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How did the 1920s change American life?
What was America like in the 1920s?
What was life like in the 1920s?
How did American life change during the Roaring '20s?
With unprecedented prosperity, technology, and leisure like no decade before it, 1920s America roared, soared, and was never bored, igniting endless fads and crazes of excess and frivolity–until it all came crashing down (Hendricks, 2018).
- Americans leave farms in favor of cities. Thomas Jefferson wrote that the United States was a nation of “yeoman farmers,” but by the 1920s, more Americans lived in cities than on farms for the first time.
- Indoor plumbing and sewer systems became common. Before the 1920s, most Americans were resigned to heading to the outhouse or to using a chamber pot, and washing weekly in a tub filled manually with water.
- The loosening of the corset. After centuries of confining their waists in tight corsets to give the appearance of a small silhouette, American women began finally ditching their corsets in the 1920s.
- The electrification of America. At the beginning of the 1920s, only 35% of American households had electricity. By the end of the decade, that figure would reach a whopping 68%; 85% of Americans living on farms were counted out of the tally.
- The First World War
- The Lost Generation
- Jazz and the “Roaring Twenties”
- The Harlem Renaissance
- What do you think?
The experience of the Western democracies in the First World War was disheartening and disillusioning. So-called “civilized” countries had declared war on each other for uncertain reasons, had fought to a stalemate in brutal trench warfare conditions, and had then negotiated a peace settlement that neither settled the underlying causes of tension nor truly brought peace.
The nationalistic fervor that had motivated many Americans and Europeans to enlist in the war effort dissipated in the muddy trenches of battle, where the purpose and aims of the war seemed distant and unclear. Technological advances in armaments made World War I the deadliest conflict in human history, claiming millions of casualties on all sides. The very nature of the war called into question the West’s perception of itself as “civilized.” Small wonder, then, that many in the United States and Europe began to question the values and assumptions of Western civilization.1
The Lost Generation refers to the generation of writers, artists, musicians, and intellectuals that came of age during the First World War and the “Roaring Twenties.” The unprecedented carnage and destruction of the war stripped this generation of their illusions about democracy, peace, and prosperity, and many expressed doubt and cynicism in their artistic endeavors.
Some of the most famous Lost Generation writers were F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, T.S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, and John Steinbeck. Many of these writers lived as expatriates in Paris, which played host to a flourishing artistic and cultural scene.2 The themes of moral degeneracy, corruption, and decadence were prominent in many of their works. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is a classic of the genre.
Jazz music became wildly popular in the “Roaring Twenties,” a decade that witnessed unprecedented economic growth and prosperity in the United States. Consumer culture flourished, with ever greater numbers of Americans purchasing automobiles, electrical appliances, and other widely available consumer products.3 The achievement of material affluence became a goal for many US citizens as well as an object of satire and ridicule for the writers and intellectuals of the Lost Generation.
Technological innovations like the telephone and radio irrevocably altered the social lives of Americans while transforming the entertainment industry. Suddenly, musicians could create phonograph recordings of their compositions. For jazz music, which was improvisational, the development of phonograph technology was transformative. Whereas previously, music-lovers would actually have to attend a nightclub or concert venue to hear jazz, now they could listen on the radio or even purchase their favorite recordings for at-home listening.4
The Harlem Renaissance was a flourishing of African American art, music, literature, and poetry, centered in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, and Langston Hughes were among the most famous African American authors associated with this movement. African Americans also dominated the jazz scene in the 1920s. Duke Ellington, who frequently performed at the Cotton Club, was one of the most influential jazz bandleaders and composers of all time.5
The Roaring Twenties screeched to a halt on October 29, 1929, also known as Black Tuesday, when the collapse of stock prices on Wall Street ushered in the period of US history known as the Great Depression.
What unifying themes linked the works of the Lost Generation writers?
How did the experience of World War I influence popular culture in the United States?
Why do you think jazz became so popular in the 1920s?
Was mainstream American culture distinct from African American culture during this period?
Apr 26, 2021 · These photos show American life — the strange, the quaint, the funny, the disturbing — in the early 1920s. In this photo from 1921, NYPD Deputy Commissioner John A. Leach watches agents pour...
Nov 21, 2023 · Lesson. Transcript. Author Maya Welch View bio. Instructor Nate Sullivan View bio. What happened in 1920s America? Learn about life in the 1920s, study major social and cultural changes, and...
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The Teapot Dome Scandal of the 1920s shocked Americans by revealing an unprecedented level of greed and corruption within the federal government. Read more. 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
Many Americans spent the 1920s in a great mood. Investors flocked to a rising stock market. Companies launched brand-new, cutting-edge products, like radios and washing machines. Exuberant...
