Roaring 20s - A Quick Look
March 31st, 2010 by Anne Torres
The era is called the Roaring Twenties because it describes the aggressive air that hovered in America during 1920s. There are many names that are associated with the 1920s like the Jazz Age, Age of Wonderful Nonsense and Age of Intolerance. Many names may be associated with this era but this period is simply the advent of Modern United States. From the 1920’s hairstyles to the mainstream conquests of jazz, the Roaring Twenties exemplifies a time of change for everyone, a change that may somehow be viewed as both good and bad for modern America.
The term, Roaring Twenties, not only covers North America but also London, Paris and Berlin. It brought about a development of social, artistic and cultural dynamics that greatly affected their way of life during that period.
There were close to 150,000 anarchists or Communists living in the U.S. during this decade. North American public was confused and this confusion spread rapidly to Europe which was still rebuilding itself during that time. North America, on the other hand, was headed the other direction and went back into provincialism. Ku Klux Klan reappeared and immigration laws became restraining and limiting.
The twenties was the end of the first word war and weapons were no longer needed so the US focused into a more peaceful economy. During that period, the minimum wage was $5 which was adequate during that time. Development of infrastructures started to soar high. Because of these developments, America became the richest country in the world.
By the time half of the decade was through, economic development soared in Europe, particularly in Germany, Britain and France, so that the second half of the Roaring Twenties also became known as the Golden Twenties.
The 1920s steered and enriched American writing with remarkable works from renowned authors like Sinclair Lewis, William Faulkner, F., Scott Fitzgerald, Carl Sandburg and Ernest Hemingway. Jazz Age came in with a distinctive kind of American music. The genre of Jazz, which started as a medium for expressing African sentiments, now produced great music players like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson. Many jazz musicians brought the music to Broadway and concert halls.
Entertainment today is a product of the entertainment during the twenties. Alice in Wonderland, the first cartoon that Walt Disney produced, happened during the twenties. Actors like Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino drew fantastic box office success and dances like Charleston, Foxtrot, Flagpole sitting and flying stunts became the fad on the dance floors. Sports figures such as Babe Ruth became heroes.
The 1920’s was known to be the dawn of discontinuity and the start of modernity that broke the old traditions and gave rise to newer, bolder and more more hyped-up norms. Since then, a sharper line of definition has been in place to discern the roaring 20’s and the eras that came prior to it.
- Posted in Women