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Cultura Documentos
portion of the torch had been severely damaged by water and was replaced with an
exact replica of Bartholdis original torch, which was gilded according to Bartholdis
original plans.
B. Imagery-semiotic
in order to better understand the statue of Liberty, it is necessary to pay attention
to the different elements featured in it.
As mentioned previously, its appearance resembles "Libertas", the Roman
Goddess of freedom from slavery. Torch, held up high in lts right hand, signifies
enlightenment("Liberty Enlightening the World". The crown with seven spikes on
her head is often interpreted as representing the seven continents and the seven
seas. The tablet in her left hand marks the date of our independence, but is also
keystone shaped indicating knowledge. The left foot tramples broken shackles,
signifying our wish to be free and the right foot raised indicating she is moving
forward(to carry her message to the workd). And the enormous size represents
vastness of the United States.
Through the years the lmage of the Siatue of Liberty was used to promote the
American dream and inspire with its symbolism. A special case on this matter was
the one of the National wholesale Liquor Dealers Association(NWLDA) which was
formed in 1908 to promote the liquor industry and protect it from the growing
antiliquor sentiment caused by the Temperance Movement.
The NWLDA stamps were sold to liquor distillers and wholesalers to raise money for
ant- signify temperance activities. Dealers placed these stamps on their invoices
and correspondence to their support of the NwLDA lobbying effort against the
passage of the 18th Amendment.
Since its beginning, the Statue of Liberty has been a symbol of America and its
ideals. The statue on the representational level has been a symbol of New York City.
the United States, and the ideals of freedom and hope. messages have been
portrayed on postage stamps from 1918 to Such the present day. Poster stamps
and other Cinderella stamps have used the statue image to convey similar
messages since its dedication in 1886. The Statue of Liberty sends a powerful
positive semiotic message regardless of its interpretation or intended stamp design
representation.
Leccin 1:
"La estatua de la libertad"
Al pensar en los EE.UU. hoy en da, no se puede perder la asociacin de la
nacin con quizs uno de su monumento ms conocido en todo el mundo
La estatua de la libertad. Esta magnfica pieza de trabajo que se levanta
sobre 300 pies por encima del agua en la isla de Bedloe representa para
muchos de los ideales americanos de la imagen de la libertad y la
esperanza de una vida mejor. Volver en 1886 fue la primera imagen de los
infestation to the rest of the passengers. Once they were given authorization,
passengers could take place in the assigned rooms.
Ship owners jammed up to 2000 people in steerage, the airless rooms below deck
on the return voyage, cattle or cargo filled the same spaces. In such close
quarters,
disease spread rapidly especially the one that did not show any
symptoms and was not detected at the boarding inspection. Once an outbreak of
measles infected every child on one German immigrant ship and many died. Since
they were in the middle of nowhere, the dead were thrown Into the water
B. Setting Food in a New Land
After 1885, millions of "new immigrants coming from Southern and Eastern Europe
arrived on the East Coast: these people were ltalians, Poles, Greeks, Russians,
and Hungarians. Many of them were Catholic, Jewish, or Eastern Orthodox. For
most of them, the voyage ended in New York City on the East Coast and as they
sailed into the harbor, they were greeted by the giant Statue of Liberty.
In 1892. a new receiving station opened on Ellis lsland. Here, immigrants had to
face a dreaded medical inspection. Doctors watched newcomers Climb a long flight
of stairs. Anyone who limped or appeared out of breath might be stopped. Doctors
also examined eyes, ears, and throats. The sick had to stay on Ellis lsland until
they got well. A small percentage who failed to regain full health was sent home.
With hundreds of immigrants to process each day, officials had only minutes to
check each new arrival. To save time, they often changed names that they found
hard to spell Krzeznewski became Kramer, Smargiaso ended up as Smarga. Even
the first name of one Italian immigrant was changed, from Bartolomeo to Bill.
However, it took longer when it came to the paperwork, at this point some had to
spend days at the waiting hall before they could be admitted into the United States
and such was the case on the West Coast where immigration officers had to deal
with the Asian immigrants. After 1910, many Asian immigrants were processed on
Angel island in the San Francisco Bay and often faced long delays because
Americans wanted to discourage Asian immigration. Despite such obstacles, many
Asians were able to make a home in the United Eastern Europe States.
Like European immigrants in the East, Asians on the West Coast faced a difficult
adjustment. Most of them came from China and, later, from Japan. There were
also a few immigrants from Korea. India, and the Philippines. All of them came
with a language and a religion of their own. Most were Buddhist or Taoist thus. as
expected, these to factors set them apart and made it harder for them to adapt and
integrate into the new society.
C. New Life, New Reality
Many immigrants had heard stories that the streets in the United States were paved
with gold. However, upon arrival, they saw it was not like that. Streets were not
paved at all and actually old immigrants expected the new ones to pave them.
