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Schools in the 1920's was a lot different from today. There was no school lunch (meaning you would have to bring your own), and you were only required to go to school from ages 8 to 14.

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Amelia Earhart was the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic ocean. Earhart disappeared in the Pacific ocean while trying to be the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world.

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In the 1920's, sports were a lot different from today. Women had limited opportunities with sports back then, and had to fight for the right to compete in sports.

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Sports in the 1920s (from Tar Heel Junior Historian) | NCpedia

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By Jim Sumner
Reprinted with permission from the Tar Heel Junior Historian. Spring 2004.
Tar Heel Junior Historian Association, NC Museum of History

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Flappers smoked in public, drank alcohol, danced at jazz clubs and practiced sexual freedom that shocked the Victorian morality of their parents. And was a way for women to fight for their rights and freedom.

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Women's Independence

Multiple factors-political, cultural and technological-led to the rise of the flappers.

During World War I, women entered the workforce in large numbers, receiving higher wages that many working women were not inclined to give up during peacetime.

In August 1920, women's independence took another step forward with the passage of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. And in the early 1920s, Margaret Sanger made strides in providing contraception to women, sparking a wave of women's rights to birth control.

The 1920s also brought about Prohibition, the result of the 18th Amendment ending legal alcohol sales. Combined with an explosion of popularity for jazz music and jazz clubs, the stage was set for speakeasies, which offered illegally produced and distributed alcohol.

Henry Ford 's mass production of cars brought down automobile prices, allowing the younger generation far more mobility than in earlier eras. Many people, a number of them young women, drove these cars into cities, which experienced a population boom.

With all these pieces in place, an unprecedented social explosion for young women was all but inevitable.

What Is a Flapper?

No one knows how the word flapper entered American slang, but its usage first appeared just following World War I.

The classic image of a flapper is that of a stylish young party girl. Flappers smoked in public, drank alcohol, danced at jazz clubs and practiced sexual freedom that shocked the Victorian morality of their parents.

Flapper Dress

Flappers were famous-or infamous, depending on your viewpoint-for their rakish attire.

They donned fashionable flapper dresses of shorter, calf-revealing lengths and lower necklines, though not typically form-fitting: Straight and slim was the preferred silhouette.

Flappers wore high heel shoes and threw away their corsets in favor of bras and lingerie. They gleefully applied rouge, lipstick, mascara and other cosmetics, and favored shorter hairstyles like the bob.

Designers like Coco Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli and Jean Patou ruled flapper fashion. Jean Patou's invention of knit swimwear and women's sportswear like tennis clothes inspired a freer, more relaxed silhouette, while the knitwear of Chanel and Schiaparelli brought no-nonsense lines to women's clothing. Madeleine Vionnet's bias-cut designs (made by cutting fabric against the grain) emphasized the shape of a woman's body in a more natural way.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald found his place in American literary history with "The Great Gatsby" in 1925, but he had already garnered a reputation before that as a spokesperson for the Jazz Age.

The press at the time credited Fitzgerald as the creator of the flapper because of his debut novel, " This Side of Paradise," though the book didn't specifically mention flappers.

The credit stuck and Scott began to write about flapper culture in short stories for the Saturday Evening Post in 1920, opening up the Jazz Age lifestyle to middle-class homes.

A collection of these stories was published that year under the title "Flappers and Philosophers," cementing Fitzgerald as the flapper expert for the next decade.

Zelda Fitzgerald

If Fitzgerald was considered a chronicler of flappers, his wife Zelda Fitzgerald was considered the quintessential example of one.

A native of Montgomery, Alabama, Zelda was a stylish, free-spirited young woman who met Fitzgerald in 1918 while he was stationed there in the military. She was 17 at the time and-as the daughter of a prominent local judge-her hedonistic escapades scandalized her family.

The pair was married in New York City one month after "This Side of Paradise" was released and soon embarked on a lifestyle of reckless partying and publicity-seeking in Europe and across America.

Both publicly claimed that Zelda was Fitzgerald's inspiration for all his female characters, bringing her in as much demand for her insight as he was. She was soon writing articles about the "modern" flapper lifestyle.

Lois Long

Lois Long was another writer chronicling flapper culture in print. Using the pseudonym Lipstick, Long began writing for The New Yorker shortly after its inception.

Her work chronicled the life of a flapper and recounted her real-life adventures of drinking and dancing all night long. She typically wrote her column-first named "When Nights Are Bold" and "Tables For Two," launched in 1925-directly after her nights out, typing into the wee hours.

Flappers in Advertising

Recognizing that women now had disposable incomes of their own, advertising courted their interests beyond household items. Soap, perfume, cosmetics, cigarettes and fashion accessories were all the subjects of ads targeting women.

Helen Lansdowne Resor was the most powerful woman in advertising at the time. The head of women's advertising at the J. Walter Thompson Agency, she worked her way up from secretary thanks to her keen understanding of selling to women. She was the first advertising executive to push sex appeal as a method of marketing to women, often focused on getting male attention.

Flapper style regularly graced the covers of magazines like Vanity Fair and Life, drawn by artists like John Held and Gordon Conway.

