Hello, I'm Mr. Marchant, and thank you for joining me for today's history lesson.

I'll be guiding you through all of our resources today, and my top priority is to make sure that by the end of our lesson, you're able to successfully meet our learning objective.

Welcome to today's lesson, which is part of our unit on the boom years in the USA, where we're really asking ourselves how did the boom affect the American people? By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain the changes in American society and culture during the 1920s.

There are five key words which will help us navigate our way through today's lesson.

Those are talkies, Prohibition, enforcement, speakeasy, and smuggled.

Talkies were films which included sound.

Prohibition was the name given to the ban on alcohol in the USA from 1920 to 1933.

Enforcement refers to processes such as policing, which are used to make sure people obey the law.

A speakeasy was an illegal bar set up during the period of Prohibition in the USA.

And if something is smuggled, it is brought into a country illegally.

Today's lesson will be split into three parts and we'll begin by focusing on entertainment and the Roaring Twenties.

For many Americans, the 1920s gained a reputation as the Roaring Twenties, a range of new entertainments developed for people to enjoy, including sports, cinema, and jazz.

So let's quickly reflect on what we've just heard.

I want you to write the missing word in the following sentence.

New opportunities for entertainment help the 1920s gain a reputation as the blank twenties.

So what's the missing word? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the missing word was roaring.

New opportunities for entertainment help the 1920s to gain a reputation as the Roaring Twenties.

So let's focus on some of the new entertainments which developed, and we'll begin by focusing on sports.

Sports like baseball, boxing, and golf gained nationwide audiences during the Roaring Twenties.

some sports stars gained celebrity status.

Babe Ruth, a photograph of whom can be seen on the screen, was earning $80,000 per year by 1930.

Old media and new media were important for creating mass audiences.

For example, 60 million people used a radio to listen to the broadcast of the 1927 heavyweight boxing title fight.

This really shows how media helped deliver sports to huge numbers of Americans across the country.

So let's reflect on what we've just heard and make sure our understanding of the role of sports in the Roaring Twenties is really secure.

What type of media was used by 60 million Americans to follow the 1927 world heavyweight boxing title fight? Was it newspapers, radio, or television? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was B.

60 million Americans listened to the 1927 world heavyweight boxing title fight through a radio broadcast.

This was part of the way in which sports were able to reach many different people.

So now we can think about cinema.

Now, on the screen you can see a table which tells us about weekly cinema attendance in the USA in both 1919 and 1930.

What do the statistics suggest about the popularity of cinema before and during the Roaring Twenties? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, really well done for all of your effort answering that question.

So we can see from our table that cinema was clearly popular with Americans even before the Roaring Twenties.

After all 35 million Americans were attending cinema's weekly to watch films. However, the Roaring Twenties clearly witnessed a massive expansion of the popularity of cinema going for Americans.

So we want to be able to explain that growing popularity of cinema.

And there are three key factors we can focus on.

The star system, cheap tickets, and the talkies.

We'll focus on each of these in turn.

So let's begin by thinking about the star system.

Film studios promoted their films by focusing on their leading actors.

Stars were promoted through interviews, photo shoots, and more.

Hollywood stars became very wealthy.

Charlie Chaplin, who was one of the leading actors in Hollywood during the 1920s, was able to earn about $1,500 a week.

So let's reflect on what we've just heard.

What part of films was heavily promoted under the star system? Was it critical reviews, leading actors or the plot? Pause the video here in press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was B.

Under the star system, the leading actors of films were heavily promoted.

This meant actors such as Charlie Chaplin.

This helped to encourage more Americans to attend the cinema as it became excited about seeing the latest film that their favourite stars were in.

Cheap tickets were also important for the popularity of cinema.

Cinema was very accessible for audiences.

Entrance was usually only 25 cents, sometimes called a quarter or less.

This meant that rich and poor Americans alike could often afford tickets to attend the cinema.

