Themes in American History

Let’s first describe the word “Gang”. It comes from “gonge,” a term originally meaning a journey, but later referring to a “gonge” of sailors in the fifteenth century. The “Father of Gang Research,” Frederic Thrasher gave the word its industrial-era meaning in the 1920s and made “gang” into a term which meant kids of the street. But the US gangs had other predecessors than unsupervised street urchins.There are four kinds of “gangs” which were predecessors of the gangs of today.

1. Secret Societies;

2. Gangs of Outlaws in the Wild West;

3.Racist gangs like the Klu Klux Klan; and

"Draft" rioters lynch a Negro in 1863. New York Public Library Picture Collections

4. “Voting Gangs” tied mainly to the Democratic Party in large cities.

Voting Gangs in New York City New York Public Library Picture Collections

Number three and four characterize New York and Chicago.

The final predecossor of gangs were what Eric Monkkonen calls “voting gangs” in New York City and most of the east. This was an Irish invention, using the pub culture of males to help the Irish become politically dominant. Gangs of roughs, were encouraged, organized, paid by politicians to “help” in elections. Opponents were beaten up, voters intimidated, and voting booths destroyed (see left) and votes stolen.

It was these mainly Irish“ gangs” which were the core of the draft riots of 1863. Chicago’s Democratic Party formed “Social Athletic Clubs” modelled after New York’s Tammany Hall thugs. In Chicago, the Democratic Party borrowed the New York “Voting Gangs” custom and took them to new heights, or lows. “Social Athletic Clubs” were groups of young men, oftened organized in sports and sometimes had clubhouses. Politicians used the SACs as they had in New York, to make sure the favored candidate won.

In the 20’s, New York and Chicago were the major capitalist urban hubs of American society and organized crime. Both were cities of stark contrasts between extreme wealth and abject poverty. For many in the early 1920’s business was booming, and Al Capone and other famous gangsters and bootleggers ran their respective cities like puppet masters.

Well Dressed: Al Capone Laughing

Capone was the poster-boy of the media and he loved the attention. He was born in New York and moved to Chicago in 1920 to join Johnny Torrio’s gang. In 1925, he took over when Torrio retired after an assassination attempt. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre on February 14, 1929, might be regarded as the culminating violence of the Chicago gang era, as seven members or associates of the “Bugs” Moran mob were machine-gunned against a garage wall by rivals posing as police. The massacre was generally ascribed to the Capone mob, although Al himself was in Florida. was the true rags to riches story that has been the plotline in one too many gangster movies throughout the years. In his time, however, Capone’s fame was still a novelty.  The Bureau’s investigation of Al Capone arose from his reluctance to appear before a federal grand jury on March 12, 1929 in response to a subpoena. On March 11, his lawyers formally filed for postponement of his appearance, submitting a physician’s affidavit dated March 5, which attested that Capone had been suffering from bronchial pneumonia in Miami, had been confined to bed from January 13 to February 23, and that it would be dangerous to Capone’s health to travel to Chicago. His appearance date before the grand jury was re-set for March 20.

On October 18, 1931, Capone was convicted after trial and on November 24, was sentenced to eleven years in federal prison, fined $50,000 and charged $7,692 for court costs, in addition to $215,000 plusinterest due on back taxes. The six-month contempt of court sentence was to be served concurrently.

Al Capone's criminal record and fingerprint card

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By the 20th century, Philadelphia had become one of the world’s largest industrial centers. But pollution, disease, and inadequate housing alarmed city officials. Unlike the high-rise tenements of New York. The three-story tall bandbox houses were often hidden from street view. Local government was slow to react. By 1920 most of south Philadelphia was filled with block after block of row and twin houses. unlike New York has the public place like central park and recreation park. philadelphia only has a few public squares and playgrounds provided off-street recreation and open green space.

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Image depicts the idea of the quota laws set forth during the 1920's in the United States. Original Source: American Isolationism Cartoon, 1921 (Library of Congress)

During the 1920s many American cities saw quota laws that limited or completely stopped a group of people from entering into the United States. One of the cities that was affected by these quota laws was NYC which saw a great decline of immigration during the 1920s. The congressional acts of 1921, 1924, and 1929 limited greatly the amount of immigrants coming from southern and eastern Europe places where the majority of immigration came from to NY (Chudacoff & Smith 206). On the other hand these laws did not limit the immigration coming from the Western Hemisphere therefore, during the 1920’s the majority of the immigrants entering the country where Mexicans. While some of them moved up to some of the northern cities like Chicago and Detroit many of them resided in southwestern cities. For example during this decade Mexicans where a little more than 50% of the population in El Paso, a little less than 50% of the population in in San Antonio and 20% of the population in Los Angeles (Chudacoff & Smith 206). This influx of Chicanos provided a large body of labor as they worked in steel mills, tanneries, meat-packing industries, automobile factories, etc. However these Chicanos were also faced issues in the United States such as segregation a negative aspect of their time here.

