The Roaring 20s Documentary - World History Project

the 1920s was a period of great social political and economic change especially in the US and has come to be called the Roaring Twenties by this time more Americans were living in cities than on farms and the nation's wealth more than doubled this created a rise in consumerism many Americans bought the latest home appliances and clothing people listened to the radio and went to movies for many Americans especially those in the cities life was in full swing with lots of money and lots of time entertainment was in high demand the film industry exploded Hollywood was releasing over 800 films every year today it's rare to have over 500 by the end of the 1920s 75 percent of Americans went to the movies at least once a week the first horror films ever made were released at this time and the greats of silent comedy including Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin were shown across theaters entertainment also began to enter the household radios became a really popular product manufacturers were flooded with orders and demands for more radios between 1923 and 1930 60% of American families bought radios families gathered around the radios for nighttime entertainment the 20s were also a great time for music and commonly known as the Jazz Age jazz big bands were all the rage especially among the younger generation people went to music halls and dance the Charleston the Black Bottom the flea hop and the cakewalk the popularity of radios and phonographs made music accessible to everyone literary and visual arts were impacted as well especially during a movement known as the Harlem Renaissance which was focused on the Arts in african-american culture this movement was closely tied to civil rights and brought out racial pride in the african-american community famous poets like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston inspired and influenced many african-american artists and authors even today there were many cultural changes as well especially among the younger generation flappers were young women with bobbed hair and short skirts who drank smoked and were more sexually free compared to the more conservative previous generations during the 1920s new advancements were also made in transportation and infrastructure one of the most important consumer products was the automobile Henry Ford had made the first affordable automobile name to the Model T back in 1908 by 1924 over 10 million Model Ts had been produced people could now live further away from their jobs and easily commute to work thus creating suburbs political changes were also made at the time prohibition was a nationwide constitutional ban on the production importation transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages which remained in place from 1920 to 1933 this resulted in the creation of speakeasies and gangs that illegally sold alcohol during the Prohibition crime rates increased by 24% in 30 major cities so now this raises the question what caused the Roaring Twenties well during World War one the u.s. manufactured and sold a lot of weapons to the Allies around seventeen billion dollars was made by the weapon industries in the u.s. annual incomes went from five hundred and eighty dollars in 1914 to more than one thousand three hundred dollars by the end of the decade World War one dramatically changed the domestic economy which set the stage for the prosperity of the 1920s the main short-term effect of the roaring 20s was the stock market crash of 1929 there was an increase in bank credit and loans these allowed people to buy things without having the money for it and this doubled the consumer debt the stock market kept rising during the 20s and investors became overconfident and optimistic eventually confidence fell and investors all rushed to sell since they were all heavily in debt the crash marked the beginning of the Great Depression the largest economic recession in US history which lasted ten years the roaring 20s had a lasting impact on the modern world lots of inventions from the time are still in use today like the traffic light pop-up toaster and especially penicillin the most important thing though was the increasing use of the assembly line popularized by Henry Ford this allowed for the mass production of anything and this process is widely used in factories around the world today the roaring 20s was similar to the European Renaissance and also the Enlightenment they were all cultural revolutions which challenged past ideas or customs flappers defied the normal ways of being a woman the Harlem Renaissance revolutionized african-american arts jazz challenged the structure of older music with different chords rhythms and instrumentation but why does this matter why should this be taught to ninth graders well clearly the 1920s was extremely influential to modern culture in the u.s. it was a time when movies music heart and pop culture flourished women and African Americans began to express themselves more freely and most importantly everyone had a great time it's important to learn about our past and how our country has arrived at where we are today it gives us an identity and it brings us together Henry Ford couldn't have said it better coming together as a beginning staying together is progress and working together is success

Channel: Tom Bolles

Views: 253,335

Rating: 4.8830838 out of 5

Keywords: roaring, 20s, twenties, world, history, video, project, essay, summary, cause, effect, impact, jazz, harlem, renaissance, film, hollywood, 1920s, music, songs, hits, top, best, flapper, stock, market, crash, depression, great, ford, model, wwi, war, radio, louis, armstrong, city, footage, buster, keaton, charlie, chaplin, silent, comedy, horror, nosferatu, culture, dance, charleston, prohibition, gangster, al, capone, babe, ruth, series, school, short, apush

Id: ud_xU3wit-8

Length: 5min 59sec (359 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 16 2016