The Roaring Twenties

The 1920s was a time of change in the United States. People enjoyed a time of prosperity and leisure activities, from sporting events to music halls. Fashions, music, heroes, and even laws changed.

Prohibition Earlier Progressives helped pass blue laws which limited the sale of alcoholic beverages. They were concerned that citizens would spend money on alcohol instead of on their families. Others believed in temperance, or the use of alcohol in moderation. Still other reformers supported Prohibition. Prohibition called for a complete ban on the manufacturing, sale, and transporting of alcohol.

Prohibition supporters often protested against alcohol by destroying furniture and bottles of alcohol in bars and saloons. Others protested peacefully. In 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment was passed making the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages illegal in the United States.

During Prohibition, police often held raids where they destroyed barrels of illegal alcohol.

Problems with Prohibition While some areas did experience a decline in the abuse of alcohol, some people were strongly against the law. They did not feel that government should control how people behaved. Others ignored the law and found new ways to get alcohol. Many Americans continued to get alcohol through bootleggers. These Americans would bring in alcohol from other countries or simply make their own. This homemade alcohol was sometimes more dangerous and could cause blindness or death. Bootleggers often transported illegal alcohol to speakeasies, illegal places where people would meet to drink.

This photo shows how much illegal alcohol bootleggers could hide inside of one car. Many bootleggers in the South used their experience fleeing from police to help form what is today NASCAR.

Organized crime quickly caused many problems across the country, especially in the larger cities. There were so many bootleggers that police had little success stopping them and controlling other crimes. Eventually, people who obeyed the law were against Prohibition. In 1933, Congress passed the Twenty-first Amendment, ending Prohibition in the U.S.

Alcohol became a big business during Prohibition even though it was illegal. Competition between bootleggers often resulted in violence. Al Capone, one of America’s most infamous gangsters, helped contribute to much of this violence. As the owner of speakeasies in Chicago, he and his mob committed countless crimes, many violent, throughout the city.

Prohibition Ends

The Jazz Age Around the same time, radio and movies were helping to bring new styles of music to Americans. One of the most popular music styles of the 1920s was jazz. This music style was influenced by African American musical traditions and began in New Orleans, Louisiana.

(Click on each musician’s picture to hear some of their music.)

Louis Armstrong sang, played, and wrote many types of jazz, from fast dance jazz to slow blues music. He was nicknamed “Satchmo” because of the way his cheeks puffed out when he played the trumpet. Bessie Smith

was one of the most popular blues singers during the 1920s.

Duke Ellington was one of the best-known jazz composers and bandleaders. He was often asked to perform at the all-white Cotton Club.

Influences of Jazz New music led to new kinds of dances. Two of the most popular dances were the Lindy Hop, or the Jitterbug, and the Charleston. The Jitterbug was done to a form of jazz music called swing. Swing was more energetic in beat and rhythm than other jazz. The Charleston could be done by one person, with a partner, or with a group.

Influences of Jazz Jazz helped introduce other parts of American culture, such as theater, dance, and literature, to many people. The writer F. Scott Fitzgerald nicknamed the 1920s “The Jazz Age” because of its influence. His novels and short stories often had characters that listened to jazz, went to speakeasies, drank bootleg alcohol, and wore the fashions of the time.

Jazz also influenced composers of the time. George Gershwin, who wrote some of the most popular music at the time, included everyday sounds of American life like car horns and traffic into some of his music. He and his brother Ira wrote music for the play Porgy and Bess. This opera used jazz-influenced music to tell the story of an African American community.

Harlem RenaissanceThe Harlem Renaissance

During the time of the Great Migration, many African Americans artists moved to Harlem, a neighborhood in New York City. They expressed their feelings and ideas about life through writing, music, and art. So much of this work was created that the period became known as the Harlem Renaissance.

Many writers of the time used their work to call for an end to the discrimination of African Americans. Writers like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston wrote about the lives of African Americans.

I, Too by Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.They send me to eat in the kitchenWhen company comes,But I laugh,And eat well,And grow strong.

Tomorrow, I’ll be at the tableWhen company comes.Nobody’ll dareSay to me,“Eat in the kitchen,”Then.

Besides,They’ll see how beautiful I amAnd be ashamed –

I, too, am America.

The Harlem Renaissance One of the most well known artists of the Harlem Renaissance was Jacob Lawrence. One series of more than 60 of his paintings showed African American life and history. His paintings showed what life was like for many African Americans before and after the Great Migration from the south. His paintings show both the positive and negative of everyday life for African Americans in the United States.

Athletic Heroes The popularity of radio and the extra leisure time enjoyed by Americans led to a growing interest in sports. Athletes like Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, and Gertrude Ederle became as well known as movie stars. Americans would gather around their radio to hear about these athletes latest accomplishments.

Athletic Accomplishments of the 1920s:

Babe Ruth (above) – This pitcher is one of baseball’s all-time best home run hitters. He was the first person to hit 60 HRs in one season.

Jim Thorpe (left) – “The Greatest Athlete of All-Time” This Olympic champion is a member of the Track & Field, College, and Pro Football Halls of Fame.Gertrude Ederle – She was the first woman to swim across the English Channel, breaking the men’s record by almost two hours!

Aerial Heroes Historic events in the air also captured the attention of Americans in the 1920s and 1930s. The accomplishments of aviators like Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh encouraged Americans to try air travel for themselves.

Aerial Accomplishments of the 1920s and 1930s:

Amelia Earhart – Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean as a passenger. She would later become the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean solo (alone) and the first woman to fly solo from Hawaii to California. (She mysteriously disappeared somewhere near the Bermuda Triangle in later flights.)

Charles Lindbergh – Charles Lindbergh became the first person to fly solo (alone) across the Atlantic Ocean. He traveled from New York City to Paris, France in a plane called the Spirit of St. Louis in less than 35 hours. He soon became a national hero. (Lindbergh also gained fame when his son was kidnapped in 1932.)

(Click for a brief movie to learn more about these heroes.)

Changes for Women Changing times for Americans also meant important changes for women. After the first women voted in Wyoming and the passage of Nineteenth Amendment, women experienced new opportunities. Women were allowed to stop working in the factories and find easier jobs in offices.

Women also experienced new social freedoms. Many women took a deep interest in fashion, wore short haircuts called ‘bobs’, and frequented nightclubs like the Cotton Club. These women, called “flappers,” could often be seen dancing the Charleston in music halls across America. America’s time of prosperity would soon end and hard times would fall on the entire country.