Lecture 10-The Roaring Twenties

The Flapper

unbuckled galoshes (tall rubber boots that went over shoes), a girl/woman who flaunted new dress styles, smoked, drank, & partied late

• the new woman

  • more women went to college

  • 25% of women worked—secretaries, “shop girls,” nurses, teachers, etc.)

• dating/car culture

  • couples spent time alone, more casual liasons

• even traditional women’s lives changed by new female freedoms & assumed larger social role

Fashions Compared

Victorian Era (1875-1920)

• corsets w bone to shrink waist (did significant damage), floor length full dresses, long sleeves, high necks, little jewelry

• numerous undergarments

• long hair up, no makeup

Modern Era (began 1920)

• dresses w short skirts, bare arms, drop waist, few underclothes, bobbed hair, long earrings, necklaces

• makeup—rouge, white foundation, mascara, dark lipstick

• nail polish usually red

• older folks scandalized by style

Speakeasy

• undercover night clubs, women welcomed along w men, jazz music/dancing, when gov raid occurred ppl ran to avoid arrest

• bootleg liquor—made secretly by indivs & orgs, large profit

  • often unsafe (became sick or blind from it)

  • many drank anyways

  • popular—gov destroyed 172,000 stills just in 1925

Organized Crime

• liquor, prostitution, gambling recently made illegal

  • gangsters saw opportunity for big bucks by providing

  • became huge syndicates

  • bribed policemen, had army of protectors

  • very difficult for gov to stop

• al capone: chicago gangster, bootlegging empire made $60 mill/yr

  • 1929 Valentines Day Massacre

    • his gang gundowned rival gang (Bugsy Malone)

  • caught for tax evasion

Music Changes

• before 1920: classical, folk, spiritual

• 1880-1920: evolution of Jazz

  • African American musical traditions, had pronounced beat

  • utilized drums, horns

  • Louis Armstrong (played trumpet and sang), Duke Ellington (pianist)

  • later developed into Rock

• 1920s: Jazz craze

  • many called it immoral, embraced by young ppl, dancing more unconstrained, the “Charleston” (written in Charleston SC)

Harlem Renaissance

• Cultural revival in NYC’s Harlem

  • poetry, lit, art, music

  • poet Langton Hughes—one of the 1st ppl to emphasize black love and empowerment

  • novelist Zora Neale Hurston

  • night clubs w jazz artists

  • call to racial pride

  • cultivated unique Black culture

• Marcus Garvey: reformer who strove for African American advancement apart from whites

  • black star line—ship to take black ppl back to Africa, few left US

Pres Warren G. Harding (short presidency)

• 1921-1923, “return to normalcy” (wanted to go back to isolationism), women voted for him, history contested

• supported business

  • took off wartime controls

  • price supports for farmers

• cracked down on lynching

  • harsh penalties for KKK

  • hate crimes decreased

• died 1923

  • cause disputed

  • White House coat closet (rumor ab affair)

• 1924—Teapot Dome Scandal

  • harding’s crony (cabinet member) Albert Fall accepted $400,000 leasing oil reserves on public land (didn’t have right to lease and keep money, went to jail, don’t know if Harding was involved)

Boom Economy

• 1923-1929: Pres Calvin Coolidge

  • “the business of America is business”

• economic boom

  • 33% per capita income increase

  • cost of living same

  • unemployment very low

• stock market speculation

  • Wall St. NYC

  • rich got richer, middle class made $

  • 1926 FL bubble (hurricane messed up land, lost $)

  • sign of coming depression

Appliances—Freed Women’s Time

• Washing machines—replaced washboards

• fridge/freezers—replaced constant shopping

• vacuum cleaners—replaced brooms/scrubbing by hand

• gas or electric stoves—replaced stoves w fires inside

• central heating—replaced tending fires

• improved cleaning products—replaced abrasive & ineffective soap

The Bathroom

• running water—mid 1800s outdoor hand pumps

• the “water closet”

  • toilets ancient but rare

  • 1870s brit invented ceramic one piece flush toilet

  • cut down spread of disease

• 1880s came to US

  • for wealthy at first (ex. Biltmore)

  • early 1900s middle classes

• 1920s homes built w 1 bathroom

  • old homes added one

  • sink, bathtub, or shower as well

  • 1960-1980 multiple bath trend

Consumer culture

• new goods everyone wanted

  • household/kitchen appliances

  • radios/cars

  • bathrooms

• advertising—convinced unsuspecting that an item brought happiness, health, love, etc

• installment plans—pay small amt every month until expensive item is paid for, enabled ppl w low income to have conveniences

• saddled many w large debt