Leading the nation out the dark years of World War I, the “Roaring Twenties” was a decade defined by a booming economy and an experimental people. In peacetime the United States was overrun by the youth, who danced and partied on the remnants of a “Lost Generation.” Historian David King referred to the 1920s as a “rollicking ride,” during which society parted with more traditional values in favor of the flapper movement and jazz, features of a more progressive line of thought. A consumer economy developed in the absence of wartime alongside a scale economy with the invention of new products, the incorporation of new management techniques, and a fuller utilization of existing technology. Economic prosperity gave the American people greater leisure
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In the early 1920s the demand for agricultural produce and manufactured goods in the war-ravaged continent fueled the nation’s agricultural and industrial sectors. Economic prosperity was achieved through the fuller utilization of existing technology left behind by the Second Industrial Revolution. For instance, the Bessemer process cheapened the production of steel, which complimented the growth of the automobile and construction industries with a continual supply of steel. Likewise, electricity provided cheap energy for factories to use to power their machinery, which in turn significantly lowered the cost of production of manufactured goods. In addition, the adoption of new management techniques led to greater productivity in the factories. Henry Ford’s assembly line lowered the cost of production for manufactured goods through the division of specialized labor under one roof of production, and by doing so increased the affordability of products for a larger consumer market. The success of the automobile industry and other industries produced a multiplier effect for the industries that supplied them and serviced them, which in the case of the automobile included the rubber industry, oil industry, glass industry, and the steel industry. During this time the nation’s …show more content…
First off came jazz and the Harlem Renaissance. Symbolically referred to as the “Jazz Age,” the “Roaring Twenties” set the stage for greater appreciation of African-American culture from within and outside the black community. Prior to the 1920s, less than 8% of African Americans lived in the North, and in 1900 more than 90% lived in the South. However, the Great Migration that began in 1910 filled northern cities with over a million African-Americans. In Harlem African-Americans found a cultural center of their own, from which they could re-define the degrading nature of the Negro identity with strives in literature, music, and poetry. Artists like poet Langston Hughes fought to destroy the stereotype that African-Americans were lazy and stupid, musician Duke Ellington helped cultivate the nation’s very first musical export, jazz. Tuned into the jazz craze was the Flapper Movement, during which women challenged the social norms of the older generation by donning short skirts and sleeveless gowns, bobbing their hair, and interacting with men more intimately than had been done before. The Flappers accompanied the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, the availability of household items and prepared foods
In the early 1920s the demand for agricultural produce and manufactured goods in the war-ravaged continent fueled the nation’s agricultural and industrial sectors. Economic prosperity was achieved through the fuller utilization of existing technology left behind by the Second Industrial Revolution. For instance, the Bessemer process cheapened the production of steel, which complimented the growth of the automobile and construction industries with a continual supply of steel. Likewise, electricity provided cheap energy for factories to use to power their machinery, which in turn significantly lowered the cost of production of manufactured goods. In addition, the adoption of new management techniques led to greater productivity in the factories. Henry Ford’s assembly line lowered the cost of production for manufactured goods through the division of specialized labor under one roof of production, and by doing so increased the affordability of products for a larger consumer market. The success of the automobile industry and other industries produced a multiplier effect for the industries that supplied them and serviced them, which in the case of the automobile included the rubber industry, oil industry, glass industry, and the steel industry. During this time the nation’s …show more content…
First off came jazz and the Harlem Renaissance. Symbolically referred to as the “Jazz Age,” the “Roaring Twenties” set the stage for greater appreciation of African-American culture from within and outside the black community. Prior to the 1920s, less than 8% of African Americans lived in the North, and in 1900 more than 90% lived in the South. However, the Great Migration that began in 1910 filled northern cities with over a million African-Americans. In Harlem African-Americans found a cultural center of their own, from which they could re-define the degrading nature of the Negro identity with strives in literature, music, and poetry. Artists like poet Langston Hughes fought to destroy the stereotype that African-Americans were lazy and stupid, musician Duke Ellington helped cultivate the nation’s very first musical export, jazz. Tuned into the jazz craze was the Flapper Movement, during which women challenged the social norms of the older generation by donning short skirts and sleeveless gowns, bobbing their hair, and interacting with men more intimately than had been done before. The Flappers accompanied the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, the availability of household items and prepared foods