Honors Essay #3

The Roaring 20's brought many new changes to the American society, culture, economy, technology, and more. With the nation's total wealth doubling between 1920 and 1929, money was being spent as quick as it was being received. The 20's marked a new period of music, what we now know as the Jazz Age, which sparked the musician in many people. Short skirts, excessive make-up, and casual sex developed the term "flapper" which was a new fashion for young women. Many new opportunities were given to females who also gained the right to vote in 1920. Even towards the end of the Roaring 20's, changes were still made to the economy when the stock market crashed, bringing America into the Great Depression.

One of the significant changes that occurred during the Roaring 20's is music. After World War One, thousands of African Americans were looking for employment opportunities. With them, they brought lively dance and music from their culture. Despite being known as "African American's music", Jazz became very popular. White Americans started embracing the cultural mix of music, allowing artists like Bessie Smith and Duke Ellington to rise to the top with their music. Even though the Klu Klux Klan was most powerful during the 1920's, people were still listening to jazz played by black musicians. Throughout the 20's, people became interested in music, bought instruments, learned to read sheet music, and listened to records. Agnes de Mille said, "The truest expression of a people is in its dance and music." Jazz became a form of expression, individualism, and culture.

During the 20's, women became more independent and the term "housewife" changed dramatically. It was in July 1848 when women suffrage was proposed to United States. It wasn't until August 18th of 1920 that the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, giving women the right to vote. Another thing that changed in women is values. Before the war, women waited until a proper man gave her suitable intentions. After the war, nearly a whole generation of men died, leaving impatient women who refused to stay idly by and "waste" their lives. This is where most people say a "new women" was born, what we call "flappers". Flappers smoked, drank, wore make-up, had casual sexual relations. Author Zelda Fitzgerald talks about flappers as, "…gets more happiness out of being gay, light-hearted, unconventional, mistress of her own fate.... I want [my daughter] to be a flapper, because flappers are brave and gay and beautiful."

Throughout this time, the medical field discovered insulin, Penicillin, and more. People with Poliomyelitis, still be a deadly disease in the 1920's, was given new hope with the invention of the iron lung in 1928. Vitamin E was discovered, which served as an antioxidant found in foods like margarine, peanut oil, sunflower seed, and walnuts. Another important accomplishment in the medical field was the introduction of a new immunization that helped control Diphtheria. With many flappers focused on good diets, people were more mindful of their food comsumption, improving public health.

The Roaring 20's is often known as an age of acceptance and freedom. Racism was casted aside to make way for a new culture who brought jazz and other fresh ideas about music. Women obtained the right to vote and also brought along an array of new fashion. Medical discoveries made back then are still used to research modern medicine. Kevin Rayburn was quoted saying, "Hip flasks of hooch, jazz, speakeasies, bobbed hair, 'the lost generation.' The Twenties are endlessly fascinating. It was the first truly modern decade and, for better or worse, it created the model for society that all the world follows today."

Citations:
http://faculty.pittstate.edu/~knichols/jazzage.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/C005846/introduction/introduction.htm
http://www.jazzitude.com/histjazzage.htm
http://doe.sd.gov/octa/ddn4learning/themeunits/1920s/style.htm
http://www.pbs.org/jazz/time/time_roaring.htm
http://www.southernmusic.net/1920.htm
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/suffrage1900/a/august_26_wed.htm
http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/a/flappers.htm
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Transwiki:American_history_quotes_Roaring_20s
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/jazzquotes.php
http://www.ovtg.de/3_arbeit/englisch/gatsby/women20.html
http://www.enotes.com/1920-medicine-health-american-decades/new-medical-machinery