Introduction
Today, the class will be exploring the era of the 1920s. We also will be looking into how the culture of the 1920s plays a significant role in The Great Gatsby. Below is a brief introduction for you to read about the Roaring Twenties.
Overview of the 1920s
Digital History ID 2920
The 1920s was a decade of exciting social changes and profound cultural conflicts. For many Americans, the growth of cities, the rise of a consumer culture, the upsurge of mass entertainment, and the so-called "revolution in morals and manners" represented liberation from the restrictions of the country's Victorian past. Sexual mores,gender roles, hair styles, and dress all changed profoundly during the 1920s. But for many others, the United States seemed to be changing in undesirable ways. The result was a thinly veiled "cultural civil war," in which a pluralistic society clashed bitterly over such issues as foreign immigration, evolution, the Ku Klux Klan, prohibition, women’s roles, and race.
The 1920s was the first decade to have a nickname: “Roaring 20s" or "Jazz Age." It was a decade of prosperity and dissipation, and of jazz bands, bootleggers, raccoon coats, bathtub gin, flappers, flagpole sitters, bootleggers, and marathon dancers. It was, in the popular view, the Roaring 20s, when the younger generation rebelled against traditional taboos while their elders engaged in an orgy of speculation. But the 1920s was also a decade of bitter cultural conflicts, pitting religious liberals against fundamentalists, nativists against immigrants, and rural provincials against urban cosmopolitans.
Task
Now that you have read a brief summary of the 1920s, I would like you to further your inestigation the unique time in our history featuring flappers, bootleggers, and the Jazz Age. There are links provided in the process section of this webquest. The links will take you to youtube videos for you to watch and articles for you to read. After you have finished, there are evaluation questions for you to answer over the material from the links. The questions are multiple choice, so just write the letter to the answers you choose on a sheet of paper to turn in at the end of class for points.
Process
Here are the links you will need to answer the evaluation questions. Take your time and gain as much knowledge about the 1920s as you can. Please visit all the site in order. You may choose to take notes if you want to use them during the evaluation. Have fun!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfOR1XCMf7A
http://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X64i-u80fkA
http://www.pbs.org/food/the-history-kitchen/great-gatsby-prohibition-fi…
Evaluation
If you have trouble answering any of the questions, feel free to refer back to the links to look up the answers.
1) Who said that the 1920s was “the greatest, gaudiest spree in history”
a- Al Capone
b- F. Scott Fitzgerald
c- Zelda Sayre
d- Walt Disney
2) The character Meyer Wolfsheim is based on which real-life gangster
a- Arnold Rothstein
b- John Dillinger
c- Vito Genovese
d- Bugsy Siegal
3) Like Gatsby, the illegitimate bars of the 1920s were all about secrecy. What were these bars called?
a- Abe's Cabe
b- Bee's Knees
c- Speakeasies
d- Tin Pan Alley
4) In 1925, what American industry surpassed that particular industry in all the other countries?
a- music industry
b- clothing industry
c- film industry
d- sports industry
5) The Harlem Renaissance was a time of celebration for which group of people?
a- African Americans
b- women
c- World War I veterans
c- flappers
6) Which Interior Secretary of the United States took half a million dollars from private business in exchange for leases to government oil reserves at Teapot Dome and was the first cabinet member ever to be convicted of a felony.
a- Warren G. Harding
b-Marcus A. Smith
c-Albert B. Fall
d- William B. Walton
7) Which character from The Great Gatsby is an example of how women were often objectified and seen as possessions in the 1920s?
a- Daisy
b-Myrtle
c- Jordan
d- the girls from Gatsby's parties
8) Who are flappers
a- men who illigally sold alcohol during the Prohibition
b- the corrupt politicians of the 1920s
c- women who publicly expressed their autonomy
d- men in the booming buisness industry of the 1920s
9) Which hate group resurged during the 1920s?
a- Neo- Nazis
b- Ku Klux Klan
c- Racist Skinheads
d- Neo- Confederates
10) The John Scopes trial in Tennessee in 1925 adressed which political issue in from the 1920s?
a- teaching evolution in public schools
b- the belief that whites were scientifically seen as superior
c- Prohibition
d- the government not regulating business
Conclusion
Again, please write you answers to the evaluation questions on a piece of paper and hand it in to Ms. Shannon before you leave class today. Your quiz will be worth 20 points and can not be turned in late. If you finish early, you may spend the remainder of class playing Scholastic's History Mystery game about the 1920s. Please remember to remain in your seats quiet while the rest of the class completes their webquests. The link for the History Mystery game is:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/histmyst/start.asp?Game=7
Credits
Here are the links to the sites necessary in the creation of this webquest:
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraid=13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfOR1XCMf7A
http://mtheritageblog.com/post/26716740263/1920sdances
http://www.pbs.org/food/the-history-kitchen/great-gatsby-prohibition-fi…
http://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties