Clashes in the 1920s
The 1920s was a decade of change for America, featuring economic prosperity and the emergence of new ideas and beliefs that changed the societal views on many old traditions of America. It has also come to be known as “the roaring twenties” by modern historians, or as the Jazz Age, as the rising generations began to break their attachments to the past, and transition towards a more modern era and adapted to the new innovations of the age, such as the telephone or radios. Young women dared to cut, or “bobbed” their hair, wore exposed clothings, and other social changes begin to mark the age distinctly separate from the previous generations of America. This was certainly an era of change and growth for many, but tensions …show more content…
Mortality steadily remained a controversial debate with the progression of the era, the prime advocates of the anti-modern values belonging to the older generation of Americans, who sought out to preserve the longstanding traditions that existed before the World War I. The younger people of the emerging generation, however, brought about a new tide of societal change through various ways, such as the introduction of the flappers, new style of clothing, and conforming to ‘unscrupulous’ dances with each other. These breakage from the old traditions were considered as a great breach against morality by the older generation, and these differing beliefs in values bred the tensions of social unrest across the nation. An excerpt from an article in a small town of Tennessee stated that “ a young couple, a bottle of moonshine and an automobile are the most dangerous quartet that can be concocted for the destruction of human society.” ( Document 4). This alludes to the great concern that was observed against the younger generation, as the accustomed Victorian traditions of strict gender roles, and restraints were beginning to diminish in the new mannerism of the 1920s. Such behaviors perturbed the mothers of young girls, denouncing their conduct as ‘outrageous’ or ‘immoral’, whilst the …show more content…
The sudden evolution of the era nurtured the fuel of Nativism, which is the emphasis to the tradition customs of America with a strict opposition against any outside influences. After the end of World War I, a heavy influx of immigrants arrived from Europe to America, which also aided in the resurgence of nativism among the Americans. With the rapid changes coming about, many of the older generations felt threatened, or believed that the influence of the immigrants would further on pollute the traditional morals of Americans. Thus, as the fear permeated, immigrants became the scapegoat of the emerging crimes within the country, such as the increasing rate of crime due to the Prohibition act, where alcohol was smuggled or brewed in illicit means of ways. The growing antagonism against the immigrants produced the reappearance of radical groups such as the KKK, a nativist group that assaulted minorities of other races or ethnicities within the United States. These groups often took their beliefs to the extreme, stating that all their traditional moral standards went by the boards, or were so disregarded that they ceased to be binding (Document 1). Foreign ideas were denounced, and many immigrants were condemned to take the blame of spreading “radical” ideas, and the American gates towards immigration was shut
The 1920s was a decade of change for America, featuring economic prosperity and the emergence of new ideas and beliefs that changed the societal views on many old traditions of America. It has also come to be known as “the roaring twenties” by modern historians, or as the Jazz Age, as the rising generations began to break their attachments to the past, and transition towards a more modern era and adapted to the new innovations of the age, such as the telephone or radios. Young women dared to cut, or “bobbed” their hair, wore exposed clothings, and other social changes begin to mark the age distinctly separate from the previous generations of America. This was certainly an era of change and growth for many, but tensions …show more content…
Mortality steadily remained a controversial debate with the progression of the era, the prime advocates of the anti-modern values belonging to the older generation of Americans, who sought out to preserve the longstanding traditions that existed before the World War I. The younger people of the emerging generation, however, brought about a new tide of societal change through various ways, such as the introduction of the flappers, new style of clothing, and conforming to ‘unscrupulous’ dances with each other. These breakage from the old traditions were considered as a great breach against morality by the older generation, and these differing beliefs in values bred the tensions of social unrest across the nation. An excerpt from an article in a small town of Tennessee stated that “ a young couple, a bottle of moonshine and an automobile are the most dangerous quartet that can be concocted for the destruction of human society.” ( Document 4). This alludes to the great concern that was observed against the younger generation, as the accustomed Victorian traditions of strict gender roles, and restraints were beginning to diminish in the new mannerism of the 1920s. Such behaviors perturbed the mothers of young girls, denouncing their conduct as ‘outrageous’ or ‘immoral’, whilst the …show more content…
The sudden evolution of the era nurtured the fuel of Nativism, which is the emphasis to the tradition customs of America with a strict opposition against any outside influences. After the end of World War I, a heavy influx of immigrants arrived from Europe to America, which also aided in the resurgence of nativism among the Americans. With the rapid changes coming about, many of the older generations felt threatened, or believed that the influence of the immigrants would further on pollute the traditional morals of Americans. Thus, as the fear permeated, immigrants became the scapegoat of the emerging crimes within the country, such as the increasing rate of crime due to the Prohibition act, where alcohol was smuggled or brewed in illicit means of ways. The growing antagonism against the immigrants produced the reappearance of radical groups such as the KKK, a nativist group that assaulted minorities of other races or ethnicities within the United States. These groups often took their beliefs to the extreme, stating that all their traditional moral standards went by the boards, or were so disregarded that they ceased to be binding (Document 1). Foreign ideas were denounced, and many immigrants were condemned to take the blame of spreading “radical” ideas, and the American gates towards immigration was shut