The 1920s Pop Culture
Authored By: Spencer Cota, Greg Russell, Alexis Pawlusiak, Jordan Misaros
Pop Culture: Important Events
1924 the first macy’s thanksgiving parade was held in New York City. The parade is now really big and popular in today’s society. Everyone watches the parade on T.V., especially nowadays. It has been on television since 1952, it just goes to show you how much Americans enjoy their parades. Parades have been really became an American tradition, there are parades in towns big and small on almost every holiday.
The Macy’s thanksgiving parade in 1926
In 1922 and 1927 some major floods occurred that affected many people. 700,000 plus people were affected by these floods. One of the floods occurred in Louisiana (1922) this flood affected 50,000 people and the other flood occurred in Mississippi (1927) this flood affected 700,000 people and was one of the greatest national disaster in U.S. history. Hurricane Katrina was probably the greatest national disaster though, it affected 15 million people. The two other historic floods do not even compare to the size of hurricane Katrina.
A picture from the major flood in Mississippi
Prices In the 1920s: Prices in the 1920s were a lot different from today, they were much lower than today. Everything is extremely expensive nowadays. For example a small house in the 1920s only costs $2,205, nowadays you would be really lucky to find a a family home for $100,000. Another example is that a new car only costs $640 in the 20s, nowadays a good used car that runs good for $10,000. The point is that things cost a lot more today than back then.
Some other facts about prices in 20s is that credit was introduced. This meant that people who couldn't afford that new shiny car pictured to the left would now be able to afford it. This was one of the major factors that led to the great depression. This just goes to show you how much americans misused credit. as well as today.
This was one of the more popular automobiles in the 1920s
A picture describing how credit worked in the1920s This was a poster promoting the low
The Cotton Club was located in New York City and was a nightclub for the Harlem Renaissance.
Harlem Renaissance: The Harlem Renaissance was a huge cultural change that took action in Harlem and was a uprise for African American writers, poets, artists, and more. Some writers that existed in this time were Hemingway Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Langston Hughes, James Weldon, Georgia O’Keeffe and dozens more. Each had their own technique of writing as individuals. They all came together to discuss and share ideas. Many writers wrote books and novels. An example is James Weldon who wrote the book, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Another is Zora Neale Hurston whom wrote short stories and essays. A wide known novel she wrote, Their Eyes Were Watching God -also made into a film- is about the life of a young African American woman. There were white artists, poets, writers, etc. like Ernest Hemingway, Sherwood Anderson, E.E. Cummings, John Dos Passos and several more. E.E. Cummings was a poet and his writing was unique. He rebelled against the normal way of writing poetry. On the other hand, a writer of novels, Ernest Hemingway taught the style of writing in his own novels. Americas reaction to all of this cultural change was phenomenal. Everyone was excited. The media released and advertised books, poems and art. Books were published and sold, art was put on display in museums and magazines/newspapers helped show what was going on and what literature was and what it was all about. A painting by Georgia O’Keeffe. Harstons book.
Sports in the 1920’s: Sports became a known subject in the 1920’s. It was exciting for Americans. One of the most popular sports was baseball. A baseball player with the name of Babe Ruth was a player of the Boston Red Sox. (Picture of Babe Ruth hitting a homerun.) Most Americans doubted the power of women in sports but one women proved all those people wrong. The name of this woman was Gertrude Ederle. (Left: picture of Gertrude Ederle.) She was an Olympic swimmer. She
knocked Americas judgments out of their socks by beating the mens timing of swimming 35 miles by almost 2 hours. People were in awe. Many other sports took place like boxing, tennis and many more. Helen Wills also took down judgements from people who underestimated women power in sports. Wills was a tennis champion and was known as “Little Miss Poker Face.” Boxing pulled people in with ticket sales worth over $2,600,000. (Picture of a boxing match in the 1920’s.)
Babe Ruth swinging for a
\A picture of a major boxing match in the 1920s
Celebrities In The 20s: With all of the new concept of T.V. books and magazines, the new concept of being a celebrity came about. There came to be many celebrities during the 20s it was the beginning of an era for the “celebrity”. Believe it or not, Albert einstein became a celebrity during the 20s. Charles Chaplin was another celebrity and some people consider him to be the most famous person of all time at least, in the 20s.
Females also played a role being a celebrity. Gloria Swanson was a very famous movie star. Women went from not being able to vote to being movie stars on everyone’s T.V. Another famous female celebrity was Zelda Sayer who was a very famous flapper and wife of Scott Fitzgerald. The point is that people broke barriers in this time period. Women were the real example as I said they went from having little rights to being full out celebrities, and there are still very famous women in today’s society.
A picture of Charles Chaplin
Inventions A picture Zelda Sayer
John Larson’s Lie Detector
In 1920, the first main renovation of finding the truth came out as the Lie Detector. John Larson is credited with the invention. The purpose is for the machine is to record blood pressure
and breathing patterns. This reveals how humans can truly deceive each other in crime trials while the Lie Detector can show the truth in people who can’t fake out technology. Today the police department uses lie detectors on suspects and crimes. That was the intended purpose in the 1920s and today. Since the creation of gangs and organized crime, the lie detector has a lot of use for breaking up gangs and somewhat stopping the crime that grew around the United States. In supreme court cases during the 1920s criminals were getting saved by their lawyers while they denied everything and lied about the events that occurred. However, the A picture of the first use of a lie detector on a criminal. new technology of the Lie Detector stopped the red herrings and false information given to the court.
