CHAPTER 23
A Clash of Cultures, 1920–1929
TRUE/FALSE
1. The 1920s pitted a cosmopolitan urban America against the values of an insular rural America.
2. In the 1920s, the progressive wings of the Republican and Democratic parties grew stronger
and more influential.
3. Many mainstream Americans found “modernist” art bewildering.
4. The nation’s total wealth greatly increased between 1920 and 1930, and wage workers enjoyed record-breaking
increases in average income.
5. The Florida land rush proved to be one of the more stable and long-lasting investments
of the 1920s.
6. The success of mass production made mass consumption less important than ever.
7. The growth of advertising in the United States slowed the creation of a mass culture.
8. Jazz music was a combination of folk, gospel, and country.
9. Despite controversy, psychoanalysis rose in popularity around the world during the 1920s.
10. African American and Latino women faced the greatest challenges, as they often worked as
maids, laundresses, or seamstresses, or on farms.
11. The Harlem Renaissance was in part an effect of the Great Migration.
12. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) favored militant
protests over legal challenges as a way to end racial discrimination.
13. Alain LeRoy Locke became famous for his contributions to the creation of jazz.
14. During the 1920s, scientists’ ideas about the nature of the universe inspired modernist artists
to try new techniques.
15. When Hemingway published his first novel, The Sun Also Rises, he used the phrase “lost
generation,” which also became a name for young modernists of the time.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. The ________ amendment to the Constitution is known as the Prohibition amendment and
resulted in ________.
a.
Seventeenth; women’s right to vote
b.
Eighteenth; widespread lawbreaking
c.
Nineteenth; effective voting protections for African Americans
d.
Twentieth; a postwar boom in agricultural exports
e.
Twenty-first; the end of Jim Crow laws
2. Which of the following statements accurately characterizes the decade between the end of the
Great War and the onset of the Great Depression?
a.
The decade saw a drastic decrease in urbanization due to the end of war preparations and
widespread poverty due to the loss of urban wartime jobs.
b.
The decade saw an onset of a shared sense of safety and prosperity, as Jim Crow laws were
abolished and African Americans were rewarded for their contributions to the war.
c.
As anti-Communist hysteria died down after the war, the decade saw many beneficial trade deals
with Communist nations and a large Communist presence in American politics.
d.
The decade saw a dramatic turn away from traditional religious beliefs and “native” ways of life,
leading to the most liberal political climate the nation had ever seen.
e.
As wartime agricultural exports dropped, the decade saw the prosperity of the urban middle class
and an agricultural recession, resulting in millions of people moving to cities.
3. Which of the following led voters to elect Warren G. Harding as president in 1920?
a.
the loss of interest in public services and the demand for their privatization
b.
the public’s embrace of and commitment to modernism
c.
the growth of progressive wings in both major political parties
d.
the desire to restore traditional values and social stability
e.
America’s lack of consumerism due to wartime rationing
4. Which sectors were the leading cause of economic growth in the 1920s, or “New Era”?
a.
universities and art galleries
b.
illegal drinking establishments and jazz clubs
c.
construction and automobile manufacturing
d.
film and radio
e.
professional sports and motion pictures
5. Which of the following statements accurately describes life in the South in the 1920s?
a.
Because the automobile industry had barely begun and transportation was limited, the South
remained entirely insulated from the North and the effects of consumerism.
b.
The South experienced a rise in urbanization much as the North did; however, neither region could
catch up to the West in terms of population.
c.
Thanks to the eradication of Jim Crow laws, the South had been transformed into a region where
African Americans had a large political presence and increasingly had white-collar jobs.
d.
Compared to other regions, the South remained the poorest and most rural, with fewer farmers
owning their land and black sharecroppers staying especially poor.
e.
The South became home to the largest and most diverse cities in the country, partly enabled by the
high crop prices of the agricultural sector.
6. What occurred in Florida during the 1920s?
a.
As Florida banned immigration from many countries, the federal government took the state’s lead,
and immigration in the larger United States slowed to unprecedented levels.
b.
As one of the least developed states on the Atlantic coast, it experienced a real estate boom because
it lacked an income tax and ownership of automobiles made it a vacation destination.
c.
Like much of the South, it was comprised almost entirely of fertile farmland and soon was owned
mainly by profitable sharecroppers.
d.
