The 1920s: cars, radio, the Harlem Renaissance and Prohibition

Grade 11 Social Studies Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Cards A to G. Card A, a summary in our words from the National Archives: about six million Black Americans moved from the South to Northern, Midwestern and Western states from the 1910s to the 1970s, to escape racial violence and Jim Crow and to seek economic and educational opportunity. The First Great Migration ran from 1910 to 1940. In 1917, as the war effort grew, factory jobs in the North and Midwest opened up. Card B, a summary in our words from the National Museum of African American History and Culture: Jim Crow laws and Klan terror pushed Black Southerners out of the South. Harlem, a neighborhood of three square miles in New York City, drew nearly 175,000 African Americans. The Harlem Renaissance ran from the end of World War I to the mid-1930s, with poetry, novels, painting, jazz and swing. Alain Locke, called the dean of the movement, said it turned "social disillusionment to race pride". Card C, a summary in our words: in 1921 Greenwood, a thriving Black district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was home to most of the city's 10,000 Black residents, with two newspapers, several churches, a library branch and many Black-owned businesses. On May 31 and June 1, 1921, a white mob attacked Greenwood. More than 1,000 homes and businesses were destroyed, and credible estimates of deaths run from about 30 to 300 (sources differ). In 1921, 26 death certificates were issued for Black victims, and 21 were reportedly buried in Oaklawn Cemetery. No scenes are described on this sheet. Card D, a summary in our words: within days Black Tulsans began rebuilding Greenwood, though thousands spent the winter of 1921 to 1922 in tents. A state commission studied the massacre from 1997 to 2001, and its report of February 28, 2001 recommended reparations. From 2018 the City of Tulsa reexamined possible graves, and in 2024 one victim, a World War I veteran, was identified. Card E, a count in our words from the NAACP: from 1882 to 1968, 4,743 people were lynched, and 3,446 of them were Black. Card F, a summary in our words: the Dyer anti-lynching bill, first introduced in 1918, was defeated by a Senate filibuster, and there was no federal law against lynching. Card G, a note in our words: historians call the events of May 31 and June 1, 1921 the Tulsa Race Massacre.

2. 1.

   Card A names causes of the Great Migration and card B names the Jim Crow pushes. Ari asks which was a long-term cause and which the trigger.

   • Racial violence and Jim Crow were long-term; the 1917 factory jobs were the trigger
   • The 1917 factory jobs were long-term; racial violence and Jim Crow were the trigger
   • Factory jobs were the sole cause, since the move began as the war effort grew
   • Jim Crow was the trigger, since it was the harm most often named by those who left
3. 2.

   Card B links the Harlem Renaissance to the migration. Which claim do cards A and B support, Esme asks?

   • The Renaissance spread across the South, since many Southerners made the move
   • Migration brought people to Harlem, where the movement grew, with other causes too
   • The Renaissance came before the migration, so it drew people to Harlem
   • Migration alone caused the Harlem Renaissance, with no other reason needed
4. 3.

   Alain Locke said the movement turned "social disillusionment to race pride." How should Jun treat that line?

   • As worthless, since a person inside a movement cannot describe it
   • As a leader's reading of the movement, useful for how it saw itself
   • As a primary source for the migration's size, since Locke lived in Harlem
   • As a count of how each Harlem resident felt in those years
5. 4.

   Card C gives 26 death certificates beside estimates of about 30 to 300. Kira asks how to treat the 26.

   • As the lowest reliable count, since a certificate is an official record and the estimates are guesses
   • As a mistake, since it is lower than the lowest estimate of 30
   • As a count of records only; the estimates are higher, so the total is not settled
   • As proof that the highest estimate of 300 is correct, since records are always incomplete
6. 5.

   Which sentence about the deaths in Tulsa is most accurate on card C, Luz asks?

   • About 300 people lost their lives, since the highest estimate covers the missing records
   • The number is unknown, so a historian should leave it out of an account
   • Twenty-six people lost their lives, as the death certificates show
   • Credible estimates run from about 30 to 300, and sources differ
7. 6.

   Card E counts 4,743 people lynched from 1882 to 1968, 3,446 of them Black, about 73 percent. What does that count support, Milo asks?

   • A large majority were Black, but the NAACP's count cannot be used as evidence
   • About a quarter were Black, since 4,743 minus 3,446 gives that share
   • A large majority of those counted were Black, but a count shows who, not why
   • A large majority were Black, so the count shows racial motive in each case
8. 7.

   Card C describes Greenwood's newspapers, churches, library branch and businesses. How does Pia use that in an account of 1921?

   • It shows Greenwood was small, so the loss in 1921 mattered less to the city
   • It shows a community with institutions, so the story includes rebuilding too
   • It shows the community was wiped out, with nothing to rebuild
   • It shows the mob came from the same district, as one community
9. 8.

   Card D lists a commission (1997 to 2001) and a search for graves (from 2018). What does that show Ren about the evidence?

   • The 2001 report and the 2018 search show that earlier accounts were false
   • Nothing new was learned after 1921, since the first accounts were complete
   • The commission's report of 2001 settled the number of deaths for later accounts
   • Later work added evidence that earlier accounts lacked
10. 9.

    Tala reads cards A and E. Which statement links the two without claiming too much?

    • Racial violence was the one cause of the Great Migration, as card E shows
    • Card E shows the Great Migration ended lynching in the North and Midwest
    • Both mention racial violence, but neither shows it was the only force
    • Card A's six million are the same people that card E counts
11. 10.

    A student says the Great Migration emptied the South of its Black population, citing six million. What do the cards support, Zee asks?

    • It emptied the South, since six million is most of the Black population there
    • Six million is a large move, but no card gives the South's population
    • It changed the South just after 1940, since the first wave was small
    • It left the South unchanged, since the First Great Migration ended in 1940