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Year 11
AQA

American people and the 'boom' in the 1920s

I can evaluate the impact of the 'boom years' on prosperity in the USA.

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New
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Year 11
AQA

American people and the 'boom' in the 1920s

I can evaluate the impact of the 'boom years' on prosperity in the USA.

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Share activities with pupils
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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Many people benefitted from the 'boom years'.
  2. The benefits were not evenly shared out.
  3. There was regional variation in benefits from the 'boom years'.
  4. An individual's background influenced an experience of the 'boom years'.

Keywords

  • Prosperity - prosperity is a situation in which someone is successful, usually by earning a lot of money

  • Boom years - 'boom years' are a period of time when businesses are doing well and wages are rising

  • Discrimination - unfair treatment of someone because of their gender, race, sexual orientation, age, disability or religion is described as discrimination

Common misconception

Minority groups only experienced hardship as a result of discrimination.

Some groups such as African Americans experienced economic hardship because of broader structural changes - especially the decline of American agriculture which hurt the South where most African Americans lived.

After completing Task B, students could be asked to compare the experiences of different groups (i.e. workers, women, movie stars, African Americans etc) by ranking them on a prosperity spectrum from most to least gain during the 1920s. This would work well as a paired task requiring justifications.
Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Write the missing word. A was a young woman who followed new fashion trends and acted independently.
Correct Answer: flapper, Flapper
Q2.
What happened to female employment between 1920 and 1929?
decreased by 25%
Correct answer: increased by 25%
remained the same
Q3.
Write the missing word. The elected group of politicians who make laws for the USA are referred to as ...
Correct Answer: Congress, congress
Q4.
What did the 19th Amendment do in 1920?
allowed women to buy contraceptives
Correct answer: enfranchised women nationwide
required equal wages for women
Q5.
Which examples show that some women gained greater social freedoms during the 1920s?
female employment rose by 25%
Correct answer: flappers often dressed in knee-length skirts
Correct answer: use of contraceptives increased
women started careers in new areas like sales
Q6.
Starting with the earliest, sort the following events into chronological order.
1 - Becomes illegal to prevent someone from voting solely because of their race
2 - Becomes illegal to prevent someone from voting solely because of their sex
3 - Congress approves funding for childcare for the first time
4 - Five members of Congress were women

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match each keyword with its correct definition.
Correct Answer:boom years,period when businesses are doing well and wages are rising

period when businesses are doing well and wages are rising

Correct Answer:discrimination,unfair treatment of someone because of their sex, race or religion

unfair treatment of someone because of their sex, race or religion

Correct Answer:prosperity,when someone is successful, usually by earning a lot of money

when someone is successful, usually by earning a lot of money

Q2.
How much did average wages rise by in the USA during the 1920s?
5%
10%
Correct answer: 20%
40%
Q3.
Write the missing word. stars were able to become very wealthy from their films.
Correct Answer: Hollywood, hollywood
Q4.
Which of the following reasons encouraged many African Americans to leave the South during the 1920s?
Correct answer: decline in agriculture
guarantees of high-paying jobs in the North
Correct answer: Jim Crow laws
Correct answer: KKK intimidation
equal treatment of African Americans in the North
Q5.
Which of the following statements about 1920s America are accurate?
Correct answer: female pay was often unequal to male pay
Correct answer: more women gained employment
most female professionals worked as doctors, dentists and accountants
Correct answer: most women worked in low-skilled, low-paying jobs
women were not hired to work in high-paying jobs
Q6.
Which example best demonstrates that many Americans could afford more consumer goods between 1920 and 1929?
unemployment fell from over 5% to just over 3%
female employment rose by 25%
Correct answer: radio ownership increased by over 150 times
Hollywood stars like Clara Bow were paid $1600 per week