Life Changes of Americans in the 1920's
In the 1920's many American lives were improved greatly, but some
lives were as bad as they had been before. The economy was booming,
with cars being mass produced, and many other consumer goods such as
radios, were widely available. Also more jobs became available, and
many people recieved a par rise. However there were bad things such as
racism about. Many ethnic minority groups were treated poorly. The
most racist group around was the Ku Klux Klan.
During the 1920's there was an economic boom in America. With the new
system of mass production there was plenty being made, and then sold.
Particularly cars. When the Model T Ford was first being produced, it
would have costed $850 to buy one.But then when mass production was
introduced, the price was reduced to $290. This meant that practically
everyone that worked, could afford a car. There were also many
consumer goods, such as radios, hoovers and washing machines, being
produced. Another reason why people could afford to buy these
luxuries, was that wages rose to over 50cents and hour. Then in the
'Roaring Twenties' many american lives were changed, particularly
those of women. This period also became known as the 'Jazz Age'.
People started going to the cinema, and going out to night clubs.
People also started dancing the charleston and other 'exotic' dances.
The lives of women were those that changed the most. One crucial
factor was, when in 1919 women won the right to vote. During the war
period, the women took on the jobs, that the men at war had previously
done. Then when the war was over, and the men returned, many women
still wante...
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... of their 'punishments was to pour boiling tar onto a
person, and then stick feathers to them. The KKK believed that America
belonged to the descendants of the white protestant englishmen. There
was also a period in the 1920's called the red scare. This was when
there was a fear, that there would be a communist uprising.
Life did not change for the better for all Americans in the 1920's.
The two main benefactors were the women, and the people that worked.
Also industries such as the car industry prospered. But then, there
were the farmers who lost their farms because they could not afford to
pay off debts. Also the black people had a very hard time. Prohibition
was possibly one of the worst things in America in the 1920's. The
1920's were prosperous for many people, but for others the 1920's may
have brought the end.
During the early 1920s the Great Depression took place. The Great Depression affected many people's lives. The immigrants caught the worst of it. They had just come from another country and were trying to start their new lives when the depression hit. They had to struggle once more with poverty and desperation in taking care of their families, the main reason they had left their old countries was to escape the same epidemic that was now overtaking ?the land of the free?. Immigrants, such as the Jewish immigrants, had to live in poverty-stricken ghettos without the necessities they needed to live healthy lives. The 1920s was the time of rapid change, it was the time of risque fashion, it was the time of which that if you were rich and had all the latest fashions then you were ?in? but if you did not then you were an outcast.
The twenties were a time of economic boom, but this boom would end in a crash. It was a good time to be an American, but it only lasted so long. The stock market crash was a blow to the American economy that would not easily be healed.
As a nation coming out of a devastating war, America faced many changes in the 1920s. It was a decade of growth and improvements. It was also a decade of great economic and political confidence. However, with all the changes comes opposition. Social and cultural fears still caused dichotomous rifts in American society.
The 1920s were a time of change for the United States. Following the First World War there was a rush of new cultural, social, and artistic dynamism, partly fuelled by the Progressivism movement that was cut short when American entered the Great War. This decade was defined by a change from more rural farm life to industrialism in big cities. The shift from the frugality and traditional family values or previous generations to the happy-go-lucky consumerism and metropolitan life occurred more rapidly than any other social shift in living memory. These swiftly changing tides caused cultural clashes and confrontations throughout the decade as America struggled to define for itself a fresh national identity in the wake of its new position as a world power.
The automobile was only used by less than ten million Americans and by the end of this post-war decade that number had climbed to over thirty million. Many new inventions were coming through, making life for Americans much more comfortable. Radios, vacuum cleaners, irons, washing machines, and refrigerators were among the new necessities Americans just had to have. Refrigerators allow for better production and transportation of food products. This allowed for the ability to keep food cold and fresh, thus making exporting of food a valuable agricultural economy.
Republicans dominated the 1920's political scene. During this time period, many changes occurred in the United States. Both culturally and economically. This period is known as the roaring twenties.
