Lesson 3
The 1920's
Overview:
The second and third decades of the twentieth century represent a dichotomy of historical events. On the one hand, there was the optimism of the "Roaring Twenties" that followed World War I. On the other hand, a growing pessimism developed as people began to realize the war did not make the world "safe for democracy" nor did it ensure economic prosperity. Yet, in 1923, Nebraska decided to erect a new football stadium to honor those who sacrificed their lives in World War I. Memorial Stadium was built primarily with funds provided by loyal football fans during a time of increasing economic depression.
Nebraskans not only faced the repercussions of World War I and the downturn in the economy, but they also confronted the Spanish influenza epidemic (1918-1919). The birth of the Ku Klux Klan (1921), and racial unrest involving attacks on Greeks (1909) in Omaha, and attacks on African Americans in Omaha (1919) and North Platte (1929) marked radically changing attitudes about race and ethnicity in Nebraska. Times of economic adversity often heighten human emotions. Those emotions are sometimes displayed as frustrated acts of violence, but they can also bring people together in support of a common cause. In Nebraska that cause was unanimously football. In 1922 Nebraskans decided to build a football stadium to showcase a team that had become symbolic of a desire to control ones fate and experience success during an increasingly tumultuous time period.
Adversity can also spawn a side of human nature that manifests itself in destruction and hate. Some Nebraskans engaged in attacks on Greek immigrants, African Americans, Catholics and political radicals. The Palmer Raids of 1919-1920 and violent strikes in the meat packing industry in Omaha in 1917 and 1921 were examples of violence that erupted in Nebraska as well as across the nation. The success of the Bolsheviks in the second revolution in 1917 in Russia struck terror in the hearts of some Americans. Workers strikes were often viewed not as attempts to gain a fair living wage, but rather as the dangerous influence of communism. Recent immigrants from Eastern Europe were often the targets of anti-radical threats and at times even violence.
It is little wonder that newspaper publishers took advantage of political, economic, and social upheavals to sell their newspapers and magazines. Lurid features and sensationalized news were used by newspaper publishers to attract readers and increase circulation. Publishers Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst vied with one another to increase their circulation and obtain more advertising revenue. In the mid-1890s, Pulitzer introduced the use of more drawings and the inclusion of more features such as comic strips. One of the most popular comic strip characters was the "Yellow Kid". This comic series was created by Richard Outcault and published in color in 1896. The "Yellow Kid" was a bald, grinning youngster who satirized current events and wore a yellow gown. This was the beginning of the merchandising phenomenon of the comics. The "Yellow Kid" and other comic creations like "Krazy Kat" and "Mutt and Jeff" became vehicles for attacks on political corruption and social injustice.
The competition between Hearst and Pulitzer to retain the services of Outcault and the use of the "Yellow Kid" gave rise to the label "yellow journalism", which became synonymous for unprincipled journalism. The golden age of yellow journalism is said to have ended shortly after the turn of the century when Pulitzer's New York World newspaper gradually retired from the competition with Hearst's New York Journal. However, many of the aspects of yellow journalism have become the standard formula of news media. Banner headlines, comic strips, sensational features and copious illustrations are found in nearly all newspapers today. Do any of these techniques appear familiar to you when you read Nebraska football stories in your local newspaper or peruse your favorite comic strip characters? Does Gil Thorpe ring a bell?Objectives:
1. To analyze how yellow journalism techniques are applied to media coverage of Nebraska football teams past and present.
2. To evaluate the impact the following historical events had on Nebraska's football team: World War I, the Spanish influenza epidemic, the Ku Klux Klan, the "Roaring Twenties."
3. To infer how the racial issues in Omaha, and elsewhere in Nebraska, involving Greeks, African Americans, etc. were also characteristic of racial issues faced by the University of Nebraska and its football team.
Pre viewing Video Questions:
1. Was does the term "Hedonistic Twenties" mean?
2. Why would Nebraska build a new football stadium in a time of economic depression?
3. What does the phrase "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" mean?
4. Who was Knute Rockne?
5. Why was the rivalry between Nebraska and Notre Dame so important to Nebraskans?
6. What examples can you cite of "name calling" used by Nebraska fans?
Post viewing Video Questions:
1. What economic difficulties were Nebraskans facing in the 1920s and what connection, if any was there to the conclusion of World War I?
2. What does the phrase "yellow journalism" mean? Cite examples of how news accounts of Nebraska football during the 1920s reflect techniques used by yellow journalist.
3. Analyze one or more current comic strip characters who are involved in sports and indicate how they reflect values viewed as important to Nebraska football teams and coaches.
