The Ku Klapper In The 1920's

The 1920’s was a great and important decade for the United States. After World War I, the United States went through events and changes that, overall, made the United States a much better place to live. New advances in technology and industry improved American life in more ways than just one. Americans had better wages during this time, more leisure time, and overall, had a better life than ever before. In addition, the 1920’s advocated social and cultural change as well. During this time period, the United States did not return to Normalcy, and instead developed attitudes that changed the life of the people of the United States forever thanks to social changes, cultural changes and changes in technology.

Although the roaring twenties are usually thought of as a time of universal prosperity, the reality is that unless one was Caucasian and well-to-do, society tended to shun the outliers (women, minorities, etc), propelling them out of political affairs and social scenes. Women rebelled, becoming increasingly promiscuous as the decade wore on. In 1920, it would have been unheard of to show an ankle, sport a bob haircut, or darken one’s eyes with what seemed like paint. By 1928, the younger generation was revealed as socially progressive, engaging in previously unthinkable behavior such as smoking, drinking in bars, and sex. Flappers became prevalent, with their flouncy skirts and short hair adorned with a jeweled headband. The decade earned its second nickname, “The Jazz Age”, from the incredible musical talents that emerged out of Harlem and other areas of the United States, leading to a less “restrained” entertainment.

The ‘Roaring Twenties’ is an epoch typically correlated with prosperity and modernity. The positive advances of the twenties are concentrated on further than the abundant negative developments. The improvement of the standard of living of Americans allowed for an easier life for many, however there were copious adverse social and economic developments that occurred in the 1920’s, which included the subjugation of African Americans, and the prejudice set against immigrants.

Fox. This encouraged women to preach for their freedom and later led to one of the most iconic parts of the 20’s, the Flapper Era. Embracing life in ways that others thought was inappropriate and outrageous, young women called Flappers were known for their energetic spirit and yearning for freedom. The McKenna Flappers believed in a more liberated way of life and they would not stop pushing boundaries and challenging expectations until they achieved their

The reputation and culture of women changed substantially with the emergence of the Roaring Twenties. Gone was the traditional, and sheltered All-American girl who aspired to a housewife. It was seen as inappropriate for these women to even show their ankles out in public. The new “Flapper” girl was a young woman who wore short and relaxed dresses, used makeup, smoked cigarettes, drank alcohol, and attended glamorous parties (Document 2a). Flappers were liberated and bold, and were the complete opposite of the traditional American housewife. The Flapper girl

The 1920’s was a period of tension between two groups in a changing culture. On one side were those who believed the old ways should be stuck to, and on the other were those who wanted a reform in society towards a more modern lifestyle. This caused an ensuing tension between the groups, but eventually the younger generation prevailed. The 1920’s was a an important era because as two different cultures clashed they formed the new American Society. Before World War I, society was more old fashioned and while they had changed Government and corruption in those with power during the Progressive Era, they had not overall changed societal lifestyle.

The 1920s was an age of drastic social and political changes. For the first time in history, more Americans started living in cities rather than on farms. Americans were wealthier than ever before. People from coast to coast bought similar goods, listened to the same music, did the same dances, and even used related slang. Numerous Americans were uncomfortable with this unfamiliar, urban, and occasionally racy “mass culture”. In fact, for a large number of people in the United States, the 1920s brought more conflict than celebration. However, for a minuscule handful of youth in the nation’s larger cities, the 1920s were roaring. Prohibition gave criminals a way to illegally make money; gangsters, young men who worked in criminal gangs, began selling on the black-market alcohol. Young woman emerged during the 1920s with different appearance, attitude, and behavior; with a bobbed haircut and short skirts.

