Lesson 13: Culture of the 1920s: Henry Ford

Introduction

Important Icon  In this lesson, you will consider the culture of the 1920s and how life in America was changing. Important Icon

Focus Question:

What cultural changes took place in the 1920s?

Henry Ford

In the late 1800s, Henry Ford created and built his first automobile. Unfortunately, because of the time and materials it took to build, the automobile was very expensive. On average, it would take more than 12 hours to construct one car. Many Americans believed their time to own an automobile would never come. 

In 1912, after much trial and error, Henry Ford and his workers created the first successful moving assembly line. The assembly line helped workers to specialize in one job. The automobile would then be moved on to another worker who would complete another specialized task until the car was complete. With the assembly line, it now only took about 1 hour and 30 minutes to assemble one car.

With the assembly line, the cost of automobiles drastically decreased. Now, Americans could finally picture themselves owning a piece of American pride.

  In your journal:  Use the notes page from Lesson 12. If you do not have access to a printer, another option is to draw/write your notes page in your social studies journal. 

The Roaring Twenties Notes Download The Roaring Twenties Notes

View the slide below to learn a little more about Henry Ford.

 

 Interactive

In your journal: Now, we will review some of the key terms you learned today. Throughout this unit, we will learn new words while adding to the key terms we have already learned. Add these new words to the table you started in lesson 1. You will also review the key terms from our previous lessons.

The creation of Ford’s assembly line did not end with automobiles. It laid the groundwork for the advanced assembly lines we still use today.

    

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