The Jazz Age Of The 1920 ' S

All through United States history our country has encountered numerous prosperous time periods where our general public as a whole has changed in a positive way. One particular decade that gainfully effected our nation was the nineteen twenties, which can likewise be alluded to as the Roaring Twenties or Jazz Age. The Jazz Age Positively affected American life and society because people were into this new style of music, jazz. Numerous other innovations during this period also changed the minds of the U.S. individuals, which basically modified the nations norms and ethics. It will become obvious how jazz music impacted life during the economically bloated roaring twenties. This paper will also talk about how music, movies, literature, vehicles, fashion, crime and new ethics brought about the Jazz Age, which basically could be named the most prominent, socially successful decade in United States history.

The 1920’s, also known as the “Jazz Age” or the “Roaring Twenties”, was a time of decadence. The “Roaring Twenties” was common with constant variation in diplomatic, ethnic, and religious standards. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses The Great Gatsby as an account for the unstable time of egotistic pursuits of wealth and satisfaction.

    Anzia Yezierska’s most-taught novel, Bread Givers, "is an extensive observation of relationships in an immigrant family of early 20th century America" (Sample 1). Noticeably, one of the most fascinating qualities of Yezierska’s work is that, though most readers probably come from significantly different backgrounds than that of her characters, she writes in a manner that allows her stories to be discussed in contemporary terms, (Drucker 1) while simultaneously illustrating the immigrant experience. Particularly, this phenomenon can be seen in her portrayal of certain generational conflicts. In Bread Givers, Yezierska depicts the struggle of finding one’s self in life, a

The most enthusiast type of music is jazz. The 1900's is where it mostly orginatied. Africa is the home and roots of jazz. Jazz has gathered from many types of old music. They style is unlike any other and is loved by all.

While the 1920’s seemed like an exciting time of new inventions, impactful social change, and exploration of new arts, under the surface reveals hardships such as racial injustice, oppression, and pure chaos. The 1920’s is referred to as many different names such as Flapper Era, Jazz Age, and the most well known one, The Roaring 20’s. The Roaring 20’s came to surface in the aftermath of World War I. From the rise of strong opinionated women, to an economic boom and crash, the Roaring 20’s was a captivating era in many ways. The shift between the two time periods, World War I and the 20’s, was a very dramatic change for America. The war had not only left Europe damaged, but it also motivated the political and economic changes in the US.

“People were forced to work in harsh, dangerous conditions in order to be able to provide for their families” (Document 8). Although most people were grateful to have a job, the conditions that they were forced to work for in order to provide for their families were unfair to them, and their families. Just because they obtained a job one day, doesn’t mean they would have it the next day, for example, if an employee was sick, or injured and had to miss a day of work the employee wasn’t guaranteed to continually have the job after they finally recovered. “I am at work in a spinning room tending four sides of warp which is one girl’s work” (Document 1) working conditions such as these are very harsh for the employees, not only do they have to keep up with the work of four people. Not only do the employees have to keep up with the sea of work, they also have to attempt not to get injured with the very harsh conditions lots of employees did in fact end up with serious injuries. “5 in the morning till 9 at night…” (Document 7) Those were the harsh working hours according to twenty-three year old Elizabeth Bentley. Long hours such as those were very common for factory workers, which made life hard for employees. Not only was harsh working conditions bad, but also the worst consequence that came about through the Industrial Revolution was child

An event that happened in America in the decade of the 1920s there was a large creative movement that affected or encouraged change in the United States history. According to the online Openstax textbook called U.S. History published by P. Scott Corbett, Volker Janssen, John M. Lund, Todd Pfannenstiel and Paul Vickery states “This mixture of social, political, economic, and cultural change and conflict gave the decade the nickname the “Roaring Twenties” or the “Jazz Age”.” A widespread of economic prosperity, social change and a form of expression made a way for society to begin to walk down the path of the modern age. Especially for women, African Americans, and the youth generation. Thereby, redefining the nation for the youth to forget about the post-world war one era and embrace the new morality, for African American to showcase their intellectual contributions and link their struggle to the world, for women to expand their human rights and be liberated from society standards, and for American to begin their new lives because of invention in medicine and technology. So, how did the Roaring Twenties and or the Jazz Age affect the decade of the 1920s in the United States history?

