The 1920s is always described as the Roaring Twenties yet it seems to have numerous paradoxes. Americans were apathetic to political wrongdoing yet politically active for passing particular laws. More accepting of women in politics yet severely cut immigration. Wanted to let the economic good times flow, just as long as alcohol was not flowing with it. See large growth in entertainment and art, like with baseball and the Harlem Renaissance, but still kept these areas separate. Why do you think the country went through this phase? Was it a reaction to the Gilded Age? Progressives? World War I? Something else? (200-300 words)
Remember to respond to two (2) other classmates. Let’s have a lively discussion!
1-Kian (100 words)
The contradictions of the roaring 20s seemed to be a culmination of the mess that was the gilded age and the progressive era. People wanted business to grow and expand similarly to the gilded age and wanted to keep changing how society functions through laws and regulations comparable to the Progressive era. This did result in economic prosperity in the country, with the United States standard of living being relatively high for the time period and a boom in many industries such as the film, radio, construction, and automotive industries. The rise of the film industry also led to the rise of air conditioning which helped make a living in hot areas such as Texas and Arizona more bearable. But then prohibition happened, which went directly against the ideas that business should be free to grow, similar to the gilded age. I find this one less contradictory overall, though, because prohibition was in line with the progressive ideas of the time, which often focused on changing how things functioned. The time period seemed to have many instances of people trying to mix aspects of the two time periods. This is where the weird mesh of contradictory beliefs and policies came from.
2- Abdel (100 words)
I think that America was slowly starting to modernize to the standards that we see in the present day, where our mindsets are way more open and liberal than what they were back then. Values were fairly conservative and traditional, meaning that change was very rectricted, but with the Roaring Twenties we slowly started to see a shift towards a more liberal open minded perspective from the public. The focus at the time was business since Americans just ended a small recession with the end of WWI, and as a result Americans were doing anything in order to gain economical growth. The economy flourished once more with innovations in technology and new types of entertainment. The arts evolved to be more inclusive, and women started to gain more rights. All steps in the right direction, but I would consider them the babysteps to what society would evolve to in the upcoming decades since we still hadn’t quite evolved in all mentioned sectors; hence why we saw small improvements and remains of the past at the same time. In short, this was the start to present day america where we would see a slow push for human rights and economical growth akin to present day economy.
