A New Decade, A New America

A New Decade, A New America

The Roaring Twenties

 After the War, the economy was growing rapidly and new products were developed to make life in the United States easier and more enjoyable. Before the war, automobiles were something only the rich could afford, but this changed as factories increased efficiency through mass-production. Cars could now be made in large numbers, which brought down the price. Soon, cars were affordable for millions of people. In addition to automobiles, companies also created appliances designed to make life in American homes easier and more convenient. Washing machines, vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, and toasters all became regular items in homes around the country.

Entertainment

 New appliances and technologies also affected communication and entertainment in the 1920s. The radio, though expensive, represented a new way for all people to hear the same information. Programs were created for story-telling and news, and the radio offered Americans a new form of entertainment. Along the same lines, movies were quickly developing. Films originally were just pictures, but technological developments led to sound being included. Theaters were built to showcase short and full-length movies, which increased in popularity over the decade. Like the radio and the movies, new technology in sound recording also impacted music. Musicians were able to record songs and share them over the radio. This marks the beginning of music as a business as it developed into an industry.

Multiple Choice

What made radio important in the United States during the 1920s?

• It caused Americans to become more conservative and nationalistic.

• It gave the nation a sense of unity and a belief in American culture.

• It provided people with international news at the time it occurred.

• It helped to create lower prices for goods due to increased advertising.

Explanation

During the 1920s, the radio became extremely popular for many reasons. The real reason radio is important is not the information that it provided, but what it really did for the American people. Through radio, the American people were connected and united with people all around the nation with the click of a button. It gave the citizens of the United States a sense of unity and and belief in American culture..

Clothing and Style

With new influences from around the world after World War I, women in the U.S. started wearing more edgy and daring clothes. Rejecting the formal clothing of the past, young women chose loose dresses and cut their hair short. These young women were called flappers and challenged the old way of dressing by showing more of their legs and arms. Women were able to keep up with new fashion from around the world by looking at magazines, listening to the radio, and watching movies. Women also started wearing more makeup, which was a new trend for the decade.

Harlem Renaissance

Just as technology and fashion were expanding during the 1920s, African American culture, art, and literature experienced new popularity. This new movement was centered in Harlem, New York City, and focused on the writing, art, and music from this culturally and historically rich neighborhood. Writers like Langston Hughes gave a new voice and power to the African American experience.

Influential People of the Roaring Twenties

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Langston Hughes

• Langston Hughes was an American writer. He often wrote of African American issues. His work was very important in the Harlem Renaissance, which was an African American cultural movement in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City.

Multiple Choice

What made Langston Hughes' poetry significant?

• His poetry gave African Americans a way to feel pride in their culture.

• His poetry inspired the equal rights movement of the 1920s.

• His poetry encouraged many African Americans to move north.

• His poetry celebrated important events in the 1920s.

Explanation

Langston Hughes was one of the most important writers of the Harlem Renaissance. In the 1920s, this movement was created to celebrate African Americans and their unique culture. The different topics that Langston Hughes covered in his poetry helped African Americans take pride in their culture while attempting to combat issues they faced during this time such as inequality and racism.

Henry Ford

• Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly line and mass production to automobile making. Once there was a new and faster way of making cars, Ford could make new cars faster. New cars like the Model T helped the economy because the price of cars was more affordable.

Multiple Choice

The American economy was stimulated in the late 1920s due to Henry Ford's mass production of

• railroads.

• airplanes.

• skyscrapers.

• automobiles.

Explanation

By the late 1920s, almost one-third of the American population owned an automobile. The mass production of cars was made possible by Henry Ford's assembly line. Ford was able to make one car in ninety-three minutes, and cars became much more affordable.

Louis Armstrong

• Louis Armstrong was very well known for his jazz music. He was a great trumpet player. Jazz was introduced to America in the 1920s, and it became very popular.

Charles Lindbergh

• Charles Lindbergh was a pilot, an author, and a inventor. He is most famous for his work in aviation. He was the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. He flew from New York to Paris in the Spirit of St. Louis.

Multiple Choice

Charles Lindbergh was the first person to

• build a railroad across the United States.

• go into space and orbit around the moon.

• fly a plane solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

• bring jazz music to the United States.

Explanation

Charles Lindbergh is famous for various reasons. He was an American author, inventor, and peace activist. However, he is most well-known for his work in aviation. He was the first person to make a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. He left from New York and landed in Paris. His plane was called Spirit of St. Louis.

Babe Ruth

• Babe Ruth was one of the greatest baseball players of all time. He started with the Boston Red Sox and ended up with the New York Yankees. He was entered into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936.

Credit

The idea of buying on credit was very popular during the 1920s. New appliances came out that made life easier. Toasters, washing machines, and radios were expensive. People wanted these items because the economy was good, and they were making money. They did not have enough money to buy something in one payment, but they felt that they could pay an item off over time. They used credit so they could "buy now, pay later."