Flappers on Film

Anita Loos' book "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and its follow-up "But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes" were famous satires of the world of flappers. The books focused on flapper Lorelei Lee and her male conquests. The first film version of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" was released in 1928 (another version was released in 1953, starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell).

The popularity of movies exploded during the 1920s, though the screen versions of flappers were typically less permissive than the real-world versions. The first popular flapper movie was "Flaming Youth," released in 1923 and starring Colleen Moore, who was soon Hollywood's "go-to" actress for playing flappers onscreen.

Louise Brooks auditioned for a part in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" but failed. Nonetheless, the image of Brooks and her precise bob has become the archetypal vision of a flapper. The Hollywood portion of her film career featured several starring flapper roles before she moved on to more serious dramas.

The 'It' Girl

Clara Bow 's nickname was "the It Girl," referring to her 1927 film "It," which was adapted from a magazine article by Elinor Glyn. Bow was the most successful screen flapper, beloved for the unpretentious manner of her portrayals and her frank sex appeal.

Anna May Wong broke barriers as the first Chinese-American movie star. Her image as a flapper off-screen was encouraged by movie studios to increase her appeal beyond the exotic roles in which they cast her.

Dancing was a crucial part of flapper culture. The Charleston and the Black Bottom were popular and considered more suggestive than any moves that had come before. The acclaimed 1923 British play "The Dancers," which starred Tallulah Bankhead, examined the dance obsessions of two flappers.

Criticism of Flappers

Not everyone was a fan of women's newfound sexual freedom and consumer ethos, and there was inevitably a public reaction against flappers.

Utah attempted to pass legislation on the length of women's skirts. Virginia tried to ban any dress that revealed too much of a woman's throat and Ohio tried to ban form-fitting outfits.

Women who populated beaches in bathing suits that were deemed inappropriate were escorted off the beach by police or arrested if they refused.

Popular Washington, D.C., hostess Mrs. John B. Henderson attempted to start a mass movement against what she considered vulgar fashions, appealing to prominent women's clubs and colleges for help.

Clergymen like Rabbi Stephen S. Wise and Baptist pastor Dr. John Roach Straton became known for their tirades against young women's fashions.

Flappers also received criticism from women's rights activists like Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Lillian Symes, who felt flappers had gone too far in their embrace of licentiousness.

End of the Flappers

The age of the flapper came tumbling down suddenly on October 29, 1929, with the stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression. No one could afford the lifestyle any longer, and the new era of frugality made the freewheeling hedonism of the Roaring Twenties seem wildly out of touch with grim new economic realities.

Many film-star flappers had already met their end two years earlier with the advent of talking film, which was not always kind to them. The Hays Code in 1930, which severely limited sexual themes in movies, made independent women in the flapper mold almost impossible to portray onscreen.

Sources

Flapper. Joshua Zeitz.
Flappers: A Guide To An American Subculture. Kelly Boyer Sagert.
Flappers and the New American Woman. Catherine Gourley.
A Perfect Fit: Clothes, Character, and the Promise of America. Jenna Weissman Joselit.

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Multiple factors-political, cultural and technological-led to the rise of the flappers. During World War I, women entered the workforce in large numbers, receiving higher wages that many working women were not inclined to give up during peacetime. In August 1920, women's independence took another step forward with the passage of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote.

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Jazz music was the most popular music genre in the 1920's. And was a form of entertainment for people.

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1920s music was called, "a combination of nervousness, lawlessness, primitive savage animalism, and lasciviousness."

Jazz was the music of the 1920's: loud and syncopated. This was the Jazz Age!

The jazz recordings were often called "race records," and were sold and played typically in the black neighborhoods of large cities like New York and Chicago.

Controversial throughout its history, jazz was America's first contribution to the music world. And it all got started in the 1920's.

The Famous Places and Musicians of the 1920s

When you think of jazz you probably think of people and places like:

Controversy In the 1920's Music Jazz Scene

The top 4 songs on the pop charts of the 1920's, compiled utilizing research of Billboard Charts from a bygone era, you will see the names of recording artists like Al Jolson, Paul Whiteman, Mamie Smith, and Ted Lewis and his Orchestra.

These songs and their songwriters reflect an age of change in the ever-burgeoning music industry. Many soldiers put down their weapons and took up an instrument.

Dance bands, Jazz, and Blues artists took to the main stages, front and center, post-World-War-I. Despite the prohibition in American, the music of the age was upbeat, dance-able, booming with life, and in celebration of a newfound optimism and hope for the future.

It was the great classic Jazz singers of the 1920's , Mamie Smith, Ida Cox, Ma Rainey, and Bessie Smith, whose vocal styling inspired the likes of future Jazz greats and singers like Billie Holiday and Nina Simone.

Did you know that Mamie Smith was the first African American artist to make vocal blues recordings? She could do it all: she was a vaudeville singer, a dancer, a pianist, and even an actress.

In Mamie Smith's hit song "Crazy Blues" written in 1920, alongside the swinging tempo and infectious beat, you hear many of the common themes that were threaded within the major hit songs of this time period.

