Unit 7: The Roaring Twenties & The Great Depression

Overview: After WWI, the United States entered into a new period of American history known for its prosperity and cultural impact. The decade of the 1920s is known by several names including the Dollar Decade, the Jazz Age, and the Age of the Flapper, but none of these nicknames really captures a total understanding of this pivotal decade. Despite appearing to be an age in which all Americans prospered, many ordinary Americans failed to experience any significant economic improvements. Anti-immigrant sentiment reached an all-time high resulting in the most exclusionary immigration laws to date. African Americans flooded northern cities for work but faced intense racial discrimination upon arriving. Finally, the United States created the climate that led to the stock market crash, and the ultimate Great Depression of the 1930s.

The Great Depression is commonly cited as the worst depression in American history. For over a decade, the United States struggled to recover from its economic woes, as unemployment reached its highest at close to 30%. Understanding the origins of the depression is essential to US history, as it has become a reference point for every major depression and recession in the nation since.

Reading Directions by topic:

The 1920s: the New Era, the Dollar Decade, the Roaring Twenties or the Aspirin Age?

Read from the American Promise, Chapter 23 p. 674-695

The Great Depression:

Read from the American Promise, Chapter 23 p. 695-704.