HIST 12 - Slideshare Lecture

1. Chapter 24 – Unsettled Prosperity, From War to Depression, 1919-1932
Classic Landscape, Charles Sheeler
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2. The Power of the Movies
Your book talks about the impact
of Rudolph Valentino, (right), and
Clara Bow (next image), on young
people, and on popular style, and
about how the movies were
perceived by more traditional and
conservative Americans
as influencing people to engage in
immoral behavior. They were
only two amongst dozens of
movie stars that were pushing the
boundaries of what could be
shown on movie screens. What’s
more, this first generation of true
movie stars were reported on,
talked about, profiled and
interviewed by dozens of
magazines devoted to bringing
their fans as close to them as
possible. E! Channel, anyone?
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4. THE NEW IMMIGRATION ISSUE
This graph and the following one shows the shift over a period of thirty years in numbers of immigrants from North-Western Europe (think
England, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, and the countries of Scandinavia) to those from South-Eastern Europe (think Italy, Greece,
Russia, Poland, and the various Slavic countries – some of which have changed names and even ceased to exist between then and now,
making it easier to simply group them together), and how that trend was reversed by the passage of the National Origins Act of 1924 – the
objective was to “whiten up” the country. The second image following is a political cartoon showing what a St. Patrick's Day parade might
look like in Georgia at this time: two Black musicians leading one proud Irishman down a boulevard lined with throngs of Klansmen;
exaggerated, to be sure, but the kernel of truth remains.
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7. The map below reveals not only the truly national spread that had been achieved by the Ku Klux Klan between
the end of Reconstruction (1876) and the mid-1920s, but the growth in political influence of the organization,
carried along by the general nativist sentiments espoused, to some degree or another, by many White
Americans at this time. On the next slide is further evidence of the growth of the Klan -- a mammoth parade
down Pennsylvania Avenue in broad daylight; there was a time when the Klan kept to the shadows, and
generally met only at night, but that time had passed. The nation's capital building looms in the background.
I’m sure our 45th president would call them “very fine people.”
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9. The Birth of the
Black Power
Movement,
Decades Before
It Had a Name
Marcus Garvey, founder of
the Universal Negro
Improvement Association,
and champion of both Pan-
Africanism and Black
Nationalism, 1920
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10. The Growth of
Consumerism
One of the contributors to the growth in
consumerism was the development of a
new and sophisticated "modern" form of
advertising (precursors to the guys
on Mad Men, if you watched that show --
and if you didn't, what are you wasting
time here for? It’s on Netflix!) that used
dynamic images and persuasive language
to sell suggest a need to the consumer
using the power of symbols and
metaphor. In the ad at right is a titanic
figure that brings to mind two figures
from Greek mythology: Apollo, god of the
Sun, and Prometheus, he who gave fire to
Man. He reflects the power of lightning,
of the cosmos, the heavens, down to
Earth, to serve the needs of all good
consumers of...well, any Westinghouse
appliance, but the Electric Refrigerator in
particular…note, however, that the
refrigerator itself is nowhere to be seen,
only in the deep background do we see
the mighty Westinghouse factory,
implicitly turning out these refrigerators
for the happy American home.
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11. LIFE Magazine was at the forefront of reporting on the new lifestyles available…to those consumers who could
afford it. In this profile of the thoroughly modern housewife, this lady of leisure sits reading the paper, yawning
in luxurious boredom, surrounded by all of her thoroughly modern electric appliances: range and oven, clock,
mixer, garbage disposal, hot water heater, trash compactor and refrigerator.
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12. SUCCESS BREEDS
DESIRE, Pt. 1
Further spurring the growth of
consumer culture was the growth in
franchised chain stores. Larger
department stores, such as Sears,
Roebuck and Co. and Montgomery
Ward were to be found in the cities,
but even medium-sized towns could
boast a Piggly Wiggly or an A & P (see
next image), and when these chains
grew at such an astonishing pace (for
those of you who live here in SoCal,
think of the recent and rapid spread
across the landscape of such burger
chains as Chick Fil A, Five Guys, and
Chipotle), well, who wouldn't want to
go in, check it out, buy some thing(s),
be a part of it?
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14. SUCCESS BREEDS
DESIRE, Pt. 2
This ad is a brute testimonial
to the notion that some
success speaks for itself…or,
as President Calvin Coolidge
once said, “The chief
business of America is
business.” Or as Barrett
Strong would sing in 1960, in
the midst of the next great
age of American affluence:
“Money / That’s what I
want!”
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15. Out in front of the New York Stock Exchange after the crash on Black Thursday, October 29, 1929 – the
symbolic start of the Great Depression. Just look at these people – it’s the middle of a workday, and they’ve
all just sort of stumbled out into the street, standing around, walking aimlessly – it’s like a casting call for
extras for The Walking Dead.
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