How Did The Roaring Twenties Affect Society

The Roaring Twenties

America had just finished fighting in the first World War, known as The Great War during that period. Europe was wracked in debt and confusion as the nations attempted to rebuild their land and destroyed economy. The war led to the development of the League of Nations and the Dawes Plan to maintain world peace and loan out money to Germany, respectively. The period that followed The Great War was known as the “New Era”, or the Roaring Twenties. This period from 1920 to 1929 was characterized by experimentation with laws and societal standards for women, cultural excitement with the birth of the Harlem Renaissance and the rise of media, changes in society. All the emerging movements and glamour of the Roaring Twenties, however, were shadowed by increasing racial conflicts and political scandals.

The Roaring

Twenties could be considered unique for the experimentation and the new movements that were introduced. Influenced by temperance movements from the Progressive era and antebellum era, Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment in 1920, which banned the sale and manufacturing of alcoholic beverages. This began Prohibition. This became the first national ban on alcohol in the United States, and is unique to the Roaring Twenties until Franklin Delano Roosevelt repealed the amendment in 1933. Prohibition would prove to be fruitless, as alcohol continued to be traded and bought illegally, and would give rise to gangs and gang battles. However, not all experiments were ineffective. Women experienced a radical new change in 1920 with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. This guaranteed American women the right to vote. With more newly-found independence, women began working more jobs and receiving more education in colleges. They often worked low-paying pink-collar such as nursing and secretarial work and white-collar jobs as clerks. Flappers, young woman who engaged in socially deviant practices, became were popularized in the 1920s. They were more sexually free, cut their hair short, and led more liberated lifestyles than women of the previous generation. Moreover, birth control options for women were more promoted and gained a larger market, especially in the middle-class. Although some experimentation were failures, the experimentation that occurred in the 1920s were unique to this period.
In addition to experimentation, the Roaring Twenties became renowned for its intense cultural excitement. Because of newly popularized movies from Hollywood and radio stations, communication became easier throughout the nation. This in turned created mass culture in America, in which Americans began to think and have similar values because of similar exposure to media. Mass culture resulted in the development of “compassionate marriages” in the 1920s. Women began to wear more cosmetics and value clothing more. These “compassionate marriage” ideals, spread through Hollywood movies, would result in the development of flappers, as mentioned earlier. Flappers were distinct due to their divergence from traditional Victorian values. Besides mass culture, another development was the Harlem Renaissance. A great number of African Americans immigrated to the North to escape the unconcealed racism in the South. Many settled in Harlem, New York, where a cultural pride swept through the city. African American music, art, literature, and theater flourished in the city. African Americans felt more pride in their culture and found inspiration in their African roots. This caused the rise of jazz and blues, that would influence music in the entire nation. New culture proliferated in America in the Roaring Twenties, and would continue to influence future generations.
There were high levels of change during the 1920s that resulted from The Great War and the United States’s changing economy. After a brief two-year recession, the American economy boomed; manufacturing and incomes grew rapidly. There was an output of new inventions such as toasters, washing machines, and other appliances. Automobiles revolutionized American life and allowed people to travel further quicker . They also led to the development of suburbs and frequent vacations. Another change was the growing consumerism in America. America became a mass consumer society, and people could afford more items. For the first time, a majority Americans bought items for pleasure, rather than pure necessity. However, many began relying heavily on credit and loans to purchase material goods and leisure products. On the other hand, another change was the creation of the Lost Generation. The Lost Generation referred to a generation of people who felt disenchanted from experiencing the war. They had no emotional and cultural stability and felt unsure about their personal identity. Also, they criticized consumerism and how America was placing too much importance on material goods. These changes during the Roaring Twenties clearly differentiated it from other periods in American history.
With all the many developments in this period, it is not surprising that there were many conflicts and struggles as well.

Xenophobia was prevalent throughout the entire country, and led to the creation of immigration. Similar to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, immigration laws, like the National Origind Act, restricted the numbers of foreigners that could enter the country. Other laws that were created, especially in California, restricted civil liberties of minorities. These laws made it much more difficult for immigrants to buy land and obtain jobs. It also created more hostility to immigrants in the form of racism. This social unrest would result in the revival of the Ku Klux Klan, which was initially created during the Reconstruction period. The Ku Klux Klan was revived from nativist passions and grew dramatically in size. This organization persecuted anyone who was not “traditionally American”: anyone who was a minority or believed in a different religion was persecuted. The Klan terrorized foreigners and Catholics and boycotted their businesses. Many minorities were the primary victims of hostility during the Roaring

Twenties.
The period of time from 1920 to 1929 is characterized by increasing amounts of change, societal conflicts, cultural excitement and development, and experimental movements. These new developments gave the period the name the Roaring Twenties. However, soon the optimism from this period will be diminished with the stock market crash in 1929. This, combined with the Dust Bowl and other unfortunate circumstances, will trigger the Great Depression. World War II followed soon after the Great Depression, and Americans would lose their assurance in the nation as these disasters swept the world.