Once newcomers settled down, they immediately set out to find work. European
peasants had experienced another culture shock for they found it took cash to
survive in the United States and not just that little amount they made when working
on their lands.
These newcomers could find jobs in the cities through friends. relatives, labor
contractors and employment agencies which forced them to stay where they
landed. Since cities were the seat of industrial work, slums soon became packed
with poor immigrants. By 1900, one neighborhood on New York's lower east side
had become the most crowded and dirtiest place in the world.
immigrants eased into their new lives by settling in their own neighborhoods.
Large American cities became patchworks of Italian, Irish, Polish, Hungarian,
Greek. German. Jewish, and Chinese neighborhoods or "Ethnic Enclaves" where
newcomers spoke their own language only celebrated special holidays, and
prepared foods as in the old country. For instance, Italians joined clubs such as the
Sons of Italy. Hungarians bought and read Hungarian newspapers. Religion stood
at the center of immigrant family life. Houses of warship both united and separated
ethnic groups. Catholics from Italy worshipped in Italian neighborhood parishes.
Those from Poland worshipped in Polish parishes. Jewish communities divided into
the older Orthodox or Reform branches and the newer Conservative wing.
Newcomers struggled to adjust for they were often tom between old traditions and
American ways. They experienced the acculturation phenomenon when they held
on to older traditions while adapting to a new culture. They learned how to use
American institutions such as schools, factories. and the political system, yet at
the same time, they tried to keep their traditional religions, family structures, and
community life. In their effort to adapt, immigrants blended old and new ways. For
example, some newcomers mixed their native tongues with English. Italians called
the Fourth of July 1l Forte Gelato a phrase that actually means "the great freeze. In
El Paso, Texas, Mexican immigrants developed "Chuco", a blend of English and
Spanish.
Children adapted to the new culture more quickly than their parents. They learned
English in school and then helped their families to speak it. Because children
wanted to be seen as Americans, they often gave up customs that their parents
honored. They played American games and dressed in American-style clothes.
D. Old Immigrant and the Nativism phenomenon
Even before the Civil War,
Americans known as nativists sought to limit
immigration and preserve the country for native-born white Protestants.
As
immigration boomed in the late 1800s, Nativists argued that immigrants would not
fit into American culture because their languages, religions, and customs were too
different. Many workers resented the new immigrants because they took jobs for
low pay. Others feared them because they were different and wherever new
immigrants settled. o nativist pressure grew. Nativists targeted Jews and Italians in
the Northeast and Mexicans in the Southwest. On the West Coast, nativists worked
to end immigration from China.
since the California Gold Rush, Chinese immigrants had helped build the west.
Most lived in cities, in tight-knit communities called "Chinatowns" others farmed
for a living. Most Americans did not understand Chinese customs. Also some
Chinese did not try to learn American ways. Like many other immigrants, they
planned to stay only until they made a lot of money. They hoped to then return
home, to live out their lives as rich and respected members of Chinese society.
When that dream failed, many Chinese settled in the United States permanently.
As the numbers of Chinese grew, so did the prejudice and violence against them.
Gangs attacked and sometimes killed Chinese people, especially during hard times.
Congress responded to this anti-Chinese feeling by passing the Chinese Exclusion
Act in 1882. It barred Chinese laborers from entering the country. In addition, no
Chinese person who left the United States could return. The Chinese Exclusion Act
was the first law to exclude a specific national group from immigrating to the United
States. Congress renewed the original 10-year ban several times. However, it was
finally repealed in 1943.
Nonetheless, in 1887, nativists formed the American Protective Association that
campaigned for laws to restrict immigration. Congress responded, them and
President Woodrow Wilson, by passing a bill that denied entry to people who could
not read their own language. President Grover Cleveland vetoed the bill. It was
wrong, he said, to keep out peasants just because they had never gone to school.
Three later Presidents vetoed similar bills. Finally, in 1917, that bill was
overridden.
Leccin 2
"Segunda ola de inmigracin"
Entre 1865 y 1915, ms de 25 millones de inmigrantes acudieron a los
Estados Unidos. Eran parte de una gran red de unos 60 millones de
trabajadores en busca de empleo en los pases industriales. El auge de la
revolucin industrial cre una enorme necesidad de los trabajadores.
Empuje y atraccin factores jugaron un papel importante en esta
migracin global. factores de empuje son condiciones que impulsan a las
personas a abandonar sus hogares. Los factores internos son condiciones
que atraen a los inmigrantes a una nueva rea.
Por un lado, factores de empuje para lmmigrants europeos eran a menudo
los pequeos agricultores o trabajadores agrcolas sin tierra. A medida
que las poblaciones europeas crecieron, la tierra comenz a escasear, por
lo tanto pequeas granjas apenas podan apoyar a las familias que las
trabajaban y encima de que en algunas zonas, las nuevas mquinas
agrcolas reemplazados trabajadores agrcolas. Otras cuestiones que
llevaron a la gente lejos de sus casas eran persecucin poltica y religiosa.