Because it was so far away from the major city centers, it remained untouched by consumerism and
became a place where those seeking a simple way of life found refuge.
e.
After miners uncovered gold there, the state prospered and experienced a gold rush on a scale not
yet seen since California during the mid-nineteenth century.
7. Which of the following statements describes changes in the way goods were purchased during
the 1920s?
a.
The war had made Americans increasingly frugal, resulting in the middle class focusing its
attention on the need for government programs to help protect its savings.
b.
The absence of electricity in middle-class homes severely limited the types of goods one would find
useful, causing industries to target only the upper class.
c.
The rise of advertising contributed to a new consumer culture, strengthening the perceived
relationship between social status and possessions.
d.
As a rule, businesses began forcing customers to pay for goods in cash upfront rather than allowing
them to finance purchases over time.
e.
A new consumer culture became so pervasive that even the poor enjoyed the latest luxuries such as
indoor plumbing, washing machines, and automobiles.
8. The development of a “mass culture” in the 1920s refers to
a.
the death of the Democratic party and the idea that everyone shared the same political party.
b.
the rise of national brands, advertising, and radio and film releases with a national audience.
c.
the relative lack of immigration during the period, which caused there to be few ethnic groups.
d.
the growth of shared opinions on science and technology in the face of impending war.
e.
modernism’s popularity across the United States, uniting Americans in a shared artistic culture.
9. Charlie Chaplin is best associated with
a.
politics.
d.
stand-up comedy.
b.
muckraking journalism.
e.
slapstick comedy.
c.
the development of the automobile.
10. Which of the following was a result of the spread of radios in households across America?
a.
Advances in transportation were less in demand.
b.
Politicians insisted on giving all speeches in person.
c.
Movie theaters lost audiences.
d.
Jazz music became a national favorite.
e.
Spectator sports lost their appeal.
11. Which of the following MOST pushed the development of the airplane?
a.
the development of the car
b.
the opportunities of advertising on the radio
c.
the low levels of consumer debt in the 1920s
d.
spectator sports
e.
the Great War
12. Why did Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. become famous?
a.
He completed the first solo transatlantic flight.
b.
He was a singer who often performed live on the radio.
c.
He invented the first automobile.
d.
He discovered a way to mass–produce engines.
e.
He completed the first flight around the world.
13. In 1937, ________ set out to become the first pilot to fly around the world and disappeared
over the South Pacific.
a.
Charles Lindbergh Jr.
d.
Orville Wright
b.
Amelia Earhart
e.
Jack Dempsey
c.
Wilbur Wright
14. What industry provided the leading example of modern, mechanized mass-production
techniques in the 1920s?
a.
textiles
d.
shipbuilding
b.
radios
e.
agriculture
c.
automobiles
15. Which one of the following is associated with Detroit, Michigan?
a.
airplane industry
d.
entertainment industry
b.
socialism
e.
automobile industry
c.
farming
16. The “House That Ruth Built” is known as
a.
Wrigley Field.
d.
Tiger Stadium.
b.
Yankee Stadium.
e.
Ebbets Field.
c.
Red Sox Field.
17. Which of the following statements accurately describes the relationship between African
Americans and sports such as baseball in the 1920s?
a.
Baseball remained a segregated sport with so-called Negro Leagues.
b.
African Americans were forbidden from playing sports entirely.
c.
Most of the star professional players of the day were African Americans.
d.
African Americans were only allowed to play sports in college.
e.
Pursuing sports was undesirable for whites and African Americans alike due to small crowds.
18. What was the state of sports in the 1920s?
a.
Sports were largely limited to the upper class, as middle-class and working-class Americans had
little time for recreation and spectator activities.
b.
The limited technology of the time made it difficult for many people to attend games, but a decent
percentage followed sports on the radio.
c.
Spectator sports attracted large crowds, as automobile ownership and rising incomes changed the
way Americans spent leisure time.
d.
Although Americans enjoyed watching and playing a few key sports, players remained relatively
anonymous and had not yet achieved a following or celebrity status.
e.
Sports were popular but only had professional leagues because colleges refused to mix education
and athletics, especially when they involved spectators.
19. Harold Edward “Red” Grange is best associated with
a.
politics.
d.
baseball.
b.
football.
e.
communism.
c.
boxing.
