Brian,+Julia,+Grace+&+Jay+G+Interactive+DBQ+1

Topic: The culture of Modernism: science, sti arts, and entertainment pp. 648–650, 726–7

DBQ Question: 

**How did American people accept the culture of Modernism? **
Documents:

CLARENCE DARROW QUESTIONS WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN AT THE SCOPES TRIAL (Monday, July 20, 1925)

DARROW: No, I take it you will tell the truth. You have given considerable study to the Bible, haven't you, Mr. Bryan? BRYAN: Yes, sir, I have tried to. [...] BRYAN: It is hard to believe for you, but easy for me. A miracle is a thing performed beyond what man can perform. When you get beyond what man can do, you get within the realms of miracles; and it is just as easy to believe the miracle of Jonah as any other miracle in the Bible. DARROW: Perfectly easy to believe that Jonah swallowed the whale? BRYAN: The Bible says so. The Bible doesn't make as extreme statements as evolutionists do. [...] DARROW: Yes, all right. Do you believe in the story of the temptation of Eve by the serpent? BRYAN: I do. DARROW: Do you believe that after Eve ate the apple, or gave it to Adam, whichever way it was, that God cursed Eve, and at that time decreed that all womankind thenceforth and forever should suffer the pangs of childbirth in the reproduction of the earth? BRYAN: I believe what it says, and I believe the fact as fully. DARROW: That is what it says, doesn't it? BRYAN: Yes. DARROW: And for that reason, every woman born of woman, who has to carry on the race, the reason they have childbirth pains is because Eve tempted Adam in the Garden of Eden? BRYAN: I will believe just what the Bible says. I ask to put that in the language of the Bible, for I prefer that to your language. Read the Bible, and I will answer. DARROW: "And between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." That is right, is it? BRYAN: I accept it as it is. DARROW: Did that come about because Eve tempted Adam to eat the fruit? BRYAN: I believe it is just as the Bible says.

[|http://personal.uncc.edu/ jmarks/Darrow.html]

**DOC B. KKK: document that shows resistance of modernism** [[image:KKK2.jpg]]
http://www.st-marys.hull.sch.uk/sites/history/images/kkk.jpg

DOC C. Flappers: a video of women dancing Charleston
media type="youtube" key="ZJC21zzkwoE" height="344" width="425"

**DOC D. Anarchist:**
code THE RELEVANCE OF ANARCHISM To Modern Society by Sam Dolgoff

"...intolerance of oppression [writes Malatesta], the desire to be free    and develop one personality to its full limits, is not enough to make one     an anarchist. That aspiration towards unlimited freedom, if not tempered     by a love for mankind and by the desire that all should enjoy equal free-     dom, may well create rebels who...soon become exploiters and tyrants..."

The 1848 revolutionary movement "was rich in instincts and negative theo-    retical ideas which gave it full justification for its fight against     privilege, but it lacked completely any positive and practical ideas     which would have been needed to enable it to erect a new system upon the     ruins of the old bourgeois setup...

http://www.spunk.org/texts/writers/misc/sp000191.txt

code

**DOC E:** 1920s Advertisement
http://www.adclassix.com/a3/20kodakcamera.htm

**DOC F: Model T**
media type="youtube" key="S4KrIMZpwCY" height="344" width="425"

DOC H: Journal Cover
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/issue/?magname=ModernMechanix&magdate=9-1930



DOC I: Babe Ruth's 60th Homerun, 1927
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS7Iq_I0i6M media type="youtube" key="uS7Iq_I0i6M" height="344" width="425"

DOC J: 1920s Advertisement, Coca Cola
http://www.adclassix.com/ads/20cocacola.htm

