Chapter 30 Discussion Questions
1. Why did America turn isolationist during the 1920s? What positive things took place during the 1920s? What era in the early 19th Century could you synthesize the Roaring Twenties to and why?
2. How would the Bolshevik Revolution inspire fear in Americans after World War I? The red scare was a crusade against whom? What events would highlight the red scare?
3. As opposed to the anti-black Ku Klux Klan of the Reconstruction era, the KKK resurgence of the 1920s was more closely associated with what 19th century movement? What brought about the abrupt influence of the Klan in the late 1920s?
4. Explain the Emergency Quota Act of 1921.
5. Explain the Immigration Act of 1924. What was significant about the year 1931 in terms of immigration in the United States? Explain Horace Kallen and Randolph Bourne’s views on immigration.
6. What law implemented the 18th Amendment? How were prohibitionists or “drys” naïve about Prohibition? Why was Prohibition tough to enforce? What is a speakeasy? What were some positive aspects of the “noble experiment?”
7. How would Prohibition lead to a crime wave over the country? Describe Al Capone’s impact on crime and Chicago.
8. Describe Professor John Dewey’s contributions to education. How would science be advanced during the 1920s? What did Fundamentalists teach?
9. In terms of education, what did the Bible belt states ban in the 1920s? Explain the details of the Scopes Monkey Trial.
10. Describe aspects of the U.S. mass-consumption economy of the 1920s. How did advertising and sports play a role in the culture?
11. Explain how Henry Ford and the automobile shaped the 1920s in many ways.
12. How did the automobile transform society? What other industry would the automobile have a significant impact on? What negative effect did the automobile have on society?
13. Who invented the first successful engine airplane? What year? How would the airplane transform society?
14. What significance of the radio? How was American radio unique from European radio.
15. Describe the film industry’s significance on American culture. What were some early movies made? What was the first ‘talkie?’
16. What did Margaret Sanger advocate for? How did Americans go away from the rigid social norms of the 18th and 19th Centuries during the 1920s?
17. What was the United Negro Improvement Association?
18. What is modernism? List some authors and their literary works during this era. What was the Harlem Renaissance?
19. What economic problems started to arise on Wall Street during the 1920s? What does buying stocks on margin mean?
20. What taxes did Congress do away with during the 1920s? Why is Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon a controversial figure?