US HISTORY
1920’s Society
Women’s Changing
Roles
· Though the ‘flapper’ represented only a tiny
portion of American women – as a symbol it had a powerful impact on
fashion & manners – a break from the past
· Flappers: shorter dresses (hemlines rose from
6 inches above the ground to the knee or even higher
· Dresses and blouses became more simpler in
design
· Bobbed or short hair cuts – tight fitting
hats (cloche)
· Woman began drinking & smoking in public
(cigarette production doubled)
· Woman moved into the work force – offices,
sales, service, -- generally single women got the jobs
· Because women usually quit when they became
pregnant, employers did not train them for higher positions
· Only 35 percent of the women voted &
Jeannette Rankin of Montana was elected to the House (1st
woman to serve in congress)
Cities &
Suburbs
· 6 million moved from rural areas to cities
· Industry & factories bring job
opportunities
· Immigration quotas limit immigrant labor, so
employers looked to Canada & Mexico to fill low-paying jobs
(countries of the Americas did not face quotas)
· As cities built transportation systems
(trolleys & rail cars) the suburbs grew
· With the introduction of the auto – electric
trolleys and such were abandoned and replaced by busses
American Heroes
· Changing morals caused some to hunger for the
good ole days – people saw smoking, drinking and revealing clothing as
immoral – newspapers sensationalized crime – so people turned to heroes
who had virtues of the days before the war
· Examples: Charles Lindbergh (New York to
Paris for 25 thousand dollar prize) the trip took 33 and a half hours –
no sleep, Amelia Earhart, flew across the Atlantic alone, flew from
Hawaii to California, and attempted to fly around the world – she
disappeared – also, sports heroes surfaced, Jack Dempsey, Babe Ruth,
and so on.
Mass Media
· Movies, Newspapers, Radio, and Jazz
· Movies: approximately 90 million Americans went to
shows each week (125 million people in the country)
· Movies silent until 1927 (Jazz Singer w/Al
Jolson was first talkie)
· Newspapers provided gossip about the stars & heroes
– though the independent newspapers were being bought out or going out
of business (Hearst buying them in chains) – newspapers created a mass
medium where people received their information, creating a common
culture
· Radio – first for profit station KDKA in Pittsburgh
was an experiment – response was so great they broadcast regularly
(20,000 radios in 1920 – home made)
· NBC linked individual stations together to
form networks – again creating common culture
· Jazz – began in New Orleans in the early 1900’s –
radio listeners were exposed and jazz became a nationwide fad,
appealing to the younger people who loved to dance, 2/3 of all radio
time was devoted to jazz – hence the JAZZ AGE – Harlem had 500 jazz
clubs