{"id":5729,"date":"2026-04-29T05:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T05:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/?p=5729"},"modified":"2026-04-29T15:45:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T15:45:01","slug":"historiography-of-the-1920s-in-american-textbooks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/blog\/2026\/04\/29\/historiography-of-the-1920s-in-american-textbooks\/","title":{"rendered":"Historiography of the 1920s in American Textbooks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The two chapters I looked at are \u201cThe Roaring Life of the 1920s\u201d from The Americans<\/em> (2005) and \u201cProsperity\u2019s Promise\u201d from The Adventure Of American People<\/em> (1966), while the article I looked at is \u201cTHE 1920s\u2014A HISTORIOGRAPHICAL SURVEY\u201d by Jennifer Fronc. These three resources give examples of what historiography of the 1920s is like, and how it has changed in American textbooks.<\/p>\n\n\n

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A page featuring a section from the 1920s chapter of “The Americans” (2005).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThe Roaring Life of the 1920s\u201d splits its chapter into four parts, detailing the changing mindsets of the time, the women of the 1920s, education and pop culture, and the Harlem Renaissance. When discussing women during the 1920s, they do mention there being a \u201cdouble standard\u201d and that \u201cmany women were pulled back and forth between the old standards and the new.\u201d1<\/a><\/sup> A discussion of struggle happens in the section on the Harlem Renaissance, writing that \u201cNorthern cities in general had not welcomed the massive influx of African Americans. Tensions had escalated\u2026 culminating\u2026 in approximately 25 urban race riots.\u201d2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is very important, as the struggles for both women and black Americans during the 1920s are clearly stated in the book, and not sugarcoated so children have an idea that, despite the movements during the time, the past is complicated, especially when it comes to oppressed groups.<\/p>\n\n\n

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A page featuring a section from the 1920s chapter of “The Adventure Of American People” (1966).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Despite this, there is no mention of the hardships immigrants faced, with the most being that they \u201coften ached for home.\u201d3<\/a><\/sup> Additionally, under a chart for the causes and effects of prohibition, the authors write that \u201cnative-born Americans developed a hostility to German-American brewers and toward other immigrant groups that used alcohol,\u201d which could easily be glossed over if a child isn’t paying close attention.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, \u201cProsperity\u2019s Promise\u201d has more subtle splits that discuss the presidency and government of the time, the different movements and changes across America, and the economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no mention of \u201cflappers\u201d in this textbook, only referring to them as \u201cliberated women\u201d who became less and less modest, with examples such as skirts being \u201c9 inches from the ground! It soon had reached the knee\u201d and \u201c[women cutting] their hair short\u2014and differently, it seemed, every year.\u201d5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any mention of the Harlem Renaissance is within the economic section, as they had moved to cities such as New York City due to labor shortages due to World War I. Despite this, it is only written as \u201ca period of extraordinary creativity for Negro artists and musicians.\u201d6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n

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A word cloud featuring prominent words from the 1920s chapter of “The Americans” (2005).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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A word cloud featuring prominent words from the 1920s chapter of “The Adventure Of American People” (1966).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There are very few similarities between these two chapters. Neither chapter discusses the Stock Market Crash, though I figure that topic is saved for their respective Great Depression chapters. They also discuss the culture of the decade, albeit in varying depths. Overall, \u201cThe Roaring Life of the 1920s\u201d is better for a general overview of the culture of the 1920s, while \u201cProsperity\u2019s Promise\u201d is better for a general overview of the 1920s, before the Great Depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on what Jennifer Fronc writes in \u201cTHE 1920s\u2014A HISTORIOGRAPHICAL SURVEY,\u201d these chapters fit into the context of what she writes about. \u201cThe Roaring Life of the 1920s\u201d doesn\u2019t go into full depth to how women were treated during the 1920s, but does mention how they were trapped between modernity and tradition. In regards to the Harlem Renaissance, it does a does still treat it \u201cas an adjunct to the mainstream narrative of U.S. history,\u201d as they discussed prominent African-Americans, such as James Weldon Johnson and Marcus Garvey and their accomplishments.7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the contrary, \u201cProsperity\u2019s Promise\u201d Barely touches upon women and black Americans in the 1920s, but does touch upon immigrants. Unfortunately, there is only mention of Jewish and Catholic immigrants and the discrimination they faced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding when historians write helps evaluate how one could use a source, and understand how trustworthy it is. The different motives historians have during each decade is a huge driving factor that scholars have to take into account. Older sources are not more trustworthy than more modern sources, and trustworthiness depends on the author’s motives rather than the age of a source. Once this is finally understood scholars can more accurately determine which sources are best to use when writing a paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Footnotes<\/h5>\n\n\n
  1. Gerald A. Danzer et al., The Americans<\/em>, 647. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  2. Danzer et al., 659. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  3. Danzer et al., 642. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  4. Danzer et al., 643. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  5. Henry Graff and John Krout, The Adventure Of American People<\/em>, 615. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  6. Graff and Krout, 623. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  7. Jennifer Fronc, “THE 1920s\u2014A HISTORIOGRAPHICAL SURVEY,” 20. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n
    Bibliography<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

    Danzer, Gerald A., J. Jorge Klor de Alva, Larry S. Krieger, Louis E. Wilson, and Nancy Woloch. The Americans<\/em>. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Fronc, Jennifer. “THE 1920s\u2014A HISTORIOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.” Taylor & Francis Group, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Graff, Henry and John Krout. The Adventure Of American People<\/em>. Rand McNally, 1966.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The two chapters I looked at are \u201cThe Roaring Life of the 1920s\u201d from The Americans (2005) and \u201cProsperity\u2019s Promise\u201d from The Adventure Of American People (1966), while the article…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"[{\"id\":\"550867d8-e286-48c0-b333-b570d3489e93\",\"content\":\"Gerald A. Danzer et al., The Americans<\\\/em>, 647.\"},{\"id\":\"30b0c7aa-6cea-4d4f-9a76-9fbc8dc27cee\",\"content\":\"Danzer et al., 659.\"},{\"id\":\"320efc1e-969b-4627-a3bd-6f3964c6d673\",\"content\":\"Danzer et al., 642.\"},{\"id\":\"11325d54-8163-4e18-b1b7-f2fe299ccc8f\",\"content\":\"Danzer et al., 643.\"},{\"id\":\"80a1e0b1-ba80-4de3-bab1-0639ed8f869e\",\"content\":\"Henry Graff and John Krout, The Adventure Of American People<\\\/em>, 615.\"},{\"id\":\"9dd70c11-bc20-47a2-98a8-851d5208c2ba\",\"content\":\"Graff and Krout, 623.\"},{\"id\":\"0d20b3fd-e36f-4d5d-9500-1fe27c03a69b\",\"content\":\"Jennifer Fronc, \\\"THE 1920s\\u2014A HISTORIOGRAPHICAL SURVEY,\\\" 20.\"}]"},"categories":[2,42,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2","category-essays","category-historiography"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}