Introduction

In the first decades of the twentieth century, North Carolina continued some of the patterns of growth and change that had defined it before 1900. Industry continued to grow. Farmers continued — except for a brief period in the 1910s — to struggle. New forms of transportation and communication, as well as national and global politics, linked North Carolinians ever more closely with the rest of the country and the rest of the world.

These decades, like the Gilded Age before them, brought new opportunities and new prosperity to many — but not to all. The “Jim Crow” era of racial segregation had begun, as it had across the South. More than a million African Americans left the region for what they hoped were better opportunities in the North. But millions more stayed, and some prospered despite the obstacles they faced. The “Roaring Twenties” brought both prosperity and a new culture that embraced youth and fun, but the new luxuries cost money, and North Carolina’s farmers and industrial workers frequently could not afford them.

Many of the changes that knocked on North Carolina’s door in this period met with as much resistance as welcome. The reform movements of the Progressive Era — particularly efforts to help industrial workers — had little success in most of the South, although North Carolina made improvements in its system of public education and established its first state parks. Women gained the right to vote in 1920, but over the objections of a majority of North Carolina’s legislators. And the appearance of evolution in high school and college textbooks sparked a battle in the legislature.

For all the changes the Progressive Era, the First World War, and the Roaring Twenties brought to North Carolina, far greater change was waiting just around the corner. The year 1929 would bring a stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression… which would be followed closely by World War II, and then the Civil Rights Movement. But all that lay in the future, and North Carolinians couldn’t see it coming. For now, they marveled at — or muttered over — the tremendous changes they had already seen.

A note about sources

Some of the primary sources in this section of the digital textbook address race directly, and several include racist language and demeaning stereotypes. These documents are included to provide an accurate picture of the past. In all cases, the “As you read” section in the sidebar will provide background and guidance to help you learn from them.

Key questions

As in the rest of this digital textbook, you’ll have the opportunity to explore the experiences of various people firsthand, through primary sources. These include the kinds of personal and official documents you’ve seen before, along with oral histories and newspaper and magazine articles. There’s also music and some video. From these raw materials and background readings, you’ll answer questions like these:

How did new technologies change people’s lives and work?
What reforms did North Carolinians make in their economy, government, and society in the Progressive Era — and which did they resist?
How did North Carolinians experience the First World War?
How did women obtain the right to vote — and why did North Carolina fail to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment, despite the efforts of suffragists like Gertrude Weil?
What was “Jim Crow”? How was racial segregation enforced, and how did African Americans live and work in the face of it?
What changes did the “roaring twenties” bring to North Carolina?
Why did industrial workers begin to organize and protest in the 1920s?
What were the events of the Loray Mill strike in Gastonia in 1929? Why did they occur, and what were the consequences?