The History of the Swastika

The swastika is one of the most recognizable symbols in the world. We associate it with the Nazis and their negative background. However, the Nazi's swastika is just a more recent version of it. The swastika can be found in many different cultures from around the world dating back thousands of years. In Hinduism, the swastika is a very important symbol. To Hindus, it meant a "making of goodness" or "marker of goodness". The icon connotes and reminds the viewer of something "conducive to well-being", "make good", prosperity and dharmic auspiciousness. The swastika symbol is commonly used before entrances or on doorways of homes or temples, to mark the starting page of financial statements. For Buddhist, the swastika is supposed to represent the footsteps of Buddha. The shape symbolizes eternal cycling, a theme found in samsara doctrine of Buddhism. The swastika symbol is common in esoteric tantric traditions of Buddhism, along with Hinduism, where it is found with Chakra theories and other meditative aids. Not until Nazi Germany took the symbol, the swastika had a good connotation to it. There are many variations of the symbol but so many look too much like the Nazi rendition, that many cultures have difficulty using it in fear that it would be related back to what the Nazis stood for.

Nazism in Germany-Brendan Gutierrez

After World war one Germany had to struggle through the impact of the treaty of Versailles which made Germany pay reparations, have a very small active military and air force. Germany was already in debt and having huge economic problems and then the effects of the American great depression hit them and they fell to a place way lower than America was suffering. Many Germans were very desperate for work and the improvement of the economy that they turned to the National Socialist German Workers Party also known as the Nazi party. They blamed Jews and Marxists for the internal problems of Germany and promoted a master race. Hitler advocated for a great Germany that will live up to the nations successful past. Germans rallied behind him because he promised that jobs will return and Germany would be glorious again. made Germany pay reparations, have a very small active military and air force. Germany was already in debt and having huge economic problems and then the effects of the American great depression hit them and they fell to a place way lower than America was suffering. Once Hitler took power it was up from there, he brought jobs back to Germany by rearming itself and preparing for the next war. France and great Britain were both to hesitant to question and call out Hitlers behavior and it let Germany to build up its strength. Great Britain and France had asked too much from Germany during the treaty of Versailles, they ignored Hitlers rising in Germany and their aggression towards European countries. France and great Britain had many opportunities to prevent the war leading to the deaths of millions. Can France and great Britain be blamed? Or were they also just victims of the German war machine?

Huey Long

We watched a documentary about the Great Depression last week and Huey Long was brought up for a bit but not really discussed as much. He was a controversial Louisiana political leader, senator, and Louisiana's 40th governor. At first, he agreed with Roosevelt's ideas and policies about how to approach the situation after the Great Depression but after a while, Huey Long came to believe that Roosevelt's New Deal (a series of programs and projects to help US recover after the Great Depression) wasn't enough to help alleviate the poor people's problems, only certain people's. Because of this, he developed what is called the "Share Our Wealth" program on February 23rd in 1934, with the motto of "Every man a king". This program focused on a net established tax that would redistribute the money it collects to those poorer people who are in dire need of money. He promised that with this program, every man in the country would at least have a car, a radio, and a home, all it it being worth 5000 dollars or more. The "Share Our Wealth" program was only one in a series of the plans that Huey Long decided was needed to help America get back on its leg. In 1933, he offered a series of bills, named the "Long Plan" for redistributing the money from the rich to the poor people. It began with a new found tax to those whose fortune is over 100 million dollars. An example of this would be taxing 1% if the person had a million dollars, 4% for 4 million, and etc. The percentage basically corresponds to how many millions of fortune the person had. The second bill he passed limited the annual incomes of everyone to only 1 million dollars. The third one forced everyone to have no more than 5 million dollars as inheritance from family. He proposed to the citizens that his plan would help people to get free education, old age pension, benefits for veterans, federal assistance to farmers, public work projects, limiting work to 30 hours a week, a month of vacation to every worker annually, and etc. He stated the following: "God invited us all to come and eat and drink all we wanted. He smiled on our land and we grew crops of plenty to eat and wear. He showed us in the earth the iron and other things to make everything we wanted. He unfolded to us the secrets of science so that our work might be easy. God called: 'Come to my feast.' Then what happened? Rockefeller, Morgan, and their crowd stepped up and took enough for 120 million people and left only enough for 5 million for all the other 125 million to eat. And so many millions must go hungry and without these good things God gave us unless we call on them to put some of it back." Huey Long made all these promises to appeal to the people, majority agreed and some didn't. But if one looked closely enough, his plan is extremely flawed in my opinion (probably in many others as well).

What would be your opinion regarding Huey Long's plan, regardless of the outcome, would you have actually done something like this just to please the public? Or would you rather tell them the truth and just work as hard as you can to improve the situation?

Infographic

great depression vs great recession

Why are there still Nazi's?

We always think of Nazism as something of the past and that we have officially defeated them after WW2, however, there are still people even in America, who was very opposed to fascism that still salute the swastika and go around terrorizing minorities that they don't like.  There is a sort of a psychology behind these kinds of groups.  There are some of my theories of why Nazi's and terrorists still exist

1. Humans have evolved to want to belong to a group.

There are a lot of different types of groups, friend groups, fandoms, religious groups, ethnic groups and many more.  The reason we have evolved to want to be in groups is that back when we were early humans, being in a group meant you were safer from predators.  Some could look out, some could take care of offspring.  These people that form into neo-nazi groups have probably been conditioned to think that they are better in some way and clump together because they have no one else that agrees with them.  People feel a loyalty and love cheering for their football team, like how neo-nazi love advocating for hate and discrimination.  Endorphins are released into the brain when people are out cheering for something they identify with.

2. Humans naturally enjoy feeling superior to others.

In order to survive back in the early human stage, people had to sometimes fight each other for a space of land or for food and mates.  Because of this, endorphins are released when someone feels superior to another like they have accomplished something.  People that are neo-nazis find it very easy to feel like they have accomplished something because all they have to do is to spread hate and terrorize other groups.  It is easy to "defeat" other people and put them down when you fight each other.

Why the League of Nations Failed?

The League of Nations was a group of nations that would come together to enforce peace or collective security in the world and try to prevent another event such as World War 1. It was proposed by the US President Woodrow Wilson as part of his Fourteen Points. He wanted all nations after the war the agree on his 14th point and that being the creation of the League. Unfortunately, the goal of achieving global peace was something the group had failed to accomplish due to the outbreak of World War 2. The outbreak of World War 2, caused the League to disband causing some of the nations from the League to fight in WW2. After the war, they would create a new and better version of the League called the United Nations. The group today is now known to have the same goals as its predecessor group and that being global peace.

