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The Economic Boom in America in the 1920's The decade of the 1920s, or as it was called by its contemporaries, "The New Era," was marked by prosperity and new opportunity in the aftermath of World War I. The war began in Europe in 1914, and the United States entered the fray in 1917. A significant reason for United States involvement in the war was the nation's economic links to the Allied Powers, and especially to Great Britain. America had given loans to Great Britain totalling over $2.3 billion. As a result, they feared a British defeat that would severely cripple them. Although the allies eventually won the war, there were problems as well. The transition from a war-time to a peace-time economy caused economic dislocation for industrial workers, loss of income for farmers, and renewed racism and nativism against African-Americans and foreign immigrants. Despite this, America had emerged from World War I with a strong economy. America itself had not been attacked and as it had not joined the war until 1917, it did not have to rebuild itself like the European nations did. Although distanced from the main fighting, America came out of the war a completely different country. The twenties was a very unusual time period in American History. The twenties were a time of fun and partying. There are many reasons why it was called the Roaring Twenties. Most of the American people were living a great life and were able to afford luxury items, even though this didn't apply to every one many believed that it was an excellent and exciting time of great hopes. In the twenties, industry took a very big step. It nearly doubled. Not on... ... middle of paper ... ... These people were the unemployed, for the main reason that they had no money and could not buy goods. Immigrants additionally did not benefit because they could not speak English. 8 million immigrants had crossed in hope of jobs, When they did arrived they had to live in cramped appalling conditions and treated unfairly and were not paid very well at all, even if they managed to get a job. They were at fight with many people for work. The got the boring casual jobs like cleaning. The black people also suffered from the boom because farmers had to give up their farm, as they made no money. The farmer's labourers then in turn lost their jobs. The blacks had to move to the cities to find jobs. The economic boom meant that by 1928 even the president, Hoover, was claiming that America had all but rid itself of poverty.
In Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1939: Decades of Promise and Pain, author David E. Kyvig, creates historical account of the Great Depression, and the events leading up to it. Kyvig’s goal in writing this book was to show how Americans had to change their daily life in order to cope with the changing times. Kyvig utilizes historical evidence and inferences from these events and developments to strengthen his point. The book is organized chronologically, recounting events and their effects on American culture. Each chapter of the book tackles a various point in American history between 1920 and1939 and events are used to comment on American life at the time. While Kyvig does not exactly have a “thesis” per se, his main point is to examine American life under a microscope, seeing how people either reacted, or were forced to react due to a wide range of specific events or developments in history, be it Prohibition, the KKK, or women’s suffrage.
During the great Depression, many people in the city were unemployed. A third of American farmers lost their land and had to move to city to search for jobs. Many African Americans were unemployed in the south, since white have priority over the job market than African Americans, it’s harder for them to get a job. African American started to move to North to search, but little difference did it make. Many took the position as janitors, street cleaners, and domestic servants. Mexican American and Chinese American were no better off, whites started to take over those jobs for Mexican and Chinese American. Women started to search for jobs as their family needed the money.
Through his research, Osofksy is able to conclude that there was a decline in the Black population leading up to the Civil War. In 1825 there were 12,559 Blacks living in New York, in 1865 9,943 Blacks were living in New York City. But by 1900, due to the great migrations of free Blacks from the south, the Black population expanded, and over fifty-three percent were born outside of the State. The tension created by this migration was not only between the new Blacks and the White population of New York, but also between the ex...
