1920s DBQ
Question 1
The following question is based on the accompanying documents. The documents have been edited for the purpose of this exercise. Suggested reading period: 15 minutes. Suggested writing time: 45 minutes.
Evaluate the extent of change in American society during the 1920s.
Document 1 _Blood and Sand (film advertisement), 1922
Document 2 Source: Edythe Turnham and Her Knights of Syncopation, Seattle, Washington, 1925
Document 3 Source: Edythe Turnham and Her Knights of Syncopation, Seattle, Washington, 1925
DOCUMENT 4
“Just take your idea from the last bloody war, wherein a race was pitted against itself (for the whole white races united as one from a common origin), the members of which, on both sides, fought so tenaciously that they killed off each other in frightful, staggering numbers. If a race pitted against itself could fight so tenaciously to kill itself without mercy, can you imagine the fury, can you imagine the mercilessness, the terribleness of the war that will come when all the races of the world will be on the battlefield, engaged in deadly combat for the destruction or overthrow of the one or the other, when beneath it and as a cause of it lies prejudice and hatred? Truly, it will be an ocean of blood; that is all it will be. So that if I can sound a note of warning now that will echo and reverberate around the world and thus prevent such conflict, God help me to do it; for Africa, like Europe, like Asia, is preparing for the day.”
Source: Marcus Garvey, Address to the Second United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) Convention, 1921
DOCUMENT 5
“Just as he was an Elk, a Booster, a member of the Chamber of Commerce, just as the priests of the Presbyterian Church determined his every religious belief, and the senators who controlled the Republican Party decided in little smoky rooms in Washington what he should think about disarmament, tariff, and Germany, so did the large national advertisers fix the surface of his life, fix what he believed to be his individuality. These standard advertised wares — toothpastes, socks, tires, cameras, instantaneous hot-water-heaters — were his symbols and proofs of excellence; at first the signs, then the substitutes, for joy and passion and wisdom.”
Source: Sinclair Lewis, Babbit, 1922
DOCUMENT 6 “Q. [Mr. Darrow]. You have given considerable study to the Bible, haven’t you, Mr. Bryan?
A. [Mr. Bryan]. Yes, sir, I have tried to.
Q. Then you have made a general study of it.
A. Yes, I have; I have studied the Bible for about fifty years, or sometime more than that, but, of course, I have studied it more as I have become older than when I was but a boy.
Q. You claim that everything in the Bible should be literally interpreted?
A. I believe everything in the Bible should be accepted as it is given there; some of the Bible is given illustratively. For instance: ‘Ye are the salt of the earth.’ I would not insist that man was actually salt, or that he had flesh of salt, but it is used in the sense of salt as saving God’s people….
Q. But when you read that Jonah swallowed the whale — or that the whale swallowed Jonah — excuse me please — how do you literally interpret that?
A. When I read that a big fish swallowed Jonah — it does not say whale.
Q. Doesn’t it? Are you sure?
A. That is my recollection of it. A big fish, and I believe it, and I believe in a God who can make a whale and can make a man and can make both do what He pleases….
Q. Now, you say, the big fish swallowed Jonah, and he there remained how long — three days — and then he spewed him upon the land. You believe that the big fish was made to swallow Jonah?
A. I am not prepared to say that; the Bible merely says it was done.
Q. You don’t know whether it was the ordinary run of fish, or made for that purpose?
A. You may guess; you evolutionists guess.
Q. But when we do guess, we have a sense to guess right.
A. But do not do it often.
Q. You are not prepared to say whether that fish was made especially to swallow a man or not?
A. The Bible doesn’t say, so I am not prepared to say….
Q. But do you believe He made them — that He made such a fish and that it was big enough to swallow Jonah?
A. Yes sir. Let me add: One miracle is just as easy to believe as another….
Q. Just as hard?
A. It is hard to believe for you, but easy for me. A miracle is a thing performed beyond what man can perform. When you get beyond what man can do, you get within the realm of miracles; and it is just as easy to believe the miracle of Jonah as any other miracle in the Bible.
Q. Perfectly easy to believe that Jonah swallowed the whale?
A. If the Bible said so; the Bible doesn’t make as extreme statements as evolutionists do.
Q. That may be a question, Mr. Bryan, about some of those you have known?
A. The only thing is, you have a definition of fact that includes imagination.
Q. And you have a definition that excludes everything but imagination?
Gen. Stewart [attorney general]. I object to that as argumentative….
Mr. Darrow. The Witness must not argue with me, either.”
“Q. [Mr. Darrow]. You have given considerable study to the Bible, haven’t you, Mr. Bryan?
A. [Mr. Bryan]. Yes, sir, I have tried to.
Q. Then you have made a general study of it.
A. Yes, I have; I have studied the Bible for about fifty years, or sometime more than that, but, of course, I have studied it more as I have become older than when I was but a boy.
Q. You claim that everything in the Bible should be literally interpreted?
A. I believe everything in the Bible should be accepted as it is given there; some of the Bible is given illustratively. For instance: ‘Ye are the salt of the earth.’ I would not insist that man was actually salt, or that he had flesh of salt, but it is used in the sense of salt as saving God’s people….
Q. But when you read that Jonah swallowed the whale — or that the whale swallowed Jonah — excuse me please — how do you literally interpret that?
A. When I read that a big fish swallowed Jonah — it does not say whale.
Q. Doesn’t it? Are you sure?
A. That is my recollection of it. A big fish, and I believe it, and I believe in a God who can make a whale and can make a man and can make both do what He pleases….
Q. Now, you say, the big fish swallowed Jonah, and he there remained how long — three days — and then he spewed him upon the land. You believe that the big fish was made to swallow Jonah?
A. I am not prepared to say that; the Bible merely says it was done.
Q. You don’t know whether it was the ordinary run of fish, or made for that purpose?
A. You may guess; you evolutionists guess.
Q. But when we do guess, we have a sense to guess right.
A. But do not do it often.
Q. You are not prepared to say whether that fish was made especially to swallow a man or not?
A. The Bible doesn’t say, so I am not prepared to say….
Q. But do you believe He made them — that He made such a fish and that it was big enough to swallow Jonah?
A. Yes sir. Let me add: One miracle is just as easy to believe as another….
Q. Just as hard?
A. It is hard to believe for you, but easy for me. A miracle is a thing performed beyond what man can perform. When you get beyond what man can do, you get within the realm of miracles; and it is just as easy to believe the miracle of Jonah as any other miracle in the Bible.
Q. Perfectly easy to believe that Jonah swallowed the whale?
A. If the Bible said so; the Bible doesn’t make as extreme statements as evolutionists do.
Q. That may be a question, Mr. Bryan, about some of those you have known?
A. The only thing is, you have a definition of fact that includes imagination.
Q. And you have a definition that excludes everything but imagination?
Gen. Stewart [attorney general]. I object to that as argumentative….
Mr. Darrow. The Witness must not argue with me, either.”
“Q. [Mr. Darrow]. You have given considerable study to the Bible, haven’t you, Mr. Bryan?
A. [Mr. Bryan]. Yes, sir, I have tried to.
Q. Then you have made a general study of it.
A. Yes, I have; I have studied the Bible for about fifty years, or sometime more than that, but, of course, I have studied it more as I have become older than when I was but a boy.
Q. You claim that everything in the Bible should be literally interpreted?
A. I believe everything in the Bible should be accepted as it is given there; some of the Bible is given illustratively. For instance: ‘Ye are the salt of the earth.’ I would not insist that man was actually salt, or that he had flesh of salt, but it is used in the sense of salt as saving God’s people….
Q. But when you read that Jonah swallowed the whale — or that the whale swallowed Jonah — excuse me please — how do you literally interpret that?
A. When I read that a big fish swallowed Jonah — it does not say whale.
Q. Doesn’t it? Are you sure?
A. That is my recollection of it. A big fish, and I believe it, and I believe in a God who can make a whale and can make a man and can make both do what He pleases….
Q. Now, you say, the big fish swallowed Jonah, and he there remained how long — three days — and then he spewed him upon the land. You believe that the big fish was made to swallow Jonah?
A. I am not prepared to say that; the Bible merely says it was done.
Q. You don’t know whether it was the ordinary run of fish, or made for that purpose?
A. You may guess; you evolutionists guess.
Q. But when we do guess, we have a sense to guess right.
A. But do not do it often.
Q. You are not prepared to say whether that fish was made especially to swallow a man or not?
A. The Bible doesn’t say, so I am not prepared to say….
Q. But do you believe He made them — that He made such a fish and that it was big enough to swallow Jonah?
A. Yes sir. Let me add: One miracle is just as easy to believe as another….
Q. Just as hard?
A. It is hard to believe for you, but easy for me. A miracle is a thing performed beyond what man can perform. When you get beyond what man can do, you get within the realm of miracles; and it is just as easy to believe the miracle of Jonah as any other miracle in the Bible.
Q. Perfectly easy to believe that Jonah swallowed the whale?
A. If the Bible said so; the Bible doesn’t make as extreme statements as evolutionists do.
Q. That may be a question, Mr. Bryan, about some of those you have known?
A. The only thing is, you have a definition of fact that includes imagination.
Q. And you have a definition that excludes everything but imagination?
Gen. Stewart [attorney general]. I object to that as argumentative….
Mr. Darrow. The Witness must not argue with me, either.”
Source: Women of the Ku Klux Klan, 1927
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