So why did the League fail? The first reason it failed was the failure of the United States to join the League of Nations. Due to Congress rejecting the ideas of the Fourteen Points of having to interfere to be involved in European affairs and having to enforce the Treaty of Versailles the United States did not join the group they had created. Had the United States joined it would have there would have been a lot more support in preventing conflicts. The United States would have been a key player just how it is today by enforcing a lot of the ideas of collective security that President Wilson had talked about. Another cause was the failure of enforcing the Treaty of Versailles that was proposed by the Allies at the end of the war. The treaty was unfair towards the Germany and would later cause problems for Germany itself. Germany would break the Treaty of Versailles when Hitler had risen to power. This was something that would embarrass the League as they never let Germany join and seeing Germany break the treaty would show the League was incompetent to take action, showing that the League had no power to interfere with what had happened. Also,  the members that had joined the League contracted with a lot of the ideas that the League stood for. One being imperialism/colonialism. The League required a lot of members to reduce their militaries after WW1. Two of the League's most prominent members, Britain and France needed a lot of military power to enforce their colonies in Africa and Asia.

While the League had failed to enforce collective security that was the reason behind the creation, it would pave the path for the future gathering of nations. The group that would be created after the failure to prevent World War 2 would be established in Geneva where the headquarters of the League was once there would be the home for the United Nations. The United Nations goals are still to prevent conflict within nations and to prevent another war.

Who was Huey Long?

Huey Long was the 40th governor of Louisiana who ran for president on the side of the Democrats. He had provided a lot of reforms in the state of Louisiana during the Great Depression when he was the governor of Louisiana. Long was a supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt during the first 100 Days where a lot of reforms took place, but believed that the rich should be stripped of their money and that the money that was taken from the rich should be given to the poor. He gave a speech that was called the "Share Our Wealth Speech." This would lead to Long wanting run for the president. Long believed that Roosevelt's "New Deal" wasn't enough to help the American people to help them recover from the Depression. He "promised" that he would get the American population cars, radios and a new home for them. Long wanted absolute power in the government and if he was denied something he would take care of the situation get what he wanted. Long wanted to do more than what Roosevelt did during the 100 days. Due to his ideas that he had this lead to him being called the "most dangerous man"in the United States by President Roosevelt. Long was said to have had characteristics of a dictator based on how he acted and the ideas he had. His ideas almost sounded like communism. Unfortunately Long would be assassinated on September 10, 1935 in his home state of Louisiana.

What was the Red Summer?

The term Red Summer refers to the summer of 1919, that was noted for hundreds of deaths across the United States, as a result of race riots. These race riots took place in tens of cities across America and mostly took place between white and black Americans. There were many factors that led up to these race riots, and one of the biggest ones was labor shortages. In the years 1914- 1918, many white men were enlisting in the military to fight during World War I, and there were not a lot of people working in factories during this time. This shortage in labor led to the Great Migration. During this time, many African Americans moved from the South in order to escape Jim Crow laws and look for jobs. As more blacks moved to the industrial North and Midwest, many white workers did not appreciate the presence of African Americans competing for their jobs. As tension grew, people began to act on their prejudices towards blacks. This lead to the first act of violence taking place in Charleston, South Carolina in late May of 1919. Following this was six months of more riots between whites and blacks. One of the most memorable fights was in Washington D.C in July. White men initiated a riot after hearing that a black man allegedly raped a white woman. This riot lasted for about 4 days and it escalated to the point where men began to beat random African-Americans off the street. The police refused to intervene, and this only allowed for further escalation. By the time the riot was over, 4 whites were dead, 2 blacks were dead, and about 50 people were injured. During riots, black were not able to fight back as much because they were seen as inferior by most people. This reason is why the Washington D.C. riot was significant. It was one of the only instances where African-Americans really fought back. However, the most significant act of violence this time took place on July 27, 1919 in Lake Michigan. In this instance a 17 year old black boy named Eugene was swimming in in Lake Michigan when he crossed a barrier from the designated "black" beach to the "white" beach. When white men saw him, they stoned him and hit him until he drowned in the lake. When the cops came, they refused to arrest the white men, and this broke out in violence amongst the crowd. This particular riot was not stopped until the state militia were called in to break up the fights.As a result of these riots, city officials in many cities began to organize Commissions on Race Relations to look into the causes of these riots, and brainstorm ways to stop them. However, when President Woodrow Wilson stepped out and blamed whites for being the antagonists in this situation, people began to listen to what they needed to do to stop the violence. In all, the these riots have left a lasting impact on America today. As racial tension is something that is still very prevalent, these riots serve as a way we can learn from the past in order to prevent it happening in the future.

Self-made Milionaire

Sarah Breedlove also known as Madam C.J. Walker was born on December 23, 1867 in Louisiana. She was born into a family of 5 whose parents were former slaves. Yet she became an orphan at the age of 7 right after she was married at 14 to Moses McWilliams . She had her only child named A’Leia. When Moses passed away two years later, she decided to move to St. Louis. There she worked washing clothes and only getting paid $1.50 a day. During this time, Sarah had a scalp condition and lost much of her hair. She began making home remedies from which some turned out very effective. With the help of her second husband, Charles J. Walker, she was able to promote and advertise a hair care business. Her business would be mainly towards African Americans and their unique hairstyles. After the launch, Sarah would go door to door giving demonstrations of her products and recruiting people to teach others about hair care. Her business later expanded into a factory in Indianapolis where it became the headquarters for the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company. Sarah then kept traveling the U.S where she gave job opportunities and many African Americans the power of economic independence. By the time she got back, she had around 25,000 Walker sales agents. Then she began her work as a philanthropist, Sarah donated to the African American Young Men’s Christian Association and contributed to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s anti-lynching foundation. Along with donations, she was able to offer scholarships for black colleges and financial support for orphanages. Lastly, she became a political advocator fighting against lynching at the Negro Silent Protest Parade. From there, she also visited the White House to speak on behalf of the rights for African American soldiers who had fought in World War I. Sarah passed away on May 25, 1919,  her business was set at a value of more than 1 million and her being the owner, the personal fortune was between $600,000 and $700,000.  Her legacy continued with her daughter A'Lelia who organized The Dark Tower, a cultural beauty salon. A’Leia went on to become a huge part of the Harlem Renaissance era by entertaining writers, musicians, and artists from Harlem and Greenwich Village.