Even though northerners were hesitant to work with blacks, employers were recognizing the demand for labor. The North heavily depended on southern reserve of black labor. This is when black men in particular got their first taste of industrial jobs. One motive for the great demographic shift as we know today as the “Great Migration” were jobs. Jobs in the North offered many more advantages than those in the South. Advantages such as higher wages, which was another motive. Other motives included educational opportunities, the prospect of voting, and the “promised land.” As blacks were migrating to the North in search for jobs, there was also a push for equality. There were heightened efforts to build community and political mobilization as more people migrated. Although white conservatives did not hold back their postwar reactions, the optimism to move forward with attempting to change racial order did not disappear. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in the 1920’s, the National Negro Congress, Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work, as well as the March on Washington launched a style of protest politics that carried on well into the
Degrading low paying jobs were the only jobs available for black men. Women worked as servants for whites. Men had to work in mines, clean up toilets or work as police officers abusing their own people. “Shit-men-belligerent immigrant workers who, because of what they did, were looked upon by many black people-went about the communal lavatories picking up buckets of excrement”(83). Working as servants for whites was one of the better jobs for black women. Blacks could not walk around freely in their own country without carrying a passbook. Without a passbook, blacks could not work or travel. The passbook had to be paid for by black families who did not have any money. They were arrested and put in jail if their passbooks were not in order. Blacks were trapped with no way out, not even the hope of education.
Blacks were driven out of skilled trades and were excluded from many factories. Racist’s whites used high rents and there was enormous pressure to exclude blacks from areas inhabited by whites.... ... middle of paper ... ...
With little to no work available, people were looking for jobs elsewhere and many were looking in the big cities.
The 1920s was a time of conservatism and it was a time of great social change. From the world of fashion to the world of politics, forces clashed to produce the most explosive decade of the century. It was the age of prohibition, it was the age of prosperity, and it was the age of downfall.
After liberation, most of the African Americans operated roles as sharecroppers and tenant farmers. “And Black men’s feet learned roads. Some said goodbye cheerfully…others fearfully, with terrors of unknown dangers in their mouths…others in their eagerness for distance said nothing…” (Takaki 311). The migration to the north guaranteed blacks opportunities toward employment, which led them to obtain sharper wages. Unfortunately, the northern part of the United States was not how immigrants perceived it to be: lack of segregation.
of work. The state could no longer provide them any assistance for all that were in need. Women
When the newcomers came to the north and west Starling, Gladney, and Foster it wasn’t a warm welcome. Wilkerson says that often when immigrants from the southern states came to the north or west mostly people closed the door on them and didn’t want to help. It a long time for them to find there place in major cities of the North and West, but southerners who stayed end up finding their way using elements of the old culture with the new opportunities in the north. Also traveling to the newer states wasn’t easy for African Americans. They usually traveling by train, boat or bus. And it was very dangerous to travel because of the gas station your able to stop at and even stop to get food. Also the long trips ahead. You would never know what troubles would be head of the journey. Typically once the black citizens arrived in the state it was hard to settle and to find a job with leak of skills. Like Ida Mae husband George ended up hauling ice up flights of stairs in cold Chicago and Ida Mae did domestic jobs before finding a decent job. Wilkerson also states that it took them a long time before really get settled in an affordable home in south side of Chicago. Then the journey to south was not cheap to make it far so many African Americans took in mind that having money before leaving would be the
more and more money every day. So why did this come to an end in 1929?
Reasons Behind the Economic Boom of the 1920's There was an economic boom in the 1920s for 5 main reasons. Firstly The growing strength of American Industry meant that the USA was a leading producer of many raw materials. This was partly due to the second main cause of the boom, which was World War 1. This had helped the American Industry to grow, as during World War 1 new markets had opened up to America. Also, after World War 1, America took over as a leading producer as many European industries have suffered greatly.
Because the Great Depression significantly reduced employment opportunities in the North for blacks, the rate of Southern black emigration slowed significantly during the 1930s. The Great Depression, though, increased the number of African American migrant workers. “The Great Depression also witnessed the entry of African Americans into the ranks of organized labor in unprecedented numbers. The formation in 1938 of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, an outgrowth of the American Federation of Labors Committee for Industrial Organization established in 1935, was crucial to this development” (statelib).
The Effect of the Economic Boom on Americans Dear President Herbert Hoover. “One of the oldest and perhaps the noblest of human activities has been the abolition of poverty.we in America today are nearer to final. triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land.” Herbert Hoover, 1928. In your speech, poverty in America is no longer a major problem, which is true to a certain extent.