Level:
Correct: 0
Incorrect: 0
Marks: 0/0
Exam Practice
Subject:
Topics:
AQA GCSE History (America 1920-1973) Smart practice A mixed round aimed at your weak spots
Unit 1
Part one: American people and the 'Boom'
American people and the 'Boom'
The 'Boom'
0%
Social and cultural developments
0%
Divided society
0%
Unit 2
Part two: Bust – Americans' experiences of the Depression and New Deal
Bust – Americans' experiences of the Depression and New Deal
American society during the Depression
0%
The effectiveness of the New Deal on different groups in society
0%
The impact of the Second World War
0%
Unit 3
Part three: Post-war America
Post-war America
Post-war American society and economy
0%
Racial tension and developments in the Civil Rights campaigns in the 1950s and 1960s
0%
America and the 'Great Society'
0%
Avg
score:
–
Topics
done:
0/9

Social and cultural developments

Practise 44 exam-style questions on Social and cultural developments for AQA GCSE History (America 1920-1973). Write your answer as you would in the exam and get it marked in seconds against the mark scheme, point by point, with an AI tutor on hand if you get stuck.

  • 44 questions
  • 1–12 marks each
  • Instant marking
  • No sign-up needed
20 questions, marked as you go

Sample questions with model answers

Here are 4 of the questions in this topic, each with a model answer, an explanation of why it earns the marks and the mark scheme an examiner would use.

Question 1

2 marks

Give two ways in which radio broadcasting developed in the USA in the 1920s.

Model answer

In 1920 KDKA in Pittsburgh became the first commercial radio station. By the late 1920s national networks such as NBC (1926) and CBS (1927) broadcast the same programmes, paid for by advertising, to millions of homes across the country.

Explanation

Radio grew from almost nothing in 1920 into a national industry by 1930. Credit any two distinct developments: new stations, networks, advertising, rising sales or new kinds of programme.

Mark scheme
  1. 2 marks

    One mark for each valid development, up to two: the first commercial station, KDKA in Pittsburgh, began broadcasting in 1920 (with the presidential election results); hundreds of stations opened in the early and mid-1920s; national networks were formed, NBC in 1926 and CBS in 1927; programmes were paid for by advertising and sponsors; sales of radio sets rose from about 60 million dollars in 1922 to over 800 million dollars in 1929; by 1930 about 12 million homes (about 40%) had a radio; live broadcasts of sport (such as boxing and baseball's World Series), music (including jazz), comedy and news; the Federal Radio Commission was set up in 1927 to control the airwaves.

    max 2. Each point must be a different development.

Question 2

4 marks

Interpretation A: from an interview with an African American trumpet player who played jazz in Chicago in the 1920s, recorded in 1970. (Written for practice.)
Jazz was our music, and in the twenties the whole country wanted it. Back home in Louisiana a Black musician played for a few dollars a night, but in Chicago we played every night and made records that sold all over the country. White kids came down to the clubs on the South Side to hear us and learn the dances. People called jazz wild, but it was hard work and real art. For the first time Black musicians were stars, and that gave a lot of our people pride.

Interpretation B: from a history of American popular music written by a music historian in 1990. (Written for practice.)
It is often said that jazz broke down the barriers between Black and white Americans, but the reality was harsher. At Harlem's famous Cotton Club, Black musicians played to audiences that were entirely white. Record companies sold 'race records' to Black buyers separately, and the bandleader most often called the 'King of Jazz' was a white man, Paul Whiteman. Many older and religious Americans condemned jazz as immoral. Jazz made a few Black performers famous, but most remained poor and segregated.

Why might the authors of Interpretations A and B have a different interpretation about the effects of jazz on African Americans in the 1920s? Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B and your contextual knowledge.

Model answer

The author of Interpretation A was an African American jazz musician who moved from Louisiana to Chicago, like many musicians during the Great Migration, and found success there. He is describing his own experience, and as a musician who became one of the 'stars' he has every reason to be proud of what jazz achieved. Speaking in 1970, after the civil rights movement had encouraged Black pride and when jazz was honoured as America's own art form, he is likely to emphasise Black achievement. The author of Interpretation B is a music historian writing in 1990. A historian can study evidence about the whole industry rather than one career - the Cotton Club's whites-only audiences, the separate 'race records' market and the much greater earnings of white bandleaders like Paul Whiteman - and about African Americans in general, most of whom remained poor and faced segregation. The historian's purpose is to test the popular claim that jazz broke down racial barriers, so B focuses on the limits.

Explanation

Level 2 explains how provenance shaped each view: a successful Black musician's personal memory and pride, recorded in 1970, against a historian's wider study of the music industry and of African Americans as a whole. Contextual knowledge (the Great Migration, the Cotton Club, race records) develops the explanation.