DBQ: How did American people accept the culture of Modernism? Soo Choi

The 1920s, or the Roaring Twenties, was good times for the middle and high class citizens of America; they had the highest living standard in the world. In this time of prosperity, Modernism, broadly defined as is modern thought, character, or practice, was widely and quickly accepted by the American population, although with some nativists resisting radical changes. WIth the improved economy from the Second Industrial Revolution, the American population started experiencing their new technology, improved leisure options, and more radical ideas coming in as the society became more and more cosmopolitan. The Second Industrial Revolution that preceded and continued the 1920s was a key to enabling modernism to enter the United States. One big factor of this economic development was the assembly line that first originated in Model T (Doc. F); with such effective technology, the production of mass goods skyrocketed. Because of this increase in production rate, advertisements became popular to market the newly updated products (Doc. E), and advancement in technology to produce the "latest" goods was emphasized. Such emphasis lead to more inventions such as the submarine (Doc. H) and household appliances such as refrigerators. This economic improvement was key for Americans to accept modernism, since it gave them the time and money to do so. Leisure options improved drastically: Americans who had the money spent their pastime dancing the Charleston in clubs (Doc. C), enjoying arts of Cubism or Futurism (Doc. G), watching sports games (Doc. I) or even drinking the new drink, Coca-Cola (Doc. J). Americans enjoyed such modern items or leisure because they had the money and time (resulting from the new modern technology) to in 1920s, and they accepted new culture fast. Flappers, a new "breed" of young women who wore high fashion and spent most of their time socializing, is another good example of how Americans readily accepted the new culture. Another factor of a modern society is its extent of cosmopolitanism, or its ease with different countries and cultures. Although there was strong resistance of some Americans to new cultures and ethnic groups coming into the U.S., such as the second short-lived rise of Ku Klux Klan that expressed its hatred towards other ethnic groups (Doc. B), the flood of new, modern ideas coming into the U.S. and American citizens starting to accept such ideas could not be stopped. Such modern ideas included anarchism, as shown in Doc. D. The first Red Scare happened around the 1920s because Americans were scarred at the amount of new ideas coming into its society; this proves that the land of the United States was in fact becoming the harboring land of more and more ideas to come and to be accepted. Unfortunately, not everyone had the time and money to enjoy modernism as the middle and high classes did. However, for those that had the opportunity to embrace the culture of Modernism - that is, enjoying the developed technology and its inventions, spending leisure time in a modern manner, and accepting new ideas such as anarchism - readily did so. It can be even said that 1920s, the era of embracing modernism, was the founding era for the current American identity of cosmopolitanism and progress.

Thesis: It includes information, directly answers the questions by talking about how people accepted the culture of the 20's. 8

Facts: Just uses facts from the given documents; should've included stuff other than the given examples. 5

Analysis: Pretty good analysis of the examples, nicely written and shows understanding of the documents and topic. Supports stance by given reasons and examples. 7

How did American people accept the culture of Modernism?

Eeho Choi

In the 1920's America saw a boom in the arts, the sciences and technology along with consumerism. This happened largely as the presidents in charge at the time created a free market, Smithian economy that enabled, for a short period of time, the rich to get richer giving the upper class more free time for leisure to develop such modernist tastes, while occasionally providing the lower class with adequately paying assembly line jobs. This was the birth of modernism, and it was both accepted, and rejected by Americans in a variety of ways in the 20's, with people of the urban areas accepting the new forms of recreation it gave them, and those in rural areas rejecting it for more conservative values.

Many who rejected modernism, did so out of their fondness for traditional values. The culture of the jazz age had expanded tolerance for minorities and homosexuals, and that had repelled many conservatives. Document B shows a picture of the Ku Klux Klan, who attempted to stop the on going civil rights movement for the minorities with murder and continuing discrimination. They bowed to the cross of Christ and thought of themselves as the crusaders for their god, and felt that modernism detracted from the Bible's messages.

Not all opposers of modernism were from rural and uneducated backgrounds like most members of the KKK. Many men in office fought for conservatism at the national stage. One such man was William Jennings Bryan, a populist, fundamentalist presbyterian who opposed Darwin's theories, and the sale of alcohol amongst other progressive ideas. In document A, he presents his extremist stance on the Bible, stating "I believe . . . just as the Bible says" in literal terms. It's important to note Bryan's opposition of modernism because he was a very important figure of the time, as a retired Secretary of State, and a long time central figure of the Fundamentalist side of the on-going Modernist vs. Fundamentalist debates. He represented the views of a very large population at the time.

