The Roaring 20s

Why were they “roaring”?

Gross Domestic Product

Do wages rise with inflation?

Wages:

$21/week in 1921 $25/week in 1925

National Income $58 Bill in 1921 $83 Bill in 1929

Electricity

1920 = 1/3 of all Americans had access to electricity

1929 = 90% of Americans had access to electricity

Whose still “left in the dark”?

Stock Speculation

Buy stock on installment plan (buy now pay later)

You’d put up 10% and your broker would cover the rest

New Technology: Phonograph & Vacuum

Washing Machine, Sewing Machine and Radio

1920s Advertising

Spirit of St. Louis – Charles Lindbergh

1927: First solo flight to Paris

Believed flight to Paris couldn’t be “much more dangerous” than air-mail flights he made from St. Louis

Writers: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Earnest Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis

Harlem Renaissance

Prohibition: Volstead Act / 18th Amendment