Question

The Twenties was a time of bitter social tension. The "New Negro," the "New Woman," the "New Immigrant," and the urban intellectual threatened the established values and life style of the native-born white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. Discuss some of the ways by which the Old-Stock Americans attempted to retain--or to re-establish--control during the decade.

Answer 1

During the 1920s, many minority groups gained more prominence and independence than they had ever had in the past. Among African Americans, this led to a rediscovery of their African roots, as well as an artistic movement that attempted to create its own types of artistic expressions. Women were another group that benefitted, as many became more liberated, as well as more relevant in the public sphere.

Many people disliked such modern changes, particularly when it came to racial equality and social mobility. These people valued the ideas of race and class highly, and believed these to be the right way to organize the nation. Some of the ways in which these people attempted to regain control was by creating racist laws such as Jim Crow laws and segregation. They also formed groups such as the Ku Klux Klan in order to scare people into submission.