Mark scheme
  1. 4 marks

    Levels of response (4 marks).
    Level 2 (3-4 marks): Developed explanation of why the interpretations differ, based on their provenance and supported by contextual knowledge, e.g. explains that A's author was a Black musician who personally benefited from moving to Chicago in the Great Migration and remembers his own success with pride, speaking in 1970 when the civil rights movement had encouraged Black pride and jazz was honoured as American art, whereas B's author is a music historian writing in 1990 who studied the whole industry - record companies, clubs such as the Cotton Club and musicians' earnings - and so looks at the majority rather than the few stars.
    Level 1 (1-2 marks): Simple explanation: identifies a reason from the provenance, e.g. 'A was a jazz musician' or 'B is a historian', without explaining how this shaped the view.
    0 marks: nothing worthy of credit.

    Indicative content (not a checklist; credit other valid points): A's author was a jazz musician, so jazz was his life's work and he is proud of it; he was one of the musicians who succeeded after moving north from Louisiana to Chicago during the Great Migration, like King Oliver and Louis Armstrong; he speaks from personal memory of the South Side clubs, which may focus on the exciting side and be nostalgic; in 1970, after the civil rights movement and with the growth of Black pride, he may want to stress Black achievement; by 1970 jazz was widely respected as America's own art form; B's author is a historian who could study evidence across the whole music industry, such as the Cotton Club's whites-only audiences, the 'race records' market and the earnings of Black and white musicians; B looks at African Americans as a whole, most of whom were poor and faced Jim Crow laws in the South and discrimination in Northern cities; B's purpose is to challenge a popular myth that jazz broke down racial barriers; B wrote with hindsight, knowing how long segregation lasted.

Question 3

8 marks

Interpretation A: from an article written by a young woman for a popular magazine in 1925. (Written for practice.)
The older generation is shocked by us. They call us flappers and say we are wild because we bob our hair, wear short skirts and make-up, and go dancing without a chaperone. But we are simply honest. We earn our own money, choose our own friends and intend to choose our own husbands. Our mothers were laced into corsets and long skirts; we want to be free and equal companions to men, not ornaments to be shown off.

Interpretation B: from a letter to a newspaper written by a mother living in a small town in Kansas in 1926. (Written for practice.)
The girls in our town copy the film stars they see each Saturday night. They paint their faces, smoke cigarettes, ride off in motor cars with young men and come home after midnight from dances where liquor is passed round in defiance of the law. They call this freedom. I call it the ruin of decent family life. A girl who behaves like this will not make a good wife or mother, and our churches and schools must stand firm against it.

Which interpretation gives the more convincing opinion about flappers? Explain your answer based on your contextual knowledge and what it says in Interpretations A and B.

Model answer

Interpretation A is convincing in linking flappers to real changes in women's independence. Many young women in the cities did earn their own money in new jobs as secretaries, typists, telephonists and shop assistants, and the number of women in paid work rose by about 2 million between 1920 and 1930. Flappers rejected the corsets and long skirts of their mothers' generation for bobbed hair, knee-length skirts and make-up, and women had won the vote in 1920. The divorce rate roughly doubled between 1914 and 1929, which supports A's claim that women wanted to choose their own husbands. However, A's claim that flappers were 'equal companions to men' is exaggerated: women were still paid much less than men, few reached the professions and many lost their jobs when they married.

Interpretation B is convincing about how flappers behaved and how many Americans saw them. Flappers did smoke in public, drink in speakeasies despite prohibition and use motor cars to escape their parents, and films spread their fashions to small towns, as B says - Clara Bow, the 'It girl', was copied across the country. B also reflects the views of many people in the rural Midwest and South, where churches condemned flappers. However, B exaggerates: flappers were a minority, mostly young, urban and middle-class, and the 'ruin of decent family life' did not happen.

Overall, A is more convincing because it explains why young women behaved as they did - their new economic independence - while B describes the same behaviour but judges it only by traditional moral standards and exaggerates its effects. Neither, however, describes most American women, who were not flappers.

Explanation

Level 4 needs both interpretations tested against knowledge - women's jobs, the vote and divorce for A; flapper behaviour, the cinema and traditional opposition for B - and a sustained judgement. Strong answers notice that both describe the same behaviour but explain and judge it differently.

Mark scheme
  1. 8 marks

    Levels of response (8 marks).
    Level 4 (7-8 marks): Complex evaluation of both interpretations, using accurate contextual knowledge to test what each says about flappers (e.g. new jobs and wages, the vote and the rising divorce rate against unequal pay, the influence of films, flappers' behaviour and the strength of traditional values), leading to a sustained judgement about which is more convincing.
    Level 3 (5-6 marks): Developed evaluation of both interpretations, supported by relevant contextual knowledge, but the judgement is not sustained or one interpretation is evaluated in less depth.
    Level 2 (3-4 marks): Simple evaluation of one interpretation (or of both, based mainly on their content) supported by some relevant knowledge.
    Level 1 (1-2 marks): Basic analysis: describes or paraphrases one or both interpretations, or asserts which is more convincing with little or no contextual knowledge.
    0 marks: nothing worthy of credit.