Medical Advances In 1928 Alexander Fleming made a discovery that greatly impacted the world. He was from England and researched medicine for a long time before he created what we know as Penicillin. He studied ancient peoples using of medicine like with The Egyptians who held a piece of moldy bread so the toxins would kill anything that could be harmful to the body. Fleming used these techniques to make a moldy substance containing penicillin. He then separated the substance with the penicillin and A picture of Alexander Fleming in his research. added a syrup to make it usable. This task helped the war effort and civilians all around the world. However, Fleming brought his penicillin to America where it truly bloomed. Soldiers returning with wounds from the war could now be used to get rid of infections.
Overall, the medical care grew in America. However, since there wasn’t as much Penicillin, costs of the medicine rose. This separated the classes in the society even more. For the people who could access the medicine had better lives and increased America’s life expectancy greatly from the less casualties of infections.
Iron Lungs Save American’s Lives In 1929 two men Dr. Philip Drinker and Dr. Charles F. McKhann founded the invention of the iron lung. This once again saved lives by giving temporary respiration to those who couldn’t breathe on their own. It was a great invention in the health field and allowed many people who usually suffocated to death to be able to breathe while a solution could be made. An illness called polio could also be treated with the iron lung to slow the illness down. The machine was built for the patients so there are many components of it to add comfort to the patient. The machine gave gradual air which wasn’t forcing anything. It wouldn’t be healthy if the patient got too much air because that would damage the other organs in the body or even damage the original lungs themselves.
A picture of a patient in an iron lung.
A picture of many people inside of iron lungs.
Immigration As the first world war wrapped itself up, so did our immigration from Europe. Quota systems have been put into place to where it sort of discriminates different immigrants from different parts of Europe. As quota systems started to become more popular, so did the Ku Klux
Klan. They fought for American values in a stricter way. Now that more immigrants are being lynched, the government took action. The KKK really started booming again when more immigrants came into the United States. They didn’t like their values and believed they were not American. So they secretly murdered many of the new immigrants. At this time members of the KKK were skyrocketing over millions. They marched the streets of New York City as intimidation for the immigrants. However, this soon changed when the government felt some indirect sympathy towards the KKK. While the KKK was bad, they understood where they were coming from. Ellis island soon closed due to the quota systems issued by the government. The government was also somewhat racist towards the immigrants but not like how the KKK was towards them. Now more and more illegal immigration started to occur from Europe and then soon shifted towards Mexico. More Mexican immigrants started hopping the border in order to get into America. This is a picture of a member of the KU Klux Klan
These are some people that most likely came through
Immigrants came over from Europe and other
The Jazz Age
The 193-’s was a revolutionary era in U.S. history. Known by many names such as the Roaring 20’s or the Golden 20’s, it was also known as the jazz age. The Great War had destroyed old perceived social conventions and new ones developed. This was also a time where African American Musicians largely started being recognized. Before the 1920’s the most popular new
music had been ragtime and and blue’s, and music was almost always played in bands or groups. In this new era, bands and solo artist were starting to emerge playing this new kind of music: jazz. Although unpopular with the older generation at the time, jazz flourished and swept across the nation. King & Carter Jazzing Orchestra, Houston, Texas, 1921
Jazz music originated in New Orleans, then quickly spread to even remote locations later on because of radio and phonography records. One soloist who emerged out of the jazz age was Louis Armstrong. Armstrong quickly got fame. He is one of the most famous jazz players known of the time. He was largely known for his improved trumpet solos. Another integral part of the jazz age was the introduction of improvisation. Before this, all music was planned out and written ahead of time, but during the 1920’s the use of improved solos during live jazz performances really hooked people on the sounds of jazz. Cover of a 1922 edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's book Tales of the Jazz Age
Louis Armstrong (left) Cover of a 1922 edition of F.
Prohibition During the 1920’s an amendment was passed that put a ban on the sale, production, importation, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. This is called prohibition, and it was an amendment that was in place from 1920 to 1933, when it was ratified. Prohibition was a hot and debated on issue leading up to the inaction of the Volstead Act, which was another name for it. People who largely supported it were known as “drys”. Although it was not made illegal to consume it on private property federally, some local governments enforced stricter laws on the people.
Detroit police inspecting equipment found in a clandestine brewery during the Prohibition era (left) al capone(right)
This didn’t stop people from getting their alcohol however. With the introduction of speakeasies, illegal establishments that sell alcohol, people found ways around the law. As the years went on, support for the amendment dwindled until the problems it was causing were worse than the benefit. Gangsters were also an integral part of this time in history. The most famous gangster of the time was Al Capone. He was based in Chicago and is known for smuggling and trafficking alcohol.
speakeasy(right)
Works Cited ●
"1920s News, Events, Popular Culture and Prices." What Happened in the 1920s Inc. News, Popular Culture, Prices and Technology. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.
●
"1920s Sports." 1920's Sport and Sporting Stars. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
●
"Benefits of Purchase." Authors. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
●
"The History and Evolution of Lie Detection Training Schedule." History of CVSA. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
●
"Famous People in the 1920s." Famous People in the 1920s. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
●
"Alexander Fleming Discovery and Development of Penicillin - Landmark - American Chemical Society." Alexander Fleming Discovery and Development of Penicillin - Landmark - American Chemical Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
●
"Iron Lung." : 1929 Drinker Respirator. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
●
"Ellis Island-why Did It Close? :: Immigrant Connect." Immigrant Connect RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
●
Foundation, 3 Dec. 2014. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920s_in_jazz>.
●
"Al Capone." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Dec. 2014. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.
●
Bower, Bert, and Jim Lobdell. "Popular Culture in the Roaring 20's." History Alive! Palo Alto, CA: Teachers' Curriculum Institute, 2005. N. pag. Print.