The Twenties

Between the end of the Great War and the crash of the Stock Market in 1929, the '20s was a decade marked by mobility, intolerance and contrast. Americans began a century long migration to the cities and suburbs and the social status of many minorities, including women and black Americans, was on the rise. But life was far from perfect for many. Immigrants that had worked for the good of the war, were shunned in favor of returning veterans. Lynchings of black Americans, was at a post-Civil War high. The Ku Klux Klan was marching down Constitution Avenue. The prejudice went as far as to cost two Italians their lives. On the farms of the midwest, black clouds were forming. Low prices strangled the bread basket, foreshadowing a tumultuous collapse. Yet in the big city, life was carefree. Talkies were hitting the local theatres, speakeasies were around every corner and there seemed to be a sitter on every flagpole. Flappers, Fords and fads dominated the social scene, and Republican presidents set the nation free, letting big business do as they pleased. America turned its eyes away from foreign troubles, an act that would later have a deadly price.

The IWW Constitution illustrates the ideas of those who were critical of American Democracy.

Sacco and Vanzetti on Trial - Were they tried and executed for what they did..or who they were?

Dear Parents...an open letter from a Flapper - by Ellen Welles Page, from Outlook Magazine, Dec. 6, 1922

Listen to and learn how to do The Charleston, the dance that defined the decade.


If ever there was a symbol for a decade, the flapper was it. Like the country that created her, the flapper was a free-spririt, driven to explore her new world. She drove, drank (despite prohibition), smoked, and didn't seem to have a care in the world. For ten years, like her nation, she lived it up - oblivious to the pitfalls ahead. From Life Magazine, art by John Held, Jr.	The Twenties saw the car become a crucial part of the American culture. Ford made his Model-T affordable and the prosperity of the '20s made the car a necessity, especially for the flapper. Taking a drive to the country, like this scene outside of Boston, become typical fare for the growing middle class.	Black Americans were also on the move - northward. Trying to escape the grasp of Jim Crow, Blacks initially began heading north at the outbreak of the war. Good factory jobs were plentiful making war materiel. This family, just off the train in Chicago, settled in historically-established Black communities on the city's south side. Chicago still remains a geographically segragated city.

A popular destination of Black Americans was a neighborhood in New York City's Manhattan borough - Harlem. A renaissance of literature ,art and music fueled by thousands of migrating Black Americans made Harlem a mecca of Black culture. Above, The Creation by Aaron Douglass.	Though Black Americans were moving, however slowly, up the social ladder, the forces working against them were getting stronger as well. It wasn't since the first decade after the Civil War that lychings of Black Americans were so widespread. In 1920, the Ku Klux Klan marched in Washington D.C. with the Capital Building as a backdrop.	The intolerance of the 1920s didn't end with the KKK. The flood of immigrants, especially those from eastern Europe, scare many Americans. Some of these "reds" as they were called, brought with them ideas of anarchy and revolution. Popular belief envisioned "reds" sneaking into America with a torch of anarchy and a knife of Bolshevism.

Their socialist ideas were borne from their economic class - they worked in America's factories and although the Progressive Era made progress towards improving their situation, unions still provided the strength the working class needed. The Industrial Workers of the World championed "The Advancing Proletariat" as illustrated by the cover of this songbook.	Another unique aspect of the '20s was Prohibition. Initially banned in some parts of the country to conserve wheat during the Great War, alcohol as seen by many as the root of many evils, including poverty, violence and infidelity. In Chicago, a city with a large German population known for its production and consumption of alcohol, federal agents dumped barrels of alcohol into Lake Michigan, 1923	Despite Prohibition, Americans found a way to get around the law and many estimate the consumption of alcohol actually went up during the '20s. Its criminal nature certainly made it more appealing to flappers and their "sheiks" who would do anything if they knew it angered their parents and the older generation. At left, a man knocks on a door, an eye peers out, and he "speaks easy" to get in.

Called by some an Era of Wonderful Nonsense, the '20s had its share of fads and follies. One of the most interesting was flagpole sitting. The man at left was one of 13 people who were flagpole sitting in Baltimore at one time in 1926. Others included wing-walking and marathon dancing (one couple danced for 217 days).	Among the crazes was the Charleston, a dance that both thrilled youth and disgusted their parents. There were many different kinds of the Charleston, each type assimilating with the syncopation of the music. Learn How to do one type of the Charleston.	The '20s were also considered a Golden Age of sports. The media created heroes, the public idolized them and the economic prosperity of the times allowed Americans the time and money to see them perform. One of the greatest was "The Galloping Ghost," Harold "Red" Grange, a product of Wheaton, Illinois, who went on to star for the University of Illinois and the Chicago Bears.