Chapter 3: American Society In The 1920s Flashcards
The roaring twenties
the 1920s were known as the “roaring twenties”. There were modern inventions and an explosion of artistic and cultural changes. Life moved at a faster pace. People sent their money quickly as they earned it. New technoloiges had new inventions led to the production of a vast range of goods that were cheaper and more varied
Wealthy young Americans pursued a life of leisure and fun- partly to forget the hardships and horrors of World War one, but also because they were earning more money and there was more they could buy
The parties were bigger, the pace was faster, the shows were broader, the buildings were higher, the morals were looser and the iquor was cheaper
The booming industries of the 1920s
mostly the ones producing consumer goods-cars, radios, vacuum cleaners- and this consumer revolution ensured that Americans soon had the world’s highest standard of living. It also resulted in a society based on consumption
What brought entertainment into peoples home
Radio brought entertainment directly into people’s homes. Advertisers used radio to promote their products. The first advertisement on the radio was broadcast in 1922
Not a time for a boom for everyone
For some, the 1920s were a time of boom: increased spending and good times. But not all Americans experienced a rise in living standards. For example, domestic service was the most common kind of work for women before WW2. It was important for black women, who were excluded from most occupations. By 1920 some 40% of all domestic workers were African American and more than 70 percent of all wage African American women worked as servants or laundresses
Women
The 1920s was a time for a change for women
Rebelling against the conservative attitudes of their mothers
Young fashionable women became floppers
They cut their hair short
Wore shorter skirts
Smoked and drank in public without fear or criticism
Women began working in jobs and drive cars (activities previously associated with men)
women also got the right to vote
Women were not equal to those men and they were paid less than men
Music
The 1920s were called the jazz age because jazz was the new form of music that became popular at the time. Young people listened to jazz in speakeasies, danced new dances such as the Charleston, and drank bootleg liquor from flasks
Jazz had its roots amongst black musicians working in New Orleans. The musicians improvised s they played, and it was not at all like conventional music. It was popular in the 1920s because it represented a break from tradition. Jazz clubs such as the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York, the largest black suburb in the world, provided a home for the talents of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. White Americans flocked to these clubs
Prohibition
In 1920, as a result of a public campaign, the sale and manufacture of alcohol were declared illegal or prohibited-although it was not actually against the law to drink it. Supporters of prohibition believed that this law would put a stop to drunkness and violence in the family and that it would create a more moral and helthy society
Speakeasies- illegal bars- sprang up in most cities. People began to produce their own illegal alcohol known as moonshine. Others sold redistilled industrial alcohol and um-runners smuggled alcohol from across the sea
This was known as bootlegging
Why did prohibition fail?
because prohibition never had strong support in states where there were very big cities
Because it was very difficult to enforce the law. Not only did the enforcement agencies not have enough staff, but the police were easily bribed. Most importantly it failed because the majority of Americans did not agree with it. Prohibition finally ended by the President Roosevelt in 1933
