IGCSE: USA in the '20s and '30s

Scroll for an interactive journey through the history of Prohibition.

'Women were experiencing a new sense of freedom and independence in the 1920s. Who were these women? How did they express this newfound freedom?'

The National Recovery Act.

Part One of a five part series about the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

Boom and Bust

The Black Bottom, the Charleston, the Shimmy and the Lindy Hop.

Duke Ellington and His Orchestra

New York skyscrapers, 1930. 

New Deal-era promo for the NRA (National Recovery Administration) with Jimmy Durante and Moe Howard as the Exterminator.

Roosevelt and the New Deal, part 2

Mr Allsop History gives advice on how to approach CIE IGCSE Paper 4, the alternative to coursework. 

Professor Neil Wynn presents a guide to the causes, crime and considerable impact of prohibition on American society. 

'The skyscrapers of Manhattan needed a new, bolder type of construction worker. They got them in 'roughnecks' - hardened men who worked without safety harnesses, hard hats or even bathroom breaks.'

'Testimonies adapted from the files of the Federal Writers' Project, available online through the Library of Congress.'

The work of the Public Works Administration.

'During the 1930s, there were few regions of the country that were worse off than the region known as the Tennessee Valley. Where is the Tennessee Valley? How did the New Deal help this area?'

Maple Leaf Rag, recorded on Pianola Roll played by Scott Joplin.

Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five

Bessie Smith: Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out.

Henry Ford's assembly line. 

American Voices - New Deal episode 

Roosevelt and the New Deal, part 1

President Herbert Hoover speaking.

'From the late 1920s, and particularly following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Prohibition became a rich source of satire and humour for mapmakers and cartoonists.'