The historiography of the 1920s changes through out the decade. Due to Ramapo College’s American Textbook Collection, students from Ramapo can see how textbooks changed throughout American history. The textbooks that will be discussed in this blog post will be Rise of American Nation from 1977 and The American Journey from 2009. These two textbooks depict the 1920s differently from one another while also sharing some similar thoughts about the era.
Rise of American Nation views the 1920s as a time of progress and advancement. The textbook Rise of American Nation‘s chapters 33 through 35 retell the events of the 1920s and is called The Golden Twenties. The textbook views the 1920s as an era of great social advancements, as both economic and scientific achievements were made during the era. The book talks about the Presidents, rural America, and the industrial growth. The Harlem Renaissance was mentioned as a wonderful piece of culture that was produced in the 1920s. The textbook also viewed African American history during this time as positive due to them finding new rights, and being equals to whites.1 The textbook does not really mention other minorities. Mexico and Nicaragua where mentioned, but only as nations not the people living there. Overall the textbook describes the era as a relatively good time to live in.
On the contrary the textbook The American Journey views the 1920s differently. Chapter 24 of the American Journey textbook talks about the 1920s. The textbook mostly talks about the societal impacts that the era had, along with major events like the Red Scare during the 1920s. The textbook also examines the oppression of minorities during the 1920s. The book views the 1920s through a lens of social inequality. Unlike Rise of American Nation, The American Journey stated that African Americans did not have it good and they were struggling for self identity.2 The textbook also mentions the economic boom, but also notes those that were left behind. These people were farmers, textile workers, railroad workers, and coal miners due to a lack of needs for them in the New American Society.3 The book mentions social changes and it’s impact on society. The book examines the conflicts of Prohibition, nativism, and the Scopes Trial. American Journey writes the event as neutral even though some of these things are pretty bad for American society. For the most part the book examines the 1920s through the lens of social changes.
Though the messages of these two books are different, they have some similar thoughts of the 1920s. Both books examined the New Women that arise due to events in the 1920s. Technology, like radio, was mentioned in both books as a good advancement. Both talked about how the economic boom occurred and how beneficial it was for those who were effected by it. The books also talked about how industries evolved in the 1920s. It is interesting that the book from 2009 talked less about African Americans compared to the book from 1977. One would think that these be flipped. Though there are few similarities they do not share a lot in common
The article that I compared these two textbooks to was Mae Ngai’s “Nationalism, Immigration Control, and the Ethnoracial Remapping of America in the 1920s”. Ngai focused her research on immigration and nationalism in America during the 1920s. Neither textbook mention immigration a lot throughout their chapter, though some of the themes present in Ngai’s work is found in the textbooks. She talks about how during the 1920s and 1930s that there were multiple laws that restricted immigrants based on ethnicity. The Rise of American Nation briefly mentions Mexican immigration, with the view that they were poorly educated and disrespected due to them crossing the border based on Mexico’s economic situation.4 Her ideas have similar themes of American Journey due to how both works view the era through social change. The American Journey talks about the rise of nativism, which revived the Ku Klux Klan, and where the reason why the quota system was ineffective.5 Ultimately Ngail views the immigration policy during the 1920s in a negative light, which The American Journey also agree with.
Though the American Journey came out in 2009, I trust it less than Rise of American Nation which came out in 1977. American Journey feels like the book was for a younger audience than for high schoolers. The book cover, pages, and images look like it would attract young kids rather than high schoolers. The textbook either has simple retelling of events or are neutral about certain events. Rise of American Nation has a clear theme, that the era was great. It is honest about what the themes are about and does not distort information to fit its themes. Though the thesis is a little outdated, the information in the textbook is still valuable and could still be used in the classroom. These textbooks are still valuable for the retelling of the historiography of the 1920s.
- Lewis Paul Todd and Merle Curti, Rise of American Nation, (Harcourt, 1977), 579-580. ↩︎
- Joyce Appleby, Alan Brinkley, James M. McPherson, The American Journey, (National Geographic Society, 2009), 747. ↩︎
- Appleby, Brinkley, McPherson, The American Journey, 757. ↩︎
- Todd and Curti, Rise of American Nation, 549. ↩︎
- Appleby, Brinkley, McPherson, The American Journey, 762. ↩︎
Bibliography
Appleby, Joyce. Alan Brinkley, James M. McPherson. The American Journey. National Geographic Society, 2009
Ngai, Mae M. “Nationalism, Immigration Control, and the Ethnoracial Remapping of America in the 1920S.” OAH Magazine of History 21, no. 3 (2007): 11–15. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25162123.
Todd, Lewis Paul, Merle Curti. Rise of American Nation Harcourt, 1977.
Josh Pelar is a History student at Ramapo College of New Jersey.
