 WITNESS TO HISTORY: THE ROARING ‘20S Objectives • Gives students an overview of the decade of the ‘20s. • Stimulates discussion of an important era in American history. • Provides primary source material for historical authenticity. • Encourages students to explore the subject in greater depth. Summary of Content This program explores the decade of the 1920s. Documentary footage highlights some of the major events of the ‘20s: Prohibition; the re-emergence of the Ku Klux Klan; the growing popularity of the automobile, radio and the movies; and the changing role of women in American society. Also included are the Scopes Trial; the court martial of General Billy Mitchell and the flight of Charles Lindbergh. Discussion Questions 1. What was the 18th amendment? 2. Why did so many people support the repeal of Prohibition? 3. Identify the following people: Henry Ford, Clarence Darrow, Calvin Coolidge, Jimmy Walker, Warren Harding, Al Smith William Jennings Bryan Herbert Hoover 4. How did the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s differ from the Klan of Reconstruction days? 5. What issue did the Scopes trial deal with? 6. What did General Billy Mitchell advocate? Why was his court martial important? 7. Who was Charles Lindbergh? What was his most famous accomplishment? 8. Who said, “The business of America is business”? What did he mean? 9. Name two great events that border the 1920s—one in 1919, one in 1929. 10. What factors contributed to Governor Al Smith’s defeat for President in 1928? Activities • The Scopes Trial never reached the Supreme Court, but a similar case did in 1987—Edwards vs. Aguillard. Have the students research that case and compare it to the Scopes Trial. Ask if they think the Scopes case would have had a similar outcome, had it been heard by the Supreme Court in the 1920s. • “The 1920s,” said historian William Leuchtenberg, “produced a literature that no era has since been able to match.” Have the students examine the 1920s by reading the works of contemporary authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Willa Cather, Sinclair Lewis, Marianne Moore, Hart Crane and Eugene O’Neill. |
|
|