How Did Nativism Affect Society

America in the 1920s is known as the Jazz Age, the Roaring Twenties, the Prohibition Era, and many more monikers. Society during the Twenties is viewed by most as consumeristic. “The nation’s total wealth more than doubled between 1920 and 1929” (“The Roaring Twenties”). Music, material goods, and even styles of dance became part of mainstream culture and trends. The older generation was uncomfortable with the new culture, but for the new generation, it was paradise. When people think of the Twenties, they think about flappers. The ‘New Woman’ emerged in this decade. They could vote now, and held white collar jobs. The automobile became a must-have in all households (“The Roaring Twenties”). There was music everywhere and the hope for a bright
To others, native meant ‘American citizen,’ regardless of ancestry or nation of birth” (TCC: Native and Foreign). The nativist movement affected both society and government. Dale Knobel, former president of Denison University, argues that American nativism is a social movement that began in the 1800s and lasted through the 1920s. He argues that the movement was able to spread and stay alive for so long because of fraternal groups that were an important part of society (McVeigh). The Ku Klux Klan in one example of these organizations. On the social level, civilians were learning about the ideas behind nativism through everything; the newspaper, the radio, or even just everyday conversations. Some Americans agreed that America was only for white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, while others acknowledged that America was becoming a diverse country where everyone should be welcomed. Immigrants liked the thought of a well established country with free education, free hospitals, free nursing, and opportunity; it was all about the opportunities they did not have in their home countries
Eugenics was, like the KKK, integrated into the government; laws concerning eugenic sterilization were passed. Going back to white supremacy ideals, some Americans thought that character was a hereditary trait. Therefore, to prevent the spread of bad character, states were legalizing sterilizations (Davis). Bad character included all peoples that were not white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, and also the mentally ill, no matter what race they were. Eugenicists thought they had a solution to the perceived problem, and so applied their science to society