The era of the 1920s, also known as the Roaring 20’s, was a revolutionary time in which radical changes struck the American nation, drastically increasing advances in society and economy. New and different forms of dance, music, clothing, behavior, and lifestyle were developed nationwide. The Antebellum Period in the late 1700s increased rebellion, similar to the Roaring 20’s era of growth and reform. As this time period brought profound changes, conflict, cultural excitement, and experimentation, the population of America was experiencing an alteration in social values. The American pride, similar to the pride we had when separating from the British, was still alive as independence and freedom was strongly rebelled for. The Roaring 20’s depicted the growing independence of the American public as the promised result of cultural excitement with the usage of alcohol, experimentation with labor strikes, conflict over ones rights, and change in the prosperity of the nation, was much linked to and differed from the Temperance movement, Labor movement, Suffrage movement, and the Industrial Revolution.

At that time, the American women changes in physical, emotional such as more fashionable, educated, courage and operated with men. According to the document 4, it compared with the women in the 1890’s who wore like a house helper needed to tie back their long hair and stayed home all day with doing the housework, cooked for their husbands however the women in the 1920’s who smoked, drank, danced and voted. Moreover they cut their hair, wore make-up and went to petting parties. Therefore we can called the 1920’s women as a flapper also known as younger generation of new women. Although the women got the right to vote, there was a feminists issues in the 1920’s which would outlaw discrimination based on sex.

Imagine if you had lived in the 1870’s and you walked out of your house and saw stores on fire and people getting hanged. Well, that’s what the KKK is all about and what African Americans had to deal with everyday, and having to be afraid of not knowing if they were going to die or survive. The KKK is a secret society in the U.S that is built up of white supremacists.

“The first incarnation of the KKK formed just after the Civil War, using terrorist violence as a means of maintaining white supremacy, but its influence "waxed and waned," as Gordon puts it, over the decades that followed” (Waxman 2). The Ku Klux Klan, aka KKK, is a white supremacist group who has done many cruel things to African Americans. Throughout many years, the KKK has grown power over politics, the news, and television as ways to try and exterminate African Americans. The KKK is a group that think the white people have the power over the African Americans, and that African Americans should not be treated as fair. Overall, the Ku Klux Klan impacted society through violence, white supremacy, and the nationwide attention the group was

The era of the 1920s has been depicted as the Roaring Twenties, a time of glamour and glitter with the rise of parties, the dance of the “flappers,” the culture of the Jazz Age, and the consumption of pleasures and indulgence in leisure. But the 1920s were more than just the trend of looking good or listening to the blues, it was also a time of conflict, the fight and struggles of women and race, amongst others. By reading two distinct focuses of the after war era, the period could be thoroughly discussed and presented for what it really was, what events really followed, from the excitement of the envisioned grand parties to the underlying issues that lay beneath the “roar” of the twenties.

As a nation coming out of a devastating war, America faced many changes in the 1920s. It was a decade of growth and improvements. As immigrants fled from Europe, the economy improved, and new machines offered convenience and luxury from the kitchen to the streets. However, with all change comes opposition. The 1920s revealed a conflict between traditional America and the new attitude and lifestyle through the changing role of women, continued dominance of Christian values, and racism.

The 1920s, often referred to as the Roaring Twenties, was a time of great change and a time of powerful enthusiasm in many areas of society. The world had just finished the biggest war in history, the First World War, and the United States was left almost unharmed by the war. The United States was able to experience a decade of peace and success following the war. During this decade, America became the wealthiest country in the world (Trueman, 2000). The people in the United States went through a colorful period during the twenties. However, at the same time the 1920s was also a very rebellious and difficult time for many. The culture of the 1920s has influenced the culture of America’s society today.

The 1920s is often stereotyped as the “Golden Twenties”, “Jazz Age”, and the “Roaring Twenties”. This was because the 1920s glorified and fantasized this era as being a wonderful time of excitement. During this time, there was also dramaturgic divide between the America’s pastime, and future. The nineteenth century, before World War I remained rooted culturally, without alteration. With the rise of the next generation, America seemed to disconnect its current attachment to the past, and guide into a more modern age. The divide between innovation and tradition created extreme contradictions as it switched over to urbanism and modernism (Zeitz). The 1920s also showed the economic boom from post World War I, the great migration of African American’s from the South to search for opportunity, and racial violence with the rise of the KKK.