1.The 1920s was a decade of cultural, economic and social transformations. The rise of mass production, Fordism, and national advertising campaigns fueled consumerism, while credit systems created new spending habits. Entertainment flourished with “Radio and movies expands national celebrity and also starts to create national cultural awareness”.(slide 10) Socially, the Jazz Age encouraged intermixing of races, challenging long standing norms. However, this era also saw restrictive immigration policies that sought to preserve protestant dominance, and the fundamentalist beliefs that led to the Scopes Trial. The tension between modernity and tradition defined the decade, while new freedoms emerged in fashion, music, and industry. Conservative forces sought to reinforce older social structures. The 1920s, then, was an age of both progress and resistance.
Arnell, Alyssa. The 1920s. Powerpoint.
2.
The end of Prohibition resulted in Billie Holiday becoming a target of the federal government by giving Harry Anslinger (The head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics) a new focus. With alcohol prohibition ending, Anslinger needed a way to keep his department relevant so he turned to drug enforcement. He built his campaign on racism and a hatred of addiction, believing that people struggling with substance use “deserved to be punished” and “deserved to be broken.” Billie Holiday, a Black woman with a heroin addiction, became his primary target. Especially because of her song Strange Fruit, which openly condemned white supremacy and racial violence. When she refused to stop singing it, he sent an agent to track her. The agent, Jimmy Fletcher, eventually arrested her, leading to her trial. Sentenced to a year in prison, she was silenced but never backed down. Even after her release, Anslinger continued to harass her, making her one of the first casualties of the modern War on Drugs.
Abdelfatah, Rund. Arablouei, Ratmin. Hosts. “Throughline: The United States vs. Billie Holiday on Apple Podcasts.” Apple Podcasts, NPR, 8 Oct. 2020. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-united-states-vs-billie-holiday/id1451109634?i=1000493988024.
3.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Buck v. Bell upheld Virginia’s law allowing the forced sterilization of individuals deemed “unfit” to reproduce, reinforcing the eugenics movement that sought to control the nation’s gene pool. The case centered on Carrie Buck, a young woman institutionalized and labeled “feebleminded” after being assaulted and impregnated by a member of her foster family. The Court in an 8-1 ruling, legitimized sterilization laws that ultimately led to 70,000 forced procedures across the U.S.
This ruling was deeply intertwined with rising nativist efforts to preserve an idealized American racial stock. As the podcast states, “The eugenicists saw two threats to the national gene pool: One was the external one, which they were addressing through immigration law; the other was the internal one — what to do about the people who were already here. They had a few ideas.” The decision not only devastated thousands of lives but also influenced Nazi Germany’s sterilization policies, illustrating the dangerous consequences of pseudoscientific racial purity theories.
Terry, Gross. host. “The Supreme Court Ruling That Led to 70,000 Forced Sterilizations.” NPR, Fresh Air, 7 Mar. 2016.
www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/07/469478098/the-supreme-court-ruling-that-led-to-7www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/07/469478098/the-supreme-court-ruling-that-led-to-70-000-forced-sterilizations0-000-forced-sterilization
Arnell, Alyssa. The 1920s. Powerpoint.
2.
The end of Prohibition resulted in Billie Holiday becoming a target of the federal government by giving Harry Anslinger (The head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics) a new focus. With alcohol prohibition ending, Anslinger needed a way to keep his department relevant so he turned to drug enforcement. He built his campaign on racism and a hatred of addiction, believing that people struggling with substance use “deserved to be punished” and “deserved to be broken.” Billie Holiday, a Black woman with a heroin addiction, became his primary target. Especially because of her song Strange Fruit, which openly condemned white supremacy and racial violence. When she refused to stop singing it, he sent an agent to track her. The agent, Jimmy Fletcher, eventually arrested her, leading to her trial. Sentenced to a year in prison, she was silenced but never backed down. Even after her release, Anslinger continued to harass her, making her one of the first casualties of the modern War on Drugs.
Abdelfatah, Rund. Arablouei, Ratmin. Hosts. “Throughline: The United States vs. Billie Holiday on Apple Podcasts.” Apple Podcasts, NPR, 8 Oct. 2020. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-united-states-vs-billie-holiday/id1451109634?i=1000493988024.
3.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Buck v. Bell upheld Virginia’s law allowing the forced sterilization of individuals deemed “unfit” to reproduce, reinforcing the eugenics movement that sought to control the nation’s gene pool. The case centered on Carrie Buck, a young woman institutionalized and labeled “feebleminded” after being assaulted and impregnated by a member of her foster family. The Court in an 8-1 ruling, legitimized sterilization laws that ultimately led to 70,000 forced procedures across the U.S.
This ruling was deeply intertwined with rising nativist efforts to preserve an idealized American racial stock. As the podcast states, “The eugenicists saw two threats to the national gene pool: One was the external one, which they were addressing through immigration law; the other was the internal one — what to do about the people who were already here. They had a few ideas.” The decision not only devastated thousands of lives but also influenced Nazi Germany’s sterilization policies, illustrating the dangerous consequences of pseudoscientific racial purity theories.
Terry, Gross. host. “The Supreme Court Ruling That Led to 70,000 Forced Sterilizations.” NPR, Fresh Air, 7 Mar. 2016.
www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/07/469478098/the-supreme-court-ruling-that-led-to-7www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/07/469478098/the-supreme-court-ruling-that-led-to-70-000-forced-sterilizations0-000-forced-sterilization