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The decade of the 1920s is often characterized as a period of American
prosperity and optimism. It was the "Roaring Twenties," the decade of
bathtub gin, the model T, the $5 work day, the first transatlantic
flight, and the movie. It is often seen as a period of great advance as
the nation became urban and commercial (Calvin Coolidge declared that
America's business was business.
The decade is also seen as a period of
rising intolerance and isolation: chastened by the first world war,
historians often point out that Americans retreated into a provincialism
evidenced by the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, the anti radical hysteria of
the Palmer raids, restrictive immigration laws, and prohibition.
Overall, the decade is often seen as a period of great contradiction: of
rising optimism and deadening cynicism, of increasing and decreasing
faith, of great hope and great despair. Put differently, historians
usually see the 1920s as a decade of serious cultural conflict.
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| From the University of Michigan web page,
American Culture in the
1920s |
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About planning a unit - The Roaring 20's
- Sometimes
when you are in the middle of a long, bad winter; the skies are always gray, the
ground outside is always icy, or slushy and slippery, it's become black and ugly
instead of the sparkling white when it first fell; it's cold all the time.
You're sick of wearing all those layers of clothes and socks, shoes and boots.
You can fall victim to what I call "winter cabin fever".
That's when it's
time for an especially motivating and FUN thematic unit of curriculum that will
help you get through to spring! One idea that came to me recently,
actually while watching It's a Wonderful Life, with Jimmy Stewart and
Donna Reed, was a unit focusing on the decade of the 1920'a. The
twenties was an incredible, and extremely important decade that took us
from one world to another in many areas - social mores, manner of dress, identity of women, huge
economic impacts (beginning of credit as payment), people going into huge
debts, many families starting to own cars.
There are almost infinite
connections you can make to that time period, linking to the events and beliefs
of people in the past, such as the actions and attitudes
in the 1800s which led to WWI, and follow with the the contributions of
events in the 20's to the Great Depression,
including all the political changes, new laws and acts, (such as Social
Security) that were brought into effect to relieve the Depression. Of
course there are various industries to study, including the automotive, radio,
and film industries.
This theme is also excellent for teaching
multiple literacies such as financial literacy, aural literacy, visual
literacy, emotional literacy, media literacies, information literacy,
cyberliteracy, multicultural literacy and more. |
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Charlie
Chaplin
No study of the 1920s is complete without Charlie Chaplin,
considered to this day to be one of the best actors on film. Films
he made during the 1920s include
A Woman of Paris,
The
Circus, and
Gold Rush.
After the Great Depression, Chaplin made several excellent films
speaking to social issues of the time. These included
The Great
Dictator (1940, a statement on Hitler and Nazism) and
Modern Times
(1936, a commentary on the impact of mechanization on people).
Chaplin, as a director, established many new techniques for
filmmaking. Filmmakers and actors study Charlie Chaplin to this
day.
His films are an excellent source for the exploration of media
literacy, the use of film to create personal and social change. |
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The Roaring 20s Unit
- Topics could include (and these could be used for Expert Groups, a few at a
time, or for individual research projects):
- World War I
- Election of 1920
- Presidents and the impact their policies
- Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1920
-
Warren G. Harding
, 1921-1923
-
Calvin Coolidge, 1923-1928
- Herbert Hoover, 1928-1932 - "Rugged Individualism" Republican
- Hoovervilles
- Hoover Stew
- Hoover Hogs
- Franklin D. Roosevelt - "The New Deal"
- Social Security Administration
- Various political speeches and commentaries by Will Rogers, Calvin
Coolidge, news of Charles Lindbergh's Paris reception, and more
- Art and Architecture
- Fashion
- Multimedia of the day - radio, phonographs, movies:
- Movies
- Music - "The Jazz Age"
- Radio - positive and negative effects:
- False advertising
- Media literacy
- Economics -
- Race
- Darwin's Theory of Evolution
- Federal Laws
-
19th Amendment
- Road Building
- The Automobile
- American Prohibition
- Culture of the 1920s
-
The
Flapper
-
A period of slang: slang used for "girls or women": a broad, a bunny, a canary (well,
one who could sing), a charity girl (one who was sexually promiscuous), a
dame, a doll, cat's meow, cat's whiskers
-
Jazz age
jargon
included: Joe College - better yet a Joe Yale - or a Joe Zilch , jazzbo,
jellybean, blind date, upchuck, jazz babies, pos-a-loot-ly, and the real
McCoy.
- Games included mah-jongg, Ouija boards, and crossword puzzles
- Endurance races of all sorts gained popularity and included
Marathons
and flagpole
sitting
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Dance marathons
- began in 1923 and really became the rage.
-
Harry Houdini
was the great escape artist of the 1920s.
-
American Baseball! and
other sports were very
popular.
-
Miss America
contest
began in Atlantic City in 1921.
Margaret Gorman, 16 years old, was the first winner with measurements of
30-25-32
- Dance crazes
included the Charleston, the
Black Bottom, and the Shimmy.
- Dining at
Sardi's.
- Literature
- Books that define the times
- Children's Newberry Award Winners
- 1922: The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon
- 1923: The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
- 1924: The Dark Frigate by Charles Hawes
- 1925: Tales from Silver Lands by Charles Finger
- 1926: Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman
- 1927: Smoky, the Cowhorse by Will James
- 1928: Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji
- 1929: The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly
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- Gangsters, Outlaws and G-Men
- Al Capone
- The Mafia
- Bonnie and Clyde
Web Sites:
The
Advertising of Instalment (sic) Plans, Published by the Corcoran Department
of History at the University of Virginia
USA History,
1920-1929, European University Institute, Florence, Italy
The
Roaring Twenties, Kennesaw State University
The Roaring Twenties,
A Flapper's
Appeal to Parents, an
article by Ellen Welles Page
which appeared in Outlook magazine on December 6, 1922
The
Scopes Trial - 1925,
jury was to decide the fate of
John Scopes, a high school biology teacher charged with illegally
teaching the theory of evolution
The Impact of
Technology on the 1920s - automobile, radio, film and more.
FBI files on Al Capone
Air Force
Bombs Tulsa, 1921, Tulsa Race Riots
Film History of the 1920s
Flapper Station - the
Silent Screen
Main Causes of the
Great Depression
Historical Atlas of
the 20th Century
American Memory Project, by
the Library of Congress - a digitized library of photographs
Illinois Trails
- the 1920s - excellent information from decade, from speakeasies to
politics.
1920s Timeline
The KKK in
the 1920s
American Popular Music
from 1900-1950
1920s Music
The Charleston
Dance
Recommended Films:
Inherit
the Wind
Please send us your suggestions
for resources, activities and projects related to this unit theme.
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