Education During the Great Depression

During the boom of the 1920s, the American education system had been growing and expanding rapidly. This meant that new schools were being built, new educational programs were being offered, and education became common amongst many, as more children were attending school. In fact, in Detroit, Michigan, the student population nearly doubled from 122,690 to 250,994 in just 10 years. People began to invest more money in schools, and as the demand for education grew, teaching became a more serious job. School superintendents got a raise in salary by about $200 during the 1931-1932 school year. Unfortunately, when the depression hit in 1932, school expenses began to drop dramatically, and the quality of schools began to decline. Most school districts were faced with a lot of debts from previous expansions in earlier years. In 1934, there was a total debt of about $137 million in Michigan school districts. As a result of these steep debts, business leaders demanded repayment of these debts, but when schools could not pay off their loans, tax leagues and bankers demanded cuts in both teachers' salaries and in educational programs. By 1935, the number of teachers, principals, and other faculty had been cut back so much that the capital outlay of schools had fallen back 20 years. Instead of growing, the education system had been relapsing, and the once high demand for education fell back and became something less significant.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the 32nd president of the United States. He was also the guy that helped our nation survive the Great Depression. Roosevelt was able to make a difference in America as soon as he stepped in to the office with his quick decisions and well planned programs that he laid out to help our country get through the Great Depression. At his innaguration, he said that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." He says this in response to everyone in America fearing what will come of them as a result of the Great Depression. He is saying that we have nothing to worry about if he keep our heads high and believe that things will get better, but once we accept the fact that we are in trouble and only focus on how afraid we are of what is going on around us, that is when we get ourselves into the most trouble.

The New Deal

The New Deal was a series of federal programs and projects that were set in place by the US government in reaction to the Great Depression. When Roosevelt was elected into office in 1932, he told the nation "I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people." He is referring to a new economy and his attempt to fix the economy whilst the nation is in the midst of the Great Depression. Days after Roosevelt took office he developed emergency belief programs, work relief programs and agricultural programs. These initial programs that he established were to find immediate solutions to a much bigger problem that would work to help regain economical power while he looked for a longterm solution. Roosevelt later established the second part of his new deal which was more of a longterm solution to help America out of the Great Depression. The Second New Deal consisted of many union protection programs.

Red Scare

In the earlier years of the 20th century, there began to be a lot of immigrants coming to America for a chance at something new for themselves. Americans began to fear that these immigrants would end up coming to America and changing the way that they lived. They were also very afraid of the idea of communism being spread in America. This fear was called the Red Scare.

Immigrants were coming to America and Americans feared that they were coming to spread new ideas to the people around them. Everyone was especially terrified of communistic ideas being spread. At this time everyone is keeping to theirself because they do not know who they can trust.

League of Nations

At the end of World War I, every single country involved with the war was devastated with the loss of troops and resources. The total number of civilians and military casualties was over 41 million people. This war ended up being one of the most deadly events in the history of the human race. Every country also exhausted millions of dollars in order to supply resources and support to the troops away at war. 

Every nation after the war was in very bad condition. France and Great Britain were especially devastated by loss after the war. They both put all the blame on Germany. The US though, especially Woodrow Wilson, wanted something different. He believed in establishing an agreement that would potentially limit the chance of another war like the one that had just finished. Part of this agreement was the League of Nations. It was a group that would help other countries solve their problems and prevent wars of this caliber from every occurring again (it doesn't work).

Dance Marathons during the Great Depression

        In class we discussed various types of entertainment during the 1930's, and, besides cinema and radio becoming popular, dance marathons were a common way for people to kill time and distract themselves from the rather dismal daily life of the Great Depression. These "derbies","walkathons," or "jitterathons" were endurance competitions that found their origins years before in England, but became popularized in the United States around the 1920's. Originally the competitions were a way for individuals to receive momentary fame as people tried to beat records for the longest continual dancing. In 1923, at the first official American dance marathon, a dance teacher, Alma Cummings, danced for 27 hours straight, changing out her dancing partner six times. The 32 year old even ended her record setting dance with a thrilling waltz.
        In the beginning, most of the records were held by women and it was common for partners to be traded out and a single winner to be named. Later though, couple competitions became more common and rules were put in place to dictate what movements counted as dancing and when the dancers could rest. Once the 1930's hit and the Great Depression seeped into every aspect of life, these dances became more about endurance than dance technique as participants sought prize money more than the brief fame of winning a competition. The competitions were also a way for people to congregate under a roof and get a plate of hot food under the pretense of dancing and socializing when basic human needs were not guaranteed.

Dance competition holders tried to capitalize on the new fad, contributing to the increasing skepticism and sinister quality attributed to these competitions. Competitors would be given increasingly shorter amounts of time to rest in between dance segments, and spectators could watch as they went about their sleeping, eating, resting, and washing during these breaks. Dancers no longer had to 'dance,' but only continue moving without their knees touching the ground. Couple would also completely support their partners and trade off resting in order to last longer. The longest competition lasted 22 weeks and three and a half days. The desperation of competitors was evident as some even died during these competitions from muscle fatigue, lack of sleep, or heart attacks. Some competition holders would employ tactics that would specifically humiliate the competitors to draw crowds or plant dancers in the competition to stir up trouble and entertain the paying spectators. There was increasing pressure to close the competitions, but the money made from advertising and the willingness of the competitors to persevere for money kept them alive until laws banning them and increasing backlash dwindled their number until they had disappeared by the end of WWII.

Corinne McCabe

Entertainment during the Great Depression

With the Great Depression in place, people didn't have many things to do. Most people were unemployed and needed to find ways to entertain themselves. The people found cheap and inexpensive ways to be entertained. They would go to Movietone Views which were theaters that presented the news to people. This was much easier to spread news to the public, with the technology of film. In these theaters, they also presented films which people watched, for example Walt Disney's Snow White or Shirley Temple. There was also radio which families would gather around to "watch" and listen to it. This also included comedies which people would record with voices and other noise making objects. Radio was also a source for the news to be spread by the president. Swing jazz and dance marathons was also held during this time period. These competitions were to see which couple can dance together for the longest period of time without stopping. They would get short periods to eat or nap, but most lasted for days. The last couple standing would gain a prize, so it was worth it in the end. There were also sports, mainly baseball, that entertained the public for very little money. The most popular team was the Yankees with Babe Ruth. These forms of entertainment became very popular during the Great Depression.

The Hellfighters Untold Story

Private Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts were African-American who served in the American Expeditionary Forces as part of the 369th Regiment or better known as the "Harlem Hellfighters" during WW1. They became two of the most famous Hellfighter that came back from the war. During their time in WW1, they fought along side the French Army because segregation laws in the United States did not allow African-American to fight along white Americans during WW1. On the night of May 14th, 1918, Private Johnson and Roberts were on observation duty when they started to hear the sound of barbwire being cut. They both realized that German storm troopers were coming to attack them. Both Roberts and Johnson, fought back the invading Germans leading to Roberts being injured and Johnson the only one standing. Johnson would jam his gun by accidentally putting in the wrong ammo leaving him only with his jammed gun, his fists and his bolo knife. He would use his bolo knife to kill 4 German soldiers getting himself 21 wounds at the end of the fight. Germans would start to retreat knowing they wouldn't win the fight. With 21 wounds this lead to Johnson passing out and waiting for his allies to get him. Once his allies had gotten to Johnson and Roberts they realized what had happened. They found almost 20 wounded German soldiers and 4 dead ones and realized that Johnson and Roberts had fought them off. The news would be heard by many and would reach news to French government. This one act of bravery would lead to the both Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts would earn France's version of the Medal of Honor called the Croix de Guerre. This was highest award from the French and making Needham and Henry the first American's to have ever earned the Croix de Guerre. Once the war had ended Roberts and Johnson returned to United States to be praised by the public as heroes. This actions that these two took and the 369th would pave the way for future African-American soldiers in the US Army.

