US HISTORY
1920’s (culture continues)
Harlem
Renaissance
· Harlem (NYC) grew from 50,000 (AF-AM) 1914 to
200,000 in 1930
· National center for Jazz but also a literary
awakening
· James Weldon Johnson – writer and executive
for NAACP
· Zora Neale Hurston – Countee Cullen –
Langston Hughes
Prohibition
· Varied levels of enforcement and/or obedience
· 95% compliance in Kansas – 5% in NYC
· Sharp contrast between rural & urban
morality
· Bootleggers = hid flasks in their boots –
meaning changes to supply illegal alcohol
· Smuggled from Caribbean or Canada or stills
in the US made from corn, grain, potatoes, or fruit
· Speakeasies = illegal bars – needed
membership cards (generally)
· Led to a rise in organized crime –
controlling distribution of alcohol
· Gangsters fought for control of alcohol,
prostitution, gambling, and racketeering (force to pay for ‘protection’)
· 157 bombs went off in one year in Chicago –
assisting the need for ‘protection’
Religion
The problem of
evolution surfaces in public schools
Fundamentalism:
1) Science & technology were becoming more
prominent
2) War and social issues were causing citizens
to wonder/question whether God exists
3) Some scholars were saying the Bible was
written by humans (it contained historical inaccuracies &
contradicted itself)
· Fundamentalists responded by saying: the
Bible was inspired by God and cannot contain contradictions or errors –
the Bible is literally true – every story actually took place
· Fundamentalists were led by Billy Sunday
· They worked for passage of laws to prevent
the teaching of evolution
· Tennessee passed such a law – a teacher named
John Scopes challenged and tested the law in court = Scopes trial –
William Jennings Bryan (Fundamentalist lawyer) vs. Clarence Darrow
(defended Scopes) – in the dramatic conclusion Darrow put Bryan on the
stand, under oath Bryan admitted he did not read all of the Bible
literally – Creation vs. Science & Reason