Editing deck: 1920s culture Flashcards
1
Q
4
List the factors that explain the change for women in the 1920s
A
- War
- Progressive movement
- Prohibition
- Economic needs/new tech
overall little change
2
Q
3
Describe progress for the employment of women
A
- 1930, 2m more women were employed than there had been 10 years earlier
- ⅓ of university degrees awarded to women in 1930
- Wider career opportunities
3
Q
6
Describe limitations in women’s employment
A
- These tended to be unskilled low-paid jobs
- Medical schools only allocated 5% of places to women
- The number of female doctors in the 1920’s actually decreased
- Still massive pay inequality
- Supreme court banned all attempts to set minimum wage for women
- 1927, women’s textile workers in Tennessee went on strike for better wages but were arrested by the local police
4
Q
3
Describe progress for women in politics
A
- Women were given the vote in 1920
- Nellie Taylor Ross of Wyoming became the first woman to be elected governor of a state in 1924
- Bertha Knight Landes became the first female mayor of a city, Seattlein 1926
5
Q
3
Describe limitations in women in politics
A
- Only a handful of female politicians
- The women’s movement failed to get the Equal Rights Amendment Act passed
- Disenfranchisement of Native American and African American women
6
Q
3
Describe women’s birth control
A
- Back street abortions killed up to 50k women per year
- Margaret Sanger
- Supporters of eugenics often also supported birth control as a method of maintaining racial purity
7
Q
5
Describe Margaret Sanger
A
- Wrote articles on contraception
- The Comstock Act of 1873 - banned the distribution of articles on contraception and items through the US mail
- She was arrested in 1916 for opening the first contraception clinic in the US
- 1921, she founded the American Birth Control League
- She began to promote sterilisation for mentally handicapped people
8
Q
4
Describe ‘flappers’
A
- Women who challenged traditional attitudes to appearance
- Characterised by short hair, short skirt
- Went to speakeasies and cinema unchaperoned
- Generally from mc and uc in Northern states
9
Q
3
Describe criticisms of flappers
A
- They were often seen as too extreme and disapproved of by religious groups
- 1923, formation of the Anti-Flirt Club in NY - protected women/girls from intrusive male behaviour
- In reality, there was little change for women during this period
10
Q
7
List the causes of prohibition
A
- Progressive politics (anti-Saloon league)
- Women’s movements
- Big business
- Patriotism
- Tensions between brewers and distillers
- Religion
- Financial reasons
11
Q
4
Describe how progressive politics was a cause of prohibition
A
- The Anti-Saloon League campaigned against the devastating effects of excessive drinking.
- led by Wayne Wheeler
- ‘Wheelerism’ became important political lobby and endorsement
- Introduction of Income tax made up for the lost revenue from alcohol →alcohol had accounted for 30-40% of government revenue from alcohol tax
12
Q
2
Give examples of wheelerism
A
- Pressure from Anti-Saloon League helped defeat Myron Herrick, the incumbent ‘wet’ Governor of Ohio
- by 1917, ⅔ ‘dry’ majority in House and Senate
13
Q
3
Describe how women’s movement were a cause of prohibition
A
- Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) campaigned hard for prohibition
- Female reformers argued → clear links between the consumption of alcohol and wife beating and child abuse
- Carrie Nation would become national figure by smashing up saloons
14
Q
2
Describe how big business was a cause of prohibition
A
- Big business such as Henry Ford told that alcohol was causing their workers to massively decrease in productivity
- Workers were told that alcohol was being used to suppress them
15
Q
4
Describe how patriotism was a cause of prohibition
A
- American entry into WW1 - anti-German feeling
- many brewers were of German origin - prohibition seen as patriotic
- beer given nickname ‘Kaiser’s brew’
16
Q
2
Describe how tensions between brewers and distillers was a cause of prohibition
A
- German brewers’ attempts to paint beer as hea;thy and spirits as harmful backfired
- therefore lack of united opposition to prohibition
17
Q
5
Describe how religion was a cause of prohibition
A
- Many religious groups saw alcohol as the root of the sin and evil values of American people
- Some religious groups, such as the Methodists and Baptists, joined the crusade
- Fundamentalist preachers, such as Billy Sunday, persuaded many conservatives that alcohol was evil
- Sectarian divides between ‘dry’ rural areas and ‘wet’ cities
- Assimilate Catholic Southern/Central Europeans - alcohol consumption central to culture
18
Q
3
Describe how financial reasons were a cause of prohibition
A
- felt prohibition would enhance common people to be hard-working
- taxation on alcohol (alcohol duties) amounted to 40% of revenue
- permitted tariff (Wilson) income tax (Republican) reductions
19
Q
4
Describe the rise of speakeasies
A
- Illegal bars
- In 1929, NYC had 32k - more than there had ever been bars
- rise of Jazz and subsequent impact on civil rights
- social mixing e.g. men and women
20
Q
2
Describe ‘moonshine’
A
- Home-made liquor
- It was easier to produce illegal spirits than beer so people were drinking stronger alcohol
21
Q
2
Describe the danger of moonshine
A
- Stills sometimes exploded
- The liquor produced was incredibly strong and unregulated so could be deadly
22
Q
5
Describe how prohibition led to a rise in corruption
A
- Bootleggers able to easily bribe the police
- Policemen didn’t believe in the law they were policing and often from same background as gangstas
- even Harding WH advisors involved
- ‘Big Bill’ Thompson (Mayor of Chicago) did practically nothing to control gangsters running city
- Between 1920-30, only 10% of Prohibition agents fined for corruption
23
Q
4
Describe the ‘untouchables’
A
- uncorrupt prohibition special agents who worked to take Al Capone down
- led by Eliot Ness
- Al Capone taken down in 1931and received 11 year sentence
- not for organised crime, but tax evasion (though had been arrested for shorter sentences before)
24
Q
5
Describe how prohibition affected the economy
A
- Brewing industry suffered badly. St Louis had 22 breweries before but only 9 re-opened after 1933
- Breweries, distilleries and saloons closed which led to a loss of thousands of jobs and lead to some dereliction of property
- In New York, almost 75% of the state’s revenue was from liquor lax - this was lost
- Prohibition cost the government $11 billion in loss of tax revenue
- Prohibition cost the government $300 million to enforce
25
Q
7
Describe the loopholes people used to get around prohibition
A
- Alcohol for religious purposes was not illegal (‘Kosher wine’)
- Alcohol for medicinal purposes was not illegal
- Cocktails masked alcohol with fruit flavours
- Alcohol for industrial use was not illegal (Poison was put in this alcohol and lead to many deaths)
- grape boxes would display ‘warning’ signs about the potentiality of the produce to turn into alcohol
- Legal to drink in international waters (Booze cruises/rum runners)
- Disregarded by Harding WH
