Early 20th Century Unit

Students over the next two and a half weeks we will be focusing on the early part of the 20th Century.  
(1901-1941) Hopefully you will realize that this time period was one of great change and hardship in the lives of everyday Americans. Americans started to drive reliable and affordable automobiles provided by the creation of the Model T by Henry Ford in Highland Park, Michigan. Henry Ford also created a different and highly successful way to produce his cars by the use of assembly lines. By one worker doing the same job repetitively, products could be created faster, cheaper and in a more

uniformed fashion. This translated into higher profits for companies and better products for the

everyday public. The access and exploring of oil in ares of Texas allowed this fuel to be used in cars and light the streets of America. This natural resource also spared the lives of whales that were close to extinction because of the hunting of the these animals for their oil. John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil was responsible for the extraction of this valuable resource. Also Wilbur and Orville Wright successfully maned an airplane on the Outer Banks of North Carolina for twelve seconds that started a rush for aeronautical travel.

The 1920s was one of progress and excess and people were spending too much of their money and not saving enough for difficult times ahead. After the stock market crash of 1929 and other economic forces, many Americans and other countries around the world went through tremendous hardships that many generations never forgot the historical time period named the Great Depression.