1920's Written and Oral Report Ideas

1. Between 1920 and 1929, automobile registrations rose from eight million to twenty-three million. What effects have automobiles had on the lives of American people (pollution, gas use, industry, roads, car accidents)? What contribution did Ford make to the automobile industry?

2. Research Marcus Garvey and his “back to Africa” movement to resettle African Americans in Africa during the 1920's. Who was receptive to his message, and why? Research his newspaper "Negro World".

3. How did women's fashions change in the twenties? Have these styles survived or ever been revived? How do they reflect the new freedoms many women were enjoying in the twenties?

4. Research the case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italians convicted in the 1920 murder of a Massachusetts paymaster and his guard. Explain why the case was so controversial. What was the general feeling towards immigrants at the time and how might that have affected the trial's outcome?

5. Immigrants began to come into the United States in large numbers after WWI. Research the history of immigration to the U.S., particularly during the 1920's. What legislation was passed by Congress concerning immigration in the 1920's (see the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, and the Immigration Act of 1924)?

6. In The Great Gatsby there are many references to illegal activity--world series fixing, bootlegging, police complicity in crime. Research criminal activity in the 1920's, including the Harding Administration scandal, the Teapot Dome scandal.

7. Discuss the stock Market crash of 1929. Why did it happen and what was its aftermath? How did it lead to the Great Depression.

8. The Eighteenth Amendment, the Prohibition Act, was passed in 1919. How and why did the temperance movement win this battle? How did it affect the country? When and why was it repealed?

9. Charles A. Lindbergh was a very important figure in the 1920's. In 1927 he made the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight. How did this flight affect Americans? And what other parts of Lindbergh's life became important in the psyche of the American people?

10. The Nineteenth Amendment was made effective in 1920. Trace the history of the women's suffrage movement. What arguments were made for and against women's suffrage. Were any of these ideals or worries realized? How has women's right to vote changed the United States?

11. The Harlem Renaissance was a period of literary and intellectual flowering that fostered a new black cultural identity in the 1920's and 1930's. Report on the variety of arts and people that were involved in the Harlem Renaissance. Why would it have happened in such a specific place and at such a specific time?

12. Research a few of the major literary figures of the 1920's discuss their contributions to American literature. Some of these writers include: F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Weldon Johnson, Ernest Hemingway, Sherwood Anderson, Robert Frost, Eugene O'Neill, Langston Hughes, Zora Neal Hurston, Claude McKay, Carl Sandburg.

13. The 1920's is often called the Golden Age of Sports. What accomplishments were made in sport in the twenties? Who was involved in these accomplishments?

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