19307 - The Dark Underbelly of the Roaring Twenties

Course Overview

During the “Roaring Twenties,” the economy soared. Toasters and radios to houses and cars were available on easy credit. Americans danced to Jazz and expected the good times to last.  But there was a darkness that stalked this decade. Illegal liquor created organized crime.  President Wilson gave approval to hatred when he viewed Birth of a Nation in the White House. The movie resurrected what had been a dying Ku Klux Klan.  Black families moved north and west where they expected greater acceptance. What they found was a prejudice as active as in the South.  Envy and hatred exploded in the Tulsa Race Massacre - one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history. In Washington, the Teapot Dome Scandal of President Harding shook the people’s trust in government. Then, Wall Street went bust. Today, organized crime, racial hatred, and distrust of government still are with us. This class examines patterns from the 1920s that still influence America.