Famous Five Essay

The 1920s were a roaring good time. The few good years before the Great depression were filled with general enthusiasm and optimism for the new era. The culture dramatically changed and the youth rebelled against the proper behaviour. This was a time when women became independent and would fight for equality. Trade unions were formed and Canadians feared the spread of communism. The system of government would change and tradition political structure would be shattered. By the end of the decade, Canadian society had changed tremendously. .

Cars, radios and movies! Flappers, jazz, and hooch! The 1920s were the cat's meow. The youth rebelled through fashion and dance. Flappers wore their skirts and hair short. These modern women smoked and

drank illegally in public and were thought to be too extreme to the average man and woman. Jazz music began to grow and dances like the Charleston, the Black Bottom, and the Shimmy became popular. Canadian composer Shelton Brooks composed the famous song Some of These Days by Sophie Tucker. Technology also took a huge leap in the 1920s. Television, automobiles, radios were all made in mass production. The first motion picture came out in the 1920s and created the first celebrities. Canadian actress Mary Pickford won the second Academy Award for Best Actress actress for her work in the movie Coquette. As people had more and more leisure time, activities like picnics, corn roasts, and clam bakes became popular. Int he winters people enjoyed watching movies, skiing, skating and playing hockey. During the 1920s, the ability to dictate social trends was taken from the adults and handed to the youth.
WORDS: Group of Seven, Emily Carr, Pier 21

By 1920s, women were no longer bound to tradition roles and had increasing control over their lives.

They were participating the activities originally only meant for men. The Women's Christian Temperance Union was founded in 1874 and by 1890 had 150,000 members. They used their influence to convince the government to introduce prohibition, which banned all production, sale, and consumption of alcohol. In 1921, the first female Member of Parliament, Agnes Macphail was elected to Parliament after winning her riding in rural Ontario. She pushed for prison reform , which lead to the investigation of Canada's prisons in the mid-1930s. The Famous Five were a huge part of the women's' equality movement in Canada. The Famous Five was composed of five women from Alberta, Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Henriette Muir Edwards. Lousie McKinney, Irene Parlby. They asked the Supreme Court to rule on the question, "Does the word "persons" in Section 24 of The British North America Act include female persons?". The issue was raised after Emily Murphy, who was the first woman judge in the British Empire found lawyers challenging her right to preside in her court. After 3 months of consideration, the Supreme Court ruled that the word "qualified persons" did not apply to women. In 1928, the Famous Five, with the help of Prime Minister King appealed to the British Privy Council, what at the time was Canada's highest court. In 1929, the British Privy ruled that the word "person applied to males and

females.

Government and how leaders government changed in 1920.