Unit Topic and Rationale

II.
Unit Topic and Rationale

The 1920s represent a turning point in American society. It was a
decade full of technological advances, changes in business and
government, transformation of women and their role in society, clear
divisions in the direction people believed America should go, and
cultural advancements for African-Americans. In this unit we will cover
a number of issues and changes that occurred in the United States
during the Roaring Twenties. Topics include: The Red Scare,
Isolationism, Technological Changes, Consumerism, Pop Culture,
Prohibition, Flappers, Rural and Urban Life, and Science and
Fundamentalism.
This unit meets a number of standards from the Colorado Department
of Education. The Roaring Twenties is a unique time period that
represents an interwar period and changes and advances in many
aspects of American culture, and for that reason I am able to address
several standards. The following standards will be met:
Analyzekeyhistoricalperiodsandpatternsofchangeovertimewithinandacross
nationsandcultures
AnalyzecontinuityandchangeinerasoverthecourseofUnitedStateshistory
InvestigatecausesandeffectsofsignificanteventsinUnitedStateshistory.
Describeandanalyzethehistoricaldevelopmentandimpactoftheartsand
literatureonthecultureoftheUnitedStates
Evaluateahistoricalsourceforpointofviewandhistoricalcontext
Investigatethehistoricaldevelopmentofandimpactofmajorscientificand
technologicalinnovations.
Examine and evaluate issues of unity and diversity from
Reconstruction to present.
We will have just wrapped up a unit on imperialism and World War I,
allowing us to learn about an interwar society that happens to be on
the brink of technological advances. We will learn about what
influenced American society to go through so many changes, and how
advancements in technology aided this change. We will also discover
the major rifts in our society during this time, as some people tried to
keep traditional American values while others pushed to progress in
every aspect of American life.
This decade is often viewed as carefree and fun, but we will see how
there were a number of issues that Americans had to address during
this time. This unit will focus solely on the Roaring Twenties, which will
allow us to move into the Great Depression with our next unit.
Here is a structured overview of this unit.
The Roaring
Twenties
The Red Scare

& Isolationism
Technological
Changes,
Consumerism,
& Pop Culture
A Nation
Divided
The first portion of this unit will cover the Red Scare. We will focus on
the rise and the threat of Communism, labor unrest, immigration
policy, and the Americas movement towards an isolationist foreign
policy. Next, we will learn about technological advancements and
changes in our society. We will focus on mass production and the
impacts of the automobile socially, economically, and politically. Then
we will touch on American materialism, the radio, movies, baseball,
famous athletes, and flappers. Finally, we will learn about major
divisions in the United States at this time. This will allow us to focus on
four major issues, while at the same time thinking about them as
disputes that split our nation. The issues are prohibition, movement
from rural areas into cities, the Scopes Monkey Trial, and the Great
Migration. I will present the content as Wets versus Drys, Rural versus
Urban, Science versus Fundamentalism, and Whites versus African
Americans. I believe that by doing it in this way students will recognize
that there were clear divisions in what people wanted for our nation at
this time.
This topic is significant for several reasons. Globally speaking it was a
time that immigrants were trying to gain access to the land of the free.
Following World War I, Europe struggled to rebuild and many minority
groups were treated poorly. We see an influx of immigrants into the
United States and how the United States reacted to this during the
Roaring Twenties. This continues to be an issue today, and students
can think about the implications of immigration policy and whom it
affects in our society today. We will study Americans irrational fear of
communism during this era and relate this back to irrational fears in
American society today. This will allow for relevance in the unit and
students will gain a better understanding of American beliefs in our
modern society. Personally speaking, students will understand the
development of American society during the 1920s. It is important for
them to make connections between issues and advancements from
this era, and how both of those have developed in todays society.
Students should be able to relate to the technological changes and
understand why they were so important during this era. This will give
us an opportunity to discuss technological advancements they have
seen in their lifetime and how it has affected their lives. Finally, this
unit is important to this group of kids as a whole because it teaches
them about the origin of rifts that continue to occur in our society. We
will talk about prohibition and the groups that supported it. We will
talk about the clash of African American communities with white
communities, and relate this to today. We will talk about the fight
between science and religion, and discuss how this is still an issue in
our society today. We will talk about women and their role in society,
and how women continue to fight for equality. This unit will truly give
students an understanding about issues that were finally at the
forefront of society after years of war, and how these issues did not go
away, but are still talked about, even 90 years later.

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Unit Topic and Rationale

Here is a structured overview of this unit.

The Red Scare

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