The period from 1920 to 1945 in the United States was marked by intense social and regional divisions, deep-rooted racial discrimination, and significant demographic shifts due to migration and war.
Social and Regional Divisions
Rural vs Urban America
The early 20th century in the United States witnessed growing tensions between rural conservatism and urban modernity:
Rural America often clung to traditional values, resisting change and innovation. Religion, community, and isolation shaped conservative attitudes, particularly in the South and Midwest.
Urban centres, meanwhile, embraced modern life—flappers, jazz, cinema, and liberal social norms became emblematic of the “Roaring Twenties.”
The Scopes “Monkey” Trial (1925) encapsulated the cultural clash: rural Tennessee upheld religious teachings, while urban observers championed science and secularism.
Prohibition fuelled further divisions—rural Americans largely supported it as moral reform, whereas cities harboured speakeasies and underground alcohol consumption.
This rural-urban divide symbolised deeper anxieties about the nation’s direction and identity.
Regional Tensions: North, South, and West
While the North, South, and West were politically united, they were socially and economically fragmented:
The South remained steeped in racism, poverty, and the legacy of slavery. Jim Crow laws entrenched segregation and political disenfranchisement for African Americans.
The North, especially industrial cities like Chicago and Detroit, offered better economic opportunities and less institutional racism, attracting large numbers of African-American migrants from the South.
The West, rapidly developing and urbanising, was a cultural frontier but also a site of discrimination, especially against Mexican Americans, Asian immigrants, and Native Americans.
These divisions were exacerbated by uneven industrialisation and differing responses to social reform.
Race Relations
The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan
The 1920s saw the dramatic resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK):
Re-founded in 1915, the KKK targeted not only African Americans but also Catholics, Jews, and immigrants.
By 1925, the Klan claimed 4 to 5 million members, especially in Southern and Midwestern states.
They enforced white supremacy through intimidation, violence, and political influence, often infiltrating local governments and police forces.
Their influence waned by the late 1920s due to internal corruption, scandals, and public backlash.
Nevertheless, their impact on normalising racial hatred was long-lasting.
Lynching and Segregation
Lynching remained a brutal and prevalent method of racial terror. Between 1920 and 1940, hundreds of African Americans were lynched, primarily in the South.
Segregation under Jim Crow laws mandated separate public facilities, schools, and transportation for white and Black Americans. These laws institutionalised racial inequality and humiliation.
Even in the North, de facto segregation in housing, employment, and education persisted, often enforced through “redlining” and restrictive covenants.
African-American Activism
In response to systemic racism, African Americans organised and advocated for civil rights:
The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), founded in 1909, campaigned against lynching and for federal anti-lynching legislation, although such bills repeatedly failed in Congress due to Southern opposition.
The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s was a cultural movement that showcased Black intellectual and artistic talent, asserting pride in African-American identity.
Leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois and A. Philip Randolph mobilised African Americans politically and economically. Randolph, in particular, advocated for labour rights and threatened a March on Washington in 1941, prompting Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802, banning racial discrimination in defence industries.
Internal Migration and Urban-Industrial Tensions
The Great Migration
One of the most significant demographic changes of the era was The Great Migration, where over 1.5 million African Americans moved from the rural South to Northern and Western cities between 1916 and 1940.
Causes included economic hardship, Jim Crow oppression, and the promise of industrial jobs in cities like New York, Chicago, and Cleveland.
Migration intensified during both World Wars due to increased demand for labour and curtailed immigration from Europe.
Urbanisation and Racial Tensions
The influx of African Americans and rural whites into cities led to:
Competition for jobs and housing, which frequently escalated into racial hostility.
Race riots, such as the Chicago Race Riot of 1919 and Detroit in 1943, exposed underlying tensions as cities struggled with overcrowding and inequality.
In some cities, African Americans were restricted to segregated neighbourhoods, leading to the creation of urban ghettos.
