I know where kind of past the whole 1920s period in history class, but so many references to the 1920s kept popping up in our reading and stuff that it made me want to learn more about it.
The 1920s was a period of DRAMATIC social and political change. For the first time, more Americans were living in cities rather than farms. The nation's wealth more than doubled during the 1920s and Americans were able to experience what it felt like to live in a wealthy, "consumer" society. Thanks to the advent of new technology, such as the radio, people bought similar goods to keep up with the times (kind of like modern iPhones and stuff), listened to the same music, did the same dances, and used the same slang.
Click here for a list of 1920s slangs: http://local.aaca.org/bntc/slang/slang.htm
So Grandma/Grandpa, what did you do in the 1920s?
One of the most familiar symbols of the 1920s is the flapper - a young woman who had bobbed hair, wore short skirts, drank, smoke, played sports, and did other what used to be deemed "unladylike" things. A well-known cartoon series, "Betty Boop", portrays a flapper during this period of time.
In reality, women in the 1920s were not like this. The 1920s marked a period of new, unprecedented freedoms for women. They could vote at last thanks to the 19th Amendment that guaranteed that right in 1920. An increase in jobs allowed millions of women to be employed and participate in the new, consumer economy. The 1920s was also a period where people were encouraged to be bold and try new things.
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This is a great post! I researched more inventions from the time and saw that this was definitely the age of inventions. Things that we use everyday were created during this era. Inventions like toasters, band-aids, hair-dryers, cotton swabs, and sunglasses were made. Also more advanced inventions like television, audiometers, lie detectors, and instant cameras were developed during this time. This was a huge period of invention and hundreds of products we use today were created during this time.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. I liked how All Wet used to mean a negative thing, but nowadays it means something really positive.
ReplyDeleteI just couldn't help but notice how similar that time was to our time now:
Increase in technology is seen in all the new devices such as iphones, tablets, etc.
Instead of more women's rights, these days there is a fight for gender equality. One example I know of recently is the HeforShe Campaign which also is supported very strongly by Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) who gave a great speech about it about a month ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-iFl4qhBsE
Another example can be seen in the current fight for racial equality. These have been fought in the death of Trayvon Martin (unarmed black male) by guard and ore recently the death of Michael Brown (unarmed black male) by a white police. These are both example of racial injustice in American today and are another issue of today.
These connections seem to show an interesting trend in history in America (this constant improvement in a country isn't seen in every country)
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2014/0810/Unarmed-black-teenager-shot-Is-MikeBrown-the-next-Trayvon-Martin-video
Good post, but I think it is important to note that most of these changes took places in the cities, and were not central to the USA. Southerners especially were against these many changes and stayed true to their religion, the roots of their conservative ideology.
ReplyDeleteNice post Katherine! Adding on to the women's roles in the 20s, in addition to new voting rights and more women in the workforce, the number of women who went to college increased dramatically as well. By 1929, women earned 39% of all college degrees given in the US. This is up 20% from a mere 19% in 1900.
ReplyDeletehttp://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/womenofthecentury/decadebydecade/1920s.html
Great Post.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I don't understand is why did the media portray women falsely? Did the female population portray women like above to show that they have freedom or did someone just show a falsified image?
Were males portrayed the same way as women (defiant) ?
Really good post Katherine, I had one question remaining; that being did the trends of flappers, vamps, etc. Continue throughout the Depression, or did they adopt a new form?Because while Betty Boop initially retained her flapper wardrobe, the Hays Codes toned her down during the Depression, and that other producers also toned down their content. Many sites stated the disappearance of the trend was caused by events related to the Depression, but did the ideals ever spring back?
ReplyDeleteGreat post Katherine! I did some research on job opportunities for women in the 1920 and found some cool charts that how many women were in each job, and what percentage of those women were married. Most women in the 1920 worked in domestic and personal jobs, and 23 percent of working women were married. If anyone is interested here's the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/03/11/women_workers_infographics_show_women_s_employment_in_1920.html