The Roaring Twenties

1. The Roaring Twenties • Prosperity in the 1920s • The rise of “Big Business” • The rise of consumer culture • The rise of mass culture • Social Change • New Woman • Harlem Renaissance • Reaction to Social Change • Klan • Fundamentalism • The Scopes Trial

2. Prosperity > President Calvin Coolidge, 1924

3. Prosperity > Bruce Barton, author of The Man Nobody Knows, here with Hollywood producer Cecil B. DeMille, 1920s

4. Prosperity > Who Prospered in the 1920s? • 1200 mergers caused the disappearance of over 600 independent enterprises • top 0.1% of U.S. families in 1929 had combined income as large as bottom 42% • i. e. approx 24,000 families had combined income as large as 11.5 million poor and lower-class families • per capita income in the U.S. rose 9% between 1920-1929 • per capita income for the top 24,000 families rose 75% • 80% of families had no savings • farmers did not prosper - 1/4 of all employment • less than 10% invested in the stock market

5. Prosperity > Welfare Capitalism: Shoe Company’s Billboard Ad, 1923

6. Prosperity > Comic Strip on Workers Owning Shares, 1929

7. Consumer Culture > Salaries and Prices in the 1920s • average US annual salary: $1,236 (approx. $24.00 per week) • industrial worker $35.00 per week • store clerk $8.00 per week • higher salaries but also higher cost of living: • $8.00 could by only $3.93 worth of 1914 goods. • Ford Model T car: $290 • Coney Island roller coaster ride: 15-25 cents (beach was free) • movie ticket: 25 cents (up from 5 cents in 1910s) • radio set: $50-$100 (making your own was much cheaper)

8. Consumer Culture > Department Store window in the 1920s

9. Consumer Culture > Automobile Sales and Registration

10. Consumer Cutlure > Ford Model T, 1920s

11. Consumer Culture > General Motors Ad, 1925

12. Consumer Culture > Cadillac Ad, 1925

13. Consumer Culture > Ford Model A Ad, 1929

14. Consumer Culture > Song about Ford Model A, 1928

15. Mass Culture > Fatty Arbuckle at Coney Island (1917)

16. Mass Culture > Coney Island Roller Coaster, 1927

17. Mass Culture > Coney Island Beach, 1924

18. Mass Culture > Postcard of Chicago Theater, 1930

19. Mass Culture > Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik, 1921

20. Mass Culture > Charlie Chaplin, The Rink (1916)

21. Mass Culture > Stations and Set Ownership

22. Mass Culture > Farmer listening to the radio, 1920s

23. Mass Culture > People on a New York sidewalk listening to a football game, 1923

24. Mass Culture > Charles Correl and Freeman Gosden, 1929

25. Mass Culture > Movie Theater Poster Announcing Amos’n’Andy

26. Mass Culture > Amos’n’Andy on Presidential Elections, 1928 Amos: Andy, tell me one thing. Is you a Democrat or is you a Republican? Andy: Well, I was a Democrat . . . Amos: Uh-huh. Andy: But I believe I’ve done switched over to the Republicans now. Amos: Uh, who is the men that is running against each other this here election time. Explain that to me. Andy: Herbert Hoover [inaudible] Al Smith. Amos: Herbert Hoover [inaudible] Smith, huh? Andy: Yeah. Amos: And another thing I wanna ask you. What is the difference between a Democrat and a Republican? Andy: Well, one of ‘em is a mule and the other one is a elephant. That’s the way I get it. Amos: Uh-huh. I don’t know if I was gonna be a Democrat or a Republican, you know? Andy: Well, what was your ancestors? Amos: My aunt didn’t have no sisters. Andy: Oh no, not your aunt’s sisters, your ancestors. I mean, how did your old man vote? Amos: What my papa, you mean? Andy: Yeah, that’s it. Amos: My papa used to always vote for the Democrats. Andy:Yeah, then if I was in your place, I would vote for the Republicans.