1920s US History Project

1. The 1920s
Political, Economic and Social Events
By: Sean O. and Steve T.

2. Social Events
Positive
The Harlem Renaissance
During the 1920s New York was a bustling city. On the north side in
Harlem many night clubs opened and a night life like no other
began. Many African Americans musicians, poets, artists, actors and
dancers came to these clubs, and people from all around New York
attended. At the time it was hailed as the “New Negro Movement”
and was a symbol of prosperity and hope for African Americans
everywhere.
The reason it is so important was because it was a sign that
showed that in the 1920s, almost everyone was prosperous. It was
a positive thing that didn’t harm anyone.

3. Flappers
From the 1920s a new type of mentality emerged for
women. These women were known as “flappers”. A flapper
was usually a young woman, marked by her short, boyish
hair, extravegent dresses, independent attitude, and general
disregard for societies rules. They wanted to be treated
equally to men, and were often seen in speakeasies drinking
and smoking.
Although this seems like a negative, I believe it is a positive
because women showed a different side, that they could be
independent and strong.

4. Negative
Prohibition
The prohibition was a negative because of the effects it had on
society. The idea was good, get rid of drinking and people will be
more productive, less violent. But in reality, hardly anyone stopped
drinking, it just made people do it secretively. It also gave criminals
another way to get money, and organized crime increased. The bill
was so unpopular only about 30% supported it. Also, immigrants
socially drank all the time, and they didn’t appreciate the
government meddling in their affairs.
This was an extremely negative event during the 1920s because all
it did was make crime rates rise, and killed many people.

5. Bootlegger
A bootlegger was a person who smuggled alcohol in there boots
into the U.S and eventually speakeasies. They did this because in
the 1920s alcohol was deemed illegal. Many americans participated
in this practice for easy money, and because it was so easy. The
Volstead Act which set out to protect the banning of alcohol was
severely underfunded and failed miserably in controlling the flow of
alcohol into the streets of America.
This was negative because it caused many people to turn to a life
of crime and gave more opportunities for gangsters to obtain cash
money.

6. Economic
Positive
Stock Market
Everything was going well for the United States. People began to
get bold and started to invest in companies outside of their own.
The Stock Market started up and things were going great. Many
lucky americans were making it big, and some were getting millions
of dollars a year from there fiscally superior minds. Wall Street
was the place to be if you were going into the stock business.
This was a positive outcome because many people became rich from
this, and it showed our economy was improving rather than
declining.