Wages were very low for the amount of work people were expected to do. People would only make anywhere from $1.25-$1.50 for the entire 10-12 hour workday. Not only were these wages extremely low, but employees often lived in expensive company housing which left barely any money for the other necessities of life. Nobody was satisfied with the wages during this time period but another struggle was the long hours. People worked 60-80 hour work weeks in the hot overcrowded factories, only doing one monotonous job. Lastly, the boss was very distant from the work crowd and there was little to no contact between the two groups. Also, the workers were very controlled by the foreman. The doors were locked on all floors to prevent theft during the day and bathroom breaks would be monitored by a floor manager. Overall, during the late 1800’s everyone was overworked and underpaid and this led to many troubles as years went on.

Jazz was a hit in the 1920s, African Americans were given credit for leading the jazz industry, the Jazz industry had an amazing impact on many other popular cultures. Jazz was the favorite type of music among the flappers. The Jazz age was known to be powered by the prohibition of alcohol.

Anzia Yezierska’s personal immigrant narrative began in Russian Poland. She was born around 1885, and immigrated to America with her family when she was 15 years old. Yezierska’s family were Jews who escaped from the anti-Semitic government that was in control of Russia at that time. They settled in New York’s Lower East Side, along with millions of East European Jews who fled to the United States ("Anzia" 28:332).

The working conditions of the new arrivals were hardly any better, as employees of factories were often overworked, underpaid, and penned up in dangerous conditions. Perhaps the horrors of these conditions can be highlighted by the devastating 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. Tragically, over one hundred young women lost their lives in the fire, as there was no way to get out, and the doors were locked, trapping the women inside. Safety was not the only problem, as workers initially were not given the right to organize into unions, essentially doomed to the repetitive motions of factory operation. This meant that they had no way to protest against child labor, wage slavery, and unhealthily long working hours. Eventually, with their growing clout and ever-present industrial dependence on their labor, workers organized and demanded reform along all aspects of hazardous working conditions.

Over the past (almost) hundred years, society and education have both changed drastically. Typically, the things that have happened in history, such as wars, technological advances, and changes in culture, changed education as a result. Some of these changes include popular culture in the 1920s, economic factors in the 1930s, military intervention in the 1940s, Sputnik in the 1950s, and racial issues in the 1960s. One theme of education is that it has gradually become more important over the years. Before high school diplomas could be rare, and today most high school graduates go to college in the United States.

The role of women in the early 1900’s still had an expectation of a traditional wife and mother. Women who dreamed of one day having careers or independence suffered discrimination and bullying in the city. Sara Smolinksy dreamed of moving to the city and attending class to become a teacher. However, once on her own, Sara suffers from the shameful glances of others and the lack of belief in her from her family.

The early 1900s was a time of many movements, from the cities to the rural farms; people were uniting for various causes. One of the most widespread was the labor movement, which affected people far and wide. Conditions in the nation’s workplaces were notoriously poor, but New York City fostered the worst. Factories had started out in the city’s tenements, which were extremely cramped, poorly ventilated, and thoroughly unsanitary. With the advent of skyscrapers, factories were moved out of the tenements and into slightly larger buildings, which still had terrible conditions. Workers were forced to work long hours (around 12 hours long) six hours a day, often for extremely low pay. The pay was also extremely lower for women, who made up a

There is a controversial debate about the 1920s, whether it was “roaring” or whether is was destitute. In the perspective of some historians, the 1920s brought a rapid increase in urbanization and boom in the economy, however, these historians fail to see the evident terrors that the 1920s brought. The positive uproar on the 1920s did not stand a chance against the rising negative roar of residential schools, the Stock Market Crash, and credit debt. Due to these tragic events, 1920s was brought a dark and negative atmosphere rather than one of contentment.