GCSE AQA History Specimen Paper 1 America Questions and Answers
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Course
History
Institution
GCSE
The questions and answers for the paper are enclosed in the document. I obtained 35/40 on this particular paper, I scored 12/12 on the last question too. It is a specimen paper and the sources should be available online.
1. How does Interpretation B differ from Interpretation A about women in the 1920s?
Interpretation A describes the lives of women who had not benefited from the
economic boom. These women were the wives of farm labourers, miners and
unskilled workers. The new labour-saving appliances, such as ‘vacuum cleaners’
and ‘fridges’, meant nothing to them as they still had to work hard in the home
in their traditional roles. They could not afford new devices to lessen the burden
of their work, but they had to take on extra work to supplement the low salaries
of their husbands. In contrast, Interpretation B describes the lives of the younger
generation and city girls who had the money to be able to embrace the ‘flapper’
lifestyle which offended many of the older generation.
2. Why might the authors of Interpretations A and B have a different
interpretation about women in the 1920s? Explain your answer using
Interpretations A and B and your contextual knowledge.
Interpretation A is written by Fleischman, a woman and a campaigner for
women’s rights. She deliberately focuses on the working-class women who were
trapped by in traditional roles by poverty. She shows they did not enjoy the
freedom provided by the economic boom. In contrast, Fitzgerald, in
Interpretation B, is a man who writes about his own wife. Furthermore, as a rich
novelist in the 1920s, he has a different experience of women, who lived in the
cities, and he had no knowledge of the suffering and limitations of working class
rural women. He was very wealthy and he seems to know nothing about the lives
of the ‘ordinary’ women that Fleischman was interested in. He was probably only
interested in himself and his own social group.
3. Which interpretation do you find more convincing about women in the 1920s?
Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B and your contextual
knowledge.
Interpretation A is convincing because it takes a wider view. It is written by
Fleischman who had a full view of the large variations of wealth during the
economic boom. She recognises, in Interpretation A, that not everyone benefited
from the boom. She understands that the labour-saving devices could not help
the working-class women because they could not even afford them. Women
working in poorer areas continued to suffer as a result of poverty and had to
work even longer hours to supplement the low pay of their husbands. Women
who lived in poor rural areas had little or no opportunity to buy or use the labour-
saving consumer goods available to wealthier city dwellers. These working-class
women were unable to break out of their traditional roles and were trapped by
poverty.
Interpretation B is convincing in that it captures the hedonistic lifestyle of the
urbanites. He describes the fun and ‘over-indulgence’ of the flappers. Fitzgerald
shows how wealthy young women in the cities broke away from traditional roles.
, He depicts the women drinking, dancing and smoking in public because
‘tomorrow we die’. Their wild behaviour shocked the older generation.
Both interpretations are convincing in that they demonstrate the gulf between
the lives of the rich and poor women lives in the 1920. But Interpretation A is
more convincing as a description of the lives of most American women. Most
women did not enjoy the freedom of the wealthier classes and Fitzgerald offers a
narrow view of only a small percentage of women in the 1920s. But on the
whole, most women in the 1920s experienced little change and those who
experienced the jazz age were in the minority.
4. Describe two problems faced by President Roosevelt from the opposition to the
New Deal.
4 marks
FDR faced criticism of the New Deal from the Supreme Court. Many believed that
his measures were unconstitutional. In 1935, the Supreme Court decided that
the Agricultural Agency was unconstitutional because it took away the states’
rights to decide what money to give to the farmers. The Supreme Court felt the
New Deal gave the federal government too much power and therefore, individual
states had less power. Roosevelt faced criticism from Senator Huey Long. He felt
the government was not doing enough to help disadvantaged groups such as
African Americans. They did not benefit much from the New Deal and it did not
help them much financially.
5. In what ways did the lives of black Americans and women change during the
Second World War?
The Second World War had an enormous impact on the lives of black Americans and
women, causing massive social changes. Only 1 in 5 American women had a job in 1929
and many of these roles were domesticated and unskilled. These roles changed dramatically
in 1942, with men going away to fight, women had more opportunities to work. Furthermore,
they undertook skilled labour in factories, shipyards and on the railways. They made up one
third of the workforce during the Second World War and even had more political
involvement. 350,000 women joined the armed forces and some even became pilots.
However, whilst they were able to enjoy the extra income, women were
disappointed to receive lower wages than men for doing the same work.
About a million African Americans served in the armed forces during the Second
World War, but they faced discrimination and segregation. In 1941 Randolph
organised a march on Washington to protest against exclusion from the military
and segregation in the military. The FEPC (Fair Employment Practice Committee)
was introduced to investigate discrimination, but it did not have much impact.
Black soldiers were not allowed to become officers and they were only allowed to
work in ship’s kitchens. The air force would not even allow black pilots.
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