Although it is often called “The Roaring Twenties” and remembered for dancing and jazz music, the decade of the 1920s was not all fun and games for everyone. Farmers, laborers, immigrants, and others struggled to make progress in an era of widespread prosperity.

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Look at the image of Italian immigrants Sacco and Vanzetti, whose trial for robbery and murder divided the nation. Why do you think many Americans feared foreigners in the 1920s?

Guiding Questions

• Why did some Americans face economic hardship during the 1920s?

• What did the Scopes Trial and the Red Scare reveal about American society?

• How did nativism and racial tensions affect American society in the 1920s?

Vocabulary

• company union

• sabotage

• anarchist

• deport

• quota system

• Great Migration

Academic Vocabulary

• setback

• hostility

What Cultural Clashes Gained National Attention?

In the 1920s, cities drew thousands of people from farms and small towns. Those who stayed in rural areas often feared that new ways of life in the city were a threat to traditional values. Changes abroad also spurred nationwide worries about people with differing political views.

The Scopes Trial 

One clash between old and new values erupted in the small town of Dayton, Tennessee. At the center of the controversy was Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Darwin, a British scientist, had claimed that all life had evolved, or developed, from simpler forms over a long period of time.

While biologists accepted Darwin’s theory, some churches condemned it, saying it contradicted the teachings of the Bible. Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas passed laws that banned the teaching of Darwin’s theory. In 1925, John Scopes, a biology teacher in Dayton, taught evolution to his class. Scopes was arrested and tried.

Two of the nation’s best-known figures opposed each other in the Scopes trial. William Jennings Bryan, who had run for president three times, argued the state’s case against Scopes. Clarence Darrow, a Chicago lawyer who had helped unions, defended Scopes.

As the trial began, the nation’s attention was riveted on Dayton. Reporters recorded every word of the battle between Darrow and Bryan. “Scopes isn’t on trial,” Darrow thundered at one point, “civilization is on trial.” In the end, Scopes was convicted and fined. Later, the laws against teaching evolution were overturned, or defeated.

Analyze Images High-school teacher John T. Scopes (center) was convicted and fined for teaching evolution to his students in the state of Tennessee.

Cite Evidence Do you think Scopes should have been convicted?

Worries Cause a Red Scare 

During World War I, Americans had been on the alert for enemy spies and sabotage, or the secret destruction of property or interference with work in factories. These wartime worries led to a growing fear of foreigners.

The rise of communism in the Soviet Union fanned that fear. Lenin, the Communist leader, called on workers everywhere to overthrow their governments. Many Americans saw the strikes that swept the nation as the start of a Communist revolution.

Eliminating Extremists 

The actions of anarchists, or people who oppose organized government, added to the sense of danger. One group of anarchists plotted to kill well-known Americans, including John D. Rockefeller, the head of Standard Oil. Because many anarchists were foreign-born, their attacks led to an outcry against all foreigners.

The government took harsh actions against both anarchists and Communists, or “reds.” During the Red Scare, thousands of radicals were arrested and jailed. Many foreigners were deported.

Analyze Images Increasing alarm about communism led to many reactions.

Identify Supporting Details Explain the relationship between immigration laws and Americans’ fear of Communists.

Sacco and Vanzetti 

The trial of two Italian immigrants in Massachusetts came to symbolize the anti-foreign feeling of the 1920s. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested for robbery and murder in 1920. The two men admitted being anarchists, but insisted they had committed no crime. A jury convicted them, however. Sacco and Vanzetti were then sentenced to death.

The Sacco and Vanzetti trial created a furor across the nation. The evidence against the two men was limited. The judge was openly prejudiced against the two immigrants. Many Americans thought that Sacco and Vanzetti were convicted because they were immigrants and radicals, instead of being guilty. The two men waited in jail during a six-year fight to overturn their convictions. In 1927, they were executed.