4. Assess the significance of the development of the Ku Klux Klan in Nebraska history. Did the Klan have any influence on Nebraska football?
5. Analyze the 1919 Omaha Riot and/or the North Platte Race Riot of 1929. Cite examples of newspaper accounts that exemplified yellow journalism.
6. Evaluate the significance of the 1909 riot in Omaha against the Greeks. Cite examples of yellow journalism.
7. Analyze the football rivalry between Notre Dame and Nebraska during the 1920s. Give examples of yellow journalism techniques practiced by Nebraska newspapers. Compare/Contrast religious and ethnic groups attacked by the Klan that were also attacked by anti-Catholic Nebraska fans.
8. Are there any similarities between the "riot" that followed the 1925 Nebraska victory over Notre Dame and the 1909 and 1919 riots in Omaha? Explain.
These activities are offered as suggestions to help you learn more about the material presented in this lesson.
Activity 1: 1918-1919 Spanish influenza epidemic
"I had a little bird,
Its name was Enza
I opened the window,
And in-flu-enza."Access the following web sites: "The Influenza Pandemic of 1918" at http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/uda/
"The American Experience. Influenza 1918"
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/
"Husker Press Box. Nebraska Notre Dame Rivalry" http://www.huskernews.com/texis/scripts/vnews/newspaper/+/ART/2000/ 07/17/3968da402
Lincoln Journal Star.
http://www.journalstar.com/local?story_id=1072
Husker Century. The Events. Click here
Answer the following questions:
1. What were the origins of this influenza variant? Why was it called the Spanish flu?
2. What are the connections between the Spanish flu and World War I? 3. How was the 1918 game between Nebraska and Notre Dame influenced by the flu?
4. Compare and contrast the Spanish flu with the Black Death Bubonic Plague of the 1300's.
5. Why do you think the National Standards for United States History published by the National Center for History in the Schools not include any mention of the 1918-1919 flu pandemic? Do the Nebraska Social Studies/History Standards contain any references to the flu pandemic? Should they?Activity 2: The Spanish Influenza of 1918 and the Macaroni Box
Access the following web site:
"Please, Let Me Put Him in a Macaroni Box"
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/13/
Answer the following questions:
1. What was a "macaroni box" ?
2. According to "Elizabeth" how did people who were selling coffins take advantage of the relatives of people who died?Activity 3: Racial issues
Access the following web sites:
Husker Century. The Events.
Click here
Lincoln Journal Star.
http://www.journalstar.com/local?story_id=1072
Answer the following questions:1. Cite examples of how German-Americans were made targets of World War I propaganda.
2. Who was Malcolm X? Why did the Klan threaten him?
3. Is there still a Klan organization in Nebraska today? Does the organization enjoy more or less influence than it had in the 1920s? Why or Why not?Activity 4: Yellow Journalism
Access the following web sites:
Husker Century. The Events.
Click here
"Husker Press Box. Nebraska Notre Dame Rivalry"
http://www.illustration-house.com/bios/outcault_bio.html
Cartoon. New York Public Library" http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/epo/spanexhib/IMAGE- bald_cartoon.html
"Yellow Journalism"
http://www.humboldt.edu/~jcb10/yellow.html
Answer the following questions after reviewing the preceding web sites:
1. Who was Richard Felton Outcault and how did he contribute to the phrase "yellow journalism?"
2. Explain the role William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer played in promoting "yellow journalism."
3. Cite examples to illustrate how Nebraska newspapers engaged in yellow journalism with reference to the Nebraska-Notre Dame football rivalry in the 1920's and racial and ethnic conflicts in the the first two decades of the twentieth century. Do Nebraska newspapers practice yellow journalism today with reference to Nebraska football and racial issues in general?
Suggested correlations with Nebraska Standards:
Activity 1:Social Studies/History Standard 8.2.7. Students will develop skills for historical analysis, such as the ability to a. Identify, analyze, and interpret primary sources, such as artifacts, diaries, letters, photographs, art, documents, newspapers, contemporary media, and computer information systems.
Social Studies/History Standard 12.3.17. Students will develop skills for historical analysis, such as the ability to: a. Analyze documents, records, and data, such as artifacts, diaries, letters, photographs, journals, newspapers, and historical accounts. Reading/Writing Standard 12.1. By the end of the twelfth grade, students will locate, access, and evaluate resources to identify appropriate information, i.e. electronic resources such as CD-ROM and online resources; using software programs such as word processing and multimedia presentations to synthesize, and present information.
Activity 2:Social Studies/History Standard 8.2.7. Students will develop skills for historical analysis, such as the ability to a. Identify, analyze, and interpret primary sources, such as artifacts, diaries, letters, photographs, art, documents, newspapers, contemporary media, and computer information systems.
Social Studies/History Standard 12.3.17. Students will develop skills for historical analysis, such as the ability to: a. Analyze documents, records, and data, such as artifacts, diaries, letters, photographs, journals, newspapers, and historical accounts.
Reading/Writing Standard 12.1. By the end of the twelfth grade, students will locate, access, and evaluate resources to identify appropriate information, i.e. electronic resources such as CD-ROM and online resources; using software programs such as word processing and multimedia presentations to synthesize, and present information.
Activity 3:Social Studies/History Standard 8.2.7. Students will develop skills for historical analysis, such as the ability to a. Identify, analyze, and interpret primary sources, such as artifacts, diaries, letters, photographs, art, documents, newspapers, contemporary media, and computer information systems.
Social Studies/History Standard 12.3.17. Students will develop skills for historical analysis, such as the ability to: a. Analyze documents, records, and data, such as artifacts, diaries, letters, photographs, journals, newspapers, and historical accounts.
Reading/Writing Standard 12.1. By the end of the twelfth grade, students will locate, access, and evaluate resources to identify appropriate information, i.e. electronic resources such as CD-ROM and online resources; using software programs such as word processing and multimedia presentations to synthesize, and present information.
Social Studies/History Standard 12.3.17. Students will develop discussion, debate, and persuasive writing skills, focusing on enduring issues and demonstrating how divergent viewpoints have been addressed and reconciled, such as: problems of intolerance toward racial, ethnic, and religious groups in American society.
Activity 4:Social Studies/History Standard 8.2.7. Students will develop skills for historical analysis, such as the ability to a. Identify, analyze, and interpret primary sources, such as artifacts, diaries, letters, photographs, art, documents, newspapers, contemporary media, and computer information systems.
Social Studies/History Standard 12.3.17. Students will develop skills for historical analysis, such as the ability to: a. Analyze documents, records, and data, such as artifacts, diaries, letters, photographs, journals, newspapers, and historical accounts.
Reading/Writing Standard 12.1. By the end of the twelfth grade, students will locate, access, and evaluate resources to identify appropriate information, i.e. electronic resources such as CD-ROM and online resources; using software programs such as word processing and multimedia presentations to synthesize, and present information.
Social Studies/History Standard 12.3.17. Students will develop discussion, debate, and persuasive writing skills, focusing on enduring issues and demonstrating how divergent viewpoints have been addressed and reconciled, such as: problems of intolerance toward racial, ethnic, and religious groups in American society
Web sites:
"The American Experience. Influenza 1918"
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/
"Artists' Biographies"
http://www.illustration-house.com/bios/outcault_bio.html
"Cartoon. New York Public Library" http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/epo/spanexhib/IMAGE- bald_cartoon.html
Husker Century. The Events
Click here
Husker Press Box. Nebraska Notre Dame Rivalry" http://www.huskernews.com/texis/scripts/vnews/newspaper/+/ART/2000/ 07/17/3968da402
The Influenza Pandemic of 1918" at
http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/uda/
Library of Congress American Memory Fellows Program http://learning.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/index.html
Library of Congress. Media Analysis Tools. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/media.html
Lincoln Journal Star.
http://www.journalstar.com/local?story_id=1072
"Please, Let Me Put Him in a Macaroni Box"
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/13/
"Yellow Journalism"
http://www.humboldt.edu/~jcb10/yellow.htmlPrinted Materials:
Dales, David G. "North Platte Racial Incident: Black-White Confrontation 1929," Nebraska History. Fall 1979, pp. 424-446.
Davis, John Kyle. Nebraska Studies. Lincoln: The Nebraska Department of Education, 1983.
Larsen, Lawrence H. and Barbara J Cottrell, The Gate City: A History of Omaha. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.
Laurie, Clayton D. "The U.S. Army and the Omaha Race Riot of 1919," Nebraska History. Fall 1991, pp. 135-143.
Menard, Orville D. "Tom Dennison, The Omaha Bee, and the 1919 Omaha Race Riot," Nebraska History. Winter 1987, pp. 152-165.
Olson, James C. and Ronald C. Naugle History of Nebraska. 3rd Edition. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,1997.
Schuyler, Michael E. "The Ku Klux Klan in Nebraska, 1920-1930. Nebraska History. Vol. 66, No. 3, Fall, 1985, pp. 234-256.
Walsh, Thomas R. Changing Nebraska. Lincoln: Instructional Materials Council, 1986.Video:
NETCHE Instructional Video.
"Bill Cosby on Prejudice" http://netdb.unl.edu/NetcheVideo/catalog/search.cfm?SubSelect=History