Image of a Mexican immigrant couple during the 1920's. Original Source: UC Berkeley Bancroft Library

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The twentieth century brought about great changes for America, especially in New York.  New York had shown great progression economically, culturally, and architecturally. There was growth in every aspect of New York life from informal to professional subjects. However, there were also changes taking place in other parts of America and not all of those changes ended as good as New York. One of those places are Miami, Florida. In the mid 1920s, Florida was facing a land boom. Miami was looked at as a tropical paradise and people from all over America decided to invest in land. There was easy credit access and the prices of the land were quickly increasing. This led to the brokers and dealers ordering large amounts of supplies and causing a big problem with the railroads, some of them even being stranded en route. In result, there was a negative news feed about investing in Florida real estate.

Although the railroads were messed up, there was still ways of transporting goods by waterway. That was used until 1926, when a ship sank at the base of the port, making impossible to reach by any other ships, killing every way of transporting goods at the time from January until May. But by that time, Miami was no longer a place people wanted to go. Later that year, Miami faced a huge hurricane and left most developers bankrupt. After facing another big hurricane two years later then the stock market crash in 1929, Florida was no longer looking like the paradise it had initially been. The great depression and the invasion of mediterranean fruit flies left Florida with a bad economy that wasnt fixed until after World War II. Although New York faced economic depression as well, nothing was as bad as having your resources cut off and actually ruining your land.

[caption id=”attachment_2086″ align=”alignnone” width=”600″ caption=”photo from "Miami: Then

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The Great Depression began with the crash of the New York Stock Exchange of October, 1929 and it rapidly spread worldwide.  The market crash manifest the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, deflation, diminishing farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth. In the Great Depression the American dream had become a nightmare. What was once the land of opportunity became the land of desperation. Unemployment rose and wages fell for those who continued to work. Thousands of banks and businesses failed and millions were homeless.

In Virginia the economic impact of the Great Depression was less harsh. While the state suffered industrial reverses, unusual unemployment, and much hardship, Virginians did not experience, in the same degree, the extensive hardship that the rest of the nation endured. Virginia had a delayed reaction to the financial catastrophe. The state’s manufacturing did not include the heavy production of steel and automobiles that sustained huge national losses. A major part of Virginia’s industry was consumer oriented; producing the sort of necessities that even a poor person could not do without, such as food and clothing. While these buffers eventually broke down, they minimized the depression’s effect on Virginia and contributed to its more rapid recovery by 1935. Virginia was fairly better off than most other states during the depression, with industrial production and employment rising in the last 10 years.

Depression: Breadlines: long line of people waiting to be fed: New York City

(Picture from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.)

Depression: Breadlines: long line of people waiting to be fed: New York City: in the absence of substantial government relief programs during 1932, free food was distributed with private funds in some urban centers to large numbers of the unemployed. (Circa February 1932)

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The 1920s, also known as “The Roaring Twenties” was a great time period for the United States. New York City, especially, flourished with many inventions as well as political, cultural, and structural changes. New York was becoming more modern than ever, it was finally being known as the American New York. With all the other changes in the city, there was a big change occurring in Harlem, New York. Many African-Americans were migrating from the South and entering Harlem. New York was experiencing an explosion of culture. The African Americans brought a huge change culturally. The black population brought with them new ideas and had a great influence in poetry, literature, music, and photography to New York. Jazz, a style of music brought by the African American community, became the musical tradition in this time period. Also, with a great boom in the black population in New York, African American officials were now finally being elected.

Musical Influence

The Harlem Renaissance

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During the 1920s, entertainment was being established in New York City. Especially in Harlem, where music and the arts came to life. Similarly, New Orleans also had a music break through. Many talented African Americans came out to night clubs and bars to show off their talent in singing and playing instruments. Music from New Orleans influenced New York’s culture, and entertainment world. Jazz brought up a mix of other creative innovations with in the communities it touched.  Here is a video showing how Jazz influenced New Orleans and New York. Jazz served as a gateway outside of their work, so they can relax with other people and enjoy the music.

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/30143-assignment-discovery-american-jazz-age-video.htm

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As we saw in the Scortsese’s movie, gangs and history of crime is dated way before 1920’s. Figures like “Bill the Butcher” successfully run “Five Points,” making New York a violent place to live. But at that time, the crime was not yet organized and gangs didn’t have “specialties.” The idea of having a family that will look after you began in 1920’s and was innate by most famous mobsters – the Italian Mafia.

