To deny that the 1920s saw significant development in the extension of rights for Americans would be to diminish the worth of some essential victories for civil rights groups. Black men winning the right to vote was a crucial milestone that changed the future of African Americans forever; likewise, the women’s rights movement saw the introduction of birth control, a sexual revolution and, eventually, the right to vote. However, the expansion of rights certainly did not extend beyond a privileged few; black men achieved suffrage due to their status as males – it did not extend to their female counterparts. Similarly, the gender equality movement seemed to primarily concern middle-class white women, many of whom were sympathetic to the KKK’s ideologies and who ignored the plight of not only their African American sisters, but working-class women and those who fell below the poverty line. When only a small minority of a group gets to benefit from civil rights advancements, it is worth asking: whose movement is this and what is the motivation behind it? The 1920s certainly saw break-throughs in rights, but the racial and class tensions that pervaded the movements demonstrate that there was still an overwhelming resistance to the recognition of basic human dignity for all.
I agree to a certain extent that the 1920s did witnessed an expansion of rights for many Americans, however the end result of this period showed that many Americans still do not have equal rights. One group of Americans fighting for equal rights and the right to vote are the women of America. Through the efforts of both individuals and organizations, like Carrie Chapman Catt and the National American Women Suffrage Association, and Alice Paul and the National Women’s Party, the 19th Amendment which gave white women the right to vote was ratified in August of 1920. However, though white women could now vote, African American women are still not given the right to vote. Therefore the 1920s did witnessed an expansion of rights, but only to certain groups of Americans.
Whilst the 1920s saw an expansion of rights for some, I would argue that many Americans did not enjoy these advancements. In regards to African Americans, Jim Crow meant the contrary, as Blacks were stripped of the right to vote (which had been achieved in the 15th Amendment, 1870). As a result, Blacks lost the right to serve on juries, testify in court, sue whites, as well as a range of other citizenship rights.
Instances where Americans did see an expansion of rights would certainly include the victory for the Women’s suffrage movement in 1920, when the 19th Amendment was ratified allowing women the vote. It is still important to note, however, that Black women were still disenfranchised due to Jim Crow. Additionally, women were empowered with the right and freedom to prevent conception. Whilst there was no legal annulment of the 1873 Comstock laws (preventing the sending of contraceptive devices and distribution of information on contraception and abortion) throughout the 1920s the subject entered into public discussion where women had access to information, and contraception at Birth control clinics.
The 1920's did see an expansion of rights for Americans, but these were not experienced by the many but a privileged few. While the 15th amendment states that people can not be denied the right to vote on the basis of race, Jim Crow stripped the black men of this advancement by implementing such things as a poll tax and tests before voting ensuring that black men would not be able to vote. Similarly, the 19th amendment gave women in America the right to vote. However, this advancement was only witnessed by white middle class women. Black women were excluded from the vote due to the Jim Crow rules. The 1920's did see expansion of rights for women in regards to the sexual revolution, giving them the right to prevent conception. Women also altered their appearance to coincide with their new freedoms. Therefore while seeming as though the 1920's witnessed an expansion of rights for many Americans, it was only witnessed by certain groups of Americans.
As a period enveloped by a raft of political and social reforms, for the fringe and underrepresented quarters of American society, the 1920’s presented both opportunity and uncertainty. Increasing participation in the labour force and a greater presence in Northern and Midwestern regions for male African-Americans, shifts toward gender equality, the spread and development of minority political activists and interest groups, and the women’s suffrage issue served as progress, yet ultimately, legal obstacles and overbearing discrimination and societal divides obstructed the extent to which rights could be ‘expanded’. The continued growth and influence of the Ku Klux Klan as a divisive force, and the absence of a social voice for black women casted shadows over chances at rights and a movement for equality. Overwhelmingly, the 1920’s stood as a decade to be viewed as one step in the infant stages of wider progress.
Many Americans did benefit from the 1920’s rights movements, however, most were not able to experience significant change in their rights until later in the 19th century. Middle-class white women seemed to gain the most from the twenties. The right to vote was obtained by women around the same time that it was taken from many black men by the use of literacy tests and grandfather laws. The presence of women in Universities and professional environments grew dramatically. This was due to the new found idea that women could have goals outside of marriage/motherhood. The availability of birth control made it possible for women to put off having children to instead hold a job to aid their husbands or to enjoy their own money during their life as a bachelorette. Black men saw improvement in the jobs available to them as well, but for the majority they were still given the hardest and most labor intensive work. I consider the 1920’s to be the building block for what would soon be almost equal rights between races and sexes; it gave hope to those who did not receive more rights while giving positive feedback to those who did.
