B

y the end of the nineteenth century, consumption was rising, a middle

class of consumers was growing, and the national transportation infra-

structure was expanding. At the same time, exploding urban popula-

tions raised their vibrant and varied voices against rising consumerism,

persistent racism, and rising class divisions. These conflicts were tem-

porarily eased by strict government controls on dissent and the United States’

involvement in the First World War between 1917 and 1918.

By the 1920s and into the 1930s, challenges to the status quo came from

diverse quarters—young middle-class Americans who inaugurated a Jazz Age,

African Americans who migrated to northern cities and initiated a cultural

renaissance based primarily in Harlem in New York City, and young Latinos who

struggled for social and cultural space in California.

Seeking the Main Point

As you read the documents that follow, keep these broad questions in mind.

These questions will help you understand the relationship between the doc-

uments in this chapter and the historical changes that they represent. As you

reflect on these questions, determine which themes and which documents best

address them.

•   

Trace the ways in which technological and transportation changes in the late

nineteenth century shaped the lives of Americans, both for better and for

worse, and the ways in which Americans took advantage of those changes

and also rebelled against them.

•   

Trace the ways in which African Americans challenged the social, political,

and economic status quo during this era.

•   

During this era, how did changes in transportation reflect changes and con-

sistencies in American values?

Document

AP® Ke y

concePts PAge

17.12 Lawrence E. Davies, “Zoot Suits Become Issue on Coast,”

New York Times

7.2 III C 399

Applying AP® Historical Thinking Skills

Skill Review: Comparison, Appropriate Use of Evidence, and

Contextualization

Thinking Skill 2.4,

Thinking Skill 2.5,

Thinking Skill 3.7

401

382 ChApTEr 17 | ChaLLenGes to the statUs QUo | period seven 1890 –1945 seeking the main point^383

18_STA_2012_ch17_381-404.indd 382 01/04/15 4:17 PM

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