America of the twentieth century experienced many drastic events. The two World Wars and economic crises were challenges the country managed to overcome. The multinational USA with lots of racial and ethnic groups formed its legislative basis equal and fair for everybody and directed its activity at prosperity. The lessons of the Great Depression and post-war crises strengthened American society and allowed women to assert themselves not only as mothers but also as workers equal to men. The Social Security Act and organized labor with the War Effort established the grounds for the creation of the middle class. As to ethnic minorities, court cases and laws demonstrated increasing discrimination against the blacks, but the liberal mentality of Americans made them stop violence against other races. The American legislative and social system created equal rights for everybody regardless of one’s religion, race, sex, and social status through a flexible tax system, health security and social welfare provided to the unemployed. Such measures helped keep the country out of an economic crisis and reduce unemployment.
The Historical Context of the Twentieth Century and Its Impact on the Middle Class and African Americans
The beginning of the twentieth century in the USA marked a new era of economic social and political development of the country. At that time, America became stronger and strengthened its position when Britain and Spain could not maintain the colonial policy, and many countries became independent. After the end of World War I, America managed to recover and become a highly developed country. The cancellation of the Treaty of Versailles marked the USA as an isolated country. It was the decade of the prohibition and woman suffrage movement, which ended in establishing necessary legislative norms in 1920. The Teapot Dome scandal showed Harding’s administration as the one involved in favoritism and bribery. However, the 1920s initiated the development of business, industrialization and became years of prosperity and mass culture in America. The weakening of sexual restraint and the availability of extra money among the youth gave birth to the boom of fashion and jazz, and the period became known as the Jazz Age. The middle class of that time formed itself due to growing industrialization. Nevertheless, African Americans were rather poor and worked in farms. They still felt the slavery imprint in their minds, and most whites viewed them as a lower race. Poverty made them migrate in 1925-1930 from the South to the North, and it became known as Great Migration. After that, large residential districts, like Harlem in New York, developed in the North. Still, many blacks could not afford to pay for their housing. They lived separately from the whites in less prestigious blocks and met in special houses where they paid an entrance fee in exchange for alcohol, food and listening to blues singers. Such concerts initiated the development of black music. Unlike the blacks, the middle class consisted mostly of the whites. The boom and prosperity, as well as greater sexual freedom and the equality of men and women, became their leading ideas. The youth as a social layer understood that one could gain a material reward from work and individual achievements.
In the years of the Great Depression, the middle class experienced many difficulties. They lost houses and savings. Pecuniary and psychic problems arousing after that influenced their sense of identity. Many representatives feared that the Great Depression could provoke a class revolution. Poorer people got under the impact of the period first. Those affected later had their jobs, but wages dropped to 60%. Their consciousness changed to more competitive. They understood that many young people who could work did not have jobs, so their success and way to the American Dream were in their own hands. Students and scientists from the middle class formed symbiotic relationships and changed the conception of the American society being taking all for granted. Although the authorities convinced people that changes would come into action, representatives of the middle class acted on their own. To raise the economy of the country, F. D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act in 1935, which was part of the New Deal program constructed by the President. It was a groundbreaking measure taken to ensure proper living standards to retired people aged 65 and more. The Act did not only anticipate health insurance for veterans, but also for the employed. The unemployment benefit also was under this act. The Great Depression altered the viewpoint of the American authorities on financial processes. Therefore, they constructed the Act based on payroll taxed from startup costs. The system of benefits for veterans, widows, and orphans after the Civil War was similar to conceptions of social security.
The blacks also suffered during the Great Depression. Most musicians became unemployed because many theaters closed. Since the African Americans had difficulties in getting profits, the Depression influenced them greatly. There existed a firm distinction between the black and the white working classes. The former often called the latter “white trash”. Differences in “white collar” and “blue collar” work were noticeable among middle-class workers. They represented people moving vertically upwards from the lower social status. An outstanding example of racial discrimination and a court mistake became the Scottsboro case of 1931. The court charged nine young African American boys with raping two white women, Ruby Bates, and Victoria Price. According to the laws of that time, the anticipated punishment for raping white women was the death penalty. The court sentenced eight boys to death. Since the youngest of them, Leroy Wright was thirteen, the jury considered his case separately and sentenced him to live imprisonment. The women were under pressure and provided false accusations. Due to the efforts of the American Communist Par