1900-1929 Social Turmoil -- Dbq - 1538 Words

The early 1900s were filled with many new social ideas and changes. New faces arose during this time, and many new ideas changed the shape of society. Among these were race relations, the role of women in society, and the ever-heated modernism versus fundamentalism debate. Relationships between races were very sketchy during the early 1900s. Racism was still very strong in the country, and ethnic groups settled in an area and created their own little communities. Harlem, New York was a black community in the north, many of the people having settled there because the north held many economic opportunities. Yet despite racism, cultures flourished. The Harlem Renaissance, a flowering of black culture in the 1920s, is a great example.†¦show more content†¦After the Grand Dragon went to jail, he revealed details of pervasive political corruption in Indiana, and the Klan once again faded. Womens roles in society changed drastically during the early 1900s. In 1910 40 percent of the Americans attending college were women. Women of the urban middle class Ââ€" if not tied down by the demands of home, children, and an ideology of domesticity Ââ€" worked white-collar jobs such as secretaries, typists, librarians, public-school teachers, and telephone operators. The number of women working such jobs increased from about 949,000 in 1900 to 3.4 million in 1920. However, the divorce rate slowly began to rise, moving from 1/12 in 1900 to 1/9 in 1916. Soon even those middle-class women who were usually stuck with un-challenging domestic routines began to join the female white-collar workers and college graduates in leading a resurgent womens movement. Document D lists statements by many outspoken womens suffrage leaders such as Jane Addams and Helen M. Todd. There were many others, though, who helped this cause. Carrie Chapman Catt took over the presidency of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) after Susan B. Anthony retired from it in 1900. Women nationwide, following a strategy thought of by NAWSAs central office, lobbied legislature, handed out literature, conducted referenda,