So why was it significant that cinema tickets usually cost 25 cents or less? Is it because many richer Americans considered that movies must be low quality so didn't attend? That it made cinemas very affordable so both the rich and poor were able to attend? Or is it because it meant cinemas didn't make enough money from attendance so most ended up closing? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was B.

Because cinema tickets often only cost 25 cents or less a quarter, it made cinema as very affordable for both the rich and the poor.

It's partly because of this that we see by 1930, up to a hundred million Americans were attending the cinema each week.

And finally, another key factor in the growing popularity of cinema during the Roaring Twenties was talkies.

Films were silent until 1927.

The first movie with recorded sound was released in 1927.

This was "The Jazz Singer" which starred Al Jolson.

You can see a poster for that film on the screen.

The talking films that followed became known as talkies.

Talkies attracted even bigger audiences than silent films. They were even easier for people to watch, and therefore many more people went to the cinema.

So I want you to write the missing word in the following sentence, okay? New types of film known as as blank, began to replace silent films in cinemas.

So what's the missing word? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the missing word was talkies.

From 1927, new films known as talkies began to replace silent films and cinemas.

And so another key entertainment we can now focus on for the Roaring Twenties was jazz.

Jazz grew in popularity with white audiences, especially the young in cities.

The jazz age is how many people referred to the 1920s.

It was common in dance halls and also in clubs.

Jazz was mostly the creation of black artists.

Musicians like Ma Rainey and Duke Ellington gained fame and wealth.

So let's make sure our understanding of the jazz age is really secure.

We have a statement on the screen that says Jazz was dominated by white musicians.

Is that true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well then to everybody who said that, that statement was false, but we need to be able to justify our response.

So two justifications have appeared on the screen.

The first says that black artists like Ma Rainey and Duke Wellington gained fame and wealth from their jazz performances.

The second says that white artists like Babe Ruth and Charlie Chaplin gained fame and wealth from their jazz performances.

So which one of those two justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct justification was A, black artists like Ma Rainey and Duke Wellington gained fame and wealth from their jazz performances.

I want you to provide examples to support each of the following statements.

So we have three statements which say radio was important for spreading the popularity of American sports, for example.

Some African Americans achieved great fame during the Roaring Twenties, for example.

And changes in technology helped increase cinema's popularity, for example.

So remember, for each of those statements, I want you to provide an example that can support what they say.

Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your responses.

Okay, well done for all your hard work on that task.

So I asked you to provide examples to support each of our statements and your answers may have included, radio was important for spreading the popularity of American sports.

For example, 60 million people used a radio to listen to the broadcast of the 1927 heavyweight boxing title fight.

Some African Americans achieved great fame during the Roaring Twenties.

For example, Ma Rainey and Duke Ellington were both famous black jazz musicians.

And changes in technology helped increase cinema's popularity.

For example, from 1927 onwards, talkies like "The Jazz Singer" were released, which audiences preferred to previous silent films. So really well done if your own responses look something similar to those models, which we've just seen.

So now we're ready to move on to the second part of our lesson where we are going to focus on Prohibition.

American society in the 1920s is often associated with Prohibition as well as its growing forms of entertainment.

Prohibition lasted from 1920 until 1933.

Prohibition was the name given to a period when American laws banned making alcohol, transporting alcohol, and selling alcohol.

The US government hired 1,500 Prohibition agents to enforce the ban.

Agents were to arrest law breakers and confiscate any alcohol found.

An example of this can be seen in the photo on the screen, which shows Prohibition agents in New York pouring out a barrel of confiscated alcohol.

So let's reflect on what we've heard so far.

I want you to write the missing word in the following sentence.

Prohibition banned the production, sale, and transportation of blank in the USA.

So what's our missing word? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the missing word was alcohol.

Prohibition banned the production, sale, and transportation of alcohol in the USA between 1920 and 1933.

Historically, there had been a lot of pressure in the USA for bans on alcohol.

