The Roaring 20s in the USA

• The Interwar Years are marked by the Roaring 20s and the Great Depression.

1920s

• The Roaring 20s was a period of significant social and economic change in the United States.

Roaring 20s USA

• Manufacturers became wealthy by converting to producing war materials.
• Wealth from the war created demand for non-essential consumer goods like radios, cars, and telephones.
• Infrastructure improved with better roads, telephone lines, and radio towers.
• There was a second wave of urbanization as families moved from farms to cities for industrial jobs.
• World War I deprivation led many to seek joy at any cost.
• The excesses of the Roaring 20s led to a renewal of the Temperance Movement.

18th Amendment: Prohibition

• The 18th Amendment, also known as Prohibition, forbade the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol.
• It was intended to reduce crime, corruption, and what was considered loose morals.
• Prohibition was also meant to reduce the burden on the state, as it was thought the number of poor people would decline.

Universal Suffrage (19th Amendment)

• Women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Susan B. Anthony agitated for change, advocating for women's rights.
• The Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 drafted the "Declaration of Sentiments," demanding equality with men under the law. This included education, voting, equal pay, and the right to own property.
• Case Minor vs. Happersett (1875) argued for universal suffrage under the 14th amendment.
• August 18th, 1920 the 19th Amendment was signed into law which stated the right to vote cannot be denied based on sex.
• Impacts were seen over time and led to improvements in education, more gender equality, and greater spending on social welfare.
• The Sheppard-Towner Act (1921) was the first social welfare program that funded prenatal care and health.

Women's Changing Role

• 13,000 American women enlisted in the war, receiving the same pay and treatment as men upon their return.
• As men returned, women were expected to leave their jobs.
• Opportunities developed in textile mills, as typists, stenographers, and filing clerks.
• Women's income led to changes in advertising, promoting non-essential items.

Flappers

• Independence gained during wartime, combined with the 19th Amendment, led to social changes for women.
• Young women who became "Flappers" were free-spirited and independent.
• Flappers were known for shorter dresses, high heels, and makeup.
• Flappers stopped wearing corsets and wore shorter, more tomboyish hairstyles.

Advertising Appeals

• Bandwagon - West Electric used the phrase "Why there are over 50 million hair curlers in daily use."
• Fear - Listerine created the illness "halitosis" (bad breath).
• Less-than-perfect - Palmolive asked "Would your husband marry you again?"
• Real Man/Woman- Lion hats used the line "The right hat for real men."
• Testimonial – Stars like Miss Phyllis Haver "demand genuine Maybelline.”
• False advertising - La Mar promised to "Wash away fat."

Harlem Renaissance

• The Great Migration from 1916-1970 involved about 6 million Black people moving from Southern states to the North due to lack of opportunity and discrimination (including Jim Crow Laws).
• The Harlem Renaissance began in Harlem, New York.
• Artistic talent exploded in cities like Harlem, Cleveland, and L.A.
• This included all art forms; music, painting, poetry, and dance.

Age of Jazz

• Between 1895 and 1917, Jazz developed as an art form with artists like Buddy Bolden, Nick LaRocca, and Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton.
• Jazz gained popularity in the 1920s.
• In 1925, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington recorded their first albums.
• The Charleston dance became popular in Jazz clubs, deviating from Ballroom dance.
• "The Jazz Singer" was the first full-length talking movie or "talkie" in 1927.

Revival of Ku Klux Klan

• The KKK was first established in 1866, but the film "Birth of a Nation"(1915) portrayed them as heroes, leading to their revival.
• "Birth of a Nation" was the first movie to be screened in the White House.
• Intolerance broadened towards not only Blacks but also Catholics, Jewish people, and immigrants.
• The KKK gained broad support in the 1920s.
• KKK members were used to gain political positions through a strategy where each member got 10 people to vote for a candidate.
• In some states, elected officials enough to dominate policy decisions.