In the 1920s, Americans began to own cars, radios, and telephones for the first time. “The Roaring 20s” or the “Jazz Age” brought about many changes in American culture, society, and economy. During these years the United States began to rapidly show its place in the modern world before the stock market crashed in 1929, causing the Great Depression.
Overview of the 1920s
While the industry grew, particularly in tobacco, textiles, and furniture companies, the people began to adopt a more “carefree” aesthetic and style. The majority of Americans began to live in cities rather than on farms and the nation’s wealth more than doubled in a stretch of only 9 years. Men began shaving off their beards and women were shortening their hair and wearing fancy dresses; the last bit of troops were returning home from Europe after WWI and it was time for celebration across the country. The 1920s not only granted women their right to vote, but they also produced the first radio station, popular dances, jazz music, and even commercial passenger air travel.
Unfortunately, this new carefree style and attitude led some to wish for the “old days”, when life was more traditional. This led to the rebirth of the white supremacist group known as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and intense fights to make their lynching of Black Americans a federal crime.
Klan Initiation Ceremony, 1923
The Ku Klux Klan, or KKK, was founded just after the ending of the American Civil War and has been active in 3 distinct eras. The first was implemented in order to overthrow Republican power in government during the Reconstruction Era. Members of the Klan attacked and intimidated voters to sway votes, specifically those of African Americans.
The second was during the 1920s with heavy opposition to the rights of Jews, Catholics, African Americans, and more. Aside from voting intimidation and physical violence, the Klan began to burn crosses on lawns and host large parades to strike fear in the local cities.
The third, and still current, era is from the 1950s onwards, protesting the Civil Rights of African Americans through murder and marches.
Timeline
1920 – 1. Women received their right to vote with the passing of the 19th Amendment.
2. Men were returning home from Europe / WWI.
3. The 18th Amendment was added to the US Constitution, making the manufacturing, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages illegal. This was the only Amendment ever added to the Constitution that was abolished and repealed (1933).
4. The first licensed radio station, WBT from North Carolina, was heard.
1921 – Revival of the white supremacist group, the KKK, who targeted Catholics, Jews, and African Americans.
1924 – 1. WWI had helped improve aviation; this year, the US Air Service circumnavigated the world in airplanes. This was only 21 years after the Wright brothers flew for the first time.
2. Congress passes a law that makes all Native Americans citizens of the US. Even though the 14th Amendment also granted citizenship to African Americans in 1866, it would be another few decades before modern civil rights laws.
1925 – “Flappers” hopped on a new dance craze called “The Charleston” and “The Jazz Singer” became the first talking picture, as films before this were always silent.
A "Flapper" was a young woman who was focused on enjoying herself to the fullest through fashion and breaking conventional standards of female behavior.
1927 – Charles Lindbergh flies solo from New York to Paris.
1928 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean
1929 – The stock market crashed and lost $26 billion in value; the economic boom and “Jazz Age” come to an abrupt end and the country fell into its Great Depression.
1920s Economic Change
Along with the growth of American industry came large amounts of wealth that turned the country into a “consumer society”. The extra money meant that there was more to spend on ready-to-wear clothes and home appliances like radios and refrigerators. At the end of the 1920s, radios could be found in more than 12 million American households.
Due to movies now having sound, young people going out to see films became more common than ever before. The growth of the automobile industry also encouraged young people to leave the house and watch movies or go dancing; the Model T was born during this decade and fuelled an economy filled with service stations and motels.
Ford Model T from 1925
1920s Social Change
Through the passing of the 19th Amendment, women now had the right to vote. Along with this new freedom came the idea of a “New Woman”; a woman who cut her hair, dressed in fancy clothes, expressed her thoughts openly, drank, and was
Flapper Girl from 1922 sexually free. Unfortunately, this type of freedom only applied to white women, as black women in the country could not fully exercise these rights until decades later upon the end of Jim Crow intimidation.
The year 1920 also brought about the time of Prohibition; where the manufacturing, selling, and transportation of alcohol was illegal. However, people still found ways around this 18th Amendment by going to illegal and underground bars run by men like Al Capone who stockpiled alcohol.
The new carefree mentality was inspiring for many, but extremely problematic for others; older generations saw this new life as “vulgar” and inspired “moral disasters” amongst the people. This led the older population to encourage keeping the ban on alcohol and attempt to “turn back time” to better societal days.
"Jim Crow" was the process of segregating black people in America based on a "hierarchy" formed by white Americans.
1920s Cultural Change
The 1920s was also the birth of America’s “Cultural Civil War”; beginning with the “Red Scare” of Communism, Americans began to encourage widespread nativism and anti-immigration sentiments. These sentiments led to extremely harsh immigration laws, such as the “National Origins Act of 1924”, which specified which countries people could or could not immigrate from.
“The Great Migration” of black Americans from the country’s South into the North also encouraged the spread of nativism throughout America. Black Americans were moving North in search of better living conditions, stable jobs, and more political participation; they found work in the automobile industry, shipbuilding, and meatpacking business. Sadly, with
African American Women during the Harlem Renaissance, 1925 more work comes more exploitation. In 1925, Civil Rights activist A. Phillip Randolph founded the first predominantly black labor union called “The Brotherhood of the Sleeping Cat Porters”. The union was formed to protest discriminatory hiring practices, working conditions, and housing conditions. The separation of wealthy white neighborhoods and poor black neighborhoods led to a rise in urban ghettos that were extremely crowded and unsanitary.
Throughout the 1920s, black people had to fight hard for their political and civil rights, pushing for lynchings and white mob violence to become federal crimes. Sadly, this push would be denied and black Americans would have to wait on their political and civil rights for another few decades.
African Americans' migration North also introduced blues and jazz music as well as the literary movement “The Harlem Renaissance” causing white Americans to fear the economic and political rise of black people in the nation. The KKK was then reborn due to the threat of the Jim Crow hierarchy being destroyed.
Despite all of the backlash, a man named Oscar De Priest became the first African American Congressman since the Reformation era to be elected into the House of Representatives in 1928.
Social Change 1920s America - Key takeaways
The 1920s were known as the “Roaring 20s” and the “Jazz Age”.
Wealth was rapidly growing in America before the crash of the stock market in 1929, causing the Great Depression.
The 1920s were a time of great economic, social, and cultural changes. This included the implementation of the 18th & 19th Amendment, the birth of Jazz and Blues, and the rebirth of the KKK due to rising Nativism and anti-immigration.
The 1920s solidified America's place in the modern world.
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