HIS 615 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Immigration Act Of 1924, Flapper, Scopes Trial
23 Jan 2021
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HIS 615 – Lecture 03 9/22/2020
The 1920s: A Slow Break with the Past
- Post-1920s recession there was increased prosperity
o Innovations in industry: Increases manufacturing (the assembly line)
o Free-enterprise capitalism → governments were pro-business
▪ Avoided unions → business consolidation and corruption
▪ Wasn’t heavily regulated
▪ People in charge of the companies made huge profits, people who worked
for companies did well, but anyone else was not on the same level
- The Flapper and other Escapes:
o Escape from the past: Americans turned to Jazz, Black music
▪ White people would go to clubs featuring Black musicians and
danced/drank (rebellion)
▪ Reaction against the rigid way of doing things in the past
o The Flapper: a young woman who would cut her hair short, dress in clothes that
hung straight down (no tight fitting) → reacting against the old image of a
woman, or was she just trying to be one of the guys
▪ Had sex, drank, smoked, etc.
▪ Seen as liberation and a new way, while other people saw it as giving into
a male image of what a woman should be
▪ Women start using make-up, drop the corset
▪ Radical feminists called for birth control
▪ A symbol of the materialism of the age
• A lot of artists were against this
▪ Scopes Trial: a teacher who was teaching the evolution theory rather than
creationism
• Evolution lost the trial, but you could teach the new ideas even
though creationism was still taught
- Women’s Movement: pushed for the vote (largely among middle-class and well-classed
women trying to hold onto a pure society without corruption) – were against a lot of the
flapper imagery
o Equality feminist who wanted to be the same as men
o Social/Maternal feminists who thought women were different, but they must be
recognized within their sphere
▪ Separate but equal
o US/Britain: militant and strong; Canada: minority
▪ Got the vote after the war (1920 for the US, 1918 for Britain, 1919 for
Canada)
▪ First wave of feminism died out by WWII
• Next wave came in 1960s
o National Origins Act was designed to keep out immigrants and immortality
o Helped the prohibition movement
▪ Reaction to attempts to change society
Document Summary
The 1920s: a slow break with the past. Canada: first wave of feminism died out by wwii, next wave came in 1960s, national origins act was designed to keep out immigrants and immortality, helped the prohibition movement, reaction to attempts to change society. Wwi: progressive changes in divorce laws (us, pressure from radical feminists for birth control and more open views of sex, sexual freedom was also a feature of post-1917 revolution. Canada post wwi: in the middle-feminists: were not radical but more maternal wanted recognition for their work as teacher, nurses, etc, adopted the flapper style of america, the assembly line but were suspicious of. Americans: suspicion of foreigners also increased, though not anti0catholic to the same degree as the us, no class system but wealthy do well while the poor do not, no film industry the us beat them to it. A desire for change sparked in the country.
