1. The Roaring 20s

2. Overview Was the age of dramatic social and political change.
Also referred to as:
The Jazz Age
The Golden Age
The Age of Intolerance
Facilitated the beginning of the 4 Dreams of Consumerism which becomes the basis for a new American Dream.

3. The Booming Economy Goods became available for more people.
The nation’s total wealth more
than doubled between 1920 and 1929
and swept in 1920people into a
“consumer society.”
The economy of the 1920s raised the number of household appliances in the home of the average middle-class American family.
The automobile ratio per American decreased from 1/15 to 1/5 because the cost of automobiles became more affordable.
Homes supplied with electricity jumped from 3.5% to 68% in
“The business of America is business.” – President Coolidge

4. Inventions of the 1920s

5. The 18th Amendment
Made the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcohol illegal.
Also known as “The Noble Experiment” coined by President Hoover.
Was the result of prohibition
groups who considered alcohol
a threat to the nation.
These groups believed that
banning alcohol = lowering crime
rates, strengthen families, and
generally improve the national
character.
Amendment resulted in the
widespread of bootlegging and
prohibition.

6. George Remus Was the biggest bootlegger in the U.S.
Some even believe that he was the inspiration for the title character of The Great Gatsby.
Was a lawyer specializing in criminal defense.
He memorized the Volstead Act (legislation that made it easier for the law to enforce
prohibition and the 18th amendment), found loopholes in order to be a more successful bootlegger.

7. Social Tensions of the 1920s
The Great Migration of African Americans: the many African Americans move to Northern cities from the Southern countryside and the visibility of black culture (Jazz/blues music) discomforted some white Americans.
Rise of the KKK
The National Origins Act of 1924: an extremely restrictive immigration law which set immigration quotas that excluded some people in favor of others. Effect of the Anti-Communist “Red Scare” in 1919 which encouraged widespread nativist, or anti-immigrant, hysteria.

8. Women of the 1920s The flapper was one of the symbols of the decade.
A young woman with bobbed hair and short skirts who drank, smoked, and said
what might be termed “unladylike”
things.
Freedoms women acquired:
The right to vote (19th amendment)
Work white-collar jobs and
participated in consumer society.
Increased availability of
birth-control devices.

9. 1920s Fashion Pre-1920: Conservative and restrictive
Bodies were corseted into an
hourglass shape; skirts hit the
floor, and the sight of the ankle
was considered to be racy.
1920s: Less restrictive. Free, flowing, and comfortable.
Flowing skirts and dresses.
Shorter skirts with pleats
and slits that allow
motion.
Shorter haircuts
Clog hats.

10. The Jazz Age Jazz became the most popular type of music in the 1920s.
Older generations thought the music was vulgar and threatened the youth’s morality.
Famous Jazz musicians to come out of this decade:
Louis Armstrong:
“What a Wonderful World”
Duke Ellington
Kid Ory

11. F. Scott Fitzgerald 1896-1940 American Author The Great Gatsby was
said to be his masterpiece.
Zelda Fitzgerald:
Fitzgerald’s wife
Daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court judge.
Said she would not marry him until he became wealthy.
Like his characters in the novel, Fitzgerald and his wife lived extravagantly.
They were famous in NYC for their extravagant parties and incessant drinking.

12. F. Scott Fitzgerald
Critical of society and materialism, as seen through the novel.
He believed that modern society was taking over and replacing the American Dream with corruption and bare materialism.
The fight vs. Old Money (traditional values; the traditional American Dream) and New Money (consumer culture; the corrupted American Dream).
People of NY labeled him as a playboy and alcoholic which hindered his reputation as a serious literary writer.

13. F. Scott Fitzgerald
Was an American short-story writer and novelist famous for his depictions of the Roaring 20s and the Jazz Age.
Themes demonstrated in his writing were:
Love and the American dream
Critiques of materialism
Old money vs. materialism
The corruption of the
American dream