Por ejemplo, en Rusia, el zar apoyado Aga "pogromos" ataque organizado
contra pueblos judos. En el Imperio otomano. Armenios cristianos fueron
perseguidos y empujada violentamente de la tierra (la actual Turqua). El
malestar poltico fue otro factor de empuje. A partir de 1910, una
impossible for America to trade with Germany through no fault of her own. The
British policy of blockading Germany was the primary reason for Germany
ultimately Introducing unrestricted submarine warfare.
It was Germany's use of U-boats that pushed America into a corner and ultimately
to declare war. On February 4th, 1915, Germany announced that merchant and
neutral ships in a specified zone around Britain would be legitimate targets because
many Allied ships had taken to flying the flag of a neutral nation to assist its safety.
President Wilson warned the Germans that he would hold them to account if any
American ships were sunk. This threat was tested when on May 7th, 1915. The
"Lusitania", a British merchant ship was sunk, and 128 Americans on board were
killed.
German chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg,
managed to avoid a major
diplomatic issue this time and informed Wilson that the German government
promised to compensate for any American ships that were destroyed, including the
value of their cargo.
By the end of 1915, tolerable equilibrium had been reached in terms of America's
relationship with Germany. In late December 1915 Wilson sent one of his closest
advisors to London, Colonel House, to see if a peace initiative could be thrashed
out between Britain and Germany with America acting as an intermediary. On
February 22nd, 1916, the House-Grey Memorandum was signed which put on
paper Wilson's plan of mediation. House returned to America in good spirits and
immediately set about with Wilson putting some substance into the Memorandum.
However, the sinking by a U-boat of the French unarmed paddle steamer the
'Sussex' in the English Channel on March 24th. 1916 ended this venture.
Wilson threatened to sever diplomatic relations with Germany unless the German
Government refrained from attacking all passenger ships and allowed the crews of
enemy merchant vessels to abandon their ships prior to any attack. On May 4,
1916, the German Government accepted these terms and conditions in what came
to be known as the "Sussex pledge" and with it the Americans seemed to have
developed a more positive relationship with Germany.
In the meantime Britain turned its back on the Memorandum signed by its own
Foreign secretary. Edward Grey, for it increased its maritime activities with regards
to stopping ships trading with Germany and other members of the Central Powers.
Finally, the treatment of those arrested after the failed Easter Rising in Dublin in
1916 had greatly angered the influential hrish-American community on America's
east coast.
On November 7th, 1916, Wilson won the presidential election. To many Americans
he was still seen as a man of peace whereas his opponent, Charles Evans Hughes,
was seen as a warmonger Wilson spent the next few months trying to set up a way
in which America could lead peace negotiations that would end the war, He sent
out a simple question to both sides what would it take for them to be willing to end
the war? Britain and France sent back replies that stated their terms-terms that
could only be met with a decisive military victory. Germany's reply was vague and
evasive. Regardless of this. Wilson continued to fight for peace based around the
idea of a League of Nations.
Leccin 3
Guerra Mundial
A. Resumen Guerra
El impacto de la Primera Guerra Mundial en la historia global es muy
notable, que dio lugar a una sucesin de eventos que se forma de nuevo la
historia de la humanidad. En la historia de Amrica del Norte se llev a la
Gran Depresin, la Segunda Guerra Mundial, el Holocausto y la Guerra Fra
ser conocido como la "promesa Sussex" y con ella los americanos pareca
haber desarrollado una relacin ms positiva con Alemania.
Mientras tanto Gran Bretaa dio la espalda a la memorndum firmado por
su propio secretario de Asuntos Exteriores. Edward Grey, por ello aument
sus actividades martimas en lo que respecta a parar los barcos que
comercian con Alemania y otros miembros de las potencias centrales. Por
ltimo, el tratamiento de los detenidos despus de la Pascua de
levantamiento fallido en Dubln en 1916 haba enojado mucho a la
comunidad hrish-americano influyente en la costa este de Estados Unidos.
El 7 de noviembre de 1916, Wilson gan la eleccin presidencial. Para
muchos estadounidenses todava era visto como un hombre de paz,
mientras que su oponente, Charles Evans Hughes, fue visto como un
belicista Wilson pas los prximos meses tratando de establecer una
forma en la que Estados Unidos podra conducir negociaciones de paz que
pondra fin a la guerra, envi a una simple pregunta a ambos lados lo que
hara falta para que ellos estn dispuestos a poner fin a la guerra? Gran
Bretaa y Francia enviaron respuestas que declararon su mandato de
trminos que slo podran resolverse con una victoria militar decisiva. La
respuesta de Alemania era vaga y evasiva. Independientemente de esto.
