1920s street scene

1920s Street Scene

The Jazz Age Going to the Movies

Wishing on the Stars: growth of Hollywood influence Escaping together

New American Heroes: Sports & Individual Triumphs From Babe Ruth to Charles “Lucky Lindy” Lindbergh

New Rhythms in the Air: Jazz, Blues, and the Charleston

The Harlem Renaissance, “A Literary & Artistic Movement” Proclaimed that African Americans would no longer accept second-class

citizenship in any area of American life

Time to Read….& Advertise Americans had more time on

their hand and more education that any previous generation

Mass Media: the methods by which information and entertainment are transmitted to large numbers of people; includes newspapers, TV, and radio

Books, Magazines, Newspapers

Syndicates: chains of newspapers under centralized direction

Editorials, sports, gossip, and Sunday features

Tabloid Newspapers: attempted to sell papers by publicizing scandals or fads

New Era of Consumer Goods

B/w 1923 and 1929, American workers saw their real income rise 11%

Now Americans had more than enough money to live on and they could buy more of the goods they produced

The decade began with a short but sharp economic depression in 1921 Unemployment that year reached 5.73 million;

for the rest of the decade, it hovered around 2.5 million

Wage increase seen in: manufacturing and public education; but income decreased in mining and agriculture

New Consumer GoodsUsing Ice for Packaging Food New Type of Packaging

New Household Products

Vacuum Cleaners Washing Machines

Improved Standard of Living

In the 1920s, many middle-class American consumers improved their standard of living* *The material well-being of the

individuals or groups in a society

Necessities and luxuries were more available and affordable

In 1927Americans owned 4 out of 5 of the world’s cars, averaging 1 motor vehicle for every 5.3 persons

For Some…. The Model T….

Poverty

1. Low wages unemployment combined to drive many American families into poverty

2. Farmers and other workers suffered when the goods they produced dropped in price

3. Hardships for coal miners and textile workers as occurred in the 1920s

Electricity & Fashion are evil!!!

4. For the first time in a century, overall factory employment decreased

5. A third of American families lived below minimum levels for a decent life

Poverty For the Rest of America…..

The Lost Generation

Materialism: society placed more importance on $ and material goods than it did on intellectual, spiritual and artistic concerns

Leaving the US Behind: Expatriates moved to

Europe: Gertrude Stein, Ernest

Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald

Criticizing the US from within: John Dos Passos, Sinclair

Lewis, H.L. Mencken

Clashing Cultures

In 1920s, electrical current needed to run machines became more widely available, not just in the houses of the wealthy, but also in the homes of many average Americans

Rural America, especially in the South were not electrified for years

Farming & Agriculture Electricity

Clashing Cultures

Rural people, especially in the South and Midwest, remained faithful to their churches

When large #s of farmer migrated to cities during the 1920s, they brought fundamentalism with them – it helped to make sense of their new lives

Evangelists – modern aspects of fundamentalism Used radio to reach people

The Scopes Trial Evolution vs. The Bible

Fundamentalism: a movement that affirmed the literal truth of the Bible

Tradition New-Age

Automobile Industry Garages, filling stations, hot dog

stands, restaurants, tearooms, tourists’ roadside camps –all sprang into existence only after the automobile industry

Changed the face of the country

Highways & Roadways Villages along the new

automobile routes thrived

Villages along the railroad lines began to disappear

At the end of WW1, the US had just 7000miles of concrete roads

By 1927, a network of 50,000 miles was growing at the rate of 10,000 miles each year

Automobility

Effect of Auto-mobility

Road-Side Tourist Lodge Gas Station

Leisure Activities

Beach Life

Listening to the Radio

Leisure Time

Coney Island Family Sunday

New Fads

Flagpole Sitting Contests Dance Marathons

Selling America, “New Ways To Buy”

In 1918, there were 29,000 such stores

By 1929 there were 160,000

Lost their main advantage of convenience w/ the automobile and people started to go to chain stores

Chain Stores Corner Stores

Chain Stores

A & P Safeway

Chain StoresPiggly Wiggly JC Penney’s

New Ways of Buying In 1928, 85% of furniture, 80% of phonographs, 75% of

washing machines and radios, and 70% of refrigerators were bought on credit* *Putting money down and paying the balance in installments

Advertising a New Lifestyle A premium was placed on

youth – adults tried acting like children instead of young people modeling themselves on their elders

Youth came to mean stylishness – young people became the models for fashion, dress, music and language

The Gibson Girl

The Flapper

New Entitlement for Women

Old Schools versus New Schools

Laboratories in Schools

1920: Band-Aid Bandages

1921: Electrolux Vacuum Cleaners and Chanel No. 5 Perfume

Perfume Vacuum

1922: Readers’ Digest published

1923: Electric Razor

1924: Kleenex (originally called Celluwipes)

1925: Scotch Tape

1926: Cork-centered Baseballs

1927: Baby Ruth candy bar and Wonder Bread

1928: Gerber Baby Food

1929: Kodak 16mm color movie film