1920's Dbq

The 1920s was a pivotal time for change in all areas of life. Changes came with a major a culture clash among those who embraced the changes and those who wanted things to stay the way they were. The expansion and growth of city life triggered feelings of fear among rural citizens who wanted their way of life to stay the same. Rural citizens attempted to keep a hold of the traditional way of life because further industrialization would hurt their business. The Ku Klux Klan came back with its hatred extending over multiple races and religions. Before the modernization of the 1920s, what was taught at school was heavily influenced by religion. When scientists were able to support Darwin’s theory of evolution, teaching it in schools was met

The Klan collected its largest amount of members ever with the groups focus on anti Catholic, anti Jewish, anti black, anti immigrant and anti anyone else that they felt was a threat to their ideal image of America. The new KKK members were people from a rural generation that felt modernism was ruining the culture of America. The members were “demanding the return of power into the everyday, average person” (Document 1). Urban Americans embraced the new population of America and welcomed immigrants into their cities. This welcoming and innovative attitude of the urban Americans encouraged rural Americans to act with hatred in the form of large scale marches and rallies. The members of the 1920s Ku Klux Klan felt that their work was preserving the treasured culture of America, but it was actually stunting the growth of industry and foreign trade. The morals of previous leaders and religious groups that rural areas clung to was now being ignored and many felt that their only way of retaliation was through the Ku Klux Klan. American society was beginning to shift towards a less religiously enveloped culture. Even schools were changing what was being taught to match the modernization of the

Rural citizens felt that Darwin's theory of evolution should not be taught in schools because of its basis in science not religion. Rural citizens felt that the “right of the people to decide what should be taught in their tax-supported school” (Document 2). Urban citizens felt strongly that Darwin’s theory should be taught in schools because it was informing future generations of scientific discoveries that had not been known in previous years. One urban teacher in Tennessee began teaching Darwin's theory and was prosecuted during the Scope Trials. From the point of view of the public, the trials were “a battle between Fundamentalism on one hand and twentieth century skepticism on the other” (Document 2). The courtroom was packed with many rural citizens that believed evolution should not be taught in schools. These citizens believed that teaching evolution would effectively destroy the presence of the Bible in schools and the breakdown of the moral compass of the students. Rural citizens feared the future behavior of the students, but a change in the character of american teens was already