20. William Harrison “Jack” Dempsey was a hero to millions as a
a.
football player.
d.
boxer.
b.
baseball player.
e.
jazz player.
c.
horse jockey.
21. The Roaring Twenties was dubbed the “Jazz Age” by
a.
Upton Sinclair.
d.
Louis Armstrong.
b.
Ernest Hemingway.
e.
F. Scott Fitzgerald.
c.
Langston Hughes.
22. The novel This Side of Paradise concerned
a.
immigrant life in New York City.
b.
the lax enforcement of Prohibition.
c.
modernist student life at Princeton.
d.
fundamentalist attacks on modernism.
e.
the beginnings of Miami’s tourist industry.
23. Which of the following statements accurately describes jazz?
a.
It was a European innovation emerging from modern classical music.
b.
It blended several musical traditions, such as ragtime and the blues.
c.
It was originally a literary movement started by novelists.
d.
It helped calm the fears of rural fundamentalists.
e.
It originated in the western United States.
24. What change did young people experience during the 1920s?
a.
a widespread military draft
b.
a return to Victorian values
c.
increased parental supervision
d.
a defiant sexual revolution
e.
more difficult and time-consuming chores
25. What influential figure spoke of sex with frankness and created a new vocabulary for mapping
the inner lives of people?
a.
William Henry “Jack” Dempsey
d.
Sigmund Freud
b.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
e.
Charlie Chaplin
c.
Louis Armstrong
26. Who was Margaret Sanger?
a.
the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic
b.
a prominent jazz singer who gained fame in the 1920s
c.
the wife of author F. Scott Fitzgerald and a literary figure in her own right
d.
an early advocate for women’s access to birth control and contraception
e.
the first flapper to be featured in Life magazine
27. Which of the following accurately describes the “new women” of the 1920s such as flappers?
a.
women who called for the establishment of laws that would keep dresses and skirts long enough to
cover women’s knees
b.
women who defied traditional standards for women with a carefree, self–indulgent rebelliousness
c.
the majority of women in the United States, many of whom were struggling to make ends meet due
to high unemployment rates
d.
women who welcomed the vote but enthusiastically accepted the traditional roles of mother and
wife
e.
women who insisted that higher education was the path to enlightenment and established
coeducational colleges across the country
28. Conservative moralists saw the flappers as just another sign of
a.
progress.
d.
a degenerating society.
b.
equality.
e.
an economic downturn.
c.
women’s rights.
29. Which of the following statements accurately describes the experiences of most American
women in the 1920s?
a.
The conservative political mood helped steer women who had worked for the war effort back into
their traditional roles as homemakers.
b.
Women received strong encouragement to enroll in coeducational colleges and universities to
prepare for joining the professions.
c.
Although a relatively small number of women were college educated, most of those who were
college educated pursued careers outside the home.
d.
The lack of technology available at the time and the rise in the number of women who were salaried
professionals made housework more difficult than ever before.
e.
Most women were flappers and, thanks to the jobs made available during the war, began to model
their lives after that of Zelda Fitzgerald.
30. What was the significance of the events involving Mabel Puffer and Arthur Hazzard in Concord,
New Hampshire?
a.
They demonstrated the rise in successful interracial marriages and the growing acceptance of the
American public toward African American equality.
b.
They demonstrated the controversial aspects of modernist art and how most of the general public
viewed such pieces as low art.
c.
They demonstrated that, despite having fought to “make the world safe for democracy,” the United
States remained unsafe for those who dared to cross the color line.
d.
They demonstrated the willingness of African Americans and white Americans alike to defy the
liquor laws that went into effect due to Prohibition.
e.
They demonstrated how the growing freedom of American women as a whole tended to curb the
effects of racism in the United States.
31. What was known as the Great Migration?
a.
the mass movement of African Americans from the South to the North in pursuit of better living
conditions and jobs
b.
the influx of refugees from Europe following the Great War, resulting in a scramble to find them
enough food and housing
c.
the return of many African Americans from the South to Africa following the Emancipation
Proclamation
d.
the surge in the number of white settlers moving West due to the promise of gold and voting rights
for women
e.
the relocation of many African Americans from the inter-cities to the country in search of
sharecropping jobs
32. Which of the following was a result of the Great Migration?
a.
The economy in the North collapsed in the mid-1920s due to the loss of agricultural and
sharecropping jobs.
b.
