Unit 4-The Roaring Twenties, The Great Depression & The New Deal: Modernism, Traditionalism & Depression (1920-1936) |
Big Ideas
Organizing Principles
- Disillusionment with the idealism of World War I led Americans to fear change and difference and to retreat into a superficial shell of self-satisfaction.
- The Great Depression and New Deal led to the expectation of government intervention to maintain the economic stability of the nation.
Essential Questions
Students will consider...
- Was American society in the 1920s a modern culture with a traditionalist reaction or a traditional society with a modern critique?
- How much did the New Deal preserve the American political and economic system and how much did it fundamentally change those systems?
- How and why does economic prosperity vary so much from one segment of society to the next? Should the federal government attempt to affect economic and social change in order to address such variance?
- To what extent was American culture and society between two world wars actually a reflection of war?
Understandings
Students will understand how, why and/or to what extent...
- Individual risks, aspirations and ingenuity often lead to technological innovation, economic development and cultural diffusion.
- Cultural diffusion may come at the expense of cultural traditions.
- As a nation prospers and grows, economic opportunities may increase for some individuals and groups, while decreasing for others.
- Relationships between individuals, groups and nations may change as economic circumstances change.
- Leaders can modify the institutions of government in response to the challenges of their time.
- An individual or group’s perceptions of themselves, their country, and their place within a society may be influenced by times of prosperity and crisis.
Knowledge
Students will know...
- After World War I, “Modernism” developed and challenged conventional or traditional practices of American society during the 1920s (e.g., jazz age, flappers, the Harlem Renaissance, new technologies, Negro nationalism, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein).
- Traditionalists reacted against modern thought and the rapid changes in American society of the 1920s (e.g., nativism and the Sacco and Vanzetti case, Red Scare, rise in fundamentalism and the Scopes Monkey Trial, Ku Klux Klan, Prohibition, eugenics).
- The Harlem Renaissance, through art, literature, philosophy and music, reflected African American thoughts of identity in the 1920s (e.g., Alain Locke, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and James Weldon Johnson).
- New technologies such as the radio and the automobile impacted the social, political, economic, and cultural development of the United States at the beginning of the 20th Century.
- The administrations of Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover reverted to conservative government practices based on isolationism, lower taxes and deregulation of industries.
- Herbert Hoover, due to his personality and beliefs of “rugged individualism”, volunteerism, localism and associationalism became a scapegoat for what ailed the economy at the beginning of the Great Depression.
- Rampant speculation in the stock market led to the “Black Tuesday” crash of October 29, 1929 which had global impacts.
- The causes of the Great Depression and its effects on the livelihood and fortunes of various Americans and the world.
- American culture of the 1930s (music, movies, art, literature) reflected conditions of the Great Depression.
- The Dust Bowl was an environmental disaster that influenced the displacement and migration of “Okies” during the Great Depression.
- There is much scholarly debate about the effectiveness of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his “New Deal” in easing the economic effects of the depression through direct government relief, recovery and reform efforts.
- The New Deal and some of its agencies and programs were opposed by a variety of conservative and liberal individuals and groups (e.g., U.S. Supreme Court, Huey Long, Francis Townsend and Charles Coughlin)
- The New Deal had enduring impacts which changed the relationship between government, businesses and the American people
Skills
Students will be able to...
- Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation in classroom debates and seminars to critique the relevance of the tension between 1920s modern and traditional beliefs to contemporary events and my own life.
- Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation to compare multiple perspectives of traditional and modern thought during the “Roaring Twenties”
- Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation in classroom debates and seminars to judge the relevance of the causes, conditions, and duration of the Great Depression to contemporary economic recessions and my own life.
- Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation to compare multiple perspectives of people who lived during the Great Depression (e.g., Such As Us, John Steinbeck and The Grapes of Wrath, Richard Wright’s Native Son, Studs Terkel and Hard Times,).
- Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation to compare multiple perspectives of people who supported and opposed New Deal policies.
- Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation to compare multiple secondary sources that critique the effectiveness of FDR and the New Deal in alleviating the problems associated with the Great Depression.
- Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation in classroom debates and seminars to critique the relevance of the New Deal’s relief, recovery and reform efforts to contemporary events involving the role of the federal government in our own lives.
- Use Historical Research to interpret historical data, construct reasoned arguments and draw conclusions about key turning points before and after the Great Depression using historical evidence collected from a variety of sources.
- Use Chronological Thinking to identify the historical narrative for Modernism, Traditionalism, and Depression (1920-1936).