HIST 378: Colliding Cultures: America in the 1920s

This course examines the decade of the 1920s in America, a period of enormous complexity. It includes such topics as the vibrancy of the arts and popular culture, the rise of mass media (radio and film), consequences of Prohibition, the new youth culture, conservative religious and social backlash, anti-immigration legislation, and the economic booms and busts that lead to the Great Depression. We focus on the great migration of southern Blacks to northern cities giving rise to the Harlem Renaissance, and on the deep cultural clashes in religion, ethnic identity, and political ideologies that animated the Scopes trial.