LIFE IN THE 1920s BY: Lexee Robbins, Ellie Kovar, Samma Behnami, Isabelle Robles, Shea Lewis, Shaye Shelton.
Table Of Contents • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Dating Patterns By Ellie Kovar Impact of Film By Shaye Shelton Impact of New Communication By Lexee Robbins Impact of Sports By Isabelle Robles Impact of New Celebrities By Samma Behnami Impact of Music By Shea Lewis 18th Amendment By Ellie Kovar 19th Amendment By Shea Lewis Scopes Trial By Shaye Shelton Post-War Isolationism By Lexee Robbins The American Civil Liberties Union By Isabelle Robles Immigration Tension By Samma Behnami Forms of Transportaion By Isabelle Robles Henry Ford By Lexee Robbins Advertising By Ellie Kovar Economic Boom By Shea Lewis Consumerism By Samma Behnami Credit/Installment Buying By Shaye Shelton
DATING PATTERNS BY: ELLIE KOVAR
In the progressive era (1920’s) there was lots of changes in society but one of the biggest was dating habits. The traditional date was that the man would come to the women’s house meet her parents then be chaperoned throughout the date, making intimacy difficult. But during the 1920’s when the automobile was invented made dating very different and much easier. Instead of being chaperoned they would leave the house and go elsewhere like to a restaurant, movie, or dancing were among the most popular. Dating became a popularity contest instead of looking for a suitable partner. Dating was more about imaging than dating someone who people they were actually compatible with. In addition being divorce was a sign of independence and not as shameful therefore divorce rates went up. Also intimacy was more common due to the fact of less parental supervision. Younger and younger ages started dating such as college students and teenagers. One of the most popular activities was to go to the movies which became easy and popular thanks to the automobile being invented along with other activities.
Impact of Film Shaye Shelton Film really took off during the 1920s. During this time many people went to the movies to take their mid of the postwar recession. Silent films were very popular and during this time about ninety percent of the population at the time went to the moves in a week. Weekly attendance went from fifty million people in 1920 to ninety million people in the 1929. As the attendance rose so did the income of the theaters did too. The Income rose from $301 million to $721 million in 1929. Child and Animal stars saved silent films at that time because they go to me monotones and boarding. They added life and allowed the plot of the movies to have more depth.
Film really took off during the 1920s. During this time many people went to the movies to take their mid of the postwar recession. Silent films were very popular and during this time about ninety percent of the population at the time went to the moves in a week. Weekly attendance went from fifty million people in 1920 to ninety million people in the 1929. As the attendance rose so did the income of the theaters did too. The Income rose from $301 million to $721 million in 1929. Child and Animal stars saved silent films at that time because they go to me monotones and boarding. They added life and allowed the plot of the movies to have more depth.
Impact of New Communication By: Lexee Robbins At the turn of the century, many new inventions evolved. Some of the biggest and most popular inventions were print media and radio broadcasting. On November 1st, 1920 the first radio broadcast was heard across the nation. The first radio broadcasts were played over gramophones. Radios became very popular and by the year 1922, over 3 million homes included them. This increased sales to $60 million dollars. Radios and print media were a booming business in the 1920’s. Many people depended on radios to broadcast sports games and other upcoming events. The first sport broadcast was in April of 1921 and included a boxing match. Mass media also contributed to an expansion of advertising. Ad agencies spent over 3.4 billion annually in advertisements. In 1926 NBC and CBS were formed. These stations are still widely used across America today. By the end of the century 10 million homes, 5 million businesses, and 2 million cars included radios. 1/3 of the population listened and depended on radios and print media. During the 1920’s mass media evolved quickly and sales increased to $852 million dollars. Radios and print media had a big impact of new communication in the 1920’s. Changes evolved quickly and managed to change society’s outlook on mass media.
Impact of new celebrities Samma Behnami With the ride of media there came fame to some people. They gave women new role models and people to admire in films the women came off as independent, capable of taking care of themselves, were able to date, and to make a living all at the same time. They are important in the 1920s because they really focused the concept and possibility of becoming a “self-made man” Some of famous women during the 1920s were
These celebrities were seen as heroes in others eyes. Women wore their hair a certain way did their makeup a certain way, were able to see how the dressed, and acted a certain way. This started to a trend to the people that weren’t in the spotlight of fame. Same with the men, they brought new way to take their partners out on dates, how to look, and how to act. The celebrities had started something much bigger than just fame but a trend.