While on the surface it would appear that the 1920s coincided with a very significant expansion of legal rights and social freedoms, the reality of the situation contradicts the popular memory of this decade. Despite the passage of the 19th Amendment, extending the franchise to many women previously unable to vote, its effects for black women in the Jim Crow dominated South were effectively non-existent. We can assert that the disenfranchisement of these Southern women would have been made even more egregious in the knowledge that white suffragists were unwilling to help their struggle for voting rights. Similarly, the advances in rights for the female workforce remained minimal, relegating them to traditional gender roles as is suggested by the title of the then contemporary film, the Office Wife.
Certain groups - most predominantly middle class white women - saw their ‘active’ political rights and limited social rights expanded. Notably the right to vote was constitutionally entrenched in 1920. The image of the flapper was a symbol which celebrated both unified women influencing change and a woman’s autonomy, whose campaigns led to for instance the right to contraception. Yet while many attended university, for some its purpose was to be in an environment and gain an asset which helped them to find a husband, thus showing a strong identification with existing gender roles.
However, African-Americans were marginalised by Jim Crow laws (loss of right to vote, serve on juries, testify in court) with white prejudices strong. The refusal of most feminists to support black women indicated that white women had a stronger identity to their race than their gender and that they believed their cause would be hindered should they also campaign for racial equality.
While it cannot be disputed that the United States in the 1920’s did experience an expansion of rights, they were only extended to some groups in American society, while others experienced increased limitations on their rights, or discriminated from rights altogether. Black men who were given the right to vote in the 15 amendment in 1870 increasingly saw these new found rights being diminished by Jim Crow Laws, highlighting this era as one that could be seen as simultaneously limiting and expanded rights for US citizens. Those who did experience an expansion of rights were women through the 19th amendment, but even this expansion of rights was limited in its discrimination of black women, and the continual emphasis on women in subservient positions such as the ‘office wife’. This highlights that while some women did gain rights, some of the rights experienced were, as Sarah Evans suggests, ‘illusory’. Thus while an expansion of rights was experienced, it was only truly experienced by a privileged few.
While the 1920's did bare witness to no doubt an increase in the basic rights of Americans, it must be noted that these were not all encompassing rights, rather rights that only advantaged a privileged few.
A landmark decision gave African Americans the right to vote in the 1920's, how ever only males were allowed to. So to say that the right to vote was uniform for all Americans is just not true. Following this, women themselves gained a voice and demanded that they too should be heard in the 'national voice'. Although this time, it was the middle class white women who refused to aid their African American counterparts. Segregation and alienation was once again evident, so while their was a great air of confidence in equality taking place, history has shown that in fact this was not the case.
The 1920’s certainly witnessed an expansion of rights for some Americans, but not many Americans. For African-Americans, their hard-won independence from slavery after the Civil War was soon compromised by the introduction of the Jim Crow laws (1880’s – 1960’s) in the South. For example, the 15th Amendment in 1870 granted the vote to all US citizens, regardless of race. However, the Jim Crow laws acted as a major impediment to Southern black voters by introducing literacy tests in order to vote.
This period was often characterised as a turning point in women’s rights, especially with many states granting women the vote. This is reinforced by the popular image of ‘flappers,’ signifying the expanding freedoms of women – in dress, hairstyles, attitudes and careers. However, these ‘freedoms’ were limited to only certain classes of women, with mainly middle-class, white women benefitting the most. African-American women had to fight for equality on their own, with white suffragettes refusing to include blacks in their cause.
While the 1920’s was therefore a period of expanding freedoms, these freedoms were by no means, universal or absolute.
Whilst the 1920s witnessed an expansion of rights for many Americans, there were many cultural and social factors that diminished this expansion. The enfranchisement of women in the 1920s was severely limited by widespread Jim Crow, which prevented black men and women from voting. Women’s groups such as the WKKK, and other female suffrage movements, which held racist undertones further promoted this. Furthermore mass consumerism promoted a narrow view of women revolving around maintaining beauty, which was further exacerbated by gender roles in the workplace, for example the ‘Office Wife’. Therefore although women received the right to vote, the claim that the 1920s witnessed an expansion of rights for many Americans seems limited to white women.
I agree that the 1920’s saw an invariable expansion of rights in America; however they were not applicable to all Americans. In the case of race rights, black men were granted the right to vote prior to the 1920’s, however numerous conditions placed on this right significantly limited those who could vote. Furthermore, black men continued to be subject to segregation through perversions of the law, discrimination through Jim Crow laws, and violence from groups such as the Klu Klux Klan. These abuses would also throw into contention of whether or not the right to vote was a true advancement in race rights in America? Women also experienced several improvements as they were granted the right to vote and many social views of the woman were altered. Unfortunately though, the right to vote only applied to white women as pleas of the black woman were blatantly ignored. Likewise, new opportunities for women were, arguably, only granted to middle-class white women, especially in the instance of birth control. Finally, the extent of the changes of social stigmas is debatable, for instance; despite women now being free of their ‘ancient’ Victorian chains, marriage and children were still their ultimate goals in life almost making all these new liberties a sort of new means to on old end.
While the 1920s did see an expansion in the rights of some groups of Americans, this did not apply to all Americans. 1920 saw an expansion in the political rights of women, with the passing of the 19th Amendment, which allowed women the right to vote. However, this right was extended only to white women, who in turn refused to help black women in their quest to secure the vote, seeing this as a race issue, rather than a women's issue. The 1920s also allowed women greater opportunities for obtaining work and continuing employment even after marriage. This signified a slight change in attitude towards women's place in the world. However, as women were relegated to specific female-appropriate jobs (and were paid significantly less than men) and often saw work as a means of obtaining a husband, it is clear that gender-equality was still a far-off goal. While white women were granted the right to vote in the 1920s, it is clear that African-Americans did not enjoy the same expansion in their rights. Although the 15th Amendment, passed in 1870, stated that citizens of the US could not be barred from voting on account of race, Jim Crow laws allowed the use of poll taxes and education tests to exclude potential voters, thus resulting in the disenfranchisement and loss of citizenship rights for African-American men. Consequently, it seems as though white women were the only group who really saw an expansion of their rights during the 1920s.
Women were granted suffrage in August 1920 so obviously this decade did witness an expansion of rights for many Americans, namely white woman. Thus the limitations of this ‘victory’ served to highlight the cultural divide between black persons and white persons in America at that time. Black women in the South who had been fighting for the right to vote became disenfranchised when their white colleagues refused to help their cause. Alice Paul, a prominent suffragette, summed up a view that many white American woman held; that the denial of voting rights in the South was a “race issue” not a “woman’s issue”. Furthermore the Jim Crow laws used literary tests and poll taxes to limit Black men voting, virtually stripping them of their freedoms achieved in ratifying the 14th Amendment in 1868.
The 1920’s certainly saw an expansion in rights for many people, especially women, for whom the 1920 ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteed female suffrage. Although some states did not ratify the Amendment, this victory for early twentieth century women’s equality activists set in motion the inevitable push towards full political equality legally for women in the USA. For African-Americans, however, the 1920s remained a mixed time in terms of rights. The great migration northwards was underway, and for African-Americans having moved north many political rights guaranteed under U.S. Federal Law, but restricted in practice in Southern States, were enjoyed. But, in the South, many African-Americans languished under Jim Crow’s regime, alienated from their rights.
Many people experienced an expansion of their rights in the 1920s. Significantly black men gained the right to vote, however many states found ways to circumvent this new right through measures like the Jim Crow laws. The women's suffrage movement also increased in popularity with mixed success. However it was generally viewed by advocates as a right exclusive to white women, and they did not campaign equally for the vote for black women. Women's attendance at school and college also increased as well as their presence in the workplace, however it has been argued that their new rights were so limited by economical and social factors that they didn't really experience much more freedoms than before they received the vote and increases in education and employment opportunities. Although there were attempts to increase rights for a variety of minorities in the 1920s, the practical changes they made to the lives of individuals were often minimal.
The 20th Century was an age that seemed to empower people both of different race and sex but in reality was not that different from generations before. It seemed that the rights and interests were being expanded however, particularly in the instance of women, the motives of this could be questioned. In the 1920's more women were receiving a higher level of education than ever before but it has been argued this was for the purpose of finding a well educated (in turn, financially stable) husband. It has also been argued that white women pushed for the vote purely because african-american men were receiving it, therefore they felt entitled to it as well. Although the 1920's did bring change and empowerment to many Americans the motives behind this push for rights can in someways undermine the whole cause.
The 1920s undoubtedly saw an expansion of rights for many Americans, particularly in relation to women. Women's rights groups helped women gain access to birth control and the right to vote, which freedoms coincided with greater social freedoms for women, represented by the 'flapper.' However, civil injustices were by no means eradicated in the 1920s. In the South, Jim Crow laws impeded African Americans from exercising their vote. Groups such as the WKKK encouraged white women to ignore the plight of their African-American sisters. And white women themselves, although increasingly involved in the workplace, remained constrained to traditional gender roles. The 1920s were an incremental step towards an egalitarian America.
The 1920's did indeed see an expansion of right for white woman rights they were just about the only ones. in the 1920's white women gained the right to vote and this decade also saw the liberation of many women from the home. however this did not include Black American Women who still could not vote and their fellow white suffragists did not do much to help. Due to Jim Crow laws, Black American men saw a contraction in rights. Jim crow laws stated that black men could not sue or bare witness against a white man. This greatly reduced the black mans rights and so so while the 1920's did see an expansion n rights for some not all gained very many rights at all.
While the 1920s saw many groups that had previously been marginalised in American society struggle to enhance their rights, little tangible progress was made with regard to African-American and women’s rights. Aside from the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote, there was little more than a subtle shift in gender roles in the United States. The situation was similar for African-Americans. While the debate over how best to enhance the rights of African-Americans was waged between groups such as the NAACP and UNIA, very little progress was made, with Jim Crow laws and racism still prevailing. Nevertheless, while it is going too far to claim that the 1920s witnessed an expansion of rights, there is little doubt that the process started in this decade served to facilitate the reforms that occurred later in the 20th century.
To deny that the 1920s saw significant development in the extension of rights for Americans would be to diminish the worth of some essential victories for civil rights groups. Black men winning the right to vote was a crucial milestone that changed the future of African Americans forever; likewise, the women’s rights movement saw the introduction of birth control, a sexual revolution and, eventually, the right to vote. However, the expansion of rights certainly did not extend beyond a privileged few; black men achieved suffrage due to their status as males – it did not extend to their female counterparts. Similarly, the gender equality movement seemed to primarily concern middle-class white women, many of whom were sympathetic to the KKK’s ideologies and who ignored the plight of not only their African American sisters, but working-class women and those who fell below the poverty line. When only a small minority of a group gets to benefit from civil rights advancements, it is worth asking: whose movement is this and what is the motivation behind it? The 1920s certainly saw break-throughs in rights, but the racial and class tensions that pervaded the movements demonstrate that there was still an overwhelming resistance to the recognition of basic human dignity for all.
ReplyDeleteI agree to a certain extent that the 1920s did witnessed an expansion of rights for many Americans, however the end result of this period showed that many Americans still do not have equal rights. One group of Americans fighting for equal rights and the right to vote are the women of America. Through the efforts of both individuals and organizations, like Carrie Chapman Catt and the National American Women Suffrage Association, and Alice Paul and the National Women’s Party, the 19th Amendment which gave white women the right to vote was ratified in August of 1920. However, though white women could now vote, African American women are still not given the right to vote. Therefore the 1920s did witnessed an expansion of rights, but only to certain groups of Americans.
ReplyDeleteJeremy Tng 23849002
Whilst the 1920s saw an expansion of rights for some, I would argue that many Americans did not enjoy these advancements. In regards to African Americans, Jim Crow meant the contrary, as Blacks were stripped of the right to vote (which had been achieved in the 15th Amendment, 1870). As a result, Blacks lost the right to serve on juries, testify in court, sue whites, as well as a range of other citizenship rights.
ReplyDeleteInstances where Americans did see an expansion of rights would certainly include the victory for the Women’s suffrage movement in 1920, when the 19th Amendment was ratified allowing women the vote. It is still important to note, however, that Black women were still disenfranchised due to Jim Crow. Additionally, women were empowered with the right and freedom to prevent conception. Whilst there was no legal annulment of the 1873 Comstock laws (preventing the sending of contraceptive devices and distribution of information on contraception and abortion) throughout the 1920s the subject entered into public discussion where women had access to information, and contraception at Birth control clinics.
The 1920's did see an expansion of rights for Americans, but these were not experienced by the many but a privileged few. While the 15th amendment states that people can not be denied the right to vote on the basis of race, Jim Crow stripped the black men of this advancement by implementing such things as a poll tax and tests before voting ensuring that black men would not be able to vote.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, the 19th amendment gave women in America the right to vote. However, this advancement was only witnessed by white middle class women. Black women were excluded from the vote due to the Jim Crow rules. The 1920's did see expansion of rights for women in regards to the sexual revolution, giving them the right to prevent conception. Women also altered their appearance to coincide with their new freedoms. Therefore while seeming as though the 1920's witnessed an expansion of rights for many Americans, it was only witnessed by certain groups of Americans.
As a period enveloped by a raft of political and social reforms, for the fringe and underrepresented quarters of American society, the 1920’s presented both opportunity and uncertainty. Increasing participation in the labour force and a greater presence in Northern and Midwestern regions for male African-Americans, shifts toward gender equality, the spread and development of minority political activists and interest groups, and the women’s suffrage issue served as progress, yet ultimately, legal obstacles and overbearing discrimination and societal divides obstructed the extent to which rights could be ‘expanded’. The continued growth and influence of the Ku Klux Klan as a divisive force, and the absence of a social voice for black women casted shadows over chances at rights and a movement for equality. Overwhelmingly, the 1920’s stood as a decade to be viewed as one step in the infant stages of wider progress.
ReplyDeleteMany Americans did benefit from the 1920’s rights movements, however, most were not able to experience significant change in their rights until later in the 19th century. Middle-class white women seemed to gain the most from the twenties. The right to vote was obtained by women around the same time that it was taken from many black men by the use of literacy tests and grandfather laws. The presence of women in Universities and professional environments grew dramatically. This was due to the new found idea that women could have goals outside of marriage/motherhood. The availability of birth control made it possible for women to put off having children to instead hold a job to aid their husbands or to enjoy their own money during their life as a bachelorette. Black men saw improvement in the jobs available to them as well, but for the majority they were still given the hardest and most labor intensive work. I consider the 1920’s to be the building block for what would soon be almost equal rights between races and sexes; it gave hope to those who did not receive more rights while giving positive feedback to those who did.
ReplyDeleteWhile on the surface it would appear that the 1920s coincided with a very significant expansion of legal rights and social freedoms, the reality of the situation contradicts the popular memory of this decade. Despite the passage of the 19th Amendment, extending the franchise to many women previously unable to vote, its effects for black women in the Jim Crow dominated South were effectively non-existent. We can assert that the disenfranchisement of these Southern women would have been made even more egregious in the knowledge that white suffragists were unwilling to help their struggle for voting rights. Similarly, the advances in rights for the female workforce remained minimal, relegating them to traditional gender roles as is suggested by the title of the then contemporary film, the Office Wife.
ReplyDeleteCertain groups - most predominantly middle class white women - saw their ‘active’ political rights and limited social rights expanded. Notably the right to vote was constitutionally entrenched in 1920. The image of the flapper was a symbol which celebrated both unified women influencing change and a woman’s autonomy, whose campaigns led to for instance the right to contraception. Yet while many attended university, for some its purpose was to be in an environment and gain an asset which helped them to find a husband, thus showing a strong identification with existing gender roles.
ReplyDeleteHowever, African-Americans were marginalised by Jim Crow laws (loss of right to vote, serve on juries, testify in court) with white prejudices strong. The refusal of most feminists to support black women indicated that white women had a stronger identity to their race than their gender and that they believed their cause would be hindered should they also campaign for racial equality.
While it cannot be disputed that the United States in the 1920’s did experience an expansion of rights, they were only extended to some groups in American society, while others experienced increased limitations on their rights, or discriminated from rights altogether. Black men who were given the right to vote in the 15 amendment in 1870 increasingly saw these new found rights being diminished by Jim Crow Laws, highlighting this era as one that could be seen as simultaneously limiting and expanded rights for US citizens. Those who did experience an expansion of rights were women through the 19th amendment, but even this expansion of rights was limited in its discrimination of black women, and the continual emphasis on women in subservient positions such as the ‘office wife’. This highlights that while some women did gain rights, some of the rights experienced were, as Sarah Evans suggests, ‘illusory’. Thus while an expansion of rights was experienced, it was only truly experienced by a privileged few.
