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Why The 1920s Should Not Be Called The Roaring 20's

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The 1920s were a very eventful time in United States history giving it the title “The Roaring 20s” but when observed more closely an abundance of injustices are discovered. On the surface, the 1920s supported a lot of innovation and improvements in the economy, but in reality, many people suffered from debt and only the rich got any new technologies. Immigration and migration in the 20s seemed good on the surface but a plethora of racial injustices occurred along the way. Civil Rights and Civil Liberties made a great stride in the 1920s but the vast amount of racial discrimination and racial terrorism was still a major problem for many people in the United States. The 1920s should not be called the roaring 20’s because many people struggled …show more content…

but many horrible instances occurred during this time. During the 1920s the “Great Migration” occurred which saw 6 million African Americans move to northern and western cities from the South to escape Jim Crow laws and segregation. Many African Americans moved to large cities like Harlem, New York starting the “Harlem Renaissance”. This seemingly progressive time was hindered by racist Whites that lived in the cities using racist terms to refer to where African Americans lived. Even though African Americans made great advances during the 20s by moving out of the South, those accomplishments were diminished by racist individuals that didn't care about what they faced. During the 1920s the 18th amendment was passed that made the sale and consumption of alcohol illegal. On the surface, this doesn't seem like a racist act but when investigated further, it is clear that there were racial undertones. Many Catholics from Europe had breweries and drank alcohol more than the average U.S. citizen, so the 18th amendment directly hurt Catholics and made getting a job harder for them. Another Act made in the 1920s was the Johnson Reed Act which directly prevented certain ethnicities from immigrating to the United States. This Act put quotas on how many people could come from certain countries, this favored Northern and Western Europeans but gave Southern and Eastern Europeans a disadvantage. Asian immigrants were entirely barred from coming to the United States. Immigration and migration were a big part of the 1920s, however, a lot of action was taken to prevent certain groups from going where they

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