1. Postwar Social Changes
packet notes

2. The Roaring Twenties
During the 1920s, new technology brought people closer and led to a period of excitement and change.
*Radio
*more affordable cars
*better telephones
*the motion picture
-After the war people got a sense of freedom and rebelled against tradition

3. -New Music
*Jazz— the 1920s were known as the Jazz Age (musicians such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong made jazz famous)

4. Women’s Lives After WWI, there was limited progress in women’s rights.
-During the war, many women took over men’s jobs but left them when the men returned from battle
-Because of the efforts of women during war, they got the right to vote in some Western countries

5. -Housework became quicker and easier with new technology
*Washing machines
*Vacuum cleaners
-women began to participate in sports and the arts because they had more free time

6. Reactions to the Jazz Age
-Prohibition
*those who were against the new, free lifestyle of the 1920s supported the ban of alcohol
*the 18th Amendment created Prohibition in 1919

7. Reactions to Prohibition:
*illegal production of alcohol
*speakeasies, or illegal bars
*Prohibition ended in 1933

8. The Christian Reaction
*Fundamental Christianity spread (supported traditional Christian ideas and believed in the Bible as the source of truth)
*the Scopes Trial (convicted for teaching evolution rather than creation)

9. The New Literature
A huge amount of literature was published in the 1920s.
-War Literature
*All Quiet on the Western Front!
-the Lost Generation
*after WWI many writers lost faith in society
*authors were deeply affected by war and were called the “Lost Generation”

10. The Harlem Renaissance
*an African American cultural awakening
*showed African American pride through literature, as well as music and art

11. New Scientific Theories
-Marie Curie and Radioactivity *her discoveries dealing with radioactivity and the atom changed the world of science
*her work showed the progress that women were making in society as well

12. -Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. introduced a new way of
-Einstein’s Theory of Relativity *introduced a new way of thinking about space and time *made people even more confused and unsettled about the world around them
-Fleming Discovers Penicillin *a Scottish scientist accidentally discovered the antibiotic, which is still used today

13. -Freud Probes the Mind
*Sigmund Freud was a revolutionary psychologist who talked about how the subconscious affects our behavior and how behavior is shaped by internal conflict *contributed a lot to psychology

14. Modern Art and Architecture
Broke away from tradition and formed new, less realistic styles
-Painting *Cubism *Abstract Art *Dada (nontraditional—created shocking and disturbing images) *Surrealism (showed the tension that Freud was talking about!)

15. -Architecture
*new styles (Frank Lloyd Wright)
*incorporated new technology and materials

16. Looking Ahead…
After WWI shook society, many people changed their ways of life. At first, there was a sense of freedom but this eventually gave way to the less hopeful “Lost Generation”.
And then at the end of the 1920s…
The Great Depression hit!