ReplyDeleteWhile the 1920's did bare witness to no doubt an increase in the basic rights of Americans, it must be noted that these were not all encompassing rights, rather rights that only advantaged a privileged few.
ReplyDeleteA landmark decision gave African Americans the right to vote in the 1920's, how ever only males were allowed to. So to say that the right to vote was uniform for all Americans is just not true. Following this, women themselves gained a voice and demanded that they too should be heard in the 'national voice'. Although this time, it was the middle class white women who refused to aid their African American counterparts. Segregation and alienation was once again evident, so while their was a great air of confidence in equality taking place, history has shown that in fact this was not the case.
The 1920’s certainly witnessed an expansion of rights for some Americans, but not many Americans. For African-Americans, their hard-won independence from slavery after the Civil War was soon compromised by the introduction of the Jim Crow laws (1880’s – 1960’s) in the South. For example, the 15th Amendment in 1870 granted the vote to all US citizens, regardless of race. However, the Jim Crow laws acted as a major impediment to Southern black voters by introducing literacy tests in order to vote.
ReplyDeleteThis period was often characterised as a turning point in women’s rights, especially with many states granting women the vote. This is reinforced by the popular image of ‘flappers,’ signifying the expanding freedoms of women – in dress, hairstyles, attitudes and careers. However, these ‘freedoms’ were limited to only certain classes of women, with mainly middle-class, white women benefitting the most. African-American women had to fight for equality on their own, with white suffragettes refusing to include blacks in their cause.
While the 1920’s was therefore a period of expanding freedoms, these freedoms were by no means, universal or absolute.
Whilst the 1920s witnessed an expansion of rights for many Americans, there were many cultural and social factors that diminished this expansion. The enfranchisement of women in the 1920s was severely limited by widespread Jim Crow, which prevented black men and women from voting. Women’s groups such as the WKKK, and other female suffrage movements, which held racist undertones further promoted this. Furthermore mass consumerism promoted a narrow view of women revolving around maintaining beauty, which was further exacerbated by gender roles in the workplace, for example the ‘Office Wife’. Therefore although women received the right to vote, the claim that the 1920s witnessed an expansion of rights for many Americans seems limited to white women.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the 1920’s saw an invariable expansion of rights in America; however they were not applicable to all Americans. In the case of race rights, black men were granted the right to vote prior to the 1920’s, however numerous conditions placed on this right significantly limited those who could vote. Furthermore, black men continued to be subject to segregation through perversions of the law, discrimination through Jim Crow laws, and violence from groups such as the Klu Klux Klan. These abuses would also throw into contention of whether or not the right to vote was a true advancement in race rights in America? Women also experienced several improvements as they were granted the right to vote and many social views of the woman were altered. Unfortunately though, the right to vote only applied to white women as pleas of the black woman were blatantly ignored. Likewise, new opportunities for women were, arguably, only granted to middle-class white women, especially in the instance of birth control. Finally, the extent of the changes of social stigmas is debatable, for instance; despite women now being free of their ‘ancient’ Victorian chains, marriage and children were still their ultimate goals in life almost making all these new liberties a sort of new means to on old end.
ReplyDeleteWhile the 1920s did see an expansion in the rights of some groups of Americans, this did not apply to all Americans.
ReplyDelete1920 saw an expansion in the political rights of women, with the passing of the 19th Amendment, which allowed women the right to vote. However, this right was extended only to white women, who in turn refused to help black women in their quest to secure the vote, seeing this as a race issue, rather than a women's issue. The 1920s also allowed women greater opportunities for obtaining work and continuing employment even after marriage. This signified a slight change in attitude towards women's place in the world. However, as women were relegated to specific female-appropriate jobs (and were paid significantly less than men) and often saw work as a means of obtaining a husband, it is clear that gender-equality was still a far-off goal.
While white women were granted the right to vote in the 1920s, it is clear that African-Americans did not enjoy the same expansion in their rights. Although the 15th Amendment, passed in 1870, stated that citizens of the US could not be barred from voting on account of race, Jim Crow laws allowed the use of poll taxes and education tests to exclude potential voters, thus resulting in the disenfranchisement and loss of citizenship rights for African-American men.
