The 1920s: Innovations in Communication and Technology (Period 7 Topic 7) 

Henry Ford and the Automobile

  • Made automobiles, the most recognizable and mass-produced being the Model T
  • The assembly line: Ford’s manufacturing plant worked along a large conveyor belt that slowly transported the car from worker to worker that would each perform the same task
    • Unskilled assembly line workers replaced skill workers
    • Drove the price of cars so low that others couldn’t compete
    • Frederick Taylor’s scientific management would create the efficiency of the assembly line
  • There was a demand for affordable automobiles
    • Americans owned 80% of all automobiles worldwide
    • As people’s individual mobility increased, they began settling suburban centers
    • Roads became dominant urban features

Mass Produced Consumer Goods

  • Toasters, radios, and various health and beauty products and consumer appliances
  • American standard of living rose
  • Advertising
    • Reinforced by Sigmund Freud’s theories on human psychology
    • Advertisers learned how to promote products through ads that tapped into the subconscious of customers
    • Messed with Americans’ brains

Popular Culture

  • Accomplished by communication technology including radios and the cinema
  • Many Americans had radios
    • Corporations such as Westinghouse seized potential to reach mass audiences through radio broadcasting
    • Programs specifically for entertainment (ex. Amos n’ Andy Show)
  • Cinema and movies spread mass culture
    • 3/4 of the American population were attending movies weekly
    • The Jazz Singer was the first movie with synchronized sound and music → end of the silent film era
  • As new media spread a form of homogenized national culture, it emphasized regional cultural differences (in race, ethnicity, and region)
    • Few radio shows depicted the black experience in America
    • Black Americans felt distinct than the version of America given to them in popular culture
    • This distinction lead to the Harlem Renaissance, the growth of African American art, literature, and music
    • Rural people saw films portraying urban life