Life in Hoovervilles

Named after president Hoover, the homeless or unemployed people during the Great Depression lived in Hoovervilles. These were small towns created by people who had no other place to go after selling everything they had in order to live and buy food.  The Great Depression caused many hardships for the people living at this time because of so many people of all social classes losing their jobs.  These people looked up to the government for support, but the government was also struggling to gain money.  The people then blamed President Hoover for all of the trouble in the social and economic orders, and for his lack of response to them.  Hoover became so unpopular that the US citizens started naming things after him, for example Hoover flags,  which were inside out pockets representing no money.  These shantytowns where built all over the nation, and housed hundreds to thousands of people. They were built from whatever they could find, from cardboard to dug up holes and temporary roofs. Using all of the resources they can, they tried to build near water sources. Most of these towns were very unsanitary and had health risks, but the government couldn't do anything about it.  The larger Hoovervilles were organized and they communicated like its own city, but the smaller ones were very unorganized. Throughout the Great Depression, many people struggled to live, and barely survived in these homeless towns.

The Red Scare

The Red Scare was a perceived threat posed by the Communists in the U.S.. It became in the late 1940’s as the Cold War between the Soviet Union intensified. Because of the Red Scare, a series of actions took place which had a large impact on society and the U.S. government. Such changes were such as, federal employees were analyzed to determine whether they were truly loyal to the government or not, and the government investigated allegations of subversive elements in the the government and event he Hollywood film industry. Yet this fear and pression linked to the Red Scare finally began to drastically ease by the late 1950s. It was caused by the intense rivalry between the two countries, by the raise of concerns regarding that some Americans might be hidden Soviet spies and pose a threat to the security of the United States. On March 21, 1947 President Harry Truman issued an executive order also known as the Loyalty Order, which supposedly mandated that all federal employees be analyzed to determine whether they were loyal to the government or not. The program was quite shocking and disturbing as it was being raised in such a country with personal liberty and freedom of political views.

World war one: The war to end all wars

When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and sparked the first world war, many people had not experienced war. War was a story that their grandparents had told them and parts of their nations history. Many of these men that went to fight believed  that the war was going to be an epic adventure that they would be able to tell to their grandchildren one day.

World war one is often described as The war to end all wars. It was fought with new technology that hasn't been seen in war before. New weapons like the tank, submarine, machine guns and poison gas, made infantry weaker than every before, meaning that it was a battle of resources like oil and metal that can make and fuel these new weapons. All of the major parties involved had many colonies supplying them with raw materials such as rubber or oil making them targets. Germany was the main power in the central powers and was winning the war against France, great Britain and Russia before america entered the war. After driving Russia out of the war Germany could focus their efforts on the western front. Germany was awfully close to winning the war but the intervention of america had a surprising impact on the outcome of the war. America mobilized 4 million military personnel to Europe shifting the war into the allies favor. The war was won a few years later leading to the treaty of Versailles officially ending the war with the allies as victors.

Great Depression vs Great Recession Infographic- Mikaela, Corinne, Henry

In the months and years leading up to the Great Depression, production was already on a decline and unemployment was starting to rise, causing stocks to be priced higher than their actual value. Drought and falling food prices caused excess of large loans by farmers that could not be liquidated. In the summer of 1929, consumer spending had slowed down and factory production slowed. Bank failure caused Americans to panic and withdraw their money from banks. On October 29, 1929, the Stock Market crashed and caused one of the worst periods of economic disparity in American history. Unemployment rates that were at 3.2% in the beginning of 1929 dropped to record low rates in the 30’s with 1932 showing 24.1% of Americans unemployed. The GDP that had been at $103.6 billion in 1929 reached at low of $56.4 billion in 1933. Millions were laid off and the number of people homeless and on government support skyrocketed. The Great Depression impacted all aspects of life in the 1930’s. Fertility rates dropped from 94% in 1928 to 76% in 1936 because of the inability of many Americans to support bigger families; divorce rates also dropped to .0014% from 1930 to 1933 as many stayed in unhappy relationships in fear of economic ruin and returned quickly to .0028% in 1940 to 1946; suicide rates spiked in 1929, the year of the Great Crash, from 12.1 to 18.1 per 100,000. The Great Depression might have been disastrous for the lives of millions of Americans, but this same economic downfall also caused in increase in public awareness and involvement in government. In 1920, only 43% of eligible voters cast ballots in general elections, but twenty years later that number had shot up to almost 60%. In 1935, a little after the height of the Great Depression, 25 millions Americans signed Townsend Plan petitions. During this time, with radio becoming larger, more Americans were tuning in to listen to political figures speak, but also radical figures as these times prompted an increase in Nazi sympathizers and those supporting communism.

The United States saw another huge economic recession dubbed the Great Recession from 2007 to 2009. It was the longest and worst recession since the Great Depression. In some ways though, its severity was lessened because a lot of the mistakes made in the Great Depression were learned from and the government was better prepared to handle the challenges presented to them. The Financial Stabilization bill and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act were passed in 2009 to save existing jobs and create new ones so unemployment rates wouldn’t drop to the same disastrous levels as in the Great Depression. The hope was that these jobs, even if temporarily supported by the government, would allow Americans to continue working and bringing in money so they in turn can support the economy to the point where it functions on its own again. Over of a third of the jobs lost during the Great Recession, 3.2 million jobs, were jobs that had been supported by consumer spending, so that when people saw money stop coming in, they spent less and this had a domino effect on the company's supported by that. A total of 8.4 million jobs (6.1% of the country’s employment) were lost over the course of the Great Recession. The amount of jobs lost combined with the painfully slow recovery rate of these lost employment opportunities made for a detrimental employment situation in the United States.

Mika, Henry, Corinne

Who were the Harlem Hellfighters?

On June 2nd, 1913 the New York Army National Guard formed the 15th New York Infantry Regiment. This regiment was officially organized on June 29th 1916 in New York City which was the first regiment that had African-Americans and African-Puerto Ricans that were allowed to serve in the US Army during World War 1.The regiment was called into federal service in 1917 and was prepared for their service in Europe and by December once they arrived in France. On March 1st, 1918 the 15th New York Infantry Regiment was renamed as the 369th Infantry Regiment in the American Expeditionary Forces.

The soldiers in the regiment were forced to labor services and a lot of them questioned if they were ever going to be called up to action due to the fact that a lot of them volunteered to serve in the army. The regiment was given an their first opportunity to fight on April 1918 by General Pershing. Due to segregation law during the early 1900's in the United States, the 369th Regiment was not allowed to "serve" as part of the US army as Pershing had said that Americans would fight under the American flag under an American general. Instead the regiment was handed over to French Army who had suffered a lot of casualties and welcomed any help. In France African's were not segregated and the French treated them as equal.

