The 1920s and the Foundations of Today

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Recommended: Prosperity in the 1920’s

The 1920s exemplified a new era of wealth, prosperity, and change. The 1920s were a time of social changes, cultural conflicts, and political change. New ways of life, including the flapper lifestyle, played a big role in shaping the new generation. Machines and inventions fabricated more free time, while simultaneously higher wages were a result of the expanding prosperity. However, this prosperity brought downsides and corruption. For example, alcohol was prohibited in the 1920s. Many who opposed this law went to speakeasies, illegal bars that sold alcohol. The Teapot Dome Scandal, where Albert Bacon Fall decided to lease his controlled land as supervisor of the naval oil reserve lands for millions of dollars, resulted in a loss of faith in the government. Buying items on credit was a new feature of the 1920s. Although this did not seem like a big deal at the time, it turned out to be one of the leading causes to the start of the Great Depression, another of the decade’s biggest failures. The 1920s was the first decades to have a nickname, called either, “The Roaring Twenties,” or “The Jazz Age.” This demonstrated the wealth, prosperity, and cultural differences that the 1920s contained. The Jazz Age included many artifacts, such as the following. The Red Scare was a movement where the government tried to eliminate communism. The Harlem Renaissance was a time where Black people gathered and created jazz and art that were popular across the “mainstream” culture. The Flapper was a new woman lifestyle where women stayed out of the house, drank, smoked, partied, and did everything that was socially unacceptable for a woman before World War I to do. In the Scopes Trial, the government sided with the banning of teachin...

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HistoryLearningSite.co.uk. “The Red Scare in the 1920.” Accessed May 9, 2014. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/red_scare_1920s_America.htm.

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