Before Prohibition was introduced nationwide by the US government in 1920, campaigners had already successfully pressured 33 states to set limits on alcohol with some banning it completely.

Those campaigners who supported the introduction of Prohibition were known as dries.

dries were often members of religious organisations and churches.

Many of these campaigners worried that America was becoming less moral and less healthy and suggested that alcohol was to blame.

It was argued that drinking alcohol was a personal sin and that it pushed people further away from God.

Furthermore, alcohol was blamed for many different social problems, such as the breakdown of families, crime, and poverty.

Therefore, it was hope that Prohibition would help to cure a range of social issues.

Some leading businessmen were also dries.

For example, Henry Ford supported Prohibition as he argued that alcohol made the workers in his factories less efficient.

So let's make sure our understanding of what we've just heard about Prohibition is secure.

What nickname was given to the supporters of Prohibition? Was it dries, dulls, or wets? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was A.

The supporters of Prohibition were nicknamed dries.

And let's try another question.

Which two of the following activities did drys associate alcohol with? Church-going, efficient work, family breakdown, or violent crime? Remember, you are selecting two answers from our choices.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answers.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the two correct answers were C and D.

Dries often associated alcohol with family breakdown and violent crime.

They hoped that Prohibition might be able to solve these issues.

So we are now ready to put all of our understanding about Prohibition into practise.

I want you to study the image shown on the screen, and I want you to tell me how does this image relate to Prohibition? Your answer should refer to specific details which you can see in the source.

So pause a video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all your hard work in that first part of task B.

So I asked you to tell me how does our image relate to Prohibition? Your answer that may have included the image shows three men pouring a large barrel of alcohol out into a drain.

This relates to Prohibition because it represents how authorities like Prohibition agents were responsible for confiscating and getting rid of alcohol after 1920.

So well done if your own answer looked something like that.

And it's really critical you make sure that your response did include and refer to specific details from the source.

So now we can move on to the second part of task B.

I want you to explain one reason why dries supported the introduction of Prohibition.

You may consider religion, society, and business as possible reasons why this support would've occurred.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all of your effort on that task.

So I asked you to explain one reason why dries supported the introduction of Prohibition.

Your answer may have included some dries supported Prohibition because they hoped it would lead to economic and business benefits.

For example, some leading businessmen such as Henry Ford supported the introduction of Prohibition.

This was because Ford and some other businessmen like him argued that alcohol made workers less efficient.

Therefore, they hoped restrictions on alcohol and drinking would lead to employees working better and consequently help businesses to make more money.

Your answer could also have included, some dries supported Prohibition because of their religious beliefs.

Many leading dries were actually church leaders and members of religious organisations who argued that alcohol was sinful and pushed people away from God.

These groups hope that restrictions on alcohol and drinking would allow Americans to focus on living upstanding Christian lives and therefore ensure they could make it to heaven.

And finally, your answer may have included, some dries supported Prohibition because of their concerns about American society.

For example, alcohol and addiction were blamed for issues such as the breakdown of families, poverty and crime.

It was hoped that if Americans, particularly men could not drink and therefore avoid addiction, they would look after their families better and be able to manage their finances better so that they did not fall into poverty.

So really well done if your own response looked something similar to one of the three models, which we've just seen.

So now we are ready to move on to the third and final part of our lesson today where we are going to focus on the impact of Prohibition.

So let's begin by studying the information which we can see in our table.

It shows us about arrests for drinking offences in the city of Philadelphia.

Does the information suggest that Prohibition was successful? And how can you tell? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all of your effort on that task.

So the data which we have in this table would suggest that Prohibition was not successful.

For one, we can see that drinking clearly continued despite the law trying to restrict the consumption of alcohol.

In fact, it might actually appear that drinking alcohol became more common because the data shows that alcohol related offences such as being drunk and drink driving actually became more common in Philadelphia between 1920 and 1925.

Prohibition suffered from three key problems, which stopped it from being a success.

Americans continued to consume alcohol.