Consequently, it seems as though white women were the only group who really saw an expansion of their rights during the 1920s.
Women were granted suffrage in August 1920 so obviously this decade did witness an expansion of rights for many Americans, namely white woman. Thus the limitations of this ‘victory’ served to highlight the cultural divide between black persons and white persons in America at that time. Black women in the South who had been fighting for the right to vote became disenfranchised when their white colleagues refused to help their cause. Alice Paul, a prominent suffragette, summed up a view that many white American woman held; that the denial of voting rights in the South was a “race issue” not a “woman’s issue”. Furthermore the Jim Crow laws used literary tests and poll taxes to limit Black men voting, virtually stripping them of their freedoms achieved in ratifying the 14th Amendment in 1868.
ReplyDeleteThe 1920’s certainly saw an expansion in rights for many people, especially women, for whom the 1920 ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteed female suffrage. Although some states did not ratify the Amendment, this victory for early twentieth century women’s equality activists set in motion the inevitable push towards full political equality legally for women in the USA. For African-Americans, however, the 1920s remained a mixed time in terms of rights. The great migration northwards was underway, and for African-Americans having moved north many political rights guaranteed under U.S. Federal Law, but restricted in practice in Southern States, were enjoyed. But, in the South, many African-Americans languished under Jim Crow’s regime, alienated from their rights.
ReplyDeleteMany people experienced an expansion of their rights in the 1920s. Significantly black men gained the right to vote, however many states found ways to circumvent this new right through measures like the Jim Crow laws. The women's suffrage movement also increased in popularity with mixed success. However it was generally viewed by advocates as a right exclusive to white women, and they did not campaign equally for the vote for black women. Women's attendance at school and college also increased as well as their presence in the workplace, however it has been argued that their new rights were so limited by economical and social factors that they didn't really experience much more freedoms than before they received the vote and increases in education and employment opportunities. Although there were attempts to increase rights for a variety of minorities in the 1920s, the practical changes they made to the lives of individuals were often minimal.
ReplyDeleteThe 20th Century was an age that seemed to empower people both of different race and sex but in reality was not that different from generations before. It seemed that the rights and interests were being expanded however, particularly in the instance of women, the motives of this could be questioned. In the 1920's more women were receiving a higher level of education than ever before but it has been argued this was for the purpose of finding a well educated (in turn, financially stable) husband. It has also been argued that white women pushed for the vote purely because african-american men were receiving it, therefore they felt entitled to it as well. Although the 1920's did bring change and empowerment to many Americans the motives behind this push for rights can in someways undermine the whole cause.
ReplyDeleteKatie Kletzmayr
The 1920s undoubtedly saw an expansion of rights for many Americans, particularly in relation to women. Women's rights groups helped women gain access to birth control and the right to vote, which freedoms coincided with greater social freedoms for women, represented by the 'flapper.' However, civil injustices were by no means eradicated in the 1920s. In the South, Jim Crow laws impeded African Americans from exercising their vote. Groups such as the WKKK encouraged white women to ignore the plight of their African-American sisters. And white women themselves, although increasingly involved in the workplace, remained constrained to traditional gender roles. The 1920s were an incremental step towards an egalitarian America.
ReplyDeleteLaura Kerridge
The 1920's did indeed see an expansion of right for white woman rights they were just about the only ones. in the 1920's white women gained the right to vote and this decade also saw the liberation of many women from the home. however this did not include Black American Women who still could not vote and their fellow white suffragists did not do much to help.
ReplyDeleteDue to Jim Crow laws, Black American men saw a contraction in rights. Jim crow laws stated that black men could not sue or bare witness against a white man. This greatly reduced the black mans rights and so so while the 1920's did see an expansion n rights for some not all gained very many rights at all.
While the 1920s saw many groups that had previously been marginalised in American society struggle to enhance their rights, little tangible progress was made with regard to African-American and women’s rights. Aside from the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote, there was little more than a subtle shift in gender roles in the United States. The situation was similar for African-Americans. While the debate over how best to enhance the rights of African-Americans was waged between groups such as the NAACP and UNIA, very little progress was made, with Jim Crow laws and racism still prevailing. Nevertheless, while it is going too far to claim that the 1920s witnessed an expansion of rights, there is little doubt that the process started in this decade served to facilitate the reforms that occurred later in the 20th century.
ReplyDelete