1920s Decade project

By: Bryan Arellano & Max Gibson

Social Changes
 Jazz Music of the 20s
Throughout the 1920s, jazz music evolved into an integral
part of and shaped many aspects of, American popular
culture.
The status of African Americans was elevated, due to the
popularity of this distinctly African American music.
What was previously considered "bottom culture" rose to
the top and became a highly desired commodity in society.
Jazz music had a profound effect on the literary world,
which can be seen through the genesis of the genre of jazz
poetry.
Social Changes (Fashion)

Women:

- The housewife wore a simple cotton dress, thick black cotton stockings and low heel oxfords
- Dresses were colorful plaids, checks, stripes, or solid colors with pretty embroidery and trim
such as lace or rick rack
- Housedresses often had white collars
- For the very poor, a cotton housedress was the only outfit for the day.

Men:

- Upper class gentlemen dressed in the finest suits, middle class businessmen wore similar but
not as expensive suits and working class men were in laborers clothes. Outside of work, men
wore casual sporting clothes.
 Leisure activities of the 20s
Cinema-
Cinema was the most exciting invention of its time and influenced behavior and
fashion of the time
Later in the decade talkies were produced and cinema attendance
skyrocketed.
Sports-
Organized sports became popular; baseball, tennis, golf, boxing.
Stars like Babe Ruth, and Jack Dempsey became household names
Radio-
Almost everyone had a radio during the period. Families would gather and listen
People could listen to the news, music, or their favorite sports team play
Dancing-
People danced new dances called swing, mainly influenced by jazz music.
Charleston, Black Bottom, The Lindy Hop
Fads during the 1920s

- Pole sitting is the act of sitting on a pole, typically a flagpole, for as long as possible.
Sometimes a small platform is placed at the top of the pole
- The African American Texas Tommy had traveled from San Francisco to New York City in
1911. Harlem dancers kept the essential concept of the Texas Tommy a turning Two-Step
with swing outs releasing the woman to a single handhold and simplified the footwork from
three different steps to just one.
- The Charleston dance symbolized the emergence of a new enthusiasm for breaking free
from the constraints of war. It was the era of the Roaring Twenties and the Flappers.
Political Changes
 Warren G. Harding Presidency
In the election of 1920, Republican and Senator from Ohio
Warren G. Harding ran on the slogan A return to normalcy
and won by a landslide of 60% and the popular vote
Harding sought to return America to its original isolationists
policies and less government intervention in business
He appointed corrupt friends from Ohio to high political offices
Teapot Dome Scandal
Thomas Miller selling foreign lands taken during WWI
Charles Forbes stealing 200 million dollars
He died in August 1923 from food poisoning and a stroke.
Changes in the Amendments

- The 18th Amendment causes outrage of crime

- banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors
- The people who distributed alcohol illegally were called Bootleggers. Later on,
speakeasies were created which were illegal liquor stores or clubs.
- The 19th Amendment allowed women to vote
- It was passed because of the Women's Suffrage Movement
 Calvin Coolidge Presidency

In 1923, Coolidge was sworn in by his father immediately after Harding's

death
His first message to congress (1923) called for isolation in foreign policy, tax
cuts, and limited aid to farmers
Coolidge won the 1924 election with the popular vote running on the
concept of Coolidge prosperity
His success as president stemmed from his talent in inactivity, and Laissez
faire influenced policies
Coolidge restored public confidence in government
Al Capone and Organized Crime

Who was Al Capone?

- Al Capone was a gangster and multi-millionaire.

- In the 1920s during the height of Prohibition, Capones multi-million dollar
Chicago operation in bootlegging, prostitution and gambling dominated the
organized crime scene.
- What capone is most famous of was the st. valentines massacre, where he
ordered the assassination of seven of his rivals
- Capone was never caught for bootlegging or the organized crime, so police
were able to put him in jail for tax evasion.
Historical Events
1929 Stock Market Crash (Black Tuesday)
During the 1920s, the U.S. stock market underwent rapid
expansion, peaking in August 1929, after a period of wild
speculation
Production had declined and unemployment had risen, leaving
stocks in great excess of their real value
Another cause was the wide use of credit and buying on margin
Stock prices began to decline in October 1929 Panic set in, and on
October 24, Black Thursday, a record 12,894,650 shares were
traded
Black Tuesday stock prices collapsed and 16,410,030 shares were
traded on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Billions of
dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors
This played part in kicking off the depression of the 30s
St. Valentine's Day Massacre

on St. Valentine's Day, February 14, 1929, seven members of Bugs Moran's
gang were gunned down in cold blood in a garage in Chicago
It brought Al Capone the unwanted attention of the Federal Government
The dead were Frank Gusenberg, Pete Gusenberg, John May, Albert Weinshank,
James Clark, Adam Heyer, and Dr. Reinhart Schwimmer
During the Prohibition era, gangsters ruled many of the large cities, becoming
rich from owning speakeasies, breweries, brothels, and gambling joints
By the late 1920s, Chicago was split between two rival gangs: one led by Al
Capone and the other by George "Bugs" Moran. Capone and Moran vied for
power, prestige, and money; plus, both tried for years to kill each other.
 1923 Ford Model T
The production of the widely
affordable Model T
revolutionized life for Americans
For the first time in history,
owning a car was a reality for
working Americans
Car ownership started a new era
of a sense of freedom. It allowed
people to travel outside of the
small areas they lived in
The Scopes (Monkey) Trial