Louise Brooks- dancer and movie star Gloria Swanson- celebrity fashion designer Coco Chanel- celebrity fashion designer Zelda Sayre- Famous Flapper Josephina Baker- Entertainer Men were also famous some of the famous men were · Charles Lindbergh- famous aviator and adventurer · Al Capone- Famous Gnagster · F. Scott Fitgerald- “Flapper King” · Jack Dempsy –boxer · Babe Ruth- Baseball Player · Albert Einstein- Famous scientist · Al Jolson- Entertainer and Movie Star · Charlie Chaplin- “The most famous person who ever lived” · Duke Ellington- Musician and band leader at “The Cotton Club
Immigration Tension Samma Behnami Millions of Europeans and Asians came to the US before 1920s. Americans increasingly were suspicious of foreigners and moved to severely limit immigration for example, 1900-1915 more than 13 million people came to the US from southern and eastern Europe. many of them were Jewish or catholic but they mostly worried about Anglo-Saxon and protestant. Some did not want immigrants to come because they took their jobs away from them because they competed for lower wages, others wouldn't adapt to the US and kept their old war customs. As a result of this immigrant surge after WWI a recognized Ku Klux Klan emerged they wanted “100 percent americanism.� It was different from the Klan of Reconstruction, the new Klan only let people be members if they were native-born white Protestants, and were against Catholics, Jews, and immigrants as well as African Americans. The Klan had broadened themselves to parts of the North and Midwest, and for a time its membership grew. Later on in the 1924 there was a Immigration Quota Law of 1924 and a 1929 act. These laws limited the annual number of immigrants to 150,000 to be distributed among peoples of various nationalities. in the 1930s caused a drop in immigrants.
The Impact of Music By Shea Lewis African Americans are in demand for playing the new jazz music at funeral parades, minstrel shows, and river boat orchestras. Jazz music is very popular to be played by gifted African Americans, but since they can’t read music, they are making up melodies and expanding off of familiar tunes. Now as boats and railroads carry blacks with them North, they bring jazz with them to Kansas City, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. The black population in New York City more than doubled because of the Migration from the south. The African American neighborhood of Harlem is a huge magnet for jazz lovers. Harlem has anywhere from 500, to 7,000 jazz and night clubs, the most famous one is the Cotton Club. The dancers and musicians there are black, and the patrons are mainly white.
Many people are first hearing the new music on records, whereas others are hearing it on the radio. The Cotton Club has nationally broadcasted Duke Ellington and his band. In a recent radio survey, two-thirds of all airtime is jazz. Young people are especially enjoying dancing to the new music. Dances like the Charleston are widespread throughout the United States. However, older citizens are shocked by this Jazz Age, they believe it is a loosening of moral standards. In fact, The Ladies’ Home Journal launched an anti-jazz crusade. Despite what they think, Jazz is the first uniquely American music to be played and loved by people all around the world
The 18th Amendment By Shea Lewis The 18th Amendment, also known as Prohibition, went into effect January 16, 1920. Prohibition restricted and illegalized the transportation, manufacture, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The purpose of the 18th Amendment was to lower crime, corruption, reduce social problems, lower taxes needed to support prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America. Many women (especially the Women’s Christian Temperance Union) believed it would keep families safe. Instead, alcohol became more dangerous to consume. Since the sale of alcohol was Organized crimes blossomed, courts and illegal, underground drinking establishments prison systems became overloaded, and or “speakeasies” which was a place where endemic corruption of police and public alcohol was available to people who knew officials occurred. the secret word or phrase to get in. Many people had their own private bars to serve their guests. Legal and illegal home brewing was very popular and limits on amounts of wine and hard liquor were permitted. Some commercial wines still were produced in the U.S. but were only available through government warehouses for use in religious ceremonies; mainly communion. Because the government cracked down on land, ships out on the water outside the 3-mile limit were exempt. This was a big factor in why large quantities of alcohol were smuggled in from Canada, overland and the Great Lakes.
19TH AMENDMENT BY: ELLIE KOVAR
During the 1920’s the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote. Getting this Amendment approved was very difficult, not many people agreed with this movement and women had been trying for around 50 years to get this Amendment passed. National American Suffrage Movement was a very important contributing factor on how women got the movement passed. The NASM was a group of women (some willing to risk their lives for women rights) that took risks and protested for women to be treated equally. Eventually they got the vote.
