New York In The 1920s Essay

In the 1920’s, America went through a series of political, social, and economic changes. This was the decade known as the Roaring Twenties, where most Americans lived in cities and lived a consumer lifestyle, while the total wealth of the nation doubled. The name “Roaring Twenties” also held several other different meanings, including a reference to jazz and the rebellious nature of the younger generation. The Roaring Twenties not only was a decade of boom and determination for America, but it additionally represented the biggest shift from a traditional culture to a modern one.

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural, social and artistic explosion. This event took place in Harlem, New York between World War I and the mid-1930’s. It was known as the “Negro Movement”. During this movement 1.6 million African Americans moved away from the racial discrimination looking for new opportunities. These African Americans went out and expressed their racial pride with different forms of art.

The Harlem Renaissance was an event that started during World War One and lasted until the 1930’s. The Harlem Renaissance reshaped art, music, literature and theatre in the African American community. One debated during the Harlem Renaissance was whether folk art or high art best represented racial pride. Folk art best represents racial pride because it does not imitate other people’s art it shows the lives of everyday people, and people could relate to it.

The 1920s, or the “Roaring Twenties”, evolved to be known as the “Decade of Prosperity”. This title of the 1920s gave credit to the new technologies, advanced medicine, and a flourishing economy. The “Decade of Prosperity” came about when the younger people of the generation began to rebel against old laws and traditions of the older people’s generation. All of these new and upcoming inventions during this time helped to build up the 1920s and make it prosper as much as possible. Although these profound inventions and technologies helped benefit The Twenties, they had a major downside to them as well. New types of cars and ways of transportation inflicted a major trafficking problem. People who were not used to

Shoulderpads disappeared, and men began wearing tighter-fitting jackets with sloping shoulders. Ties became more casual as silks were replaced with a variety of knits. Bow ties became quite “in” during the 1920’s, too. By the mid 20’s, new button-down shirts with attached collars and softer fabrics were introduced and made the norm. The white striped shirts of the previous decade were replaced with an explosion of

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was a movement that brought about many great changes among African-Americans. Everything was new; the culture, the literature, the music, and the art. It was a movement in which blacks helped one another to express themselves as black, or in other words, embrace their identity. The movement inspired many future generations of African-Americans.

Harlem, New York became a black cultural mecca where blacks could escape the realities of the world and let their emotions run wild through music, art, literature, stage performance. The Renaissance was caused by a combination of the Great Migration during and after World War I and the social and economic boom of the “Roaring ‘20s.” Originally Harlem was meant for the upper class whites in the 1880s however, the neighborhood was rapidly overdeveloped and landlords were frantic to fill those empty buildings. So they opened the spaces up for the lower class. From 1910 to 1920 large African American populations migrated from the South to the North in attempt to be relieved of civil injustices, as they were intensified the farther south you went.

The Great Depression caused woman to want to save money and not spend much on clothing. All over people were struggling to keep money in their pockets, so no one would spend big bucks on designer outfits. Women tended to make their own new clothes from other clothes they already had. “The life motto of many was to ‘Repair, reuse, make do, and don’t waste anything’; therefore, any creativity was apparently confined to those boundaries.(The Vintage News, 2016)” During this time no one wanted to out shine others so they dressed very conservative. Shoulder pads and butterfly sleeves were coming into trend.

disappointment. It was a decade classified as the "roaring twenties." Men returning from World War I had to deal with unemployment, wheat farmers and oil companies were striking it rich, new modern conveniences were being thought up, and fashion was a major issue among the rich.

     The Harlem Renaissance was a time of racism, injustice, and importance. Somewhere in between the 1920s and 1930s an African American movement occurred in Harlem, New York City. The Harlem Renaissance exalted the unique culture of African-Americans and redefined African-American expression. It was the result of Blacks migrating in the North, mostly Chicago and New York. There were many significant figures, both male and female, that had taken part in the Harlem Renaissance. Ida B. Wells and Langston Hughes exemplify the like and work of this movement.

The Harlem Renaissance represents the rebirth and flowering of African-American culture. Although the Harlem Renaissance was concentrated in the Harlem district of New York City, its legacy reverberated throughout the United States and even abroad, to regions with large numbers of former slaves or blacks needing to construct ethnic identities amid a dominant white culture. The primary means of cultural expression during the Harlem Renaissance were literature and poetry, although visual art, drama, and music also played a role in the development of the new, urban African-American identity. Urbanization and population migration prompted large numbers of blacks to move away from the Jim Crow south, where slavery had only transformed into institutionalized racism and political disenfranchisement. The urban enclave of Harlem enabled blacks from different parts of the south to coalescence, share experiences, and most importantly, share ideas, visions, and dreams. Therefore, the Harlem Renaissance had a huge impact in framing African-American politics, social life, and public institutions.

Two questions came about with these changes in clothing. The first being, why didn't these influences change women's costume in the same way as that of men? Taking the history of humanity as a whole, there can be little doubt that men have played a greater part in social life, and have been more easily influenced by social factors, than have women. It can be said that if social and political influences have been the chief factors in bringing about the greater uniformity of men's

The 1920’s also known as “The Roaring Twenties” went through may drastic changes. The roaring twenties are remembered as a time of great technological advancement, prosperity, and social change. Women started standing up for themselves, alcohol was being banned, and technology was getting more advanced. This was the decade after world war 1 ended. More americans were living in cities than on farms because of all the business that started up north.

Technology played a vital part in helping America become the great economic and cultural success that it was during the 1920s. New advancements, new discoveries, and new inventions improved American lives in every imaginable way but not without a few negative side-effects. As mentioned earlier, the automobile really came into play during the 1920s by making traveling a common thing for anyone who could afford a car (Trueman, 2000). Henry Ford started the Ford Motor Company, which began to mass produce affordable automobiles known as the Model-T. Ford's Model-T car became such an irresistible success that by the end of the decade, there was almost one car per family in the United States (Bruce, 1981). The automobile seemed to give people a type of new freedom, but the automobile also proved to be a dangerous item in the hands of many irresponsible people who loved to drink during the 1920s. The washing machine, telephone, and radio made their arrival during the twenties. People were discovering life to be far easier than the previous generations because of technology, but they were also slowly being driven into an industrial nation. People were lured

Women in the early 1960's wore bouffant hairstyles, and like the 1920's, knee length dresses. However, later in the decade, mini skirts, or hot pants, with go-go boots became popular. These skirts revealed their legs as bodywear revealed their curves. Women's hairstyles even changed. Women either wore their hair very short or long and lanky. Also, peasant skirts, or granny dresses, and chunky shoes somehow came into fashion during this period of time too. By the end of the decade, unisex dressing was very popular especially with the hippies. Both sexes wore bell-bottom jeans, love beads, and embellished T-shirts. This was also the era of the Afro, which both sexes of African Americans wore.