Wilson sigui luchando por la paz basada en la idea de una Liga de
Naciones.
En enero de 1917, sin embargo, la situacin en Alemania haba cambiado.
Durante una conferencia de tiempos de guerra de ese mes,
representantes de la Marina alemana convencidos de la cpula militar y
Kaiser Wilhelm ll que la reanudacin de la guerra submarina sin
restricciones podra ayudar a derrotar a Gran Bretaa dentro de los cinco
meses. los polticos alemanes alegaron que podran violar la "promesa
Sussex" desde que Estados Unidos ya no podra considerarse como una
parte neutral despus de suministrar municiones y asistencia financiera a
los aliados. Alemania tambin cree que Estados Unidos haba puesto en
peligro su neutralidad por consentir el bloqueo aliado de Alemania
La canciller alemana, Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg protest esta
decisin. la creencia de que la reanudacin de la guerra submarina podra
arrastrar a los Estados Unidos en la guerra en nombre de los aliados. Esto,
segn l, llevara a la derrota de Alemania. A pesar de estas advertencias,
el Gobierno alemn decidi reanudar los ataques submarina sin
restricciones en todos los aliados y los barcos neutrales dentro de las
zonas de guerra prescritos, calculando que los submarinos alemanes
terminaran la guerra mucho antes de los primeros de tropas
estadounidenses desembarcaron en Europa. En consecuencia, el 31 de
enero de 1917, Embajador de Alemania en los Estados Unidos conde
Johann von Bernstorff nos present. Secretario de Estado Robert Lansing
una nota declarando la intencin de Alemania para reiniciar la guerra
submarina sin restricciones al da siguiente.
was highly exploited by food companies that began marketing the amounts of
vitamins and proteins contained in their products. These companies were able to
say almost anything they wanted due to the lack of knowledge about vitamins, but
failed to inform the people of the large amount of sugars Used in their product as
well. This emphasis of hygiene made Americans overall healthier and in turn
increased the average life expectancy. This decade had some major breakthroughs
in medicine and science like the discovery of Penicillin and insulin for diabetic
people
B. Automobile Factory
The automobile industry began an extraordinary period of growth with enormous
repercussions throughout the nation. Car entrepreneurs made use of the assembly
line in the manufacturing process which increased productivity. In turn these
innovations reduced not only the cost of automobiles, but also the demand for car
factory laborers because the amount of work needed to build an automobile was
high.
Furthermore, automobile dealers introduced the installment plan the
financing concept that entitled the average citizen to purchase a car and use it
instead of the street cars. This also meant much cleaner streets there was much
less manure to be cleaned after since people stopped using horses to pull their
wagons.
The idea of homes on wheels" was also created around this time so people started
packing up food and camping equipment in order to get away for a little while.
Automobiles offered private space for courtship and sex.
Women also gained from the automobile revolution. The ones who learned to drive
achieved newfound independence,
taking touring trips with female friends,
conquering muddy roads and making repairs when their vehicles broke down. Due
to all the driving, there was extensive road construction and an abundance of fuel.
During this time the United States produced sixty-five percent of the World's oil. In
1924 the first timed stop and go traffic light was made.
Industries related to the manufacturing and use of automobiles also grew:
petroleum. steel. and glass were in high demand, leading to growth and
profitability in related sectors. State governments began to build roads and
highways in rural areas. Gasoline stations were installed across the country,
evidence of the sudden and continued growth of the petroleum industry
C. Social Demeanor and Fashion
With the finding of new fabric's and chemical dyes, cloth became a means of
identity and social expression.
was difficult to determine what was socially
acceptable or not with the abundance 120's of smoking, drinking, and now
openness about sex. Also during this time birth control became widely used within
the socially respectable groups of society, Movies, radio, magazines, and
newspapers became much more expressive in terms of sexuality.
Young, rebellious, middle-class women, began wearing clothing that showed their
arms and legs off. These women became known as flappers. Flappers were care
free women who smoked. drank, and treated sex in a casual manner. The hairstyle
of the decade was a chin length bob. of which there were several popular
variations. Cosmetics which in early years were associated with prostitution
became extremely popular. Hats wear also a big trend and popular styles Included
the Newsboy cap and Cloche hat. People started to experience a sense of wealth
spent money on fashionable clothes. This spending opened up job opportunities for
store owners and for fashion designers as well.
Furthermore, during this some forced education came into play, children were no
longer influenced mainly by their parents but their classmates. Schools activities
such as sports and clubs now brought children together rather than being
integrated with adults and people of much older age. As time passed by, parents
began to rely less on traditional ways of raising their children and began to read and
listen to what "experts" had to say on the issue. The interaction between males
and females also went through a drastic change in this era. The term "dating"
without adult supervision began, this way of interacting spread between all levels
of society, from the lowest working class to the highest rich upper class. The youth
began becoming more liberal due to new freedoms and opportunities the urban life
now offered. Also with the advancement of the automobile, dating became even
more popular among the youth.