Even though the economy was on the move, the 1920s was an important time in regards to anxiety and intolerance. The KKK and gangs were causing a lot of disruption in America. The KKK was upset because of the new times in America. They were not accustomed to the change that was going in America. They were deeply upset and they lashed out in opposition by holding marches and cross burnings. Gangs were also a major problem
The decade of the 1920's was an era of intolerance. Labor strife, government repression of political radicals, anti-foreign paranoia, intensified by war and legalized in the racial quotas of the 1924 Immigration Act, were only a few examples of this intolerance. For American blacks, it was axiomatic that any measurable shift to the right in social and political opinion, would bring with it increased difficulties for their race. The 20's were no exception.
The 1920's was a time of change in the United States. For the first time in history, more people were living in cities than in the country. The United States was also wealthier than it had ever been. New methods of transport have been introduced. A lot more technology was also introduced, such as radios.
In the 1920's women's roles were soon starting to change. After World War One it was called the "Jazz Age", known for new music and dancing styles. It was also known as the "Golden Twenties" or "Roaring Twenties" and everyone seemed to have money. Both single and married women we earning higher- paying jobs. Women were much more than just staying home with their kids and doing house work. They become independent both financially and literally. Women also earned the right to vote in 1920 after the Nineteenth Amendment was adopted. They worked hard for the same or greater equality as men and while all this was going on they also brought out a new style known as the flapper. All this brought them much much closer to their goal.
The 1950s seemed like a perfect decade. The rise of suburbs outside cities led to an expansion of the middle class, thus allowing more Americans to enjoy the luxuries of life. The rise of these suburbs also allowed the middle class to buy houses with land that used to only be owned by more wealthy inhabitants. Towns like Levittown-one of the first suburbs- were divided in such a way that every house looked the same (“Family Structures”). Any imperfections were looked upon as unfavorable to the community as a whole. Due to these values, people today think of the 1950s as a clean cut and model decade. This is a simplistic perception because underneath the surface, events that took place outside the United States actually had a direct effect on our own country’s history. The rise of Communism in Russia struck fear into the hearts of the American people because it seemed to challenge their supposedly superior way of life.
The bureaucratization of business in the 1920’s meant that more people could be employed in higher paying white-collar jobs than before, including, for the first time, housewives. This new income combined with the reduced prices for goods that resulted from mechanized production, assembly lines and a general decrease in the cost of technology created a thriving consumerist middle class that went on to fuel the economy in all sectors, especially the upper classes. Likewise, during World War II Americans saved up around 150 billion dollars, and this sum combined with the income of the GI Bill allowed normal people to buy expensive things, from houses to cars to electronics to education at a rapid rate, fueling the trademark prosperity of the 1950’s. The new automobile culture of the 50’s spawned new businesses that catered to mobile Americans, such as nicer and more standardized hotels like Holiday Inn, and drive-up restaurants like McDonalds. Just as the culture of the 1920’s was transformed by modernist ideas, the world of the 1950’s was reinvigorated by the introduction of the automobile to the middle class....
During the years between 1920 and 1960, America saw change in many aspects of life. The United States was a part of two major wars and a crash of the banking system that crippled the economy greater than ever seen in this country’s history. Also the country had new insecurities to tackle such as immigration and poor treatment of workers. These events led to the change of America lives socially, economically, and politically. The people of America changed their ideas of what the country’s place in the world should be. The issues challenging America led the country to change from isolation to war, depression to prosperity, and social change. The threats to American way of life, foreign and domestic, were the changing forces to the country in the twenties to the sixties.
In the 1920fs, because of the separation of the rich and the poor, there were separate social classes and with that came conflict between the classes.
In 1932 Roughly 25 percent of the national workforce was unemployed, while the national unemployment average for blacks stood at 48 percent ( "The 1930s: Lifestyles and Social Trends: Overview”). Within the lower class African Americans had it the worst because of the racism during this time. People who lost their homes often lived in what were called Hoovervilles (Lehnardt). Hoovervilles were towns built on the edge of the city by the unemployed and consisted of huts and shacks. As well as living in Hoovervilles they used flimsy newspapers as blankets because many could not afford to buy real ones. The unemployed held street demonstrations to ask the government for jobs