    Indicative content (not a checklist; credit other valid points): Supporting A: many young city women earned their own wages as secretaries, typists, telephonists and shop assistants; women in paid work rose by about 2 million between 1920 and 1930; flappers rejected corsets and long skirts for bobbed hair, knee-length skirts and make-up; women gained the vote in 1920; the divorce rate roughly doubled between 1914 and 1929, suggesting women had more choice in marriage; chaperones were abandoned. Weakness of A: women were not 'equal' - unequal pay, few in the professions, many dismissed on marriage. Supporting B: flappers did smoke in public, drink in speakeasies despite prohibition and use cars to escape parental control; films spread flapper fashions to small towns (Clara Bow, the 'It girl'; the film Flaming Youth, 1923); many people in the rural Midwest and South, and many churches, condemned flappers. Weakness of B: flappers were a minority of young, urban, middle-class women; most later married and had families; B blames films and ignores economic reasons for the change. Possible judgements: A is more convincing because it explains flappers' behaviour through economic independence; B is more convincing about how most Americans in small towns reacted; neither is typical of most women.

Question 4

12 marks

Which of the following was the more important reason for the emergence of the flappers in the 1920s:
• the effects of the First World War
• the influence of Hollywood films?
Explain your answer with reference to both bullet points.

Model answer

The effects of the First World War were an important reason for the emergence of the flappers. When the USA entered the war in 1917, many women took jobs in factories, offices and transport that had been done by men, and they gained wages, confidence and a taste of independence. Women's war service helped to persuade politicians to pass the 19th Amendment, giving women the vote in 1920. The war also changed the attitudes of many young people: after the slaughter in Europe, some rejected the strict values of their parents' generation and wanted to enjoy life while they could. Practical, shorter clothes had become acceptable during the war. However, the USA was only at war for about nineteen months, and many women lost their wartime jobs when the soldiers returned, so the war's direct effect was limited.

The influence of Hollywood films was also important. Weekly cinema audiences grew from about 40 million in the early 1920s to about 90 million by 1930, and on screen Americans saw stars such as Clara Bow, the 'It girl', Colleen Moore in Flaming Youth (1923) and Louise Brooks with bobbed hair, short skirts and make-up, smoking, dancing and dating. Young women in small towns across the country copied what they saw, and fan magazines and advertising spread the image further. Without films, flapper fashions would have stayed mainly in the big cities.

Overall, the First World War was the more important reason, because it started the change, while films mainly spread it. Hollywood made films about flappers because they were already a talked-about trend in the cities: F. Scott Fitzgerald's stories, such as 'Bernice Bobs Her Hair' (1920), were describing flappers before the big flapper films, and Flaming Youth was based on a best-selling novel. The war began the shift in young women's expectations and attitudes and helped win the vote, and the economic boom that followed gave young women office jobs and the wages to buy the new fashions. Hollywood took this real change and turned it into a national fashion, but it was reflecting a new generation as much as creating it.

Explanation

Level 4 explains both factors with specific knowledge and reaches a sustained judgement, for example by distinguishing between what started the change (the war, new jobs) and what spread it (films). Showing awareness of limits - the USA's short war, films copying a city trend - helps to build the argument.

Mark scheme
  1. 12 marks

    Levels of response (12 marks).
    Level 4 (10-12 marks): Complex explanation of both bullet points, supported by specific knowledge (e.g. women's war work, the 19th Amendment and post-war disillusionment; film stars such as Clara Bow and films such as Flaming Youth spreading flapper fashions and behaviour), leading to a sustained judgement about which was more important - for example weighing whether films created the flapper or spread a change that had already begun.
    Level 3 (7-9 marks): Developed explanation of both bullet points, supported by relevant knowledge; any judgement is not sustained.
    Level 2 (4-6 marks): Simple explanation of one or both bullet points.
    Level 1 (1-3 marks): Basic explanation of one or both bullet points, with limited knowledge.
    0 marks: nothing worthy of credit.

    Indicative content (not a checklist; credit other valid points): First World War: the USA was at war in 1917-18; women took jobs in factories, offices and transport while men served, gaining confidence and wages; women's war service helped win the 19th Amendment (1920); many young people were disillusioned by the war's slaughter and rejected their parents' values, wanting to enjoy life; the war loosened old social rules and practical clothing became acceptable; but the USA's war was short and many women lost their jobs afterwards, so the war's effect was smaller than in Europe. Hollywood films: stars such as Clara Bow (the 'It girl'), Colleen Moore in Flaming Youth (1923) and Louise Brooks showed flapper fashions and behaviour; weekly cinema audiences of 40-90 million spread the look to small towns across the country; films showed women smoking, drinking, dancing and dating; advertising and fan magazines reinforced the image; but films often copied a trend already visible in the cities. Other factors: the economic boom and new office jobs giving young women wages; jazz, speakeasies and prohibition; the motor car; new ideas about sex (Freud). Possible judgements: the war was more important because it started the change in women's expectations; films were more important because they turned a small city trend into a national fashion; both were less important than women's new jobs and wages.

Ready to try the rest? Every answer you write is marked against the mark scheme, so you can see exactly where the marks are.

AI Tutor Hints first, answers after you try

Hi! Stuck? Ask me for a hint and I’ll help you work it out. Once you’ve checked your answer I can explain exactly where the marks are.