D. The Media Impact(Radio, Films and Advertising)
An invention, which soon after became a popular fad, was the radio. It had all
sorts of programs: comedy shows, news, live events, jazz, variety shows, drama
and opera. All of this was feasible with the increasing electrification of the country.
The first broadcasting station in the world was KDKA, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
in 1920; other stations started in every s and in 1924, the first US radio network,
the National Broadcasting Company, began operations between New York and
Boston.
Commercials also became a big deal. Some radio stations broadcasted recurring
advertisements and aired commercials. People tuned into the radio to listen to jazz
music, sports and live events. People enjoyed listening to the"King of Jazz Louie
Armstrong. At first the federal government did not want to regulate the airwaves,
but they eventually did because everyone involved in the radio asked for their help.
The Federal Radio Commission was set up in 1926; the Radio Act of 1927 organized
the Federal Radio Commission.
Besides the film industry began to locate in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los
Angeles, California and movies also grew into a popular recreation. Almost every
community now had a theatre in town. In 1922. about 40 million people were going
to the theatres each America's most famous des week and that number jumped to
about 100 million people by the end of the decade. This number was larger than
the number of people that attended church weekly. Movie stars such as Douglas
Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and Charlie Chaplin became iconic images around the
world. New technology increased movies' appeal. Between 1922 and 1927, the
Technicolor Corporation developed a means of producing movies in color. This
process along with sound made movies even more and more realistic and exciting.
The development of the automobile, radio, and the movies changed the popular
culture. Programs such as Amos n' Andy affected the nation's habits; people
stopped what they were doing twice a week to listen to the program. In the case of
movies such as The Birth of a Nation a fictionalized account of the founding of the
Ku Klux Klan, Klan membership grew as a result. There were eight major(and
minor) studios that successfully consolidated and integrated all aspects of a film's
development. By 1929. the film making firms that were to rule and monopolize
Hollywood for the next half-century were the giants or the majors, sometimes
dubbed The Big Five: Warner Bros., RKO. Paramount, Metro Goldwyn-Mayer, and
Fox Film Corporation. They produced more than 90 percent of the fiction films and
distributed their films both nationally and internationally.
Advertising played a major role in the rapid social growth during this time.
Advertising Theorists began to consider that people's tastes and Interests could be
manipulated thus rendering control over the society.
Companies hired my
marketers to endorse their products and achieve their financial goals. Some
entrepreneurs such as Madame Walker, Max Factor, and Helena Rubenstein used
movie stars and other famous sports athletes to sell their product. It is like this that
more and more money was spent on advertising of material goods and also
services.
E. The Prohibition
As centuries went by faith became more popular throughout the United States. A
new religious revivalism took place during this period, it condemned the new
socially acceptable movies,
dress styles,
and dancing.
Many religious
organizations supported the prohibition movement, thinking drinking was a sinful
unclean act.
Originally, the concept of Prohibition(the banning of the manufacture and sale of
intoxicating liquors) was based on religious ideology. During the Second Great
Awakening in the 1840s,
crusades against drinking were common among
evangelical Protestants. Several groups in opposition to the consumption or sale of
alcoholic beverages grew prominent in political discourse. These groups were
instrumental in shifting the argument for Prohibition away from the immorality of
drunkenness and towards the alleged link between drinking and poor productivity,
domestic violence, and poverty.
On January 16, 1920, the National Prohibition Act, also known as the Volstead Act,
came into effect which banned drinks with alcohol content above 3.2%. Although
total alcohol consumption halved, for some it was too harsh of a measure and that
it made a criminal out of the average American and others just blatantly
disregarded Prohibition. Bootleggers illegally manufactured and sold liquors at
unlawful saloons called speakeasies. The most famous of them was Al Capone who
was the leader of one of the largest crime ring in the Chicago land area. He
smuggled alcohol all over the Midwest and committed the many crimes of murder,
booze and drug smuggling, but was eventually arrested for tax evasion. Gangs
prospered due to profits from illegal alcohol for they offered people many rewarding
types of jobs, but with the jobs came a great risk. Many began to be alcohol
smugglers and made a lot of money smuggling booze to hidden taverns and
speakeasies where liquor was highly valued because of its scarcity at the time.
F. Women's Right
White women always remained politically excluded from local and national power
structures and at the state level they had only achieved rights such as the ability to
serve on juries until this point.
Nevertheless,
they had created voluntary
organizations to pressure politics on such issues as birth control, peace, education.
Indian Affairs, or opposition to lynching. They lobbied legislators to support their
causes.
Although more women were becoming a part of the work force, especially after
WW1, they were still sex segregated which meant that women would take jobs as
teachers or nurses or other jobs that men rarely wanted. All of this led women to
alter women's style which consisted of wearing short skirts and bobbed hair. They
began to assert themselves as socially equal to men. The popularity of the new
styles the"Flapper became popular and spread rapidly among young women as it
symbolized new women independence and sexual freedoms.
