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Lesson Plans
The American Journey: A History of the United States ©2000
by David Goldfield, Carl Abbott, Virginia DeJohn Anderson, Jo Ann E. Argersinger, Peter H. Argersinger, William L. Barney, Robert M. Weir
Focus Lesson 20
Chapter 26: "Toward a Modern America: The 1920s"
AP* Course Description
- New Era: The 1920s
- Republican governments
- Economic development
- New Culture
- Consumerism: automobile, radio, movies
- Women, the family
- Modern religion
- Literature of alienation
- Jazz age
- Harlem Renaissance
- Conflict of cultures
- Prohibition, bootlegging
- Nativism
- Ku Klux Klan
- Myth of isolation
- Replacing the League of Nations
- Business and diplomacy
Key Components
- Instructor's Manual: pp. 173–179
- Study Guide, Vol. II Since 1877: pp. 71–78
- Test Item File: pp. 296–306
Key Web Sites
Given the changing nature of the Internet, you may wish to preview these sites. Always check PHSchool.com for updated links to U.S. history sites.
Key Words and Terms
- Charlie Chaplin
- Marcus Garvey
- yellow dog contracts
- Teapot-Dome Scandal
- American Civil Liberties Union
- Kellogg-Briand Pact
- Andrew Mellon
- Langston Hughes
- League of Women Voters
- Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Act
Suggested Pacing
Allow two 90-minute classes on a block schedule of classes or four 45-minute classes on a traditional bell schedule.
Test Strategy
When taking the multiple-choice portion of the AP* exam, students need to make efficient use of time. If students get stuck on a question, they should scratch out any answer choices they know to be incorrect, circle or star the question in the question booklet—not on the answer sheet—and move on, returning to the question later. Students need to be aware of the number of the question they skip so they can skip the answer row on the answer sheet.
Key Concepts
- The prosperity of the 1920s
The myth of the 1920s is that it was a time of unfettered prosperity, flappers, jazz, and speakeasies, but in reality for many Americans it was a time of just getting by. The prosperity of the nation was very unevenly distributed. Farmers, miners, women, African Americans, and Mexican Americans had little share in it. - Culture wars
The term culture wars may seem like a late twentieth century phrase, but it can be applied equally well to the 1920s. The tension between tradition and change—modernism—flared in several areas in this decade. Nativists sparked a series of laws aimed at limiting or entirely barring immigration from certain areas of the world. Students should be able to connect the nativist sentiment of the 1840s and 1880s with its reappearance in the 1920s. Many targets of this sentiment were Asians but also targeted were immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe as they had been in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Ku Klux Klan reappeared also, this time aiming their wrath at Jews, Catholics, and immigrants as well as African Americans. Their main target, however, continued to be African Americans. Temperance reformers, who had been working to ban alcohol consumption in the nation since the early 1800s, took advantage of anti-German feeling during the war to get a constitutional amendment passed enforcing Prohibition.
Perhaps nowhere was the tension between modernism and tradition greater than in the balance between religion and science. The authors of the text refer to this religion as "old time religion" and place the beginnings of Protestant fundamentalism in this period. Students should begin to track the influence of fundamentalism in national politics.
Summing Up Student Understanding
Use Figure 26–1, "Registered Motor Vehicles, 1913–1929," p. 762, to give students practice in analyzing visuals. Ask students to study the figure for two minutes and then answer the following questions:
- What is the source of the data?
- Is that a reliable source?
- Read the caption. What effects do the writers of the caption see resulting from the manufacture and popularity of the automobile?
Continue the discussion by drawing on the board or on a transparency a graphic organizer similar to the one used in the "Summing Up" activity in Chapter 23. Write the word automobile in the center and ask students to list the industries (steel, gasoline, banking, tourism) or phenomena (suburbanization and cultural horizons) affected by the manufacture and popularity of the automobile and write them in the six smaller circles. Have students describe how the automobile caused each to change and fill in the next level of circles with these effects. In the summarizing section of the lesson, point out that graphic organizers are a good review tool.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
You might also find these additional readings useful in developing students' background knowledge or for DBQ activities:
- American Issues: Vol. II Since 1865, edited by Unger and Tomes—Chapter 8
- The Power of Words: Vol. II From 1865, edited by Breen—Chapter 7
- Constructing the American Past, Vol. II, edited by Gorn, Roberts, and Bilhartz—Chapter 8
- American Experiences: Vol. II From 1877, edited by Roberts and Olson (secondary source readings)—Part Four