Buying on credit is way for consumers to "buy now, pay later." Some ways to buy on credit are to use an installment plan, use a credit card, or keep a running tab.

Buying on Credit

• An installment plan allows someone to make a schedule of payments. The consumer could take an item home and just pay the store a small amount of money each months

•  A running tab is a list of purchased items for one consumer. A store will write down all the items one consumer buys, and the consumer will pay the entire bill for all the items in the future.

• A credit card is a card that is given to the consumer by a bank. The charges on the card are added up at the end of the month and given to the consumer as a bill. The consumer has to pay the entire bill at the end of the month. The bank can charge interest (extra money) if the amount is not paid in full.

Credit Passage

During the 1920s, there was a huge difference between the wealthy people and the rest of the people in the United States. Just a few people had most of the wealth in the country. Everyone else was living on wages that had not gone up very much in a long time. They did not have enough money to buy all the things they needed. One solution to this problem was to let people buy products on credit. The concept of buying now and paying later caught on quickly. By the end of the 1920's, 60% of cars and 80% of radios were bought on installment credit.

Multiple Choice

According to the reading selection, letting people buy on credit was meant to solve which of these problems?

• No one wanted to buy the appliances that were being sold.

• There were too many people and not enough cars or radios for sale.

• People did not have the money to buy what they needed.

• Factories could not produce appliances fast enough to keep up.

Explanation

Because wages stayed pretty low in the 1920s, people did not have much spending money. Allowing people to buy on credit helped people who did not have the money to buy what they needed. People used department store credit cards, or they paid for things using an installment plan. That way they could enjoy the item now, and pay for it over time.

Installment Plans

In the 1920s, the economy in America was booming. Factories were making more appliances and other goods than ever before. Many people bought radios, cars, and other things with money they did not have. They did this using something called an installment plan. With this system, people made a series of regular payments to buy an item they wanted or needed. When the Depression hit, many people owed a lot of money. Lots of these people lost their jobs, so they could not pay back the money they owed.

Multiple Choice

According to the passage, many people in the 1920s paid for things like radios by using

• gold or silver.

• an installment plan.

• barter or trade.

• cash or a check.

Explanation

People in the 1920s often used an installment plan to buy things. They thought the economy would keep on booming. They were not worried about how they would later pay for the items. When the Depression hit, people suddenly did not have money coming in. That caused a serious debt problem for millions of Americans.

Black Tuesday

On Tuesday, October 29, 1929, prices of stocks bought and sold on the U.S. stock market dropped suddenly. This stock market "crash" soon became known as Black Tuesday. Both small and large investors lost their fortunes and life savings that day. Because the country had experienced a great economic boom during the 1920s, few people had expected the Great Crash. Chaos and panic occurred as banks closed, leaving businesses and individuals unable to withdraw their money.

Stock Market Crash

On October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed. This day is known as "Black Tuesday." The crash led to the Great Depression because people had lost the money they had in the stock market. In the 1920s, people invested lots of money in the stock market. Unfortunately, they were borrowing money to pay for stocks. They assumed they would make a lot of money and could pay back what they owed. When stock prices started to fall, people panicked. They sold off their stocks in a hurry. This made the price of stocks go even lower. People began to lose large amounts of money. Also at this time, there were many banks that had to close down. Work was hard to find, and many people lived in poverty. People moved from town to town in the hopes of finding a job.

The Great Depression

The Great Depression was a period of economic hardship. The American economy was in terrible shape. People were without jobs and homes. Many were living in poverty.

The Great Depression

During the 1930s, bad weather, business failures, and a major drop in stock prices seriously harmed the nation's economy. This time period was known as the Great Depression. The problems of the Great Depression were especially evident because the 1920s had been a time of strong economic growth.

The Great Depression

The Great Depression was a worldwide economic slowdown that began in the late 1920s and lasted until the early years of World War II. It was the longest period of continuous high unemployment and low economic activity in the 1900s. During the 1920s, the U.S. economy was strong, so Americans spent a lot of money and often borrowed money to buy things they wanted. Businesses hired more workers to produce the things that people wanted to buy. Eventually, however, people realized that they were buying more things than they could afford, so they stopped spending so much. This caused businesses to produce less and to fire people from their jobs. With no jobs and fewer businesses hiring, people could not repay their loans, which hurt the banks. During this period many factories, stores, and banks closed. During the same time period, bad weather had led to poor crop yields, leaving millions of farmers and people in related businesses with little money to support themselves. A large percentage of Americans had to depend on the government or charity in order to survive.

Multiple Choice

Why did people like those in the picture have to line up for free food in the 1930s?

• The Great Depression left many without jobs or money.

