Monday, March 24

Discussed in class on March 24 was the Great Depression.  Most notably the days leading up to the Great Depression ultimately culminating into the day of infamy known as Black Tuesday.  Black Tuesday was the day that marked the beginning of the long ten years of the Great Depression, when the stock market could no longer be saved.  The Federal Reserve Banking System of the time had twelve banks spread out across the country.    Black Tuesday was the day when Wall Street realized that the stocks could no longer be saved and that money was quickly leaving the stock market floor and a few days later the banks lost their money too and re-discount which is defined as a way of providing financing to a bank or other financial institution.  The Federal Reserve of the United States which had at the time of the Great Depression had twelve branches all of which lost some if not most of their funds and therefore could not loan money to the smaller banks.  The Consumer Durables Revolution that occurred before the Great Depression was a time that Americans were buying and stocking up on electronics and appliances for their homes, such as telephones, refrigerators, cars, etc.

The fact that after the stocks failed many were in fear for the money that they had invested into the market.  A giant rush to the banks began as everyone was scrambling to pull their money out of the bank.  Rediscount, a term which means a way of providing financing to a  bank or other financial institution, became non-existent during the years of the Great Depression.  The problem was that naively people were investing money in paper, essentially they were stocks but with nothing to show for their purchase but a piece of paper millions of shares, stocks, and money promises became worthless. 

Below is a clip from the stage version of the popular story Auntie Mame starring Bea Arthur.  It is brief but shows the reaction of some to the day the stock market crashed.

Auntie Mame

Monday, March 17

Discussed in class on March 17 was the Scopes Trial.  The Scopes Trial to give a brief description was a famous American legal case in 1925 in which a high school teacher,  John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's  Butler Act, a law which made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school in Tennessee. The trial was deliberately staged in order to attract publicity to the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, where it was held. Though a "monkey trial" this case proved to be one of the most exciting of the twentieth century next to Sacco and Vanzetti.  In some cases the trials of the earl twentieth century demonstrated hegemony.  Hegemony means that through an indirect form of government, and/or of imperial dominance the leader state rules geopolitically to subordinate states by the implied means of power, the threat of force, rather than by direct military force.  What does this have to do with the Scopes Trial though is important.  As the South at this time ruled their towns with an iron fist even going so far as to dictate what can and cannot be taught in public schools, i.e. Darwin's theory of evolution could not be taught.  Wanting their young people to grow up as good Christians often meant that they must keep a closed mind to much of history and scientist's theories.  A good quote I got from the reading by Andrew Nolan entitled Making Modern Men goes, "he attacked the preacher, in fact, for failing in his duties as a Christian gentleman, because his virtue did not give him the flexibility to adapt to a changing world."  This quote best describes the real trial that was going on during the Scopes Trial that of virtue vs. changing views of human life.  It is often an unwillingness to change or accept others views that stops many from moving forward in their thinking.

Wedensday, March 12

Discussed in class on March 12 was the Mexican "problem" that plagued much of the southern states of the United States during the 1920's.  A quick timeline for the early part of the twentieth century for Mexican migration to America starts in 1911-1913 when the Mexican Revolution was going on.  The Mexican Revolution or Mexican Civil War, "was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Diaz and lasted for the better part of a decade until around 1920.  Over time the Revolution changed from a revolt against the established order to a multi-sided civil war with frequently shifting power struggles. This armed conflict is often categorized as the most important sociopolitical event in Mexico and one of the greatest upheavals of the 20th century, which saw important experimentation and reformation in social organization." (William Weber Johnson, Heroic Mexico: The violent emergence of a modern nation, Doubleday 1968, p. 69).  After the Mexican Revolution a "boom time" of Mexican migration to the United States happened during the years of 1917-1929 when almost every working class, able-bodied Mexican male was guaranteed a job working for low wages in the fields of the south particularly Texas.  Than during the years of 1930-1938 Mexican labor faced a slump due to the Great Depression and the lack of jobs for everyone of all ethnicity and classes and repatriation, the process of returning a person to their place of origin or citizenship was popular though contested during this time, because of the simple fact that during these years Mexican migrates and laborers were having children legally born in the United States and carrying American citizenship were shipped back to a country they might know nothing about.  During the years of 1938-1945 Bracceros or contracted Mexican labor became popular as many men went off to fight in World War II overseas.  
Some terms that were also brought up during class were Communism, the overthrow of the capitalistic government that was embraced by Russia at this time.  Socialism, soon to be embraced by Germany at this time.  Syndicalism, where company is owned by the company.  Anarcho-Syndicalism, which was revolutionary unionism.  Through all this time and changing ideas of how government should be run many constituted themselves as the "lost generation." 
This term the lost generation originated with Gertrude Stein who, "after being unimpressed by the skills of a young car mechanic, asked the garage owner where the young man had been trained. The garage owner told her that while young men were easy to train, it was those in their mid-twenties to thirties, the men who had been through World War I, whom he considered a "lost generation"—une génération perdue.
The 1926 publication of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises popularized the term, as Hemingway used it as an epigraph. The novel serves to epitomize the post-war expatriate generation. However, Hemingway himself later wrote to his editor Max Perkins that the "point of the book" was not so much about a generation being lost, but that "the earth abide forever"; he believed the characters in The Sun Also Rises may have been "battered" but were not lost,"Fitch, Noel Riley, Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation:  A History of Literary Paris in the Twenties and Thirties.  Norton, 1985.