There was poor enforcement.

And there was a rise in organised crime.

We'll focus on each of these problems in turn.

Despite Prohibition, many people still wanted to drink alcohol and were willing to break the law to do so.

Because the alcohol industry had been closed down by Prohibition, many people consumed moonshine instead of traditional drinks.

Moonshine was the name given to homemade alcoholic spirits, which were often very strong.

Deaths from alcohol poisoning actually rose from 98 in 1920 to almost 800 by 1926.

Many people also attended illegal bars known as speakeasies.

The speakeasies were often hidden in cellars, private rooms, or behind secret doors where people had to give special knocks, codes, or passwords to gain entry.

An example of one of these hidden doors to a speakeasy can be seen in a photograph on the screen.

There were over 30,000 speakeasies in New York alone by 1929 despite the fact that the city had only 15,000 bars before Prohibition began.

It was clear that a large proportion of population were not respecting the Prohibition law.

So considering what we've just heard, it the following statement true or false? Prohibition was successful.

Pause video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that, that statement was false, but we need to be able to justify our response.

So which justification is best? The number of illegal bars fell, but arrests for drink related offences increased? Or the number of illegal bars and arrests for drink related offences both increased? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct justification was B.

The number of illegal bars and arrests for drink related offences both increased between 1920 and 1933.

This really indicated to authorities that Americans were not respecting the Prohibition law and were continuing to drink.

Prohibition banned the production of alcohol in the USA, but America's laws did not affect the countries which surrounded it.

One of the key tasks of Prohibition agents was to prevent alcohol produced abroad from being smuggled into the USA.

To help the number of agents was increased from initial total of 1,500 to 3000 by 1930.

However, the USA's coastline was over 29,000 kilometres long, and its land borders were over 12,000 kilometres long.

It was impossible for 3000 agents to monitor all of this area as well as the actions of Americans within the country's borders.

Furthermore, Prohibition agents were paid poorly for their work, which often made them prone to corruption from those who smuggled alcohol into and around the country.

In fact, between 1920 and 1933, one in 12 Prohibition agents were sacked for taking bribes.

Corruption also spread amongst police officers, judges, and policemen, meaning that a wide range of officials were ignoring law breaking for their own benefits.

So considering what we've just heard, which two of the following problems led to poor enforcement of Prohibition? That Prohibition agents did not receive any training That Prohibition agents received low pay? Or that just three thousand Prohibition agents had to police the whole country? Remember, we are looking for two answers to this question.

So pause a video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answers.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answers were B and C.

Prohibition agents received low pay and there were just 3000 Prohibition agents who had to police the whole country.

The low pay meant that many of the agents were open to taking bribes and the fact there were so few agents, it just made it very hard for them to detect and stop the smugglers who were bringing alcohol into the country.

And let's try another question.

I want you to write the missing number in the following sentence.

Between 1920 and 1933, 1 in every blank Prohibition agents was sacked for taking bribes.

So what's our missing number? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the missing number was 12.

Between 1920 and 1933, 1 in every 12 Prohibition agents was sacked for taking bribes.

This gives a clear indication of just how widespread corruption became amongst law enforcement officers.

The continued popularity of alcohol during Prohibition also created new opportunities for criminal gangs.

It was these gangs who smuggled most city alcohol into the USA during Prohibition, and who ran most countries speakeasies.

It was because they could make so much money from breaking Prohibition laws that criminal gangs were able to bribe many of the officials who should have prevented their crimes.

Many of these criminal gangs were also involved in other illegal activities such as fixing horse racing, running brothels, and racketeering, which was where gangs forced businesses to pay them protection money to stop them from smashing up the owner's shops.

Collectively, this gang activity was referred to as organised crime.

Al Capone, a picture of whom could be seen on the screen, was the most famous gangster who emerged in the Prohibition era.

Capone led a criminal network in Chicago, and despite everyone knowing of his activities proved difficult to punish.