• Most people had money in the thirties, but a few were poor and got free food.

• They were on a lunch break from their jobs in factories.

• The war left people with no money to spend.

Explanation

After the stock market crash of 1929, businesses lost money in the stock market and had to lay off workers. The workers who were laid off could not afford to pay their bills or care for their children. People who had always been able to put food on the table suddenly found themselves standing in bread lines and soup lines. Therefore, the Great Depression left many without jobs or money.

The Dust Bowl

 During the 1930s, powerful wind storms swept across the central part of the United States. The storms picked up dry soil from farm fields and dropped it many miles away as layers of dust that buried cars, barns, homes, animals and sometimes people. Much of the damage occurred from 1935 to 1938 in an area of the southern Great Plains that became known as the Dust Bowl.

     Because the fierce wind storms blew away the top soil, it was difficult for farmers to grow crops. As a result, the farmers had no way to make money, and many were forced to declare bankruptcy. Those who went bankrupt often lost their farms and had to look elsewhere for jobs and homes. At this time, a large number of farm families moved west to look for work.

The Great Depression

Many of the people who did not have jobs during the Great Depression had to go to soup kitchens for food. Soup kitchens served free food to hungry people who had no money. The kitchens were usually run by churches or private charities and were located across the country. Hoovervilles were groups of shacks made from materials usually found in the trash. People could not afford homes when they could not find work. These temporary camps were named after President Herbert Hoover. Many people were angry that he did not help them when they needed him.

Hoovervilles

As the Great Depression grew worse in the United States, Hoovervilles became a common site in cities all around the country. Hoovervilles were neighborhoods of shacks built by poor people who had lost their homes because of the Depression. Often, these people had no family to take them in. The shacks were usually built of whatever inexpensive materials people could find, such as scrap metal, wood, glass, cardboard, and canvas. The term "Hooverville" was coined as an insult to President Hoover, who many Americans blamed for the Great Depression.

Multiple Choice

Why did many people in the Great Depression live in makeshift towns, or "Hoovervilles"?

• They had lost their money and their homes.

• They could live closer to their workplaces.

• President Hoover made them live in these towns.

• It was the place where escaped criminals lived.

Explanation

During the Depression, one out of every four people was unemployed. Many people went broke and lost their homes. Some of these people got together and built groups of houses from tin or other cheap materials. These "towns" were nicknamed Hoovervilles because Herbert Hoover was the president at the time. He did not believe in having the government step in to help the poor, and this made many people bitter and angry toward him.

The Great Depression

President Hoover did not give direct aid to help the needy people. Instead, he gave loans to businesses and banks. He thought that helping businesses would help create jobs. To make matters worse, a severe drought swept across the Great Plains. As the drought continued the grass in the area died, and the soil dried out. This caused huge dust storms in the area. This is called the Dust Bowl. The drought caused farmers to suffer even more during the Great Depression.

The Great Depression

To make matters worse, a severe drought swept across the Great Plains. As the drought continued the grass in the area died, and the soil dried out. This caused huge dust storms in the area. This is called the Dust Bowl. The drought caused farmers to suffer even more during the Great Depression.

The Great Depression

During the Great Depression, life was a daily struggle for many people. As many as 25% of the nation's workers - one out of four - were out of work. Without a job there was no money to make house payments or buy food and clothes for the family. Whether a person was an adult or a child or lived in the city or country, times were hard for all. Many families lost their homes and farms. In the early years of the Depression, about 250,000 young people were homeless. Many people moved from place to place, along the highways and railways. They looked for food and work wherever they could

Multiple Choice

Which of these is a true statement about the Great Depression?

• Half the nation's adults were out of work.

• Many families lost their homes.

• Times were only hard for farm families.

• It was easy to find employment.

Explanation

Times were hard whether you lived in a city or on a farm. It also says that many people were out of work. If people did not have jobs, there was no way to make house payments or pay rent. Therefore, many families lost their homes.

1930s: Changes Under a New President

Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the thirty-second president of the United States in 1933. Roosevelt created the New Deal to provide relief for the unemployed, to help the economy recover, and to reorganize the banking system. New jobs were created under the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA provided jobs to construct public buildings such as schools and libraries.

1930s: Changes Under a New President

The Social Security Act was created to give money to elderly, retired citizens. It also gave money to people who were disabled and could not work. Social Security is still around today. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) put people to work building dams, bridges, and roads. The dams were especially important because they provided a source of cheap electricity for the region. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was set up to maintain state and national forests. People were given jobs to work in the forests making trails, fighting fires, and planting trees.

Multiple Choice

What act was created to give money to elderly, retired citizens?

• Social Security Act

• TVA

• CCC

• WPA

Multiple Choice

Who was the President elected in 1933?

• Franklin D Roosevelt

• Herbert Hoover

• Bill Clinton

• Joe Biden