Roaring Twenties Essay

The Roaring Twenties
It was a known as a colorful time, the jazz age and the dollar decade. As World War I (WWI) came to a close many Americans wanted to simply forget about the Europeans and the war and live life to the fullest. Some chose to amuse themselves with soaring stock profits, illegal liquor, short skirts, and what many would look upon as shocking morals. This was a time of dramatic social and economic change. Many people were uncomfortable with this sometimes-racy “mass culture.” The Roaring Twenties was a time filled with youth hosting wild parties. Everything had a feeling of carelessness to it. People from all around the world were doing the same type of things as Americans were. As for the economic change, the total wealth of the U.S. nearly doubled from the year 1920 up until the great crash in 1929. Most African Americans knew this period to be the Harlem Renaissance. Many famous Jazz artists, playwrights, and sculptures came from the Harlem Renaissance. Some of which were Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes and Augustus Savage. Many other discoveries included sports legends, writers and gang life. Some of which were Babe Ruth, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Rudolph Valentino.
Buying the same stuff, listening to the same music, and even using the same slang terms. Many people across the United States and even across the world were becoming more and more similar in the way they talked and the purchases they made. This could partially be accredited to the radio. This simple device was revolutionizing the nation’s economy. The value of radio sales in the U.S. jumped from $60 million in 1922 to almost $850 million in 1929. Popular network programs such as “Amos ‘n’ Andy” and “the Philco hour” provided an effective ...

... middle of paper ...

...orality had crumbled completely.
By 1929, the U.S. economy was in serious trouble despite the soaring profits in the stock market. Since the end of WWI in 1918, farm prices had dropped about 40% below their pre-war level. Farm profits fell so low that many farmers could not pay their debts to the banks; in turn this caused about 550 banks to go out of business. The nations illusion of unending prosperity was shattered on Oct. 24 1929. Worried investors who had bought stock on credit began to sell it. A panic developed, and on October 29, stockholders sold a record 16,410,030 share. By mid-November, stock prices had plunged about 40%. The stock market crash led to the Great Depression, the worst depression in the nation’s history (until…2014 ☺). It was a terrible price to pay for the false sense of prosperity and national well being of the Roaring Twenties.