This was not only because of bribes he paid to the police.

Like other gangsters, Al Capone used violence to protect and expand his profitable criminal activities.

This gave many potential witnesses out testifying against Capone and other gangsters.

In fact, on the morning of the 14th of February, 1929, Capone showed extreme levels of violence.

In an attempt to remove one of his rivals, some of Capone's hitman, while dressed as policemen, shot dead seven members of a rival gang in Chicago.

This incident became known as a Saint Valentine's Day massacre and caused outrage across the USA at the new extremes of organised crime, which were associated with Prohibition.

Many people considered that this rise in organised crime made Americans and their cities less safe during Prohibition.

So let's make sure our understanding of what we've just heard is really secure.

What happened on Saint Valentine's Day in 1929? Was it that Al Capone was arrested by Prohibition agents? That Al Capone's gang massacred members of a rival gang? That Al Capone's gang publicly gave out alcohol for free? Or that Al Capone was killed by members of a rival gang? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was B.

The Saint Valentine's Day massacre occurred in February, 1929 when Al Capone's gang massacred seven members of a rival gang in Chicago.

And let's try another question.

This time we have a statement that says it was difficult to put Al Capone on trial for breaking the law.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was true, but we want to be able to justify our response.

So two justifications have appeared on the screen.

The first says that most witnesses supported his actions, so would not testify against him.

And the second says, most witnesses were scared of him, so would not testify against his actions.

Which one does two justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct justification was B.

Most witnesses were scared of Al Capone and of other gangsters so rarely testified against them, which made it very hard for the authorities to put these gangsters into prison.

In 1933, Prohibition came to an end.

The law had created lots of problems. Legalisation would create new jobs in the brewing industry, and legalisation would also generate greater tax revenue for the governments.

So it seemed like it was time to get rid of the law.

So we are now in a good position to put all of our knowledge and understanding of the impact of Prohibition into practise.

I want you to answer the following question.

In what ways were the lives of Americans affected by Prohibition? You should write two paragraphs outlining different impacts which Prohibition had in the years between 1920 and 1933.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all of your hard work on that task.

So I asked you, in what ways were the lives of Americans affected by Prohibition? And your answer may have included; one way Prohibition affected American lives was by encouraging illegal alcohol consumption.

For example, whilst there were 15,000 bars in New York before Prohibition began, there were 30,000 speakeasies in the city by 1929.

Police records in Philadelphia also show that arrests for drunkenness and other drinking-related offences increased after 1920.

As well as illustrating that Prohibition failed, this also suggests that many Americans in the 1920s did not believe in obeying laws that they did not agree with.

Your answer could also have included; one way Prohibition affected the lives of Americans was by encouraging a rise in organised crime.

Criminal gangs competed to profit from a continued demand for alcohol during Prohibition.

For example, gangsters such as Al Capone became notorious and very wealthy as they smuggled alcohol into the USA and ran speakeasies.

Competition between rival criminal gangs led to a rise in violence in the USA as seen during the St.

Valentine's Day massacre when Al Capone's hit men killed seven members of a rival gang.

Many people considered that this rise in organised crime made Americans and their cities less safe during Prohibition.

Really well done if your own answers looked something similar to either of those two models, which we've just seen.

And that means we've now reached the end of our lesson for today.

So we're ready to summarise all of our knowledge.

The 1920s became known as the Roaring Twenties, as entertainments like mass sports, cinema, and jazz became more popular.

Prohibition was introduced in 1920, making it illegal to produce, sell, and transport alcohol in the USA.

The Prohibition law was regularly broken as many ordinary Americans continued to drink and corrupt officials failed to enforce the law.

Prohibition led to a rise in organised crime as criminal gangs competed to smuggle and sell alcohol illegally in the USA.

So really well done for all of your effort throughout today's lesson.

It's been a pleasure to work alongside you, and I look forward to seeing you again in future as we think further about the boom years in the USA and the impact to the boom on Americans.