The Roaring Twenties

Ashley, Catherine, Erik, Arsalan

Music

The 1920s is known as the Jazz Era Jazz, Blues, and Ragtime were the most common

genres Some well known artists were Ma Rainey, Fiddlin’

John Carson, Bessie Smith, King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, and Blind Lemon Jefferson

Music was used as an attempt to banish horrific memories of the war

Dances

Charleston – most well known Black Bottom Foxtrot Shag Waltz Shimmy These were all highly energetic dances done by the

younger more spoiled generation Danceathons were often held

Fashion

• Vogue, The Queen and Harper’s Bazaar were women’s magazines which influenced fashion greatly

• Early 1920s – waistline at the waist, skirt loose, not fitted, long hemlines, somewhat full skirts

• 1923 – waistline between natural waist and hips, still loose and baggy

• 1924 – waistline dropped to hips• 1925 – dresses with no waistline, dresses worn with

straight bodies, knife pleated skirts with a hem one inch below the knee

More Fashion…

1928 – hemline up to the knee and dresses become more fitted

– Many garments fastened with buttons

Cotton and wool were the most abundantly used and silk was a luxury

Fascination with Egyptian style Men’s – two toned spectators with

knickers Wide trousers Raccoon coats for college aged

men

Art

• The Group of Seven is formed and in 1920, and are ready to hold their first exhibition.– Painted Canadian Landscapes

• Emily Carr, an unofficial member takes place in exhibitions, which is a radical invitation for the time.

• Precisionism was an art movement that emerged after the Great War (The movement had no presence outside the United States)

• Precisionist artists have also been referred to as "Cubist-Realists", "Sterilists", and "Immaculates". Their art would have an influence on the magic realism and pop art movements

More Art…

Picasso and non-representational art The Harlem Renaissance, also

known as The New Negro Movement, was a time of outstanding creative activity and flowering of African American art, literature, music and culture in the United States

American scene painting is a naturalist style of paintings and art of the 1920s through 1940s in the United States

Literature

A sense of rebellion developed and the Victorian idea of decency was considered hypocritical, people wrote frankly about things (sexuality, profanity, etc.)

New age of naturalism Harlem Renaissance is considered the first important movement of

black artists and writers in the US black writers published more than ever before Influential and lasting black authors, artists, and musicians received their

first serious critical appraisal.  Important novelists

– Edith Wharton – Willa Cather– F. Scott Fitzgerald– Sinclair Lewis

Historical Events

Insulin is discovered by Sir Frederick Banting during the winter of 1921-1922

Albert Einstein wins Nobel for photoelectric effect. (1921) Niels Bohr wins Nobel for work on atomic theory. (1922) Penicillin is discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming (1928) Great advances in quantum mechanics

– Wave mechanics and the Schrödinger equation – Werner Heisenberg formulates the uncertainty principle

Historical Events cont….

Charles Lindbergh becomes the first person to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean (20 May-21 May 1927)

The Ku Klux Klan – revival of old hatreds John Logie Baird invents the first working

mechanical television system (1925). In 1928 he invents and demonstrates the first colour television.

Prediction and discovery of the expanding universe

Prohibition

January 1920 the U.S. Federal Prohibition law was enacted, also known as the Dry Law

The law prohibited the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages

Crime rose in this period of prohibition Canada actually began to repeal their prohibition laws in the

1920s upon realizing they were unenforceable Communities of all sizes had "speakeasies," where both

imported and homemade alcohol could be purchased. Al Capone was the most notorious gangster who trafficked

alcohol The Ku Klux Klan supported prohibition

Economy

Economic prosperity lasted throughout the entire decade following WWI

Some European countries faced extreme economic devastation due to war debts, which lead to desperation and paved the way for the rise of the Nazis

The stock market collapsed during October 1929 ending economic prosperity

Ideas and Values

The percentage of Americans with a high school diploma doubled. Daily eating habits were changing too: the average American ate seventy-five pounds a year less than in 1910.

Thin was in Americans took to the road in the 1920's as the number of

automobiles soared from six million to twenty-seven million. Liberal and Progressive ideas More traditional peer group This new generation expressed themselves through music,

enhanced sexual promiscuity, and technology Smoking was considered a leisurely activity Traditional value began to be challenged and questioned

Gender Roles

After the WWI, a lot of men lost their lives in the battlefields; so the women of the house had to accept a job outside of their house.

This gave women self confidence and resulted in changing of the Person’s Act.

The women who were behind this action were The Famous Five, which included   Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby, Nellie McClung and Emily Murphy.

The changes in the Person’s Act gave women more rights including running for elections and divorce.

Women were officially “equals.”

Class Structures

The class structure can be divided into racial and social structure.

Racial Structure during the twenties: The Whites still had dominance over minorities but

new rules were being imposed to the Act but still the minority suffrage in the Southern states were at its high rate because of the formation of KKK (Ku Klux Klan).

Social Structure: The rich were superior to poor people.

Leisure Activities

The new rule of 8 hours of work, 8 hours of sleep and 8 hours of leisure activities was established after WWI by the public.

Since people had lots of free time they turned towards sports, fashion shows, drinking, gambling, smoking big cigars – probably Cuban – and other vulgar media.

Listening to the radio, reading books can also be considered as leisure activities.