Were the 1920s really roaring in America?
Objectives
To organise sources to test a hypothesis.
Task
Copy out the graph below, use a double page, and cut out the sources. Fit the
sources on where you think they should be on the graph.
Prosperity
Not so
roaring
Roaring
Intolerant
Extension questions
1. What do the sources tell us about US society in the 1920s – roaring or
not so roaring?
2. Which source is the most useful for the historian studying US society in
the 1920s? Explain your answer.
3. Choose one of the visual sources, what is the message of the source?
Explain your answer by using the NOP formula.
Sources sheet
A 1927 poster advertising the
film The Jazz Singer – the first
ever motion talking picture.
Some criticisms of jazz music in the
media
Jazz music causes drunkenness.
Jazz music is written in Negro
brothels and is offensive to women.
The Hays Code
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No kiss should last longer than 3 seconds.
Members of the clergy should not be used
as comic characters.
Nudity is forbidden.
No character should ever be shown profiting
from murder or arson.
Hollywood brought in its own code of conduct – The
Hays Code – to censor their film industry.
Radio sales
1919 – 60,000 radios sold.
Jazz music has a demoralising effect
on the brain and this is proven by
scientists.
Written by a popular jazz singer in
the 1920s
Music is entering more and more
into the daily lives of people. The
Negro musicians are playing as great
part in this change. They are not
held back by traditions, constantly
experimenting with new ideas. Jazz
has come to stay because it is a
statement of the times – breathless
and energetic.
1929 – 10 million radios sold.
A typical 1920s
flapper.
A 1920s couple doing
the Charleston.
More time – more money
The rise of the sporting superstar
During the 1920s, the average working week
dropped from 47.4 hours to 44.2 hours. Average
wages rose by 11%. To put it simply, people had
more leisure time and more money to spend on it.
Baseball player, Babe Ruth of the New York
Yankees in 1930 earned $80,000 a year - £7 million
in today’s money.