Industrialisation and the Working Class
Rapid industrial growth created a racially stratified workforce. African Americans were often given the lowest-paying and most dangerous jobs, and excluded from many trade unions.
However, the 1930s saw increasing Black participation in organised labour, especially through the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), which was more inclusive than the older American Federation of Labor (AFL).
The Impact of War, New Deal, and Culture on Divides
The New Deal and African Americans
While the New Deal aimed to alleviate suffering during the Great Depression, its impact on race and regional divisions was mixed:
Many New Deal programmes discriminated against African Americans, particularly in the South where local administration maintained segregation.
The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) disproportionately harmed Black sharecroppers, who were often evicted when landowners reduced crop production.
However, agencies like the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did employ African Americans, albeit in segregated conditions and for lower pay.
Mary McLeod Bethune, a key adviser to FDR, helped establish the “Black Cabinet”, an informal group of African-American public policy advisers.
Though Roosevelt did not support anti-lynching legislation, African Americans began shifting their political allegiance from the Republican to the Democratic Party during this period.
Cultural Representation and Identity
The interwar period saw a growing cultural presence of African Americans:
The Harlem Renaissance gave rise to celebrated figures like Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Duke Ellington.
Black voices increasingly entered mainstream media, challenging negative stereotypes and affirming African-American identity.
Simultaneously, mass media—radio, film, and popular music—contributed to a more unified national culture but often reinforced racial caricatures, such as in minstrel shows and Hollywood films.
World War II and Its Effects
The Second World War brought both challenges and opportunities for race relations and social unity:
War production created massive labour demand, drawing millions to urban factories, including African Americans, women, and rural migrants.
Executive Order 8802 (1941) prohibited racial discrimination in defence industries and established the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC), although enforcement was weak.
African-American soldiers served in segregated units, often performing non-combat roles, while facing discrimination both at home and abroad.
The Double V Campaign—victory against fascism abroad and racism at home—reflected growing African-American political consciousness.
Despite persistent discrimination, the war fostered a sense of national unity and civic inclusion, laying groundwork for post-war civil rights activism.
Shifts in Regional Power
The war boosted industrial growth in the West and North, reducing the economic dominance of the traditional agrarian South.
Southern urbanisation accelerated, weakening rural isolation and introducing more diverse populations into previously homogenous areas.
Federal wartime policies began to erode regional resistance to federal authority, a key shift in post-war America.
FAQ
Religious fundamentalism, particularly in rural and Southern America, played a central role in reinforcing social conservatism and fuelling divisions with more liberal, urban populations. The resurgence of evangelical Protestant values promoted a literal interpretation of the Bible, rejecting the growing influence of modern science and secularism. This was most famously demonstrated in the 1925 Scopes Trial, where a Tennessee teacher was prosecuted for teaching evolution. The trial epitomised the conflict between modernist and traditionalist values. Fundamentalists viewed cities as morally corrupt and resisted changes in gender roles, entertainment, and education. Their influence helped bolster support for policies like Prohibition and opposition to birth control and women's greater public roles. These tensions underpinned broader rural-urban divisions and hardened the resistance to the cultural liberalisation occurring in northern cities. While fundamentalism declined somewhat in political influence by the 1930s, it continued to shape regional identities and contributed to the cultural fragmentation of the nation.
Mexican Americans, particularly in the Southwest, faced widespread racial discrimination and economic marginalisation, mirroring the experiences of African Americans in other regions. During the 1920s and 1930s, many Mexican immigrants and their descendants worked as agricultural labourers under exploitative conditions with minimal legal protections. They were subject to informal segregation, barred from many public facilities, and often lived in impoverished barrios with limited access to education or healthcare. The Great Depression intensified anti-Mexican sentiment, and under the banner of “repatriation,” hundreds of thousands were forcibly deported or pressured to return to Mexico—many of whom were U.S. citizens. During WWII, the Bracero Programme allowed temporary Mexican labourers to work in the U.S., but they too were subjected to discrimination and poor working conditions. These experiences highlight how regional labour needs and racial hierarchies intersected, with Mexican Americans systematically excluded from full civic participation and treated as a disposable workforce in the service of regional economic goals.
