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. United States Philadelphia Pennsylvania, None. [Between 1980 and 2006] Photograph. https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/item\/2011633387\/.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
In Fronc’s 2018 The 1920s – A Historiographical Survey,<\/em> she specifically focuses on the idea that the 1920s has been departmentalized into this singular decade by historians. This type of thinking has existed from at least the 1950s when Burt Noggle made note of how historians often referred to the 1920s as “a distinct unit” in the Journal of American History<\/em>.1<\/a><\/sup> She calls out how this is opinion is wrong and undermines the very political and social movements that people recognize the decade for: Women’s Rights, The Harlem Renaissance, and Immigration. Fronc sights a 2009 proposal by Rebecca Edwards to reclassify this tumultuous period in American history by using what she coins as the “long Progressive Era model.”2<\/a><\/sup> This period in time would stretch from the 1870s and possible to through the introduction of the New Deal. The hope with this new name is that it would extend historians views outward instead of them solely focusing on the narratives of the 1920s. This would give more equity to the stories of minorities.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n Goldberg wrote his Rethinking the 1920s: Historians and Changing Perspectives<\/em> in 2007. It approaches the 1920s from a different angle. He provides a detailed timeline of previously published works on various elements of the 1920s and call out their strengths and weaknesses. He sights the first important work of about the 1920s as Fredrick Lewis Allen’s Only Yesterday, An Informal<\/em> History of the 1920s <\/em>as the building block for all future works on the 1920s. He mentions other books, including Modern Temper<\/em>, showing how the political, social, and cultural views covered in each book has evolved over time. With each new topic he introduces: immigration, social issues, consumerism, the Ku Klux Klan, African American Writes, and the Woman’s Movement he provides a collection of historical books that show the evolution of ideas in a particular field of study in the 1920s. Ultimately he concludes that “the 1920s will continue to generate controversy and provoke debates about its meaning.4<\/a><\/sup>” This is due to the complicated and shifting narrative of the decade, with much of its culture being replaced the following decade in the 1930s.5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n While Goldberg and Fronc take a differing approach to interpreting the 1920s, they both discuss the political nature of the decade. Goldberg showed how the study of 1920s politics evolved from a mostly Calvin Coolidge centered study to one that included discussions of the Democratic Party and the white power movement of the Ku Klux Klan. Fronc focused more on showing where the political ideologies of the 1920s originated from. She discussed how World War 1 created a willingness for upper and middle class Americans to accept government control of their lives. This allowed for the passage of Temperance and the various immigration laws. She also included how these laws negatively impacted the minority communities in the country. Both Goldberg and Fronc show how the political structure of the country was dominated by a white middle and upper class agenda. This created lasting negative effects for non white Americans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Through both Goldberg and Fronc’s articles, there is a clear tracking of historical changes to the study of the 1920s. Fronc shows how there is an evolving definition of historical terminology related to the 1920s. Goldberg shows how the historical works and ideas have evolved around a number of popular topic associated with the decade. Both do an excellent job of showing their reader where history has come from, where it is now, and what the future may hold. These reading provided a foundation of how the understanding of the 1920s is constantly evolving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n David J. Goldberg, “Rethinking the 1920s: Historians and Changing Perspectives,” OAH Magazine of History, (July 2007), pp. 7-10.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jennifer Fronc, “The 1920s–A Historiographical Survey,” Routledge History of the United States <\/em>(2018) p 15-24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" David J. Goldberg and Jennifer Fronc examine the 1920s through the lens of the twenty-first century. Both recognize how modern society is fascinated by this unique period in American history…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"[{\"id\":\"b365f203-9144-41ff-a9fc-c9b77e5a91b2\",\"content\":\"Fronc, \\\"The 1920s,\\\" p 15.\"},{\"id\":\"ce77e8a6-60a4-4f58-9d74-9cf146fe0169\",\"content\":\"Fronc, \\\"The 1920s,\\\" p 15.\"},{\"id\":\"ccc5e4f1-41ac-47a2-8fa5-fa22f518bcc8\",\"content\":\"Fronc, \\\"The 1920s,\\\" p 23.\"},{\"id\":\"ca894adc-c650-4914-980b-cf79e6d395fb\",\"content\":\"Golberg, \\\" Rethinking the 1920s\\\" p 10.\"},{\"id\":\"08b3cff8-023b-4f13-9a7d-53824d4d5972\",\"content\":\"Golberg, \\\"Rethinking the 1920s\\\" p 10.\"}]"},"categories":[42,52,1],"tags":[63,56,88],"class_list":["post-4438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays","category-historiography","category-uncategorized","tag-1920s","tag-essays","tag-historiography"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/collage-image-fina-scaled-1-1024x501.jpg\")
Foot Notes<\/h3>\n\n\n
Biography <\/h3>\n\n\n\n