohibition, Decade of Republican control; define isolationism, laissez faire, bootleggers, speakeasies, racketeering; Presentation on Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover: Written Document Analysis Activity

Day 5:Discuss social changes; Harlem Renaissance, Jazz Age, Mass media; define flappers; Presentation on Langston Hughes, Marcus Garvey, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Claude McKay, Babe Ruth, W.E.B. DuBois, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charlie Chaplin: Advertisement activity Day 6:Discuss major conflicts of the 1920s; The Red Scare, define communism; KKK, Immigration restriction and define quota system, explain controversy of Sacco and Vanzetti trial and Scopes trial, define fundamentalism, Gang violence; Presentation of Mitchell Palmer, Vladimir Lenin, Nicola Sacco, Bartolomeo Vanzetti, John Scopes, Clarence Darrow, and Al Capone Day 7:Black Thursday, explain causes of Depression, define stock market, Dow Jones Industrial Average Day 8:Review: Wise Words Game Day 9:1920’s exam

Skill and Content Objectives

Students will be able to:

Conduct research about important and famous people of the 1920’s. Use technological tools and other resources to locate, select, and organize information. Organize information, ideas, and data into useful forms for presentation. Compare and contrast different forms of advertisement form the past and present societies. Plan and make written, oral, and visual presentations for the class. Exchange information, questions and ideas while recognizing the perspectives of others. Identify the problems of the 1920’s and their elements, specifically the causes of the depression. Examine the problems and proposed solutions of immigration from multiple perspectives. Understand the rights of citizens in the United States, specifically the 19^th amendment. Explain economic concepts such as mass production, stock market, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and consumerism. Understand the importance of historical documents. Explain the aspects of continuity and change of U.S. history that developed from the decade of the 1920’s.

Bibliography

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. Jazz Age Stories. New York: Penguin Putnam Inc., 1998.

Goldberg, David J. Discontented America: The United States in the 1920s.

Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.

Moran, Philip. Warren Harding. New York: Oceana Publications, Inc., 1970.

Moran Philip. Calvin Coolidge. New York: Oceana Publications, Inc., 1970.

Pietrusaz, David. The Roaring Twenties. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, 1998.

Wukovits, John F. The 1920s. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, Inc., 2000.

Movies/Documentaries

The Roaring Twenties (1955)

Rated: not rated

Golden Twenties(1952)

Rated: not rated

Focus on the Twenties (1981)

Rated: not rated

Dick Tracy (1990)

Rated: PG

Primary Sources

(Volstead Act, October 28, 1919

(Letter concerning the transportation of liquor from California to Washington,

Feb. 21, 1928

Websites

_ HYPERLINK "https://www.angelfire.com/co/pscst" _https://www.angelfire.com/co/pscst_

Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression History Resources

_ HYPERLINK "http://www.snowcrest.net/jmike/20sdep.html" _http://www.snowcrest.net/jmike/20sdep.html_

Welcome to the 1920s

_ HYPERLINK "http://www.loiusville.edu/~kprayb01/1920" _http://www.loiusville.edu/~kprayb01/1920_

Analyzing Advertisements Activity

Overview:Print advertisements offer important visual evidence about consumer goods and services that are promoted during historical periods.Advertisements also offer useful clues to the widely held ideas, attitudes, and values of the time.Advertisers use a variety of techniques to influence people’s buying decision.

Goals and Objectives:The purpose of this activity is for students to understand the use of advertisements throughout historical periods.Students will be able to compare and contrast different forms of advertisements of the 1920s and the current era.Students will also be able to analyze the ad’s reliability and learn about the period in which it was advertised.

Procedure and Activity:Students will be divided into groups of 3-4 members each.Teacher will distribute an advertisement from the 1920s and a current magazine edition of 2001 to each group.Each group will tear out an advertisement from the magazine and compare/contrast it to the 1920s ad.

Students will use the following steps to analyze each ad:

1. Identify the subject of each ad. (a) What product or service is being promoted?

(b) What facts about the product does the ad provide?(c) What issue does this advertisement use to appeal to men? Women?

2. Analyze the ad’s reliability. (a) Do you think that the people depicted in the ad portray typical consumers of its time period?(b) What is the unstated message that the advertiser is using in this case to persuade people to buy the product?

3. Study the ad to learn about the period. (a) What social or cultural values are being promoted in the ad? (b) In general, do you think that advertisements reflect consumers’ desires for products or create the desire for such products? Explain.

4.How has advertisements changed, or not changed over time? Explain.

 

Famous People Presentation

Objective:Students will be able to describe the importance of certain individuals throughout the 1920’s.They will use their research skills to collect information about the particular individual and organize the information for presentation to the class.

Assignment:Students will select a famous individual from the teacher.With this individual students will answer, "How has this person influenced life in the 1920’s?"

Students will write a two page paper answering this question.A short summary at the beginning of the paper (one paragraph) is also needed to provide background information such as: birth, place of birth, any education, homelife, family history, etc.Next class will be used as a library day to gather your information.Students will orally present their information to the class on their assigned due date.

Extra Credit:If a student would like points added to their exam for this unit, they can present additional information for the presentation relating to their individual.Some examples include: a picture, a song, a poem or story, collage, etc.One point for each addition: maximum 3 points.

Written Document Analysis Worksheet

Overview: Throughout the 1920’s liquor consumption had dropped due to the Prohibition Act and the 18^th Amendment.Yet enforcing Prohibition proved to be extremely difficult.In fact, by 1925 in New York City alone there were anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs.Prohibition made life in America more violent, with open rebellion against the law and organized crime.

Goals and Objectives: In this lesson, students will be able to examine the documents of both the 18^th amendment and the Volstead Act.They will be able to explain why "the great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far reaching in purpose" as Herbert Hoover called it, did not work.

Procedures and Activity:The teacher will read aloud the text of the 18^th Amendment.Students will then be divided into small groups of 3-4 members.Teacher will distribute a copy of the Volstead Act and a Written Document Analysis Worksheet (attached) to each group.Instruct students to examine the document and complete the worksheet.Once groups have finished, lead the class in a discussion about the document.After further explanation of the importance of the prohibition act, lead students into further discussion.What can we learn from the Prohibition Act?How can we compare it to our own war on drugs?What steps have Americans taken to decrease the use of drugs? (Can also distribute the primary source letter concerning the transportation of liquor from California to Washington.)