Between 1920 and 1945, the federal government's policies toward Native Americans underwent significant, though inconsistent, shifts. The early part of the period was dominated by assimilationist policies, including the continuation of the Dawes Act, which aimed to break up tribal lands and integrate Native Americans into white society. Many Native Americans lost land and cultural identity during this time. However, the Indian Reorganisation Act of 1934 marked a significant policy reversal under the New Deal. It ended the allotment system, supported tribal self-government, and promoted Native culture and language. While this act aimed to restore some tribal sovereignty, its implementation was uneven, and many Native communities remained economically disadvantaged. During WWII, thousands of Native Americans served in the armed forces or worked in wartime industries, which exposed them to broader American society and opportunities, leading to increased urban migration. Despite these changes, Native Americans continued to face systemic marginalisation and lacked political influence or consistent federal support.
The “Black Cabinet” was an informal group of African-American advisers to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, established during the New Deal era. Though not an official government body, it was crucial in advocating for Black interests within federal programmes. The group included influential figures such as Mary McLeod Bethune, who served as the Director of the Division of Negro Affairs within the National Youth Administration. Members of the Black Cabinet advised on issues of employment, housing, and education, pushing for African-American inclusion in New Deal initiatives. While they had no formal policymaking power, their advocacy led to increased Black employment in federal agencies and greater visibility of racial issues in government discourse. However, their influence was limited by Roosevelt’s political need to maintain the support of Southern Democrats, which prevented him from pursuing more aggressive civil rights reforms. Nonetheless, the Black Cabinet represented a critical step in institutionalising African-American political engagement at the federal level.
Cinema and popular culture during 1920–1945 both reflected and reinforced existing social and racial divisions in American society. Hollywood films often projected idealised visions of white, middle-class American life, marginalising or stereotyping minority characters. African Americans were frequently depicted using racist tropes—servants, comic relief, or in menacing roles—and were rarely given leading parts. Films like The Birth of a Nation (1915), which remained influential into the 1920s, glorified the Ku Klux Klan and promoted white supremacist narratives. Meanwhile, depictions of Native Americans and Mexican Americans tended to be one-dimensional and reinforced colonialist stereotypes. On the other hand, African-American cinema, produced by Black-owned studios or for segregated audiences, offered counter-narratives, although with limited reach. Radio and advertising also targeted white audiences and reinforced consumerist ideals aligned with white cultural norms. In this way, popular culture helped entrench racial boundaries and excluded minority groups from national identity narratives, contributing to broader cultural divisions.
Practice Questions
To what extent did internal migration during the period 1920–1945 contribute to racial tensions in the United States?
Internal migration significantly heightened racial tensions, particularly as African Americans moved from the rural South to urban centres in the North and West. Competing for jobs and housing, they encountered hostility from white residents, leading to riots such as those in Chicago (1919) and Detroit (1943). These tensions were intensified by pre-existing racist attitudes and economic pressures during the Great Depression. Although migration offered new opportunities, it also exposed deep structural inequalities, highlighting the persistence of racial divisions and the limits of progress in race relations during the interwar and wartime years.
‘Government policies had little effect on reducing social and regional divisions between 1920 and 1945.’ Assess the validity of this view.
Government policies during this period had a limited and often inconsistent effect on reducing social and regional divisions. New Deal programmes did provide relief but often entrenched Southern segregationist practices. Agencies like the AAA and FHA discriminated against African Americans, while reforms were unevenly distributed across regions. However, measures such as Executive Order 8802 during WWII began to challenge workplace discrimination. Despite these efforts, rural-urban divides, North-South tensions, and racial inequalities remained largely unresolved, suggesting that government intervention was cautious and often constrained by political realities, particularly the need to appease Southern Democrats.
