The roaring twenties

karina baez

julieta bares
The 1920s was a period of rapid
change and economic prosperity
in the USA. Life improved for
the majority, but not all, of
Americans.
For the first time, more Americans lived in cities
than on farms. The nation’s total wealth more
than doubled between 1920 and 1929, and this
economic growth swept many Americans into a
“consumer society.” People from coast to coast
bought the same goods (thanks to nationwide
advertising and the spread of chain stores),
listened to the same music, did the same dances
and even used the same slang!
 The reasons for the rapid

economic growth in the

1920s

The main reasons for America's economic

boom in the 1920s were technological
progress which led to the mass
production of goods, the electrification of
America, new mass marketing
techniques, the availability of cheap
credit and increased employment which,
in turn, created a huge amount of
consumers.
 Confidence in the economic
boom amongst Americans was
very high, which meant they
were prepared to buy goods, try
new ideas and invest in
companies.
Mass Communication and Consumerism

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 The 'New Woman'

The most familiar symbol of the “Roaring Twenties” is probably the flapper: a young woman with
bobbed hair and short skirts who drank, smoked and said what might be termed “unladylike”
things, in addition to being more sexually “free” than previous generations. In reality, most young
women in the 1920s did none of these things (though many did adopt a fashionable flapper
wardrobe), but even those women who were not flappers gained some unprecedented freedoms.
The move
away from
ideas influ conservati
enced wom ve
Leading d en's fashion
esigners lik .
Channel c e Coco
reated inn
designs th ovative
at encoura
formal bu ged less
t still glam
orous
clothing.
 They could vote: The 19th
Amendment to the Constitution had
guaranteed that right in 1920.

Millions of women worked in blue collar jobs, as

well as white-collar jobs (as stenographers, for
example) and could afford to participate in the
burgeoning consumer economy. The increased
availability of birth-control devices such as the
diaphragm made it possible for women to have
fewer children. And new machines and technologies
like the washing machine and the vacuum cleaner
eliminated some of the drudgery of household work.
 Prohibition

The 18th Amendment to the Constitution,

ratified in 1919, had banned the manufacture
and sale of “intoxicating liquors,” and at 12
A.M. on January 16, 1920, the federal
Volstead Act closed every tavern, bar and
saloon in the United States. From then on, it
was illegal to sell any “intoxication beverages”
with more than 0.5% alcohol. This drove the
liquor trade underground–now, people simply
went to nominally illegal speakeasies instead of
ordinary bars–where it was controlled by
bootleggers, racketeers and other organized-
crime figures such as Chicago gangster Al
Capone.
 Americans who continued drinking
alcohol during Prohibition had to
find creative ways to hide it.
Some wily drinkers even incorporated
their secret hooch hiding spots into
their fashion sense.
 The

Jazz

Age

Cars also gave young people the freedom to go where they pleased and do what they wanted.
What many young people wanted to do was dance: the Charleston, the cake walk, the black
bottom, the flea hop. Jazz bands played at venues like the Savoy and the Cotton Club in
New York City and the Aragon in Chicago; radio stations and phonograph records (100
million of which were sold in 1927 alone) carried their tunes to listeners across the nation.
Young people loved the freedom they felt on the dance floor.
 The 'Cultural Civil War'

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 The Great Migration of African Americans
from the Southern countryside to Northern
cities and the increasing visibility of Black
culture like jazz and blues music discomfited
some white Americans. Millions of people
across the country joined the Ku Klux Klan in
the 1920s. By the middle of the decade, the
KKK had two million members, many who
believed the Klan represented a return to all
the “values” that the Roaring Twenties were
trampling. More specifically, the 1920s
represented economic and political uplift for
African Americans that threatened the social
hierarchy.
 BLACK AMERICANS
SOUGHT
stable employment
better living conditions
political participation

They fought against the social

hierarchy of Jim Crow's system
 Some important events
Tulsa race massacre 1921
First predominantly Black Labor Union 1925
First African American Congressman 1928
The Roaring Twenties ushered in several
demographic shifts, or what one historian called a
“cultural Civil War” between city-dwellers and
small-town residents, Protestants and Catholics,
Blacks and whites, “New Women” and advocates
of old-fashioned family values.
The economic prosperity of
the 'Roaring Twenties' came
to an end in October 1929
(black Tuesday)
16 million shares were sold on the stock market in
Wall Street and the economy collapsed completely
Long term reasons for the crash
OVERPRODUCTION AND UNDERCONSUMPTION IN AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY

Improvement in farming techniques meant more food production but the demand
fell because of the Prohibition and changes in food tastes.

Less demand from Europeans because of war tariff and they grew their own crops
Over production and underconsumption of consumer goods (cars, household
gadgets, etc)
DECLINE IN TRADITIONAL INDUSTRIES

Coal mining, shipbuilding and railroads were either stagnant or in

decline. Mechanisation also caused unemployment in these sectors.

PROTECTIONISM

America tried to sell its surplus goods in Europe. However, the Fordney-McCumber Tariff
Act 1922 had led to European countries imposing tariffs on American goods.
This meant American goods were too expensive to buy in Europe and, as a result, there
was not much trade between America and Europe.
LACK OF BANK REGULATION FROM THE GOVERNMENT

There were few large banks and lots of small unstable ones which had
no financial resources to cope with the rush for money when the Wall
Street crash happened

DEBT INCREASING

People bought on credit and many of the businesses went into financial
difficulties when people failed to pay their debts.
W
Short term reason for the crash
The Stock Market collapsed

Loss of confidence and a sudden fall in

prices

Overspeculation
The twenties started with a
roar and ended with a crash
"It was the best of times and sometimes, it was the worst
of times" Charles Dickens in "A tale of two Cities"
 resources

History.com editors, (2010) "The Roaring

Twenties", retrieved from:
https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-
twenties/roaring-twenties-history on May 14,
2021.
BBC: “The roaring twenties”, retrieved from:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zsggdxs/re
vision/1 on May 14, 2021.
Lynch, P (2018) “10 Reasons Why the Roaring
Twenties Sucked” retrieved from
https://historycollection.com/10-reasons-roaring-
twenties-sucked/ on May 14, 2021.