Jazz music in the 20's: The 1920's were known as the jazz age. The jazz music originated in New Orleans. Luis Armstrong was on of the most famous jazz musicians in history. The Cotton Club was a very famous jazz club in Harlem New York City. Many famous jazz musicians played there including Duke Ellington. Jazz music was very upbeat and great for dancing, perhaps why some of the older generation thought it would weaken morals.
Sports: The 1920's was known as the Golden age of sports. Baseball was huge Babe Ruth played ball in this era. Football was also very big, but uniforms were very lacking. Boxing was also very big. Tennis also became very popular. Two things that allowed for the expansion of sports were the radio and the automobile.
Fashion of the 1920'S: Women started to wear shorter length skirts with high collared sweaters. Men started to wear more comfortable clothing. Women desired a somewhat more masculine look with shorter hair and shoulder pads to give the illusion of broad shoulders.Channel made her big break by coining the little black dress. Flappers. Fedora hats. Silk stockings.
Movies: Movies were most always silent films. Horror films were very popular. Peter pan, the phantom of the Opera, Dracula.
Buying on credit: The idea of "buy now pay later". Was nice in the beginning but a lot of people bought things that they were not able to pay back and accumulated a lot of debt. When people are in debt they stop buying things causing businesses to fail and ultimately the entire economy suffered.
Fads- Board games were very popular. A lot of people became interested in breaking worlds records. A man named Alvin Kelly sat on a flagpole for 49 days. Dancing was very popular one dance they did was called the Charleston. Airplane shows.
The Red Scare 1920's: The Palmer Raids: They investigated anyone who was thought to be communist or a communist sympathizers. If you were found "guilty" you would be imprisoned. The United States put restrictions on immigration. The anti-immigration act of 1924 ect. cut the amount of people who were allowed to immigrate to the U.S.
Airplanes in the 20's: They were used in war and to deliver mail originally. When the pilots came back from war they would do airshows and earned the name barn stormers. Planes started to transport people, but only the rich could afford it. Charles Lindbergh was the first person to fly all the way across the Atlantic ocean. Amelia Earhart disappeared while trying to complete the first flight around the world.
Automobiles: Henry Ford made cars that common people could afford (Model T). Buying on credit allowed for lots of people to buy cars. It made it so people could travel farther ect. really changed the people's entire lives.
Gangs: Came out as a result of Prohibition. Every major city had a gang. Al Capone's bootlegging business in Chicago made over $60 million a year. Due to gang violence only 19% of Americans supported prohibition by 1925. Prohibition was repealed in 1933 by the 21st amendment Al Capone was know as scar face, he killed two people but was arrested for tax evasion. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre; Al Capone's gang killed several men from another gang.
President Harding: Before he was president he was a salesman. He was from Ohio and was first a member of senate before he was president. Won on the platform "Return to Normalcy" and wanted to stay out of the league of nations. There was an oil scandal during Harding's presidency, he was not necessarily personally involved but he allowed it to happen. He died during the Presidency (not assassinated).
President Coolidge: Wanted people to pay less taxes and lower the tax rate. His philosophy was for the government to do as little as possible. He would not allow members of the KKK into office, so the KKK lost some of their foothold during his presidency.
Hoover: Was one of the most disliked presidents ever. The stock market crashed during his presidency and the blame fell on his shoulders.
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