The issue of whether Sacco and Vanzetti received a fair trial has been debated ever since. In the meantime, some Americans thought the case proved that the United States had to keep out dangerous radicals.

READING CHECK 

Identify Main Ideas What was the key issue in the Scopes trial?

Racial Tensions Rise

As African American soldiers returned from serving their country in the war, they began demanding equal rights. This, along with the large African American migration to northern cities, led to heightened racial tension and race riots. White racists formed a new Ku Klux Klan. Groups called the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, organized to defend the rights of African Americans.

The New Klan 

Fear of change gave new life to an old organization. In 1915, a group of white men in Georgia declared the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan. The original Klan had used terror to keep African Americans from voting after the Civil War. The new Klan had a broader aim: to preserve the United States for white, native-born Protestants.

The new Klan waged a campaign not only against African Americans but also against immigrants, especially Catholics and Jews. Klan members burned crosses outside people’s homes. They used whippings and lynchings to terrorize immigrants and African Americans. The Klan strongly supported efforts to limit immigration.

Because of its large membership, the Klan gained political influence. In the mid-1920s, however, many Americans became alarmed at the Klan’s growing power. At the same time, scandals surfaced that showed Klan leaders had stolen money from members. Klan membership dropped sharply.

Analyze Images The Ku Klux Klan marches in Washington, D.C., in 1926.

Infer How did the rise of the Klan signal a growing fear among Americans?

The Great Migration 

African Americans had hoped that their service during World War I would weaken racism at home. However, returning African American soldiers found that the South was still a segregated society. In the North, too, racial prejudice was widespread.

Many African Americans moved north during and after the war. The large-scale movement north of African Americans during the early to mid-1900s is known as the Great Migration. African Americans took factory jobs in Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, and other large cities. They often found that the only jobs open to them were low-paying ones. Also, due to discrimination, there were only a few neighborhoods where landlords would rent apartments to African Americans.

At the same time, many African Americans newly arrived from the South wanted to live near one another. As a result, areas with large African American populations grew up in many northern cities.

Many northern white workers felt threatened by the arrival of so many African Americans. Racial tension grew. In 1919, race riots broke out in several cities. The worst took place in Chicago, leaving 38 dead.

GEOGRAPHY SKILLS

Between 1910 and 1940, most states saw increases in their African American populations as African American migrants moved from the South.

1. Region Which region saw the greatest number of new arrivals?

2. Infer Why were certain northern cities the primary destinations for African Americans during the Great Migration?

A Black Nationalist Leader 

Shocked by the racism they found, African Americans looked for new ways to cope. Marcus Garvey became one of the most popular African American leaders. He started the first widespread black nationalist movement in the United States. Garvey organized the Universal Negro Improvement Association. He hoped to promote unity and pride among African Americans. He believed that African Americans needed to rely on themselves rather than white people to get ahead. “I am the equal of any white man,” Garvey said.

Garvey urged African Americans to seek their roots in Africa. Although few actually went to Africa, the movement built racial pride.

Analyze Images Marcus Garvey helped spark movements from African nationalist independence to American civil rights.

Infer How was Garvey an inspiration?

READING CHECK 

Identify Cause and Effect What caused racial tensions to increase during the 1920s?

Lesson Check

1. Why might an anarchist attempt sabotage?

2. Where in the country did the Great Migration generally start and end?

3. Compare Points of View Why do you think presidents refused to intervene in labor strikes in the 1920s—unlike Theodore Roosevelt, who had intervened in a major 1902 coal strike?

4. Analyze Information According to the quota system, the number of people allowed to immigrate from a nation would be a set percentage of the people from that nation already living in the United States. Why did that quota system favor northern Europeans?

5. Identify Cause and Effect Why did calls for political and social equality for minority groups increase after World War I?

6. Writing Workshop: Support Ideas With Evidence Your note-taking has given you a number of ideas that you will incorporate into your research paper. Write the key ideas, and include evidence that supports each idea.