During their time in Europe the French and 369th were able to they fought the longest on the front during the Champagne-Marne offensive and  were the first Allied unit to cross the Rhine River during the Allied offensive. Due to the way they fought the German storm troopers would start to nickname the 369th the "Hellfighters." They fought in a way that caused  the unit  suffer a lot of casualties. The 369th was one of the few regiments that spent 191 days in combat that any other American unit during World War 1. During those days they saw combat they were known to never lose any ground  and were the fiercest in combat.

Even tough the 369th were segregated from the main US army, the soldiers from the regiment came home to be welcomed as nation heroes despite the racism they went through while,fighting through the Western front.

Radio in the 1920's

Radio broadcasting began in 1920. At this time few people had actually heard the voices and music which was produced due to the lack of radio receivers at this time. However, it was possible for the public to hear the initial podcast. Soon after Radio became a mass product in the market world. Due to the overwhelming demand, manufacturers were constantly selling out. Customer began to stand in line to complete order forms so they could receive a radio at a later time when the dealers had run out. In fact, between 1923 and 1930, 60% of Americans had purchased radios. The radio became a social gathering for late-night events for almost all of the families that had acquired radios. This increase in radio amounts also lead to the increase of radio stations. By 1922, 600 radio stations and appeared in the United States. With stations trying to compete, station owners saw the need to diversify their programming. To compete with other stations to be unique, they began broadcasting popular interests such as sporting events, lectures, popular music, classical music, market updates, newscast, weather reports, and political commentary. However, the advance of radio technology also created a tension between modernity and the traditions and habits of Americans.

This rapid growth of radio listeners and the creation of more and more programs lead to extreme confusion and disruption. Many radio programs overlapped. Families with radios were frequently interrupted by overlapping programs. Radio announcers, stations, and DJ’s, worked majority on a non-profit basis. In fact, Advertising was not even introduced until later in the 1920s. Radio stations, listeners, and emerging broadcasting corporations all asked the government for some sort of intervention to stop what the radio had become. The government responded very slowly, eventually passing laws to govern the radio.  The Federal Radio Commission was setup in 1926. The Radio Act of 1927 organized this commission.  As the government spent more time investigating radio stations, apportioning time to different groups and programs, and monitoring the growth of the radio industry. They became more and more comfortable with the responsibilities of regulation. The Act became the basis for the Communications Act passed after the rise of television.

The Juice is Free

Orenthal James Simpson known by many people as their beloved OJ stood trial for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. Many people believed it was an open and shut case but with the creation of OJ's so-called dream team of lawyers, he was proven not guilty. Shortly after the trial, OJ wrote his own book titled If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer. In the book, he described how he would've killed the two victims. After the book was published the Goldman family took Simpson back to the courtroom but this time it was a civil lawsuit, Simpson was ordered to pay the Goldman's 33.5 million. Ever since Simpson has had his few share of run-ins with the law most notably in 2007 when Simpson and group of men broke into a man's hotel room who had memorabilia that used to belong to OJ. They proceeded to beat the men while holding them at gunpoint they took back the memorabilia. Simpson and the men were caught shortly after the incident, Simpson was sentenced to serve 33 years in prison. Just after 9 years, OJ was eligible for parole which he was granted, and was later released on October 1st, 2017.

Why were American soldiers called Doughboy's? (Joshua Contreras)

A war has broken out in Europe on July 28, 1914, in which Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy formed the Allies to fight the Central Powers that include Germany, Austria, Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. The US would remain neutral for the most of the war providing support to Allies by sending supplies. Germany was using submarine warfare against the US to prevent them from sending more supplies to Allies and the US was able to intercept a note from Germany to Mexico known as the Zimmerman Note to ask Mexico if they would invade the US. From this Wilson would ask Congress for a declaration of war against the German Empire on April 2, 1917.  The United States had joined the first World War on April 6, 1917, on the side of the Allies. The United States had formed the American Expeditionary Forces that ranged 1 million to almost 3 million soldiers. Wilson had said that the US would enter the war to fight for democracy. The soldiers were entering a war with the mindset of winning the war in the name of democracy. Once arrived in Europe the soldiers were helping the war effort on the Western front which would help end the war in 1918. During the war, European forces on the Western front would start to nickname their fellow American soldiers, "Doughboys." My question is why did the American soldiers get this nickname?

So what is a Doughboy? A "Doughboy" is typically an American infantrymen from the American Expeditionary Forces who served during World War 1.

Why were they called this? It is widely unknown specifically where the name officially came from, but a lot of sources seem to point out their uniforms during WW1. Some say that the name was given to them because of their buttons on their uniform and the white belts that soldiers often cleaned with clay during WW1. Throughout my research I found one possible idea that says the term could date back to the Mexican War of 1846-48, when American infantrymen made long treks over dusty terrain, giving them the appearance of being covered in flour, or dough. A variation of this account goes, the men were coated in the dust of adobe soil and as a result, they were called “adobes,” which morphed into “dobies” and, eventually, “doughboys.” Another source says the name could have come from the beginning of American history during the American revolution where Continental Army soldiers who kept the piping on their uniforms to keep them white through the application of clay. When the troops got rained on the clay on their uniforms turned into “doughy blobs,” leading to the name "doughboy." 

While there is no specific origin throughout American history of the name coming from Doughboys would have an impact on the war once they had arrived in Europe. While the name would be forgotten after the war citizens should not forget the actions the Doughboys did for the US and the world. 

The Great Depression vs. The Great Recession Infographic (Adrienne Mitchel)

Click here for my infographic. 

 

Through the analysis of the “causes” section of my infographic, I can understand that although the Great Depression occurred primarily as a byproduct of the stock market crash and the Great Recession occurred primarily as a byproduct of the housing crisis, both events were heavily tied to the actions (or lack thereof) of the federal government. However, the actions the government took in order to get out of both the Depression and the Recession were vastly different, as my infographic shows that the money supply was only increased by 17% during the Depression and the money supply was increased by a much greater percentage (125%) during the Recession. Perhaps this drastic change in the quantity of money pumped in by the government is correlated with the faster recovery of the Recession. Additionally, we can see that the impact the Great Recession had on America was far less troublesome than that of the Great Depression, as only 0.6% of banks failed during the Recession in comparison to 50% of the banks in the Depression and only 8.5% were unemployed during the Recession in comparison to 25% during the Depression. Overall, my infographic shows that the federal government was better prepared for the Recession than it was for the Depression (perhaps they learned from mistakes made during the Depression), resulting in less bank failures and less people being unemployed.     

                     

Folsom, Burton W. “Comparing the Great Depression to the Great Recession.” Fee, Foundation for Economic Education, 20 May 2010, fee.org/articles/comparing-the-great-depression-to-the-great-recession/.          

Goldman, David. “Great Depression vs. 'Great Recession'.” CNNMoney, Cable News Network, money.cnn.com/news/storysupplement/economy/recession_depression/.                 

Bonus Army

The Bonus Army was a group of 43,000 people whom marched in the capital, Washington D.C..  The 17,000 World War I veterans and their families demanded for their cash payment redemption from their services in the army. Led by Walter W. Waters, they called themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force.  They gained these certificates from the World War Adjusted Compensation Act which was supposed to pay for their military service, and wanted their money to be payed back. This lead to the Congress to move out of the building for a few weeks in order to protect them from these veterans who protested the capital. The government did not have this money at the time due to the Great Depression, and they were struggling to gain the money needed to pay, so they increased taxes.  The police were ordered to remove them from the capital, and with the great march, shots were fired and two veterans were killed.  After president Hoover ordered more an army to drive them out, more were inured. There were hundreds injured during this incident.  The US Army then drove out the Bonus Army's families and burned their shelters and belongings down.  The Bonus Army's lived in Hoovervilles at the time, which were small towns built by homeless and unemployed people.  In the end, many of the veterans in the Bonus Army had gone to their past commanders asking for help, but the commanders dismissed them. Even though they were loyal soldiers who saved their commanders lives in the past, on this day the commanding officers were not moved and followed Hoovers orders.  Hoover was then disliked by the public after this incident.

Sarah Breedlove

Madam C.J. Walker, born as Sarah Breedlove, was born in 1867 in Louisiana.  She lived on a cotton plantation, with her parents having just been freed from slavery when she was born. She became an orphan at 7 when her parents both died, so she then lived with her sister and brother-in-law in Mississippi.  She also worked on a cotton farm there and helped around the house, being abused by her brother-in-law.  She married Moses McWilliam at age 14 after escaping her sisters household, and gave birth to a daughter. Her husband died a couple years later, so she had to work to gain money for her and her daughter.  Sarah then met her new husband Charles J. Walker, who helped her develop her hair product company.  Since she had a scalp disorder which gave her hair loss, she experimented with a hair entrepreneur to finally create her product, pomade, brushing, and heated combs.  As her business grew, she made factories and beauty schools, and her product became popular through African Americans.  She became a the first American women millionaire, and donated to many charities and causes. Walker died in 1919 as a great effect to the Harlem Renaissance. 

Great Depression vs. Great Recession Infographic

During the 1930’s a great economic downfall struck the United States this period in time was named the Great Depression. The Great Depression had a massive impact on everyone's life during the 1930’s for example in 1933 the average rate of unemployment was at around 25%. Many decades later a similar event started forming during the late 2000’s. We now call this time the Great Recession. During the Great Recession the economy was slowly going down hill, but not at the rate of the Great Depression. Although the Great Recession did affect many people the change in the economy and other factors were not as drastic as those in the Great Depression. Both economic crises did experience many similar characteristics like a fast increase in unemployment. Despite some similar characteristics both economic crises were very different in terms of numbers.  During the first few years of the Great Depression the unemployment rates slowly rose as the economy was failing. At some point the unemployment rate during the Great Depression was at 25% versus the Great Recession which was at 8.63%, there is a significant difference between both numbers. A very surprising statistic that was presented was that of the number of bank failures of the Great Depression and of the Great Recession. Throughout 1930-1933 around 9,096 banks failed and in 2007-2009 only 57 banks failed, the obvious contrast in the numbers lets us understand how impactful the Great Depression was for the people.


Our info graphic

https://create.piktochart.com/output/26071536-depression-vs-recession

By: April B., Joshua C., Maryanne Q.

Comparison between Great Depression and Great Recession

Here's a link to my info graphic (don't know if it works)

There are many similarities and differences between the Great Depression and the Recession, one obvious one being in different decades. It was especially shocking that something like this would occur not once, but twice. Some similarities between them were the economic collapses it caused, even though it varied in the level of economic destruction it caused, it still managed to lead a good number of people into unemployment and poverty. First of all, the causes of these two events were very different in regards to the money aspect: GD was caused by the stock market crash, due to people and business firms only selling off their stocks rather than trying to invest and buy them, while GR was caused by the mortgages that people all over US had since they were trying to borrow money to buy all these houses and other things included. Another difference in addition to this was that people who were in the GD hoarded these money made from stocks and didn’t give them up to help the financial situation while people in GR kept asking for more and more money to borrow, which ultimately led them into high levels of debt. Between the Great Depression and Great Recession, despite their differences, they also had a couple similarities as well. Regardless of when both these events happened, they both caused similar industries, such as automobiles, building materials (cement, metal, steel, oil, etc), to collapse and have varying levels of net worth drops. As the consumers start to stop consuming and buying goods, the business starts to crash, leading to higher levels of unemployment, which leads to even less consumers. This whole cycle of economic problem is easy to start but not easy to stop.

Infographic- Athena and Persia

https://create.piktochart.com/output/26072092-new-piktochart

Great Depression vs Great Recession by Athena & Persia

Both the Great Depression and Great Recession impacted many American lives. The population that lived through both crises suffered from many of the same effects, but at different magnitudes. The crashing of the Stock Market affected the Depression and Recession. Many jobs were lost. Unemployment went up to 25% during the Depression and 10.8% during the Recession. Another outcome of both were the suicide rates. For the Depression it went up to 18.9% and during the Recession it went up to 4.8%.During this era, self-worth was widely defined by how much money they made through their occupations. This serves for the reasoning behind the mass amount of suicides committed during this crisis.Although they suffered the same losses, the generation that lived through the Great Depression suffered the most. Home foreclosure rates were off the charts during the recession at 80%.The seeds of the Great Recession were planted when the government in the 1990s began pushing homeownership, even for uncreditworthy people, with a vengeance. Mortgage-backed securities built on dubious mortgage loans became “toxic” when the housing market took a downturn, and many American banks verged on collapse. The government’s urgent desire to bail out various banks and corporations created uncertainty and instability, and this may have widened the recession.

The Great Depression vs.The Great Recession Infographic

https://create.piktochart.com/output/26071453-the-great-depression-vs-the-great-recession

Ryan Baum, Kyle Nero, Mitchell Kita, Connor Cook

Great Depression vs. Great Recession - Evan and Kynon

            In this Infographic, we used the stock market value, unemployment rates, suicide rates, and inflation rates to prove the similarities and differences between the Great Depression and the Great Recession. Stock market value describes the prices in stocks, and when stocks are worth less, people have often bought the stock for much more than they are worth, resulting in lost money. Unemployment rates are important because they show the number of people who did not have work and could not earn a living. Suicide rates are important because during times of depression and struggle, people often commit suicide, so it can be used to make valid inferences about the difficulty during the Depression and Recession. Inflation rates show how much the currency in the United States is really worth, and the inflation rates were high during these times.

              In both the Great Depression and Great Recession, it was clear that many events such as the Stock Market Crash of 1929 led to a significant decrease in the value of the stock market. Unemployment rate was significant, as during the Great Depression, unemployment rates were at 24.9% at its highest. This is a direct correlation to suicide, as the suicide rates in both the Depression and Recession suffered large spikes when more people were forced to give up their life savings, homes, and personal belongings in order to survive. Inflation rates also increased in both situations.

                  Now the Great Depression and the Great recession were both very similar with the effect it had on the population. However the magnitude those effects had on the population varied greatly. Compared to the the Great Depression, the Great Recession was almost nothing. Simply comparing the individual stats it is easy to see that the Great Depression is nearly triple what the Great Recession dealt with. Not to say that the Great Recession wasn't a tragedy that affected the population, but that compared to the Great Depression it seems very small.

Works Cited

“The Great Depression.” Free Hostia, thegreatdepression.freehostia.com/causes.htm.

“Inflation and CPI Consumer Price Index 1930-1939.” InflationData.com, inflationdata.com/articles/inflation-cpi-consumer-price-index-1930-1939/.

Who Was Abraham Lincoln?

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States. He was born in 1809 and died in 1865. During his presidency, he did amazing things. One thing he did was he delivered the Emancipation Proclamation. This proclamation put an end to slavery in Confederate states that were not under Lincoln's control. Therefore, it did not free slaves right away.  He was president during the Civil War, and during this time, he endured many things, such as; loss of life, members of his Cabinet fighting amongst themselves, and groups that opposed him. Towards the end of his presidency however, he became very depressed, and locked himself away for months at a time. He had tried so hard to do things his own way, but the pressures of everyone around him finally got to him. 

By: Madeleine Birchler 

The Great Depression vs Recession

In my info graphic, I compared the Great Recession and Depression. It includes similarities and differences, sources, and evidence such as charts. I worked solo on this project, Enjoy!

https://create.piktochart.com/output/26071564-ush-comparison

The Red Scare

The Red Scare was a period in American history, mainly in the early and mid 1900s, when the American public was scared and/or angered by the copious amounts of people migrating from Europe and other countries to The United States. This fear and anger was also directed towards new schools of thought that were migrating with the people from abroad. The fear of communism was a hot topic for Americans because the cold war was looming over them, making communism something they were both scared of and hated with a passion. They were paranoid of soviet spies that the government warned them of and were distrustful of most immigrants. This suspicion and lack of trust made life very hard for those that had migrated and even their sons and daughters that were born in the United States. Not only was finding work hard, but immigrants were also more discriminated against in the court system, as was seen in the case of Sacco and Vanzetti. These immigrants having criminal records made situations even worse for them as after they were arrested, it was even less likely that they would be hired, much less at a job that would give them a fair wage for the amount of work that they had to do just to stay alive.

The Great Depression vs. The Great Recession Link

The Great Depression vs. The Great Recession 

This is a comparison of the Great Depression era of 1929 with the last Great Recession that has occurred in 2007 to 2009. I thank your time for taking a look at this info-graph and hope that you have learned something more about these two major American economical crisis from this info graph.

Brendan and Aidan Recession vs depression

Great Depression vs Great Recession

https://drive.google.com/a/mvla.net/file/d/1GNQDCrXy4DoUGvFj0nubqRrh_DQrv1tl/view?usp=sharing

Infographic^

The Great Recession and Great Depression were very similar in that they both shocked the American public with their suddenness and severity. There were many causes for The Great Depression and The Great Recession. What are thought to be the main causes of these economic catastrophes were very different, but were both based on capitalist consumer issues. The main cause of the The Great Depression was the stock market crash of 1929, which was caused by many people selling their stock quickly and devaluing it. The Great Recession was caused more by the housing market and inflation. Unemployment during The Great Depression went from 8 to 15 million and was unheard of up to that point in America. This job instability is something that was seen in both of these slumps in the economy, however, The Recession caused for unemployment to rise far faster due to the increase in population and the scarcity of jobs. During The Depression there was a steep deflation in prices, which was a main reason for a lot of the job loss which lowered prices even more. During The Recession, there was a steep increase in prices which led to a lot of people barely being able to hold on to their homes. The housing bubble was the increase in prices, or pressure in this metaphor, rose and rose until it finally “burst” which caused the high prices during The Recession.

Overall, I think that, while The Great Depression and The Great Recession were similarly catastrophic for the American people of the time, they were very different situations and wrought very different results. In The Great Depression, the causes were mostly based on the overall economy, while The Great Recession was mostly caused by the housing market in particular. The economy was even affected differently, with The Depression causing prices to sink, and The Recession causing prices to rise to nearly inaffordable levels. These are some of the many reasons that The Great Depression and The Great Recession are so different.

By Emily Cocking and Emory Harkins

History of the Flapper

The Flapper style started in the 1920’s. Before the 20’s, women wore long dresses, covered their and arms, wore corsets, and had long hair. Then in 1920, the 19th amendment was passed. Women could start voting. They got more freedom. Women were able to work alongside men and didn't just have to stay home with the family. With all this change The Flapper emerged. The Flapper typically had short hair, short skirts, showed their arms and shoulders, smoked, drank, swore, and was an outspoken lady. Older generations saw The Flapper as disgraceful and boisterous. To the younger generation, the flapper was women reinvented. They were strong and independent. The Flapper forever changed the lives of women in America now.

PTSD in WWI Soldiers

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder- or PTSD- is a mental health condition that is triggered by either experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. Psychologists first involvement with this disorder was in fact, during World War I. At the time, the term for the condition was "Shell shock." This phenomenon first appeared in British medical journals shortly after the war started. Doctors noted a similarity in different patients who had each been exposed to exploding shells. The first patient endured six shells exploding around him; the second patient was buried alive for 18 hours after a shell collapsed a trench, and the third patient had been blown off a high pile of bricks. All three men exhibited symptoms of "reduced visual fields," which means that they had loss of smell, taste, and some loss of memory. At the time, doctors believed this condition was a physical injury due to exploding shells. As the war progressed and medical professionals saw more soldiers with similar symptoms, they began to question the diagnoses. Doctors wondered how soldiers with different injuries could display similar symptoms. In order to combat this, many doctors tried extreme treatments such as solitary confinement, electric shock therapy, and even shaming some soldiers. More patient doctors utilized treatments such as hypnosis, massage, and special diets, but none of the treatments were very effective. The reason for this was that people viewed "shell shock" as a physical injury, when in fact, it was a condition that was rooted in one's mind. The reason many people thought it was a physical injury was because of the physical effects. Patients often experienced shaking, paralysis, seizures, and sleep deprivation. Although the symptoms were often physical, the cause for them was in the brain. At the end of the war, over 80,000 cases had passed through medical facilities with symptoms of shell shock. However, most people had a lack of sympathy for these victims and viewed their symptoms as a sign of cowardice or weakness. As medical research progressed, doctors came to the conclusion that it was not a physical injury they were dealing with, but rather a mental illness. At this point, doctors could not do much other than prescribing medicine, so therapists and counselors were appointed to work with these soldiers. Over time, more information and data was gained about the condition and it was no longer considered "shell shock," but rather Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The reason for this being, that people who were not in the military experienced this disorder as well.  As people grew more accepting and understanding of this mental illness, methods of dealing with PTSD have become a lot more ethical and involve treatments such as therapy, stress training, and some doctors prescribe medication rather than assaulting patients. Today, PTSD is still extremely common amongst veterans and active soldiers. Luckily, with the knowledge gained from past events such as WWI, it is much easier to care for those in need of help.

