1. THE ROARING 20s 5.47 – 5.48

2. THE ROARING 20s After the most destructive war the world had ever known, most of the world was ready to pick up and move on. There was a fast-growing economy, and a new and exciting culture spread from city to city. It was one of the most exciting times in the country’s history.

3. WHAT WAS SO EXCITING?  The war was over.  Women could vote.  Automobiles were more affordable.  Americans (especially young people) felt freer and more independent.

4.  Independent women called flappers began to wear shorter skirts and wore their hair in a short style called a “bob”  They also danced to new styles of music. FLAPPERS

5. CONSUMER CULTURE  In 1921, business began booming across the U.S. and did not stop for almost eight years.  Plenty of jobs were available, so people had extra money to spend on new appliances and technologies.  Refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, cars, and radios became affordable and available to the middle class.

6. CONSUMER CULTURE

7. PROSPERITY  This time of prosperity gave Americans a taste for more and more consumer goods (goods made for consumers to use at home)

8. ADVERTISING  While advertising had been around, in the 1920s it became an industry.  New companies focused on making advertisements for other companies.  Soon there were ads on billboards, city buildings, the sides of barns, and on the radio.

9. SELF-SERVICE GROCERY  Clarence Saunders changed the way Americans shopped for groceries.  Before, a large counter would stand in the center of the store and customers asked counter workers to gather the items on their lists.  Saunders was a grocery clerk and studied how to make it more efficient.

10.  A few years later, Saunders opened his first self-service grocery.  Because this type of store didn’t pay as many employees, it could charge lower prices.  By 1923, there were 1,200 Piggly Wiggly stores across the country. THE PIG!

11. Motion pictures  The first movie theaters were called nickelodeons because it cost five cents to go.  There wasn’t sound, but each theater had a piano player who played during the silent movie. MODERN CULTURE

12. Radio  As electricity became more common, people experimented with sending sounds through the air.  In 1916, the voice of W.C. Handy was broadcast from an experimental voice radio station in Memphis.  In 1922, TN’s first radio station began broadcasting from Lawrenceburg, TN MODERN CULTURE

13. TENNESSEE MUSIC  The Blues – based on black folk music of the South. Its roots go back to slavery. W.C. Handy – piano player on Beale Street – “The Father of the Blues” Bessie Smith – from Chattanooga, she became one of the most successful African American performers of her time.

14. TENNESSEE MUSIC  Country Music (Hillbilly Music) Roots in white folk music across the South and Appalachia  WSM – radio station owned by the National Life and Accident Insurance Company – 650AM because they had 650 insurance salesmen. They chose WSM because their company slogan was “We Shield Millions.”

15.  In 1925, started the live, old-time music program, the WSM Barn Dance every Saturday night.  Two years later it was renamed Grand Ole Opry  WSM was one of the first modern radio stations in the nation that could broadcast further. Soon, people on both coasts were listening to programs from Nashville. THE GRAND OLE OPRY

16. HARLEM RENAISSANCE  Began with the Great Migration of African Americans to northern large cities.  Developed into one of the most important artistic movements in history.  Harlem artists wanted to show the world what life was like for black Americans.  Hundreds of books, plays, paintings, songs, and poems were created during this time.  BrainPop on Harlem Renaissance.

17. CHARLES LINDBERGH  1927- Charles Lindbergh made the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean.  His plane, The Spirit of St. Louis, flew 33 ½ hours from NYC to Paris.

18. ECONOMY OF THE 1920s  In the 1920s, the faith Americans had in the economy seemed unshakeable.  Many Americans became very rich, and life improved greatly for the middle class as well.  However, the way the economy was set up would lead to a deep economic depression.

19. ECONOMY OF THE 1920s  Two changes in the economy led to the growth As the middle class grew, more and more Americans were able to buy and sell on the stock market. In addition, new ways of buying and selling allowed people to own things without having to save up for them.  Stocks began to be bought and sold this way – people bought them on credit.

20. CONSUMER CREDIT  In the past, if you wanted to buy a car, you saved up your money until you had enough to pay for it.  With credit, you’d pay for a portion of it, they would get the car, and pay it off a little at a time.  This allowed people to acquire goods quickly while paying for them slowly.

21. BUT THE INTEREST  Of course, to borrow the money, people had to pay an additional amount- called interest – for the product.  Interest is a fee that a lender charges in exchange for lending money.  People quickly began to owe more to creditors than they would ever earn.  Individual debt grew high quickly.

22. BRAINPOPS  Assembly Line  Jazz  Blues  Harlem Renaissance