The Roaring Life of the 1920’s

Roaring Twenties “Hip flasks of hooch, jazz, speakeasies, bobbed hair, ‘the lost generation.’ The Twenties are endlessly fascinating. It was the first truly modern decade and, for better or worse, it created the model for society that all the world follows today.” - from Kevin Rayburn, “Two Views of the 1920s.”

The Automobile The Automobile changed US landscape Construction of paved roads- Route 66 connected Chicago to Los Angeles and cities between People could now travel to cities for work, entertainment, and shopping Created urban sprawl- cities in all directions

1929: Woodbridge Cloverleaf in NJ– first cloverleaf intersection

President Calvin Coolidge “The business of America is business.”

The Change in the Standard of Living US owned 40% of the world’s wealth Development of alternating current allowed electricity to be distributed – Electrical conveniences- refrigerators, ranges, toasters A rise in modern advertising – Appealed to people’s desires Used installment plan- people buying on credit

City Life in the 1920’s City Life

City life was fast-paced & impersonal 65 cities with over 100K people People judged by their accomplishments People drank, gambled, casually dated, danced

Prohibition 18 th Amendment- outlawed the manufacture, sale & transportation of alcohol

Prohibition Experiment Supporters Reformers considered alcohol a major cause of corruption and crime Protestants, Anti-Saloon League, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union helped push amendment through Drinking considered sinful Opponents Fashionable Middle-class and Upper-middle-class still drank Speakeasies opened Bootleggers still carried and sold alcohol Many became wealthy because of prohibition

Prohibition Experiment continued… Speakeasies- Underground drinking establishments Bootleggers- smuggled alcohol from Canada, Cuba, and West Indies Moonshiners- people that made their own alcohol – often mixed with bad products

Organized Crime of the 1920’s Rise of organized crime in cities Famous Crime Boss is Al Capone, killed much of his competition in alcohol sales Many believed prohibition caused worse effects than the initial problem 21 st Amendment repealed Prohibition in 1933

Take 5 minutes- Scopes vs. Fundamentalists Who were they? Attorney: Belief: Why was the decision overturned? What was the final outcome?

Scopes Trial TN made it a crime to teach evolution in 1925 John Scopes defied the law and taught Evolution Scopes found Guilty and had to pay $100 fine TN Supreme Court overturned ruling of guilt but the ruling on Evolution was still in effect

Fundamentalism Fundamentalist believed in the literal interpretation of the Bible They were skeptical of science and rejected theory of evolution Used religious revivals and radio to spread word of God

1920’s Women

Women of the 1920’s Women embraced new fashions and attitudes- FLAPPERS (not all were flappers) Smoked, drank, talked about sex Casual Dating rose Marriage an equal partnership

Pop Culture of the 1920’s Newspaper circulation rose Mass circulation magazines summarized the week’s news Americans tuned into radio which became the most powerful means of mass communication Baseball became American pastime- Babe Ruth & Andrew “Rube” Foster

Pop Culture of the 1920’s continued… Movies- major form of entertainment – The Jazz Singer was the first “Talkie” (1927) – Talkies doubled movie attendance F. Scott Fitzgerald coined the term “Jazz Age” – The Great Gatsby- negative side of 1920’s Sinclair Lewis- first American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature George Gershwin – Merged US Jazz with traditional elements

Edward Hopper = Realism Nighthawks

Georgia O’Keeffe = Modernism