Extremism, however, was not exclusive to the fundamentalists. Many modernists were anarchists or communists, as the open-minded modernist societies accepted such different points of view. Document D argues for the complete elimination of government, citing "the desire to be free and develop one personality to its full limits". The modernists were less organized and unified of their thinking, because modernist philosophies allowed for diversity in American Society. In the most blunt ways, modernism is defined by the dance, the consumerism, the new industries, the art and the sports defined by documents C, E, F, G, and I respectively. But beneath that was an idea that was not so deviant from the original American values at all: tolerance and equality.

Varying degrees of these two different views were around at the time, but as is often the case in American History, the country was split by conservative and liberal views in reception of the then-new culture of modernism. History is more interested in those who did accept it, in acclaim of novels like The Great Gatsby and paintings like those of Marcel Duchamp, as well as the birth of perhaps America's biggest industry: mass entertainment. But modernism is not a word that can easily be defined. Some use it to describe new philosophies and the growth of the on going civil rights movement in addition to advances in the arts, while others see it as no more than a big industrial revolution and a series of parties it inspired. But however one defines it, modernism, in its introduction, was another catalyst for the division of the rural and the urban.

Thesis: Very good thesis because it directly answers the question but kind of foreshadows the whole essay 8

Facts: Good use of the documents but it's really clustered. But still good since you show you understand it all. 6

Analysis: Goes further than just answering the question and answers the questions by showing examples of certain, specific examples. 7

Soo Suh

How did American people accept the culture of Modernism?

During the Roaring Twenties, Modernism has reflected social and intellectual transformations in American community especially for the middle and the high class. Although some nativists such as Ku Klux Klan and fundamentalist church members defied the idea of Modernism, many other Americans began to recognize the affirmative views of the culture of Modernism. The second industrial revolution, gaining more equality, and advancement of more leisure time opened up the American people to accept the birth of the Modernism.

Throughout the second industrial revolution, the U.S started to encounter high economical expansion as the government imposing more on income taxes and development of the highest standard living. Starting with the invention of mobile T ultimately supported the economical augmentation in nations. The picture in document F resiliently proves that adopting the system of assembly line eventually led the American industries rapidly prospered. Despite the disparity between income of laborers and middle-class managers led to huge conflict, the economical growth was undeniable. As the image in document H depicts the American dream striking in real life; Marketing became one of the most important key factor sustaining the power of the industrial businesses and the corporations became the dominant business form.

Becoming wealthier the Americans more leisure time they had. Many of them were affordable to spend money for cultural values. As in the document C portrays, The Charleston was popular that people mostly spent time and money on during their leisure time, watching famous artwork in document G and games, in document I, were also another key factors prove how the Americans spent their leisure moments. Because the Americans were economically copious during this period, there was a huge growth of flappers understanding the culture of modernism. Seeking the Americans to assemble their prosperity, mass numbers of women began to crave their equal rights and to seek their individual freedom also. During the period of Jazz age or Harlem renaissance people began to illustrate their excitement towards the arts.

Despite the development of the industrial revolution provided people more relaxing life, there still were groups of people were strongly against interacting with culture of modernism. Because mass numbers of people were not hesitate to accept new cultural ideas and movements many conservative people like Ku Klux Klan and fundamentalist church members believed accepting ”new” ideas and cultures destroy the real America with its traditions. As in document B, Ku Klux Klan believed aliens had no rights to live in the land; they killed many people who were different from them racially and culturally.

1920s wasn’t the period everyone appreciated but it definitely was the colossal period that greatly impacted American today’s. American accepted liberal ideas and cultural modernism and America was born newly culturally, economically, and politically.

Thesis: Good thesis but not great. Does not explain how people accepted modernism 7

Facts:

Analysis: