1920s-+Prosperity

Cailyn Caskey Jobs/salary

For the 1920s or “Roaring Twenties” as most would say, was a time of progression and change. Due to massive economic boom, jobs were not too hard to get. Men worked as lawyers, accountants, coal miners, or business owners and were pretty successful. Also, during this decade, women began working. Their jobs consisted as nurses, bookkeepers, cashiers, teachers, and librarians. In addition, since the economy was good so were salaries. A man who worked as a Doctor for instance, made at least $85 or more a month and women who worked as a teacher made at least $80 a month. With salary’s being good, family incomes were as well. Most families were bringing in 1,500 or more which was beyond enough to pay for necessities. Since people had extra cash, they tended to spend it on things they wanted. This was the life for most people, however no one was expecting what was going to happen in the upcoming years.



Evan Heidlebaugh Sports/Activities

The 1920s was a time of prosperity in sports. The great financial times allowed baseball to become successful. After World War I, people had money to spend, and time to waste. They would go to baseball games, and other sporting events to spend their time doing something fun. The great economic times allowed many new athletes to emerge. Players like Babe Ruth attracted many people to sporting events to watch him play. Since the times were prosperous, many new sports were created. People wanted something new to do, and they spent their money trying new things. Some sports that were invented in the 1920s were waterskiing and greyhound racing. These were invented because people wanted faster paced sports, and they started racing just about anything. The economics of this time allowed sports to become a very important part of life in the U.S., and were a main source of entertainment for everybody.

Adam Darr- Inventions/Firsts Many innovative inventions were created in the 1920s. Inventions such as the Band-Aid, the lie detector, insulin, and frozen food were all created in the early 20s. The scientific advances, such as insulin and frozen food, helped spur the economic rise of the 1920s. Medical advances such as insulin made it possible for people with medical issues, such as diabetes, to live prolonged lives. Frozen food allowed people to store food for much longer periods of time, allowing them to save money on food products and spend it in other parts of the economy.

In the late 1920s things such as the television, the iron lung, penicillin and the car radio were invented. More medical advances were made in the late 1920s, especially with the advent of penicillin. These types of advances made America much more healthy. With less people getting sick, there was more money to spend on things such as entertainment. All these factors helped to stimulate the prosperous 1920s economy and make life better for Americans at the time.



Calvin Miller- Music and Dance The Roaring ‘20s were just that, Roaring! Prosperity reigned, which is highly reflected in the types and amount of music produced. In general, Jazz and ragtime were beginning to emerge on the forefront of the music industry. The roots of the 20’s era music began with King Oliver Creole’s Band. King Oliver’s band was made up of the best of the best New Orleans jazz musicians. The band featured King Oliver on trumpet, Louis Armstrong on second trumpet, Johnny Dobbs on clarinet, and Bill Johnson on bass. Other Artists, such as Fats Walker, Jelly Roll Morton, and Fletcher Henderson, soon began to produce their own music. The music of the time was upbeat, and revolutionary. Just like rockets, radio transmissions (which is just a scientific advancement as it is a musical advancement), and frozen foods were innovative of the time, there were many advancements in the music field such as the emergence of jazz and its role in the birth of many new types of sound, as in Suspended and Dorian chords, as well as Major and Minor blues scales.

Generally speaking, dances of the time were fast paced and fun, with the exception of a few slow dances for those dashing intimate moments. Some dances include the Charleston, The Baltimore, the Fox Trot, and The Jitterbug. These dances were upbeat, and generally required fast movements of the outer extremities. Today, there are international competitions held to see who can dance, the Charleston in particular, at enormously ridiculous speeds, often exceeding 350 beats per minute. Because the 20's was a happy time, where folks rolled in freshly earned greenbacks and the like, the dances are reflect just this. Dance halls across the country opened, and young guys and dolls went out to do nothing more than get close with their significant other and do some fancy footwork and enjoy the evening, which is what the 20's were all about.

Jennifer Paulino- Art and Written Expression The 1920’s was a time of prosperity. It was a time of happiness. This happiness and wealth is reflected through the literature of that time. Some pieces of literature of that time are “The Great Gatsby” written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “The Negro Movement” written by Alain Locke. “The Great Gatsby” tells about the wealthy aspect of the time period. The book talks about how some people with the prosperity of the economy were able to move into richer neighborhoods and wealthier homes. “The New Negro” talks about the happiness of the time period. During the 1920’s the Harlem Renaissance took place. During this time period blacks were no longer viewed as the ex-slaves. It was the turn of the century. It tells of the accomplishment of African- Americans. Art reflects the time period as well. Art is an expression of how one feels. Art has been around for hundreds of years. In the 1920’s the artistic style Art Deco became major. This style represented the modernization of the world. Different types of wood and precious metals, tortoise shell, lacquer, eggshell, and leather were used to create this type of art. The name “Art Deco” did not develop till 1925.

The Film Industry

The 1920s was the decade between World War I and the Great Depression. It was also a decade of great technological advances, especially within the film industry. The basic economic patterns of the film industry were established in the 1920s, starting with film studios. Some of these were created in the 1920s and still exist today, such as Warner Brothers Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Universal, Columbia, and Disney. Movie palaces such as the Chinese Theater in Hollywood opened during this time. By the late 1920s, the first talking films were born, often renamed “The Talkies”. Color was also being incorporated into films when the Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation was founded. The first film to use both sound and color was Walt Disney’s “Steamboat Willie”, which premiered in 1928. Movies turned out to be really big business in the 1920s. The film industry brought in over two million dollars during the decade. By 1929, over 20 different Hollywood film studios existed, and there was a very high demand for films. In fact, the greatest output of feature films in America occurred during the 1920s, averaging about 800 films each year. Since the 1920s was a prosperous decade, lots of people could afford to go to see movies, which made them very high in demand.

Ariana Stroman- The 1920s was a time period of prosperity and that was reflected in the fashions of that decade. Money was not so much of an issue; therefore the dress of men and women was more expensive. The biggest trend of this time period was detail. Shoes were accessories and stockings were made of silk or rayon. Some fashion icons of the 20s were Louise Brooks, Greta Garbo, Coco Chanel, and “heros of the moment”. In the early 1920s, women wore long, cylindrical dresses with lots of detail, but did not cling to the body. As the mid 20s came so did flapper girls. The long, straight shape became daywear and evening wearing was shorter and even straighter. The long silhouette with a little more cling at the waist made its comeback in the late 1920s. For males, the popular attire was a suit. Their jackets were skinnier and unpadded, almost in a boyish way. Most of the pants fastened with buttons or hooks and they used belts instead of suspenders. All of the looks in the 1920s were fashionable and quite expensive!

Eric Murphy- The 1920s brought upon many new controversies. For example, prohibition caused many people to break the law to get alcohol. Prohibition caused the federal government to lose tax money and did not create any legal jobs. People wanted alcohol, however, so they spent more money on making their cars better so they could transport it, putting more money into the economy. People would also spend a lot of money at speakeasies. This would make the owners wealthy so they could spend the money. The mob was also a reason the economy was good. The mobsters had a lot of money and they spent it on the highest quality products. The mobsters also bribed local law enforcement so they could get away with a lot. They rob banks and spend the money, putting it back into the economy. Mobsters also had a big part in distributing illegal alcohol. This is one of the many things that made them wealthy. Mitchell Learmonth- In the 1920s the biggest police change was the 18th amendment which made alcoholic beverages illegal in the United States. But even though alcohol was illegal it was still very easy to get at places called “speakeasies” witch were basically secret night clubs. But the main purpose to doing this was to l ower crime and corruption, reduce social problems, lower taxes needed to support prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America. But what happened instead was alcohol became more dangerous to consume; organized crime blossomed; courts and prisons systems became overloaded; and endemic corruption of police and public officials occurred.

Also what happened was after the election of Woodrow Wilson the country entered an age of Republican leadership, nationalistic and fundamentalist movements, and changing social conventions. Electing Republican presidents who favored business expansion rather than regulation and those presidents were Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover.