The 1920’s was a period of prosperity, new technology, and a new role for women in America. As World War I ended, society was prospering. People partied more than they worked and dreamed more than they thought of reality. Athletes were heroes, and authors created stories where people could escape their life and go into an alternate reality, and women were known as flappers and started to even vote. The “Roaring Twenties” was a time of partying, which included the Harlem Renaissance, the model T, prohibition, sports heroes, the role of women, and new technologies which influenced all the changes that took place.

In the 1920’s African Americans were creating their own culture. African American music, literature, dance, and art all became alive in Harlem, New York.  This movement was known as “The New NEgro Movement” and would later be called the Harlem Renaissance. It showed the differenct cultures of African American’s and it influenced American culture it many ways.

One of the main factors that lead to the rise of the Harlem Renaissance was the urban migration. There were many different people with different artistic skills, like Nora Thurston Zeale who was an anthropology, Countee Cullen who was a romantic poet, and Langston Hughes who wrote poetry and also was a playwright. Many more people would emerge from this time period who would have a huge influene across America, from music to novels, from plays to poems, and even spread to across the world. 

The automobile also changed and influenced the 1920’s. The automobile became the main support for the American economy. It altered the landscape of America and altered its society. The automobile changed the way people lived their lives, the way cities were ran, and how the economy was dealt with. Rural families could now travel to the city anytime they wanted, and people began to take jobs much farther away from their houses. Families were also able to take vacations to places very far away, something that was never even heard of. Automobiles also gave women and young teenagers more independence   and more opportunities. People were abble to live farther away and travel to work, and cities and towns became bigger. The automobile also changed the way the city was run. Paved roads sprawled up everywhere which were able to be driven on in any weather. Houses wer being built with garages and driveways and shopping malls were being built with parking lots. Smaller lawns were being made to accomadate the automobile, and gas stations, mechanic shops, motels, and traffic signals.

The economy also changed when the automobile began taking over the lives of Americans. The industry boomed, with the demand for automobiles grew and oil-producing states like California and Texas boomed. The automobile also helped promote the free enterprise system, and in the 1920’s one in every five Americans owned a vehicle.

On January 16, 1920 the 18th amendment went into affect which would ban all consumption, distribution, and creation of any type of alcoholic beferage. Its purpose was to reduce how much people drank and at first it worked. People were very outraged though, but could not afford to get alcohol illegally because the price went up. Many bootleggers began to control cities, and created Speakeasies, where alcohol could be sold and given out illegally. The mafia and bootleggers saw this amendment as an easy way to make money, and could easily make about 60 million dollars a year. In 1933 however, prohibition ended.

 There were also many sport heroes in the 1920’s like Gearge Herman Ruth. George Herman Ruth would later be dubbed with the name Babe Ruth from his fans and set the record for most home runs in a season, 60, in 1927. This record would stand until 1961. He is declared as one of the best baseball players who ever played Baseball. He led the Yankees to seven World Series and made over two million dollars during his career.

On August 26, 1920 President Wilson ratified the Nineteenth Amendent which was for women suffrage. During the 1920’s the traditional women roles began to change. Women got the right to vote, their style of dress changed, they began doing jobs like being doctors, bankers, lawyers, and other jobs that were thought of as “men only jobs.” Women’s style also changed, from wearing clothes that went all the way down to their ankles and with the hair pulled back in a bun to short bob cuts and short skirts. These womens were called flappers. In the 1920’s women stopped their houshold “duties” and started doing the jobs that men usually did.

A lot of new technology also came around in the 1920’s. In around 1927 Philo Farnsworth created the dissector tube which would help invent the television. In 1922 the first movie with sound came out called “The Jazz Singer.” In 1926, the first movie with sound and color came out.

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