The lyrics are simple, sometimes a bit dirty, direct, and usually revolve around a current or past lover. The lover in almost every case has been wronged or mistreated, is pining for love, or is experiencing the sorrow and the aftermath of love lost.

Also rampant in the songwriting is the usage of many, many good old-fashioned euphemisms.

Take a listen. "Honey" is not always honey, and that "Daddy" might not have been biological, if you get my drift.

"Race" Records and the Musical Underbelly

In addition to taking on a more unfiltered and raw approach to once taboo topics like sex and race, as acoustical recording technology improved (and went electric) and the overall sound of recorded music improved, independent recording labels began to make their mark on the industry.

These new labels weren't afraid of taking risks on new, emerging artists and styles. Along with the popularization and commercialization of radio in the mix, the music market was ready and set for growth.

In America, the hidden "speakeasies" that emerged as part of the landscape provided the perfect environment for jazz to flourish.

With a secret knock or a word, one could enter a new world where the rules were relaxed and the booze was always flowing.

Bigger bands were replaced with small jazz duos and trios. In these illegal havens rife with dancing and gambling, and even gangsters, there was also freedom for the races to intermingle, inspiring songs like Duke Ellington's "Black and Tan Fantasy."

The issues revolving around race and class were always prevalent during this time of segregation, when popular white musicians like Paul Whiteman -band leader and orchestral director of one of the most popular bands of the 1920's- were later criticized by traditional jazz musicians saying that it was a mockery of what jazz was intended to be - free and impressionable - not burdened by what the listeners want.

What this is referring to is the fact Whiteman took an underground style of music which was not typically played by white guys, and fused it with other styles of music more palatable to the average (white) population.

When coupled with the fact that the people who listened to this music prior to it being put on the radio had to do so in illegal clubs and many African Americans were arrested for playing it in years prior - you could imagine why people might have an issue.

A modern example of this happening would be the punk revolution of the early (19) 90's. Nirvana popularized punk which was a primarily underground genre of music and made it more mainstream than had ever been heard in the past by omitting the jagged guitars, pitter patter drums and shrieking vocals you might hear from a band like Dead Kennedy's or The Melvins.

Obviously your individual feelings about music will allow you to create your own reasoning about this situation but, this exact cycle has repeated itself countless times throughout music genres over the centuries.

These days they call it cultural appropriation but regardless of what you call it, because of the fusing of Whiteman, underground music had a major impact on the cultural scene and helped close the distance between people in this age.

However, even Duke Ellington, in his own autobiography, proclaimed that Whiteman, in his estimation, at least, deftly held the title of "King of Jazz" despite the naysayers: "Paul Whiteman was known as the King of Jazz," Ellington said, "and no one as yet has come near carrying that title with more certainty and dignity."

In one of Whiteman's most popular songs, "Whispering," you can hear the technical expertise and precision of his ensemble.

There was a reason the 1920's were "Roaring" - the musical varieties were expanding, dance crazes were popularized, and the world was alive with innovation.

This musical introduction to modernization and industrialization created a further divide between the old and the new, the past and the present, creating a new space for artists to work and play.

1920s Music: King Oliver

Oliver's big hit was called "Dippermouth Blues," the band played the song nightly at the request of the crowd.

"Dippermouth Blues" was actually the first jazz song to feature a fully-developed trumpet solo. We owe a lot to this song alone!

At the time, King Oliver was the most famous jazz player in the world, but right behind him in "The Creole Jazz Band" was Louis Armstrong.

1920s Music:Louis Armstrong

In many ways Armstrong is responsible for popularizing jazz throughout the world. He played everywhere and with everyone.

He was a great 1920s musician and ambassador of music throughout the world.

1920s Music:Leon "Bix" Beiderbecke

His playing style was softer and more relaxed than Armstrong's, it's been described as "a bullet hitting a chime."

Beiderbecke's music was the forebearer and paved the way for the "cool" jazz musicians that would become wildly popular in the 1940s and 1950s.

As you can see there is a tons of information about 1920s music. This page is dedicated to bring it to you. Check back often as I'm writing more on figures such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Jelly Roll Morton, and others.

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1920s Music: Jazz in the Roaring Twenties

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1920s music ushered in jazz. The Roaring Twenties became America's first unique contribution to the musical world.

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1. Jazz music was one of the first types of music in the 1920's and is still popular today!

2. Although sports have changed a lot, like allowing women to play, most of the sports today were sports that were popular in the 1920's!

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1. Some women were flappers who exemplified new ideas about what it meant to be a woman.

2. Prohibition was a law that banned alcohol as it was causing too many injuries to families.

3. Radios and movies were becoming popular and allowed for shared cultural experiences and the spread of new trends rapidly

4. Women became more involved in public life, working outside the home and participating in social activities previously considered only for men.

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Movies were a lot harder to make, as they didn't have the technology we have today. But some movies from the 1920's are still popular today!

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How did changes in the 1920s "pop culture" affect American society and vice versa?

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How did changes in the 1920s "pop culture" affect American society and vice versa?

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1920's pop culture brought a lot of entertainment and things that we still use today. For example, sports were a bit different back then but is still the most popular form of entertainment today, same for music and movies. Pop culture in the 1920's affected America massively by these points.