Immigration Act, 1929- only 150 000 immigrants allowed per year
1923-1930- industrial output doubled and GDP rose 40%
1925- a new Model T made every 10 seconds
Warren Harding- return to normalcy
Calvin Coolidge- the business of America is business
Herbert Hoover- rugged individualism
Henry Ford paid workers $5/day- double that of traditional industries
Business profits rose 80% from 1921-1929
Savings of top 60 000 families exceeded savings of 25 million poorest families
80-100 million Americans went to the movies each week by end of decade
Most farmers never recovered from collapse of commodity prices in 1920
More than 90% of farms lacked electricity
Unemployment ~12 million 1921, ~3 million 1929
1920-29: the number of working women increased by 25%
~1.5 million black Americans migrated from the south to the north during decade
KKK membership: 1920= ~100 000; 1925= 5 million
19th Amendment- women gain the vote
10 million women were working in 1930 ... but this was still only a quarter of the females aged 15 and over
¾ million black farm workers lost jobs during 1920s
23 race riots across country in 1919
Segregation (‘Jim Crow laws’) laws continued well into the 20th century.
Northern cities developed less official forms of segregation (housing, schooling, work)
Palmer Raids- 1000s of suspected communists arrested, held without trial
1920-1930, number of farms declined for first time US history
Fordney-McCumber Tariff (1922) imposed high tariffs on imported goods (protectionism)
60% of the population lived under the poverty line