Monday, March 10

Discussed in class on March 10 were a number of different topics, most notably on prohibition.  Prohibition, as talked about in previous blogs was a time of secrets, indulgence, and broken laws.  The "noble experiment" that swept the nation during the 1920's and early 1930's was crusaded by the well-meaning if not naive men and women of America.  The Volstead Act was a success, yes, if you happened to campaign for the dry side than yes prohibition was a success that passed through the Senate and House.  However actions speak louder than words and while on paper it was illegal to manufacture, package, and sell alcohol over a certain percentage, was it enforced?  Yes and no.  There were field Marshall's out on the streets scouring the back alleys, searching for a whiff of that illegal booze but was it enough, no.  For every speakeasy, for every party that was discovered selling these illegal wares, and shut down, five more opened p down the street.  There is a movie that I know shows how easy it was to make alcoholic drinks with very little ingredients and materials.  The Great Escape, though it takes place during the second world war easily highlights the prohibition laws and rules enforced on the prisoners of war in the German POW camp.  Much like those laws and rules similary enforced on the everyday citizens of the United States during prohibition.

Potato Moonshine Vodka

Harlem Renaissance, February 26

The problem with the Harlem Renaissance is the problem of source material.  Why is it that this topic is not more celebrated in school?  Why does America celebrate the accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr. more than they celebrate the accomplishments of the artists and writers of the Harlem Renaissance?  Again this period in time produced limited source material and had a relatively small audience.  The last great Renaissance to take place was arguably in Europe after the Dark Ages.  This was a time of massive accomplishments in the areas of science, philosophy, literature, and art and everybody knew about these great things being done even if they couldn't read or write, they heard it in church were the priest were lambasting the new inventions and philosophies.  Much of the Harlem Renaissance was run by a very few well-educated, upper-class African American men and women, including the famous author W.E.B. Du Bois and influential black film director Oscar Micheaux and very few towns followed the theme of the Renaissance with Harlem and Greenwich Village, New York at the forefront with Chicago and Detroit following behind.  Another problem was money.  Many of the great artists of the Renaissance lacked the financial backing to pursue their dreams and goals.  With the backing of wealthy white patrons, particularly Jewish patrons and with the creation of the Urban League which helped assimilate African Americans, many were able to get off on a good start, but the struggles of living in the big city took its toll on many.  Rents were high for African Americans, space was limited, and jobs were scare all combining to create a less than inspiring muse needed to keep the Harlem Renaissance going.

February 24

Discussed in class on February 24 was the double consciousness.  American author W.E.B. Du Bois highlighted on this concept of two-ness, an idea were the individual is always looking at his or herself through the eyes of others.  This was a particularly poignant message for the African American crowd in the early years of the twentieth century as their idea of how they were suppose to look, act, and behave was often challenged by just about everyone.  For example there was the struggle of the segregation.  "The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line," The Souls of Black Folk, 1903.  Many whites were unable to cope with the sight of a black person let alone communicate with them.  Seen as an inferior race due to their background of slavery and enforced subordination blacks were never taken seriously by many of the white population.  It didn't help that men like Marcus Garvey were walking around the streets of major cities touting their ideas that the whole African American population was going to have a mass exodus of people moving back to Africa and that the problem of the race problem would be solved when born and raised American citizens were going to move back to Africa.
There was also the problem of class within the African American community.  Educated individuals such as W.E.B Du Bois himself, who was considered a very well-versed, educated, and well-groomed individual, often struggled uniting the African American population as a whole.  Du Bois views the history of the American Negro is the history of this strife, or in other words this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self.  The problem of two-ness was very evident in this situation.  There was a small population of black educated writers and other artists living in major northern cities.  Often they prided themselves on their good manners and education as they sought to improve the African American social standing.  When uneducated southern blacks moved from the south to the north seeking a better life and better pay they often overcrowded the cities and clashed with other blacks already well established in those neighborhoods.