In this lecture, Professor Totten argues the memory of the 1920s is largely inaccurate, as it was filled with unrest and repression, rather than economic prosperity. The Influenza Epidemic killed millions world wide, while labor unions and immigrants were targeted in the country's second major red scare. Racial tensions boiled over as well, where white mobs attacked African American communities, causing millions of dollars of damage, and murdering hundreds of black civilians. The country saw the return to laissez-faire economic policies and the overturn of many progressive regulatory abilities that directly contributed to the coming of the Great Depression. The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, further illustrated how federal aid could be unequally applied. The decade also saw horrific violence between criminals and law enforcement as a result of Prohibition. This violence directly led to gun control efforts, as well as the growth of the Prison-Industrial complex, that we still deal with to this day.

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