The Roaring 20’s

Transportation

• Henry Ford-mass production• Model T: 1908: $850, Detroit location, 1927: $290 (56%

own one)• Gas stations-Standard Oil• Hwy system• Airplane-new way to travel across the U.S. or between

continents

Consumer Culture

• Advertisements, magazines (Life), news, ads• Buying on credit• Electric washers, vacuum cleaners, irons, radio,

refrigerator sales, dishwashers

Education

• 3 R’s: reading, writing and arithmetic• Sigmund Freud-Austrian psychologist; much of human

behavior is driven NOT by natural thought but by unconscious desires

Religion

• Religious fundamentalism-emphasizing Protestant teachings

• Scopes-Monkey Trial (1925)-TN law making it illegal to teach Darwin’s Theory of Evolution; Scopes taught it and was arrested, found guilty

Other Social Issues

• Red Scare-fear of communism (Bolshevik Revolution)• Quota systems-limiting immigration from specific countries

(Emergency Quota Act-favored northern European immigration)• Sacco and Vanzetti Trial (1927)-immigrants, accused of robbery

and murder, evidence was sparse, they were convicted and executed

(1977-MA. Gov. declared they were unfairly

tried and convicted, but case is still

officially open, Sacco-guilty? Vanz.-innoc.?)• KKK rises again

Other Social Issues

• Prohibition-18th amendment (1919)• Al Capone-Chicago gang leader• Bootleggers• Speakeasies-secret drinking

establishments

• Women-challenging political, economic, social and educational boundaries

• Right to vote-19th amendment (1920)

Other Social Issues

• Jim Crow• Marcus Garvey-”Back to Africa” movement

Social Life

• Flappers-shorter hemlines, more makeup, danced, assumed she had the same political and social rights as men

• Dance-”The Charleston”• Charlie Chaplin-silent film star• Disney-Steamboat Willie (1928)• The Jazz Singer (1927)-Al Jolson-first movie with sound• Phonograph and radio• Radio station-KDKA (1920)

Sports/Entertainment

• 1927-Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey boxing match

• Babe Ruth-Sultan of Swat and Ty Cobb-“Georgia Peach”-baseball

• Bobby Jones-golf

• Charles Lindbergh-daredevil-Spirit of St. Louis flight across the Atlantic

Music

• Jazz age, blues• Louis Armstrong-trumpeter and singer from New

Orleans-jazz• Duke Ellington-composer and pianist• Tin Pan Alley-NY (area of musicians, songwriters, etc.)• Irving Berlin-Tin Pan Alley-a composer (musicals, show

tunes), Jewish“White Christmas”

“God Bless America”

Literature

• Lost Generation-no longer had faith in the cultural guideposts of the Victorian Era

F. Scott Fitzgerald-”The Great Gatsby”

Hemingway-”Farewell to Arms”

William Faulkner-”The Sound and the Fury”• Harlem Renaissance-explored black America (1920-1940),

began in Harlem, NY; painters, dancers, musicians, writers

Literary voice-Langston Hughes

Zora Hurston-”Their eyes were watching God”

The 1930s

Movies/film

• The Wizard of Oz-1939• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington• Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs-1937• King Kong-1933• Gone with the Wind-1939• Film corporations-MGM, Warner Brothers,

20th Century Fox, Paramount• 2/3 attended a movie once a week

T.V.

• Bob Hope• Shirley Temple• 3 Stooges• The Lone Ranger-1933• War of the Worlds-1938 (starts with radio)

Radio

• NBC & CBS-Broadcasting giants• Fred Astaire-swing• Bing Crosby-singer/actor• Duke Ellington-”It don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got

that swing” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDQpZT3GhDg

• 2/3 homes owned a radio; by the end of the decade, 9/10 homes own one

Literature

• Grapes of Wrath

Other

• Comic strips-Flash Gordon, Dick Tracy, Superman, Little Orphan Annie, Popeye (1929)