After the 19th Amendment was passed women were treated more equally, and had higher responsibilities. During the 1920’s women were becoming independent and becoming more educated so they could get higher level jobs. Women during this time were making lots of changes they wore short hair and short dresses, smoked, and drank alcohol. Women even owned automobiles and apartments. The 19th Amendment changed the lives of Women immensely.
Scopes trial By Shaye Shelton In 1859 Darwin announced his theory about humans being descendants from Apes. Many people at this time were shocked. They did not want to accept this because they have been taught since they were young about the scriptures. How God created man so they did not take well to this new theory about mankind. Many urban churches have learned to accept the theory of evolution and maybe even incorporate it. On the other hand many rural churches did not believe in this theory of evolution and would not have their children learning it.
In 1859 Darwin announced his theory about humans being descendants from Apes. Many people at this time were shocked. They did not want to accept this because they have been taught since they were young about the scriptures. How God created man so they did not take well to this new theory about mankind. Many urban churches have learned to accept the theory of evolution and maybe even incorporate it. On the other hand many rural churches did not believe in this theory of evolution and would not have their children learning it.
Post War Isolationism By: Lexee Robbins
Isolationism in the 1920’s was a big issue that continued to spread across America. During this period many were distraught about the effects World War 1 had on the country. At this time, there were multiple antiwar organizations. Many Americans were against having any others wars and post war isolationism took place. Isolationism is a policy of remaining apart from foreign affairs or interests of other groups. This especially took place when political affairs arose from other countries. Isolationists believed countries should only be involved with their own issues and not become a part of other countries. Isolationists also believed in limiting the amount of immigrants that were allowed to enter the U.S. Many thought, limiting the amounts of immigrants would make the U.S. less diverse. By reducing the amount of immigrants, could lead to less foreign trading and reduce the contact with other countries. Some thought of this in a bad way. Some thought having a reduced population of immigrants would lead to fewer workers to sell and manufacture goods. As a result, farmers and manufactures suffered economically. Throughout the century, many opinions were stated and bettered the country as a whole.
Immigration Tension Samma Behnami Millions of Europeans and Asians came to the US before 1920s. Americans increasingly were suspicious of foreigners and moved to severely limit immigration for example, 1900-1915 more than 13 million people came to the US from southern and eastern Europe. many of them were Jewish or catholic but they mostly worried about Anglo-Saxon and protestant. Some did not want immigrants to come because they took their jobs away from them because they competed for lower wages, others wouldn't adapt to the US and kept their old war customs.
As a result of this immigrant surge after WWI a recognized Ku Klux Klan emerged they wanted “100 percent americanism.� It was different from the Klan of Reconstruction, the new Klan only let people be members if they were native-born white Protestants, and were against Catholics, Jews, and immigrants as well as African Americans. The Klan had broadened themselves to parts of the North and Midwest, and for a time its membership grew. Later on in the 1924 there was a Immigration Quota Law of 1924 and a 1929 act. These laws limited the annual number of immigrants to 150,000 to be distributed among peoples of various nationalities. in the 1930s caused a drop in immigrants
Henry Ford By: Lexee Robbins
As the 20th century progressed, many new inventions were developed. The automobile was invented earlier than the 1920’s but only the rich and wealthy were able to afford it. Soon after the automobile was developed, a man named Henry Ford invented the assembly line. During the 1920’s the automobile was said to be the “American Dream,” but many were not able to afford this costly invention. When Henry started his assembly line, the prices for automobiles decreased drastically. In 1908 an automobile was $850 dollars. By 1925 the price decreased to $250 dollars. The assembly lines were able to change the lives of many Americans. By 1925 assembly line production sped up and was able to make 1 car every 10 seconds. As a result to the factories, there were more workers and many of them didn’t need to know many skills due to the operations of the machines. Almost 500,000 Americans were employed in the automobile industry. Automobiles made a big change in society. In 1920 9 million cars were registered and by 1929 26 million were registered. The progress of the automobile industry led to more national highways and a cheaper way of transportation that most families could afford. Henry Ford made a huge impact on how Americans lived their lives.