Evolution of the KKK in America

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is an organization that was founded in 1866, near the start of the Reconstruction era. The first Klan was founded by a group of former Confederate veterans who were in opposition to the newly formed policies aimed at establishing equality for blacks. The KKK grew very quickly and extended into most southern states by the year 1870 and became one of the first American terrorist groups in our nation's history. The Klan was made up of white men who were strong believers in white supremacy, antisemitism, and anti-communism. During the time of Reconstruction, these men would utilize violence as a way to scare freed slaves and establish superiority. In an effort to reverse the changes made after the Civil War, the klansmen would victimize black citizens by means of lynching, arson, and destruction. The KKK would instill terror in its victims by dressing in white robes and masks that were designed to be terrifying to anybody who saw them. By doing so, the members of the Klan were able to hide their identities, and as a result, nobody knew who was a potential threat. During night time, when most of their attacks occurred, the Klan would go to the houses of their next victims and execute whatever plan they had in mind for them, whether it was a lynching or assault. Over time, the government became aware of how unethical and illegal the Klan was acting, so for the first time, the Ku Klux Klan Act designated certain crimes committed by individuals as federal offenses, including conspiracies to deprive citizens of the right to equal protection of the law. The act was authorized by Ulysses S. Grant, the United States president at the time, and the idea behind this act was to crush Klan activity in the South. At first, his plan did not work, but as the government began to enforce the laws more, Klan activity came to a halt by 1876, and the South was under Democratic control once again.

Although the KKK had reemerged in the south in 1915, it wasn't until after the end of World War I that the organization experienced a national resurgence. By the early 1920s, memberships skyrocketed from a few thousand to over 100,000 in about a year. At this time of resurgence, the Klan was not solely focused on attacking African Americans. Instead, they were focusing more attention towards the major flow of immigrants from Asia and Eastern Europe. The Klansmen believed that these immigrants were taking jobs away from whites and diluting the "racial purity" of America. In fact, in the year 1915, the film Birth of a Nation was released and it portrayed the Klan as heroes of America. However, at this time, America's mindset was starting to shift to a more accepting and tolerant place. Many influential people and organizations came out in opposition to the KKK. Religious and civic groups launched campaigns to educate Americans about the crimes and atrocities committed by the Klan. As more people grew to fight against the ideals of the klan, memberships, and support of the klan declined dramatically by the late 1920s. However, this was not the last major resurgence of the Klan.

In the 1960s, during the civil rights movement, there was yet another revival of the KKK. The 20th century Civil Rights Movement emerged as a response to the unfulfilled promises of emancipation. African Americans were still segregated from the rest of the American population. Despite the abolition of slavery and legal gains for blacks, racial segregation (Jim Crow laws) were still enact. When Klansmen started to see movement towards equality, the membership once again grew to an estimated 5,000 members. At this time, there were more laws intact to protect the lives of African Americans than there were during Reconstruction, but the Klan often forged alliances with members of Southern police departments to avoid conviction. However, not all members were able to avoid punishment, as many were arrested for the murders of black Americans. Additionally, as technology grew more, the klan had access to more tools and devices. This was shown in many of the bombings that klansmen carried out. There were orchestrated bombings of synagogues, and black schools to terrorize America and further spread the message of white supremacy. Fortunately, this klan ended with the revival of the Ku Klux Klan Act, which abolished Klan activity. Many of the alliances made with the police were revealed, and as a result, the police became less corrupt and were able to put an end to most klan activity.

The Stock Market Crash of 1929

On October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed. The amount of money that was lost was crippling to thousands of investors in the United States. In September of 1929, stock prices began to rapidly fall when 12,894,650 shares were traded on October 24th, which was known as Black Thursday. In this frenzy of share swapping, companies and bankers tried to rally and save the market by buying a large portion of the stock, but in the end, it only delayed what would happen the following week. On Tuesday, October 29th, stock prices collapsed and 16,410,030 stocks were traded, resulting in billions of dollars lost. The market's crash wiped thousands of people out, and as a result of the money loss, many were forced to sell their businesses and use their own life savings. The Crash was a direct cause of the already inevitable Great Depression, and during the Great Depression, the unemployment rate rose to 25% and wages fell by 42%. The Stock Market Crash was clearly one of the most shocking turn of events in United States history. Investors were comfortable throughout the 20's and did not have to worry much until October 24th, when the downward spiral began. What were the main causes of the crash, and how big of an impact did it have on the cause of the Great Depression?

Eugenics in the Early Twentieth Century

The American eugenics movement is just another one of the often glossed-over periods in American history. In the early 1900’s, Charles Davenport and Harry Laughlin lead this movement, founding the Eugenics Record Office in 1910. Eugenics was the idea of preserving desirable traits in a population stemming from the new ideas about evolution and heredity and breeding. The movement reached its height around the 1930’s with movies and books regarding the topic becoming popular. Although seemingly studied using scientific principles, it was less of a science and more of a social reaction to the huge wave of immigration happening in the United States during the late 19th century and early 20th century. 

One article talked about the history of eugenics: how it started, how it rose in popularity, its use as justification for intelligence testing, and its later implications. The Binet test, one of the first intelligence tests, was first created as way to separate french school children who needed more help to understand course material and not as a way to categorize or rank people on a large scale. The Stanford Binet perversion used in the US took this test and did just that. The article stressed the intelligence test’s humble, good intentioned origins, but like heredity was then corrupted. I was shocked and even disgusted by some of the ideas and quotes from eugenicists. These ideas also seemed to permeate all levels of American culture. After a Supreme Court case in 1927 that upheld forced sterilization, a Chief Justice said“[i]t is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind.” The article went on to discuss some of the more insidious effects of intelligence testing. Eugenics and the process of ranking individuals or classifying some as being unfit or unworthy helped support ideas like the holocaust. The extermination of one mentally and physically disabled infant soon led to the hunt for mentally retarded persons and eventually ethnic and religious minorities. The sterilization and separation of individuals in the US shocked me because I had never really heard about it before. 

Eugenics became unpopular in the 1940’s and its ideas no longer accepted as its implications were put to practice by the Nazis. It is now closely associated with Nazism. 

Corinne McCabe