Analyze The Changes Of Urbanization In The 1920's

The year was 1920. The World War had just ended and the U.S. economy was flourishing due to the growth of the wartime industry. Americans began to live life to the fullest as new social and cultural trends swept the nation. Due to the booming economy and exuberant popular culture of this time period, the 1920s earned its nickname “The Roaring Twenties”. Many people were influenced by the changes that took place in this particular decade. Although the prosperous economy was short-lived, changes such as an increase in urbanization, rights granted to women, and a need for education had long term effects on the country. Before the 1920s, America was a country made up of small towns and farms that went by morals and traditional beliefs. However,

Migration to cities, especially New York and Chicago, increased drastically and for the first time in American history, more people lived in urban, rather than rural, areas. Throughout this time period, Americans experienced cultural conflicts as they found themselves caught between urban and rural cultures. An example of this clash between city-life and farm-life was the beliefs towards prohibition. The passage of the 18th Amendment, which made it illegal to manufacture, sell, or transport alcohol, caused the public to react differently. Urbanized people were against prohibition, while people living in rural areas went with the more traditionalized approach and supported this amendment. Life in these booming cities was very different from the slow-paced, intimate life in America’s small towns. For small-town migrants, adapting to the urban environment required changes in

Because the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920, giving women the right to vote, women saw this as an opportunity to adopt new lifestyles. They were granted new jobs and different roles in society. The Roaring Twenties was a time where women gained major confidence, which led to their change in attitude and style. Some began smoking cigarettes, drinking and dancing in public, and dressing less modestly as an attempt for equal status with men. These women were known as flappers and often even cut their long hair into a short, boyish bob. These women’s defiant actions, ones that would have ruined their reputations not many years before, were an example of how morals loosened within this time period. Traditionalists in churches and schools protested the new casual dances and women’s acceptance of smoking and drinking. They did not agree with the flappers’ attempts at embracing personal choice and modernist