In what ways was America a Divided Society in the 1920’s?

• Prohibition


  Banned the production and sale of alcohol in the USA
• Prohibition


  • Many groups eg Temperance Movement feared that alcohol was damaging America and was the cause of social problems such as child poverty; broken homes; lawlessness in cities
  • Prohibition did reduce alcohol consumption but only by 30%
  • In some states the law was ignored, particularly in the cities
  • The government appointed prohibition agents who had little success
• Organised crime


  Increased due to Prohibition
• Organised crime under Prohibition

  1. Easy to find speakeasies that were supplied by bootleggers

  2. Rival gangs ran this illegal yet profitable trade

  3. Gang warfare was common

  4. Few people went to prison for these crimes because of corruption

  5. Police officers and judges were bribed to look the other way
• Organised crime under Prohibition

  • In Chicago there were 130 murders and no arrests 1926-7
• Al Capone


  The most famous gangster, organised the St Valentine's Day massacre in 1929
• St Valentine's Day massacre

  Turning point that led to increased support to end prohibition
• Racial Tension


  • Jim Crow Laws enforced racial segregation in the southern states
  • African Americans had worse education and housing than whites
  • Many African Americans were denied the right to vote
  • African Americans faced violence and intimidation from the KKK
  • 1919-25 – 300 African Americans were lynched
  • Membership of the KKK surged until 1925 when it fell dramatically
  • Many African Americans migrated North to find work and freedom but they still faced poverty and discrimination
• Red Scare


  Increased fear of communism in the USA after the Russian Revolution in 1917
• Americans were particularly suspicious of immigrants from Europe(where Communism was more popular)
• Sacco and Vanzetti case


  • Two Italian immigrants tried, found guilty and executed simply because they were immigrants and held anarchist political beliefs
• Fear of immigrants


  Quotas were introduced in 1921 and further restrictions were made in 1924