John Thomas Scopes, a young high school science teacher, accused of teaching
evolution in violation of a Tennessee state law
William Jennings Bryan, the three-time Democratic presidential candidate and
a fundamentalist hero, volunteered to assist the prosecution
In 1927, the Tennessee Supreme Court fined scopes with a fine of $100 and
overturned the Monkey Trial verdict on a technicality
Important People
 Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin was a British born actor, considered to be
one of the pivotal stars of Hollywood`s early days
He was born In England in 1889 to parents that were
stage actors and singers
In 1917 he entered an agreement with First National
Studios in 1917, to build Chaplin Studios.
Chaplin studios produced The Kid, featuring Jackie
Coogan, one of the greatest child actors
He toured nationally to help the WWI effort and made
The Bond to promote the Liberty Loan Drive
He was among the first to write, star and direct his own
films
Charles Lindbergh

Born on February 4, 1902, in Detroit, Michigan

Completed the first solo transatlantic flight in his plane
Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, on May 20,
1927.
Flying a monoplane named Spirit of St Louis, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean.
Lindbergh landed at Le Bourget Field near Paris after 33.5 hours in the air.
During his groundbreaking trip, he had traveled more than 3,600 miles.
 F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Fitzgerald was an American novelist and
short story writer, whose literature illustrated the Jazz Age
of the 1920s
Fitzgerald was accepted into Princeton University in 1913,
but quickly dropped out and enlisted in the U.S. Navy to
fight in WWI
He married the beautiful Zelda Fitzgerald in 1920, the
couple embodied the Jazz age
Zelda was deemed one of the first American flappers and
became a leading figure in the movement
1925, he published The Great Gatsby
Babe Ruth

Born on February 6, 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland

Led the most years on a league in home runs, most total bases in a season, and
highest slugging percentage for a season
Ruth hit 714 home runs, which also maintained its record until 1974
Sick with cancer, Ruth had become a shadow of his former, gregarious self
Two months later, on August 16, 1948, Babe Ruth died
He left much of his estate to the Babe Ruth Foundation for underprivileged
children
Science & Technology
 Clarence Birdseye
Clarence Birdseye was an American inventor,
entrepreneur, and naturalist
He is widely recognized as the founder of the
modern frozen food industry, and invented the
Quick Freeze Machine
Birdseye observed how Eskimos froze food and
was fascinated by their freezing process, which
entailed using the elements to freeze freshly
caught fish
Based on the principles he learned he invented
the Quick Freeze Machine
Birdseye started a frozen-food company, the
General Seafood Corporation
Cars built in the 1920s

The rapidly growing automobile industry led by Henry Ford and the Ford
Motor Company produced new and better models every year to supply the
insatiable public demand.
One of the biggest motoring events of 1927 was the release of the "new Ford",
the Model A, which replaced the long-standing Model T after 18 years of
production.
Things like electric powered cars, four wheel drive, front wheel drive, and even
hybrid fuel/electric cars.
 Assembly Line
Manufacturing process in which parts are added as
the semi-finished assembly moves from workstation
to workstation where the parts are added until the
final assembly is produced.
Mechanically moving the parts through an assembly
line finished the product faster and with less labor
than by traditional production
Most factories used this method and it helped to
extremely boost production
Band-Aids

A woman named Josephine Dickson married a man that worked for a company
called Johnson & Johnson
Everytime she walked into the kitchen she would frequently get cuts
So instead of keeping her out of the kitchen, the loving husband would have a
great idea and would soon create a product that would stop bleeding, and
protect cuts
The Band-Aid would soon be a product that every household would carry
around.
Works Cited

"Babe Ruth."biography.com A&E Networks Television, 28 Apr. 2017. Web. 23 May 2017.

"Al Capone." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 21 May 2017. Web. 23 May 2017.

"Charlie Chaplin."biography.com A&E Networks Television, 28 Apr. 2017. Web. 23 May 2017.

"Fords Assembly Line Starts Rolling." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 12 June 2011. Web. 25 May 2017.

The Editor. "Clarence Birdseye." Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc., 16 Feb. 2017. Web. 25 May 2017.