Before the Nineteenth Amendment, most states only granted men the right to vote
but when it was ratified, it encouraged "Suffragettes" to campaign for women's
rights. They requested an Amendment that guaranteed Equal Rights for both
genders. However, after gaining suffrage, women lost most battles for equality.
At the same time, non-white women belonging to racial minorities, held factory
jobs held the least desirable lowest paying jobs factories. African American women
mostly held domestic jobs such as cooking, cleaning, and laundry, Yet during this
time there were many openings for educated African women in the social work,
teaching. and nursing fields, however they faced much discrimination, The
Economic needs of the family brought thousands of minority women into having to
work. Next to African women, Japanese women were the most likely to hold low
paying jobs in the work force, they worked in the lowest paying jobs and faced very
strong racial biases and discrimination on a regular basis as well. Mexican women,
mainly in the Southwest worked as domestic servants, operatives in garment
factories, and as agricultural laborers. This was looked down upon because the
Mexican culture traditionally was against women labor
G. Revival of the KKK
Between 1921 and 1926 the Ku Klux Klan flourished with a membership of millions
of Protestants. Not only was the Ku Klux Klan big In the south where it saw its
beginnlngs. but also it now reached out to places such as Oregon on the West and
Indiana in the Northeast. At this point, even women had ned the Klan. All of them
argued for a purified nation and denounced African-Americans, Mexicans, Jews,
Catholic, bootleggers and adulterers. They gained new support from nativists who
detested the mass immigration to the Northeast in the early 1900s. Furthermore,
the return of the Klan caused a split in the Democratic Party which allowed Calvin
Coolidge, a conservative Republican, to take office in 1924.
In most cities, the only way blacks could relieve the pressure of crowding that
resulted from increasing migration was to expand residential borders into
surrounding previously white neighborhoods, a process that often resulted in
harassment and attacked by white residents whose intolerant attitudes were
intensified by fears that black neighbors would cause property values to decline.
Moreover the increased presence of African Americans in cities, North and South,
as well as their competition with whites for housing, jobs, and political influence
sparked a series of race riots. For instance, in 1898 white citizens of Wilmington,
North Carolina, incensed by an editorial in an African American newspaper accusing
white women of loose sexual behavior, they rioted killing dozens of blacks. In the
fury's wake, white supremacists overthrew the city government, expelling black
and white office holders, and instituted restrictions to prevent blacks from voting.
Leccin 4:
"Los felices aos veinte"
Fue una dcada de cambios sociales interesantes y profundos conflictos
culturales. Por un lado, para muchos estadounidenses, el crecimiento de
las ciudades, el surgimiento de una cultura de consumo, el
recrudecimiento de entretenimiento de masas, y la llamada "revolucin en
la moral y las costumbres" representa la liberacin de las restricciones del
pasado Victoriano del pas para costumbres sexuales, los roles de gnero.
estilos de cabello, y de vestir todos cambiaron profundamente; la
generacin ms joven se rebel contra los tabes tradicionales de sus
mayores. Por otro lado, para muchos otros, los Estados Unidos pareca
estar cambiando de manera indeseable. El resultado fue un poco velada
"guerra civil cultural", en el que una sociedad plural se enfrentaron
amargamente por cuestiones como la inmigracin extranjera, la evolucin,
el Ku Klux Klan, la prohibicin, los roles de las mujeres, y la raza.
No slo fue un perodo de prosperidad y la disipacin, de bandas de jazz,
contrabandistas, abrigos de mapache, ginebra baera. aletas, canguros
del asta de la bandera, y bailarines de maratn, pero tambin fue un
perodo de conflictos culturales amargas, enfrentando a los liberales
religiosos contra los fundamentalistas, los nativistas contra los
inmigrantes, y los provinciales rurales contra los cosmopolitas urbanas.
A. Salud y Nutricin
La gente empez a cuidar de su dieta al consumir ms alimentos, que
contienen ciertos nutrientes y vitaminas, sobre una base diaria. Este
conocimiento recin adquirido fue altamente explotado por las empresas
de alimentos que comenz a comercializar las cantidades de vitaminas y
protenas contenidas en sus productos. Estas empresas fueron capaces de
decir casi cualquier cosa que quisieran debido a la falta de conocimiento
acerca de las vitaminas, pero no informaron a la gente de la gran cantidad
de azcares utilizados en sus productos tambin. Este nfasis de la
A. Influential Factors
it was a result of various significant economic imbalances and structural failings. As
already studied, there was a rapid growth in bank credit and loans in the 1920s.
Encouraged by the strength of the economy people felt the stock market was a one
way bet, For instance, some consumers borrowed to buy shares and Firms took out
more loans for expansion.
