Final answer:
The Scopes Trial and the revival of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s showcased the cultural and social divides in America, representing the clash between new morality and traditional beliefs, and highlighting the rising tide of nativism and racial intolerance.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Scopes Trial and the revival of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s highlighted significant cultural and social divisions within American society. The Scopes Monkey Trial, which revolved around John Scopes's teaching of evolution in a public school, brought to light the ongoing conflict between rural traditionalists and modern urbanites, reflecting the cultural divides of the time. It showcased the struggle between new morality and religious fundamentalism, especially in education.
Conversely, the resurgence of the Second Ku Klux Klan revealed a darker side of the 1920s, where a significant portion of white Americans, including those from the middle class, endorsed xenophobic and racist ideologies. Despite the Klan's attempt to craft a more public-friendly image through social events and pageantry, like the play "The Awakening," it ultimately supported a return to an exclusionary vision of America that was inherently anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, and racist. This reflected a broader sentiment of intolerance and fear of societal change, often attributed to the growth of a nonwhite and non-Protestant population.
This decade was marked by contradictions, with advancements in women's rights and the burst of new cultural expressions such as the Harlem Renaissance existing alongside prohibition and nativist sentiments. Both the trial and the Klan's activity exposed the nation's grappling with new morality and 'return to normalcy', and how societal changes prompted both progressive movements and conservative backlashes.