African Americans tended to find camaraderie with Irish and Italian immigrants who identified
with them.
c.
Northern states granted women the right to vote due to pressure from the western states.
d.
The number of ethnic groups in the United States soared, making the overall white population the
minority for the first time.
e.
African Americans who had participated in the migration still experienced discrimination but fewer
injustices than before.
33. What did the NAACP emphasize?
a.
legal action against discrimination
b.
the formation of a black political party
c.
vocational and technical education
d.
Garvey’s concept of social and political separation of blacks
e.
strictly black membership
34. Which court case or legal action brought the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments back to life?
a.
Abrams v. United States (1918)
d.
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
b.
Schenck v. United States (1917)
e.
Guinn v. United States (1915)
c.
Buchanan v. Worley (1917)
35. Why did James Weldon Johnson coin the term Aframerican?
a.
to mark the end of the Harlem Renaissance
b.
to emphasize the shame African Americans at the time felt
c.
to underscore the lack of discrimination in the northern states
d.
to give a name to white Americans who supported African Americans
e.
to designate Americans with African ancestry as a display of unity
36. Which of the following was true of the Universal Negro Improvement Association?
a.
It offered a series of art workshops sponsored by the most prominent black artists and writers of the
day.
b.
Led by Marcus Garvey, it took the approach of black nationalism, promoting black separatism from
mainstream American life.
c.
Founded in response to race riots, it promoted Booker T. Washington’s idea of racial peace through
accommodation.
d.
It was the forerunner of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP).
e.
Conceived by W. E. B. Du Bois, it called for racial integration, stressing that blacks and whites had
a great deal in common.
37. Which of the following statements was true of Marcus Garvey?
a.
He sought reconciliation with southern whites.
b.
He said blacks should return to Africa.
c.
He was a revered jazz saxophonist.
d.
He helped lead the suffragist movement.
e.
He was allied with W. E. B. Du Bois.
38. Which of the following did modernists believe?
a.
Nature’s reality can be captured in art.
b.
Human reason ruled all of nature.
c.
Science, such as the ideas of Einstein, and art had no connection.
d.
Art, in the end, has strict rules that should be obeyed.
e.
Challenging traditional values and notions of reality is important.
39. Einstein’s theories in the early twentieth century revolutionized science by
a.
revealing that all things are static and unchanging.
b.
showing that there are no absolute standards in the world.
c.
illustrating that space, time, matter, and energy are distinct and independent.
d.
discovering the concept of gravity.
e.
proving that the theory of relativity was incompatible with modernism.
40. Who developed the theoretical basis for quantum physics?
a.
Albert Einstein
d.
Werner Heisenberg
b.
Isaac Newton
e.
Sir Francis Bacon
c.
Max Planck
41. In physics, the theory that the fundamental concepts of space, time, matter, and energy are not distinct, independent
things with stable dimensions was developed by
a.
Albert Einstein.
d.
Max Planck.
b.
Isaac Newton.
e.
Sir Francis Bacon.
c.
Werner Heisenberg.
42. The horrors of the Great War accelerated
a.
the need to rearm in the early 1920s.
d.
rebellion in the United States.
b.
the formation of the United Nations.
e.
the rise of modernism in the arts.
c.
the birth of computers.
43. Why was the Armory Show in 1913 significant?
a.
It was a controversial sensation that caused modern art to become one of Americans’ favorite
subjects of debate.
b.
It prominently featured the new military weapons developed immediately after the war during the
early 1920s and called on attendees to support the war effort.
c.
It revealed that there was only an audience for modernist art in Europe, practically ending the
movement in the United States.
d.
It was an effective demonstration of black nationalism and racial solidarity that went against
Garveyism.
e.
It for the first time presented the idea of an accessible “real” world that could be explained by
science and be easily observed.
44. Which London-based American not only wrote and published modernist works but mentored up-and-coming
authors?
a.
Ezra Pound
d.
T. S. Eliot
b.
Edward Bellamy
e.
Ernest Hemingway
c.
Gertrude Stein
45. Gertrude Stein was a(n)
a.
disc jockey.
d.
freedom fighter in the Great War.
b.
Dada artist.
e.
member of Congress.
c.
experimentalist poet.
