The 1920s to me, also called the “Roaring 20s” was another Gilded Age where society seemed to be widely increasing in wealth and success. The stock market was rising, there was prohibition and the rise of the flapper, of speakeasies, and of women’s rights. But this all came to a close at the end of the 1920s, when the stock market crashed, and it turned out that despite the seemingly upward tick for many years, things were getting worse, and unemployment and homelessness were at an all time high. Although many films or books like to showcase the opulent wealth, like the Great Gatsby, or Trust, by Hernan Diaz, a 21st century book I recently read for a class, I also know there was more to the 1920s than what books may focus on. With the rise of consumerism, there was a rise in short films made for movie theatres, an increase in smoking, gambling, and illegal alcohol consumption and new automobiles. The 1920s seemed to be a time where people not only had money to spend, but they had so much of it that the “consumer culture” we know today supposedly started in the 1920s.
Through my work with the Jane Addams Papers Project, I know that the 1920s also saw a rise in international affairs after World War One. With women gaining the right to vote in the beginning of 1920, there was a rise in women’s involvement in the political sphere and as a voting force. There were the creation of many organizations like the League of Women Voters, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the Women’s Bureau in the Department of Labor, and an increased membership in other pre-existing Women’s Clubs. As women gained more freedom not only to show their legs and smoke cigarettes like flappers did, women also gained freedom in the political and social sphere beyond the home. I know that the 1920s was filled with a lot of political and international turmoil, especially relating to immigrants and to African Americans. There was the first Red Scare, multiple xenophobic acts were passed, and a rise in segregation and the Ku Klux Klan. As many white men became richer, immigrants and other minorities struggled to stay afloat and keep up with the growing consumer culture.
Teach and Thrive. “Urban vs. Rural Life in the Roaring Twenties.” February 4, 2023. https://teachnthrive.com/history-passages/u-s-passages/urban-vs-rural-life-in-the-roaring-twenties/.
“Grown Up in The 1920s – Music.” The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, July 12, 2022. https://www.theherbert.org/news/259/grown-up-in-the-1920s-music.
Lim, Ching Yee. “The Roaring Twenties: Consumerism, Decadence and All That Jazz.” The Collector, November 28, 2024. https://www.thecollector.com/the-roaring-twenties-jazz-age/.
After looking at these images, I can recognize that google perpetuates the same positive perspective of the 1920s that I had in mind. While there were a few images sprinkled in that showcased riots, protests, or discontent with the state of life in the 1920s, almost every image was focused on flappers, consumerism, the Jazz Age, or other events that are a part of our general idea of the “Roaring 20s.” Especially with some of the photos, like the second photo, of the Black trumpet player, it seems as though google is trying to show the diversity of the Roaring 20s. The 20s were definitely a time of increased consumer culture and a general rise in wealth, but not everyone was as happy or successful as google displays it to be.
Specifically, the first photo also helps to show a bit of the “hidden history” of the 20s. While people knew that flappers showed their knees, drank, and smoked, it was pretty common that most women did not support alcohol consumption. Many women, through the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, that rallied for the prohibition of alcohol in America, because they believed it would lead to a decrease in abuse. A lot of the popular ideas that focus on the 1920s on a time of prosperity, glitz and glam overlook the fact that there was a large group of middle-class or upper middle class women who were deeply religious, disliked the new “flapper” culture, and supported the prohibition of alcohol wholeheartedly, thus creating a divide amongst women. Overall, there is much more to the “Roaring 20s” than people think of when they think of the speakeasies, the moonshine, or the stock market crash.
Bibliography:
“Grown Up in The 1920s – Music.” The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, July 12, 2022. https://www.theherbert.org/news/259/grown-up-in-the-1920s-music.
Lim, Ching Yee. “The Roaring Twenties: Consumerism, Decadence and All That Jazz.” The Collector, November 28, 2024. https://www.thecollector.com/the-roaring-twenties-jazz-age/.
Teach and Thrive. “Urban vs. Rural Life in the Roaring Twenties.” February 4, 2023. https://teachnthrive.com/history-passages/u-s-passages/urban-vs-rural-life-in-the-roaring-twenties/.
Hannah Steinlauf is a senior history major with a minor in museum and exhibition studies at Ramapo College. She is a student research aide for the Jane Addams Papers Project. She is a member of the Ramapo College Dance Company and Tri Sigma. Hannah is going to attend Trinity College Dublin for a masters degree in Public History after graduation.