During the 1920s the war had just ended and the economy was awesome and Advertising was America’s way of showing their new wealth. America was inventing all new products and was all about fun. New forms of entertainment were being invented therefore new toys were being invented promoting these things. Also ads for daily or household objects being advertised as said to be the best or make your life better or easier in some way. Ads were stylish and changing slogans and design constantly as a tactic to get people to buy the product. Along with Advertising came false science. False science was often used in Ads to promote consumers into buying their products. Ads would say “doctor recommended,” or “scientific approved,” even though it was not. Ads would say information that wasn’t true just to make their products sound better and be more useful. Advertisements were more exciting and stylish in the 1920’s than in previous years. New products were being made and there was more competition in the advertising business.
Advertising By: ELLIE KOVAR
The Economic Boom By Shea Lewis The 1920’s census revealed an astonishing statistic that for the first time ever, the United States was more than 50% urban. This population shift set the stage for the growing divide between the traditionalists and modernists. During the 1920s, 19 million people moved from their farms and homes to cities, in search of economic opportunities. Urban areas with factories and office buildings were hubs of the economic growth. The economy booming created a high demand increase for workers and wages too. From 1920 – 1929 the average per capita income rose 37%. Consumer price index, a measure of the cost of basic necessities such as food and housing, remained steady. This resulted in urban wage earners watching their standards of living improve. In this way cities offered freedom to explore new ways to think and live.
However, the personal freedom people experienced in cities was very opposite from small-town life. In the rural area most people lived in quiet communities where they watched out for each other. The new ideas and behavior were often viewed with suspicion. Losing their younger generation to the cities caused other problems: farmers had prospered during the war by producing food crops for the Allies and Home front, but they had taken out loans to buy new machinery or extra land to increase their profit. This meant trouble when the demand of farm products dropped sharply, along with crop prices. Income shrank for large numbers of farmers that could no longer pay back their loans. Hundreds of thousands of their farms were lost in the early 1920s alone. The rest of the decade, farmer’s income dropped steadily. In 1929, per capita income farmers was less than half of the national average.
Consumerism Samma Behnami Even though the people did not have the best president they were happy because their economy was doing so well, there was more industrial production and more corporate profits peoples personal income was at the highest point it had ever reached. There was a new middle class that had arose it was white men. Women had also gotten new roles, they were working as typists or telephone operators, since they were still sexsis towards women they did not get promotions or advancement. Sinclair Lewis had wrote, “women were expected to be clean and quick moving.� Big and small cooperation had growth because of good management and new technologies. A new type of investment that had arose were stock markets and by mid decade more than a million and half people had invested in stocks. This era had happier workers who earned a higher wage, and an advancement in mass production brought which brought down the coast of items. Electricity were now in households so this made must have items such as: refrigerators, toasters, iron, vacuum cleaners, and washing machines. Installment plans was also a huge advancement. It helped put a plan in place to help pay for higher costing items For example a vacuum cleaner was $100.00 they would but $5.00 down and pay $80.00 a month. This also meant that the shoppers had never thought about high interest rates or debt this made shopping increase.
Advertising had a huge rise, it had included sex appeal, social snobbery, outrageous claims, and fabricated scientific studies which convinced consumers to buy more. Middle class people were now expected to have certain items to fit in which had caused high demand for products in retail stores. For example there were 12 gas standard oil gas stations and by 1929 there were over 1000 gas stations. The A and P grocery store chain had over 15,000 stores by the end of the decade. Sears, JCPenney, and Woolworth had over 160,000 chain stores by the late 1920s .
Credit and Installment Buying By Shaye Shelton In the 1920s American were said to have the highest living standards in the world, with all their fancy radios, washing machines, and other luxury items like that. Many Americans did not have enough cash at the time to purchase those expensive items. Manufactures decided that they would increase the production and decrease the price. Since many of these products were for to make housework easier they targeted their advertising toward the average house wife. Since these items were expensive and not all American had enough cash at one time to afford these expensive items sellers would let them pay a down payment and then make pay monthly installments until the buyer has paid the full price. If the buyers stop paying the installments the seller can take back the product.
During this time many people also paid with credit which was where you take out a loan so they could buy the product and then pay for it when they get the cash to pay it back. Many Americans found this to be a good plan for them. At the end of the 1920s 15% of all purchases were installment purchases. That is three out of four radios and six out every ten were purchases with an installment plan or credit.
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