Urban and Rural Values in the 1920s Flashcards

What change did the 1920 census show about where Americans lived?

For the first time, more people lived in towns and cities than in the countryside.

Cities favoured new ideas, new goods, and freer social rules.

Rural areas valued traditional religion, close communities, and caution about change.

It is the belief that the Bible is literally true and should guide life.

The southern states where fundamentalist Protestant beliefs were very strong.

A teacher in Tennessee was tried for teaching evolution. It showed a clash between modern science and rural religion.

They saw alcohol as sinful and harmful to families and communities, so they backed a ban.

“Dry” backed a strict alcohol ban (often rural); “wet” wanted legal alcohol (often urban).

They feared new immigrants would change American culture and bring radical ideas, so they backed quotas.

A racist, anti-immigrant group, strongest in small towns and rural areas, especially the South and Midwest.

Low crop prices and debt made farmers feel left out of the boom, increasing anger at city ways.

Radio and films spread city styles into small towns, which some rural people saw as a threat to tradition.