'The 1920's were a decade of progress and opportunity for all Americans'. How far do the sources support this view?

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‘The 1920’s were a decade of progress and opportunity for all Americans’. How far do the sources support this view?

In this essay I will be studying all sources to identify if the 1920’s was a decade of progress and opportunity for all Americans. I will be taking notice of the sources that provide evidence and will be concluding to see if the statement above is backed with sufficient evidence.

In Source A we can see that there’s a picture of the Statue of Liberty. This statue stood in the New York Harbour and would have been the first sighting immigrants saw as they sailed over to America. It was a symbol of opportunity as they arrived in America. A poem by Emma Lazarus was carved at the base and was written specifically in 1886 just for the statue of liberty. The poem indicates that America will take anyone, we can see this by the line that reads, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses,” this clearly tells us that America will allow anyone to migrate to their country. The ending of the poem is also important as it tells the reader there’s an opportunity to get rich, we read this where it reads, “the golden door,” which represents an opening to a new world and a chance to get rich. This also tells us that America will give the chance to anyone and that everyone is welcome. I feel this Source, looking back at the question I feel gave opportunity to every American and Immigrant that lived in the 1920’s and gave everyone a chance.

Source B, is an indication of no progress or opportunity. I sense this because the picture is a clear indication to us that some Americans didn’t have that opportunity and no progress was available especially for blacks. In the picture it shows us a black family in the 1920’s, it shows us a home with half a dozen black children, no sight of the mother or father and the home is trashed. The family looks as if its poor and lives in the Southern States of America, where the Klu Klux Clan was worst in the whole of America and they felt that they were supreme. There were also segregation laws and no opportunity for black Americans in the South. Many Schools were separated, benches were for whites only and transport was also segregated and blacks were seen as being below everyone else.

In addition to Source B we also find racism in Source K. We find out in this Source a “negress” person is being beaten and is dying. We see unfairness and the differences between peoples’ skin colour is so wrong that they are beaten for it. For example at the end of the source we find out that a “Negro” had been “lashed” until he sold his property to a “white women for a fraction of its value.” Again we see unfairness, every person deserves the right to live and to be beaten up because of the colour of your skin isn’t right. But we did see this in America when groups of white secret societies that killed mainly blacks and Jews as well as other groups of people. The Ku Klux Klan is also called the KKK or Klan and was used as part of prejudice in America. The Klan/Group often used violence to achieve its aims. More often than not, kill innocent blacks and as a result show racism. I feel strongly about this source, I feel that there was a clear chance to stop the racism groups like the Klu Klux Klan, otherwise innocent people were killed.

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Reviewing both Source B and K I have identified that black Americans, especially in the Southern parts of America had no opportunity and looked as if there was no progress. They both remind us of ‘Lynching,’ like the Sacco and Vanzetti trial. We are reminded that most blacks who were killed were wrongly accused with either an unfair trial or were just innocently killed. The black families were poor and I’m sure many other black citizens were and because of the white supremacy had to live scared and as a result, poverty arose and the Klu Klux Klan made ...

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