Because people became highly indebted, it meant they became more susceptible
to a change in confidence. When that change of confidence came in 1929, those
who had borrowed were particularly exposed and joined the rush to sell shares and
try and redeem their debts.
Over exuberance and false expectations are also considered as major causes for the
crash. In the years leading up to 1929, the stock market offered the potential for
making huge gains in wealth. It was the new gold rush. People bought shares with
the expectations of making more money. As share prices rose, people started to
bomow money to invest in the stock market. The market got caught up in a
speculative bubble shares kept rising and people felt they would continue to do so.
The problem was that stock prices became divorced from the real potential earnings
of the share prices which were not being driven by economic fundamentals, but the
optimism exuberance of investors. The average earning per share rose by 400%
between 1923 and 1929. Yet, those who questioned the value of shares were often
labelled doom-mongers.
Buying shares on the margin was also a trend back then. This meant you only had
to pay 10 or 20% of the value of the shares and that the rest 80-90% of the value
of the shares was borrowed. This enabled more money to be put into shares,
increasing their value. There were many 'margin millionaire' investors who had
made huge profits by buying on the margin and watching share prices rise. But, it
left investors very exposed when prices fell. These margin millionaires got wiped
out when the stock market fall came. It also affected those banks and investors
who had lent money to those buying on the margin.
In March 1929, the stock market saw its first major reverse, but this mini panic was
overcome leading to a strong rebound in the summer of 1929, By October of the
same year, shares were grossly overvalued and. When some companies posted
disappointing results on the 24(Black Thursday), some investors started to feel this
would be a good time to cash in on their profits: share prices began to fall and
panic selling caused prices to fall sharply. Financiers, such as JP Morgan tried to
restore confidence by buying shares to prop up prices. But, this failed to alter the
rapid change in market sentiment. On the 28th(Black Monday), the decline in
prices turned into a crash which made hare prices fell 13%.
Panic spread
throughout the stock exchange as people sought to unload their shares and on the
29(Black Tuesday) share prices fell by $40 billion in a single day.
By 1930"the bull market" was replaced by "the bear market". Confidence
evaporated and problems spread to the rest of the financial system. Share prices
During the roaring 20s great strides in production techniques took place, especially
in the automobile industry. The production line enabled economies of scale and
great increases in production. However, demand for buying expensive cars and
consumer goods were struggling to keep up. Therefore, towards the end of the
decade many firms were struggling to sell all their production which caused some of
the disappointing profit results which precipitated falls In share prices. There were
already warning signs from the economy with falling car sales, lower steel
production and a slowdown in housing construction. However, despite these
warning signs, people still kept buying shares.
Even before 1929, the American agricultural sector was struggling to maintain
profitability Many small farmers were driven out of business because they could not
compete in the new economic climate. Better technology was increasing supply,
but demand for food was not increasing at same rate. Therefore, prices fell and
farmers' incomes dropped. Not only was there occupational and geographical
Inmmobility in this sector, but also it there was a great difficulty for unemployed
farmers to get jobs elsewhere in the economy.
Before the Great Depression, the American banking system was characterized by
having many small to medium sized firms. America had over 30.000 banks.
Because of this crisis, Banks reduced lending: there was a fall in investment.
People lost savings and so reduced consumer spending. The effect of this was that
they were prone to going bankrupt if there was a run on deposits. In particular,
many banks in rural areas went bankrupt due to the agricultural recession. This had
a negative impact on the rest of the financial Industry. Between 1923 and 1930
5,000 banks collapsed Falling share prices caused a collapse in confidence and
consumer wealth. Spending fell and the decline in il confidence precipitated a
desire for savers to withdraw money from their banks.
In the first 10 months of 1930 alone, 744 US banks went bankrupt and savers lost
their savings. in a desperate bid to raise money, they also tried to call in their
loans before people had time to repay them. As banks went bankrupt, it only
increased the demand for other savers to withdraw money from banks which
provide everywhere with a common sight: long queues of people wanting to
withdraw their savings. The authorities appeared unable to stop bank runs and the
collapse in confidence in the banking system. The impact on economic confidence
was disastrous. Many agree that it was this failure of the banking system which was
the most powerful cause of economic depression
With falling output, prices began to fall. Deflation created additional problerns:
It increased the difficulty of paying off debts taken out during 1920s
Falling prices, encouraged people to hoard cash rather than spend(Keynes
called this the paradox of thrift)
increased real wage unemployment(workers reluctant to accept nominal
wage cuts, caused real wages to tise creating additional unemployment)
As banks went bankrupt, consumer spending and investment fel dramatically.
output fell unemployment rose causing a negative multiplier effect. In the 1930s,
the unemployment received little relief beyond the soup kitchen. Therefore, the
unemployed dramatically reduced their spending.