46. The Waste Land, a poem that became the favorite of many modernist readers because of its sense of disillusionment
and its suggestion of a burned-out civilization, was written by
a.
Franz Boas.
d.
Gertrude Stein.
b.
T. S. Eliot.
e.
E. E. Cummings.
c.
Ezra Pound.
47. Who, in 1921, told Hemingway that he and his friends who had served in the war “are a lost generation”?
a.
Gertrude Stein
d.
Franz Boas
b.
Ezra Pound
e.
Ernest Hemingway
c.
T. S. Eliot
48. Which of the following is true of the novels of Ernest Hemingway?
a.
They portrayed utopian communities in a socialist society and, unconcerned with war, attempted to
envision a world devoid of conflict.
b.
They attacked the corruption of machine politics in the large cities through a series of moralizing
narratives.
c.
They traced the philosophical connections between twentieth–century America and eighteenth–
century Britain.
d.
They described the frenetic, hard-drinking lifestyle and the cult of robust masculinity that
Hemingway himself epitomized.
e.
They were intended to capture his belief in the impossibility of writing anything resembling real
life while writing fiction.
49. What brought about the end of the Jazz Age?
a.
The seriousness of the Jazz Age gave way to the gaiety of a distinct new period known as the
Roaring Twenties.
b.
The luxuries and experiences made possible by the Jazz Age gradually became available to the
lowest classes as well, causing the affluent in society to lose interest.
c.
The Second World War suddenly broke out in Europe, requiring the immediate deployment of
American soldiers and making the Jazz Age appear frivolous.
d.
The situation became direr for the Americans during the Great War, and civilians needed to turn
their attention to the war effort at home.
e.
The Great Depression caused the collapse of the Jazz Age and, with it, helped erode the American
belief in freedom at all costs.
50. Fitzgerald’s stories during the 1920s were
a.
movie scripts written for Hollywood.
b.
a criticism of the social elite, including himself.
c.
manuscripts in notebooks not discovered until the 1960s.
d.
entirely nonfictional pieces of writing.
e.
a form of thought experiment focused on science.
ESSAY
1. Describe the defensive temper of the 1920s. Who was defending what? What factors contributed to this trend?
2. Describe the consumer culture of 1920s America. How did consumer culture shape this era and vice versa?
3. How did the scientific work of Albert Einstein, Max Planck, and Werner Heisenberg influence American thought?
4. “The major theme in American society in the 1920s was the theme of cultural alienation.”
Defend this statement.
5. Describe the influence of modernism in literature.
6. In what ways did the African American community benefit from the changes of the 1920s,
and how did it pass them by?
7. Discuss the meaning and significance of the Harlem Renaissance.
8. Trace the career of Marcus Garvey and discuss how his philosophy divided the African
American community in the 1920s.
9. Define what the phrase “The Modernist Revolt” means.
10. Describe the variety of spectator sports common in the 1920s. How successful were they in
capturing the imagination of Americans?
11. To what extent did women’s lives change in the 1920s?
MATCHING
Match each description with the item below.
a.
was a politician who, while campaigning, promised a return to “normalcy” and went on to succeed
Woodrow Wilson
b.
was the New York nurse and midwife in the working-class tenements of Manhattan who observed
many young mothers struggling to provide for their growing families
c.
hosted a cultural salon in Paris that became a gathering place for American and European
modernists
d.
was the first African American to enroll at Barnard College, positioned herself at the center of the
Harlem Renaissance, and became an anthropologist, folklorist, and novelist
e.
became the director of publicity and research for the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People and editor of its journal, The Crisis
f.
was an athlete who was especially popular with working–class men because he had been born poor
and lived for years wandering in search of work
g.
was a flapper and writer who defied traditional standards for women and enjoyed putting on
spectacles such as dancing in New York water fountains
h.
developed an affordable automobile for the masses and developed a production model that other
automakers would go on to adopt
i.
was the leader of black nationalism and racial solidarity whose message most appealed to poor
blacks in northern cities
j.
was the first black Rhodes Scholar and became the guiding spirit of the “new” African American
culture
1. W. E. B. Du Bois
2. Zora Neal Hurston
3. William Harrison “Jack” Dempsey
4. Warren G. Harding
5. Marcus Garvey
6. Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald
7. Henry Ford
8. Alain Le Roy Locke
9. Gertrude Stein
10. Margaret Sanger