The Roaring 20’s

Youth set the Scene •  Fads of the time: Dance marathons, flagpole sitting, gold fish swallowing,

telephone booth packing, crossword puzzles, roller skating…

Jazz Music •  Grew out of the African American community, rarely written down. Early

pioneers were •  Duke Ellington Louis Armstrong Bessie Smith Billie Holiday Glen Miller

Jazz Music cont •  Dance clubs opened e.g. The Cotton Club •  New dances developed e.g. the Charleston •  Radios transmitted music, phonographs played jazz music

Cars •  Played a new role in the freedom of youth, gave them mobility. Birth of

“parking”

Flappers •  Characteristics

–  Short skirts, makeup, drinking and smoking in public, “bobbed” hair, skinny

Men’s Image •  Reckless, drive cars, raccoon coats, zoot suits, golf socks, public drinking

and smoking

Results of the Jazz Age •  Some new freedoms for women (voting), only a smaller section of the

population made many changes

The Red Scare •  Russian Revolution causes fear of the spread of Communism •  Post WWI any strikes, labor movement, leaders were associated with

Communism or Socialism •  Attorney General A Mitchell Palmer conducts raids on foreigners,

anarchists, communists. Deports many. No regard for civil liberties, eventually runs out of steam and credibility

Postwar American Attitudes •  Ended Progressive Ideals, people became more cynical and there was a

disconnection with American Intellectuals •  Lost Generation – Groups of writers who left the country or wrote about

disillusionment with materialism and outdated moral values. •  Ernest Hemingway F. Scott Fitzgerald Gertrude Stein

Postwar American Attitudes cont •  Fear of foreigners led to passage of the National Origins Act. Restricted

immigration numbers.

PAA cont. •  Sacco and Vanzetti Case

–  Two Italian anarchists who were convicted and executed for murder and robbery of a payroll guard. Little evidence and the trial was prejudiced.

PAA cont •  Rise of Nativist Movement led to the growth of the KKK. Over 5 million

members by 1925. Targeted Af. Am, foreigners, Jews, Catholics, communists, evolutionist.

Movements of the 20’s •  Prohibition – Volsted Act (18th Amendment) prohibits the sale, manufacture,

consumption or transportation of alcohol.

Movements cont •  Fundamentalism vs. Modernism came to a head in the Scopes Monkey

Trial. William Jennings Bryan vs. Clarence Darrow debating the teaching of Evolution in schools in Dayton, Tennessee.