America had lent substantial amounts to Europe and UK, to help rebuild after World
War I. Therefore, there was a strong link between the US economy and the rest of
the world. The us downturn soon spread to the rest of the world as America called
in loans, Europe couldn't afford to pay back. This global recession was exacerbated
by imposing new tariffs such as smoot-Hawley which restricted trade further.
B. The Dust Bowl
In the 1930s, disaster struck the south-western Great Plains reglon of the United
States. In the heartland of the US. poor soil conservation practices and extreme
weather conditions exacerbated the existing misery of the Great Depression and
instigated the largest migration In American history.
The semi-arid grasslands of the Great Plains were first settled for large-scale
agriculture in the 1860s,
when Congress passed the Homestead Act and
encouraged thousands of families to move to the area, As the nation's demand for
wheat grew, cattle grazing was reduced and more acres were plowed and planted.
Dry land farming in combination with overgrazing caused destruction of the natural
prairie grasses. The land became increasingly bare and the strong winds found
naturally in the Great Plains began to literally blow the land away. Huge clouds of
dust darkened the sky for days and drifted like snow, covering farm buildings and
homes.
Throughout the Dust Bowl decade, the Plains were torn by climatic extremes. In
addition to dirt storms, residents of the Great Plains suffered through blizzards,
tornadoes, floods, droughts, earthquake, and record high and low temperatures.
In February 1933, temperatures dropped 25 c degrees within 18 hours in Boise City,
Oklahoma, and remained below freezing for several days while a dirt storm raged.
In 1934, record high temperatures as high as 50 c degrees-caused hundreds of
deaths in Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, Sunday, April 14, 1935, is
still remembered as "Black Sunday." A day that began with mild warmth ended with
a huge dust cloud, pushed at 95 kilometers per hour, blackening the sky.
Unfit for Man or Beast the dust penetrated everything and everywhere. Wherever
air could go, dust could infiltrate. No matter how well sealed a home might be, the
dust coated furniture, clothing, and cooking and eating areas. During a dust
storm, anyone venturing outside would be assailed by sand flying into their faces.
Livestock suffered equally. Poultry were suffocated and larger farm animals were
blinded and sickened by the swirling dust.
Though they tried to hang on, eventually millions of people left the Great Plains.
Almost one quarter of the population was forced out when they lost their farms and
ranches in bank foreclosures. The need to feed their children and raise them in
more healthful surroundings drove many families to pack everything they owned in
cars and trucks and head west.
California became a popular destination. Its mild climate and diverse crops
appealed to farmers looking for work. Popular stories depicted California as a
veritable promised land. Flyers advertising work for farm workers were widely
circulated. In this pre-interstate-highway period, Route 66 provided a direct route
from the Dust Bowl region to the Central Valley of California. Sadly, life in California
was not as idyllic as hoped. Many migrants gave up farming when they discovered
that a good portion of California farmlands were owned by large, corporate farms
that cultivated different crops and were far more modernized than the smaller farms
of the Great Plains.
There were often fewer jobs available than had been
advertised, and desperate workers weren't in a position to refuse the poor pay and
living conditions offered by the corporate farms.
So, for many migrants, their unemployment continued in California. Roadside
camps proliferated, feeding the resistance to migrant workers that came from
many local citizens. Groups of vigilantes beat up migrants and burned their shacks
to the ground. The local law enforcement officers were often hostile as well.
Eventually, federal help was given to the migrants. Roosevelt's Farm Security
Administration built 13 camps designed to be self- governing communities. Each
temporary housing complex accommodated 300 families in tents built on wooden
platforms.
Over the years, migrants from the Great Plains were integrated into the California
culture. The FSA camps disappeared, roadside shacks were replaced with real
houses, and migrant children were sent to the local public schools.
leccin 5
"La cada de la bolsa, Gran Depresin y el Dust Bowl"
La cada de la bolsa en octubre de 1929 trajo la prosperidad econmica de
la dcada de 1920 a un final simblico. Durante los siguientes diez aos,
los Estados Unidos estaba sumida en una profunda depresin econmica.
En 1933, el desempleo se ha disparado un 25 por ciento, por encima del
3,2 por ciento en 1929. La produccin industrial disminuy en un 50 por
ciento, el comercio internacional se desplom 30 por ciento, y la inversin
cay un 98 por ciento.
La Gran Depresin fue ms pronunciado y ms prolongada en los Estados
Unidos que en otros pases industrializados. La tasa de desempleo se
elev ms y se mantuvo por encima ya que en otro pas occidental. Como t
profundizado la Depresin tuvo consecuencias de largo alcance para los
polticos se expandi el alcance y la escala del gobierno federal y cre el
estado de bienestar moderno. Se produjo un realineamiento poltico
importante. la creacin de una coalicin de etnias de las grandes
ciudades, los afroamericanos, los sindicatos y los comits demcratas
sureos que alteran las relaciones laborales. Se produjo un movimiento de