I would like to distinctive two cities, well known from organized crime networks: New York and Chicago. The gangsters started to play an important role in cities life after January 16, 1920, when the selling alcohol was banned through the United States. Illegal liquor distribution became very popular in both cities, because gangsters were able bribe the police, judges and politicians. Later on: crime, illegal gambling, drugs trafficking, infiltrating the construction businesses began to dominate ordinary city life. Very important aspect that differentiates Chicago and New York City mafia was a structure. In Chicago there was only one criminal organization called “The Chicago Outfit” which at certain point (between 1925 and 1932) was controlled by famous All Capone who had a monopoly on the crime world. He was suspected of ordering hundreds of murders and his income in 1927 was estimated at $105,000,000. The Outfit controlled not only Chicago, but also Iowa, Wisconsin and other areas in Mid West. The gang had 300-400 members and 1000 associates. In contrary, New York was ruled by “Five Families” who compete with each other to control New York. What’s more “The Outfit” was more diverse and had had other ethnic groups, while Five Families were strictly Italian. What is interesting, the mafia established national Commission, which was a governing body of American Mafia, and each of the five New York families received a vote on the Commission, while the heads of the families in Chicago revived only one vote.

I found very interesting movie about New York Mafia on You Tube which includes interviews with former mobs members with covered faced because of witness protective program.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AWQpVMY1a0&feature=player_embedded#at=74

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[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/SclJ94h2oyQ" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

The “Roaring Twenties”  was an era of great economic growth, prosperity that emphasized the  social, artistic, and  cultural  diversity in the city. It was an era of new inventions, discoveries that led New Yorkers to experience new technologies, entertainment, mass media, that brought changes in life style and culture of the people living in the city as well as the people living outside the city by giving hope of getting prosperity and wealth.

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Life in the 1920\’s – Transport and Fashion

By the late 1920s, the automobile had firmly    establishes itself as the newest and most popular method of road transport. The rapidly growing automible industry led by Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company produced new and better models every year for the insatiable public demand. Roads that had been designed for horse transport began to change. In 1927, all the State governments, the Federal Government, and the local governments contribute the money for roads redesigned as well as new road rules introduced.

Women’s fashions  experienced dramatic changes in the early 1920’s following the end of the First World War in a period often referred to as the “roaring 20’s”. The passing of bustles and corsets gave clothing designers much greater freedom of expression. New and colorful fabrics echoed the joy felt by a war weary population following the end of hostilities. Beautiful coordinated and accessorized outfits were a feature of 1920’s ladies fashions.

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With the arrival of the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century, came a reformation of American culture. It was only a matter of time before new technology too over the world. New Yorkers saw it coming; however, they were not aware of how quickly it would revolutionize the country. By the 1920s, the New York was fl0urishing beyond belief. Goods were now advertised by people trying to sell them. Production of those goods increased. This mass-consumer culture which characterized the United States (Chudacoff 186) was centered in New York. “Leisure activities were another type of consumption mostly supported by city dwellers. A mania for sports, movies, and music gripped every city. Passionate interest in sports had been building since the late nineteenth century. In 1923, 300,000 fans attented the six-game Wold Series of baseball between the New  York Yankees and New York Giants” (Chudacoff 186). Baseball became a popular sport and was practiced by most people  in sandlots, beaches, tennis courts and golf links. In addition, motion pictures drew large crowds as it became a popular attraction with an average attendance of 110 million people per week in a nation with a population roughly over 120 million people.

One of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game, Babe Ruth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People crowd New York City's Warners' Theatre for the showing of Don Juan.

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Airplanes started out as a relatively new invention in the earl 1920s. However the quickly caught on later in the decade.  Airmail  began to take flight in 1919 and 1920 when planes travelling started to travel from  New York and Washington DC. Since air travel cut down the time from weeks to just a few days, it quickly became popular. Later in the 1920s, as planes became more reliable and well built,  passenger planes started to make flights across the US. Today we see airplanes as a normal means of transportation that is almost essential to our everyday lives, while back in the 1920s airplanes were revolutionary.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pwG-kRi0-Y

One of the most recognized changes of the 1920s was the change in fashion. Women started to wear more comfortable clothes, including pants and shorter skirts with pleats, instead of the more constricting clothes they used to wear. Men also started to wear more sporty clothes, them being used to dressing formally. Men and women both were also beginning to start playing with accessories, mostly hats. Fashion at this time was started to be influenced by the new art movements, creating a whole new style. This change contributed to the city being more modern because at first, people were reluctant to change but by 1925, it was quickly adapted to and accepted by society. The change was so popular, it defined fashion up until the next decade. Some of the styles that began to be practiced then are even popular and important in today’s culture as far as the fashion world.

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The 1920s is the decade that fashion entered the modern era. It was the decade in which women first liberated themselves from constricting fashions and began to wear more comfortable clothes, such as short skirts or trousers. Men started abandoning overly formal clothes and began to wear sport clothes for the first time. Of cause, there are reasons for those changes. First of all, after World War I, America entered a prosperous era. Social customs and morals were relaxed in the optimism brought on by the end of the war and the booming of the stock market. Women were entering the workforce in record numbers. Thus, Clothing changed with women’s changing roles in modern society, particularly with the idea of freedom for women. Younger women now made sportswear into the greatest change in post-war fashion. The tubular dresses of the ’Teens had evolved into a similar silhouette that now sported shorter skirts with pleats, gathers, or slits to allow motion to rule women’s fashion for the first time in history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGEs5aoqGLM&feature=fvst

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Before the 1920s, women were used to work at home. Taking care of her family was the primary duty for them, Such as washing dish, cloth, and cooking dinner for their families. At that time, they hadn’t any entertainments and political rights. In contrary, men owned all priorities and authorities, for example; they could go outside to work, and go to club for having fun; also they have right to vote, etc.

During and after the 1920s, there were quite a lot changes in the society. Women began to work outside of their house. Taking care of families weren’t women’s duties any more.   They started to work at factories for making money as men did, and joined women club. Also, they realized that women should have equal opportunities of jobs and rights like men.  In 1920s, women began to have right to vote and participated in political position.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=684n8FO68LU&feature=related

During the 1920s there were quite a lot of changes in home life. To be specific, American industrialization and urbanization are most fundamental reasons that made people’s everyday life more comfortable and it is also beginning of modern period of New York City. For woman who spent all day to do house chores such as wash dishes, clean the house or iron cloth, modern society gave them an opportunity to have their own time. Although not all people could afford to buy product, for instance vacuum cleaners, washing machines, refrigerators and so forth, at least running water, gas or electronic stove freed even working class housewives from all day house working (Chudacoff pg.186). These conveniences also led many women to outside so that they could join woman club, social life or other leisure activities.

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The years of the 1920’s were best known as ” The Roaring Tweinties.” It was a decade of so many new inventions and discoveries  in the fields of medicine, technology, clothing, music, filmand much more. There are many things to talk about during this decade. I definitely see it as a period of happiness and prosperity until the very last year in 1929 when the Great Depression began. I would say that the symbol of happiness for this decade was dancing, which explains why I chose the following video for this post. Before this time, the thought of dancing or even dancing was not heard of as much. During this time, people now had the time to actually go out and enjoy themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNAOHtmy4j0

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The entertainment industry took advantage of Americans increased leisure time and income during the 1920s. As people celebrated postwar prosperity with indulgence in entertainment.  Movie change the form of entertainment. When the “talkies” was available. The motion pictures with sound. Movies presented audiences with spectacular sets that they could only dream about. In the 1920s, there were 20 Hollywood studios, and the demand for films was greater than ever and it is the greatest output of films in America; it is about 800 film releases in a year. Also, movies were a very inexpensive form of entertainment. By 1922, almost every community in America had at least a 100-seat movie theater for total 40million people go to watch movie every week.

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This clip is basically talking about how the Prohibition of Alcohol in 1920s influenced the society negatively. In the beginning of the 19^th century, alcohol was abusively used by many people. Many people blamed many problems upon alcohol. Many organizations were created to fight against consumption of alcohol. The state laws were already passed in the beginning of 20^th century, and eventually, the 18^th amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919, and put into effect on the same day of 1920. “[It] banned the manufacture, distribution and sale of alcohol in America.” The consequences of this new act were “saloons selling alcohol closed, alcohol prices rose, and consumption of alcohol decreased especially among the poor.” The rose of “organized crime” gangs was the biggest and worst consequence, which they took over the distribution and sale of alcohol. Al Capone was the top leader of these gangs. Illegal alcohol was smuggled from many other places, such as Europe, Mexico, Canada, and the West Indies.

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The HarlemRenaissance was a cultural movement that covered the 1920s. It was also known as the “New Negro Movement”.  During this time period, the musical style of blacks was becoming more attractive to whites.  In this time period, the “Jazz Age” emerged and with the introduction of jazz came a totally new movement in the United States. The jazz was mainly credited to African Americans, but expanded and improved to become socially suitable to middle class white Americans. Jazz was the sound of the 1920s; it became the “people’s” music despite some trouble being accepted by the black “cultural elite”. Music in general exploded during the 1920s. Jazz were key to nightclubs, Apollo Theater, and the Cotton Club. Harlem Renaissance music was defined by lively clubs and characters who constantly improved and modified jazz’s sound. Men like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Willie “The Lion” Smith were the “gladiators” of jazz. Harlem Renaissance music was more than just music, but for many, jazz was a way of life.

Louis Armstrong

Duke Ellington

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